SUGI - Key Persons
Abby is a devoted nature enthusiast with a passion for sustainability. Over the course of her career, she has been a guiding force for companies in their pursuit of sustainability and ESG objectives, continually underlining the pressing need to address these vital areas and seamlessly incorporate them into their overarching strategies to secure long-term success.
Adib Dada is the founder of theOtherDada [tOD] Integrated Consultancy & Architecture "We are architects with a purpose and strategists with a mission. Going beyond traditional architecture, we employ a holistic and biomimetic design approach with NATURE and PEOPLE at its core."
Adib's biggest inspiration is Nature. He believes that the path to achieve sustainable cities and communities is by emulating nature, and more specifically using Biomimicry Thinking. Adib carefully explores the natural ecosystems of sites in order to devise new, innovative and sustainable living habitats.
Fighting the death-by-concrete of Beirut River, Adib initiated Beirut RiverLESS to enhance the living conditions of the communities alongside it. As a first step, he is planting urban native forests alongside the river and reclaiming the urban environment by scaling this approach to the city at large.
The ultimate goal is to create regenerative and conscious societies. Adib believes that he will only succeed when people start perceiving the river positively and actively engage in its rehabilitation.
Adrian is a dedicated regenerative planting specialist with a keen interest in replicating natural ecosystems to benefit biodiversity. As a student of the natural world, he strives to bring nature into the Urban landscape. A passion developed from his time travelling and observing how society benefits most when nature and humanity can coexist.
Brett is located in the Cassowary Coast region of Tropical North Queensland, Australia, where he focuses on creating habitat for endangered and threatened species such as the Southern Cassowary and Mahogany Glider!
Daniel is a multi-disciplinary creative strategist, working across fashion, lifestyle and technology. Daniel has built audiences for renowned brands with compelling messaging and simple, sticky tools for sustained engagement.
David is an adventurer and influential environmentalist. Driven by his immeasurable curiosity for the natural world, he has ventured to some of the most remote and fragile ecosystems on our planet in order to bring widespread attention and innovative solutions to urgent global environmental issues.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Founder
- Creative Brand Strategist
Elise is a Creative Brand Strategist with 18 years of experience developing large scale interdisciplinary projects - from conception through execution. It was during a trek in Upper Mustang that the idea of SUGi was born. SUGi is the union of her two passions, Art & Nature, under one purpose: to empower anyone anywhere in the world to become a biodiversity builder.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Maruvan Foundation
Gaurav Gurjar is the Director of the Maruvan Foundation and a Jungle Tree Expert at Afforestt, another SUGi partner and renowned organization dedicated to revitalising native forests through the use of the Miyawaki method.
As part of the mission at Maruvan, Gaurav is actively working to collect and preserve native wild tree seeds, with the ultimate goal of establishing a functional seed bank that can be used to support reforestation efforts in the Jodhpur region. In addition to this, he is collaborating with local communities and village elders to create traditional water harvesting structures, as well as natural habitats that can be enjoyed by both humans and local wildlife.
James has 28 years of horticultural, landscaping and garden design experience, always with a desire to integrate organic and biodynamic methods. While researching for a practical solution to help our planet and heal precious forest ecosystems, James discovered the pioneering Miyawaki method of afforestation, which after extensive trialing, he now implements and teaches as a core member of the SUGi team.
Kevin has worked in the international development field for over 35 years. He served as an associate advisor with the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development to support the creation of a global programme of environmentally sound and sustainable development (known as Agenda 21), which formed the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Job Titles:
- Founder and CEO of Miti Alliance
Michael Waiyaki is the Founder and CEO of Miti Alliance, a social enterprise operating in Kenya focusing on planting and growing trees whose mission is to "Green Kenya one tree at a time."
Michael started off planting trees about 10 years ago as a youth then later as a president and club member of a Rotaract club in Nairobi Kenya. With fellow members they had fire in their bellies to make a difference in Kenya for the love they had for the environment. Later on, he realized that caring for the environment was truly his life calling and was determined to continue doing so. In 2018, Michael founded Miti Alliance - Miti means trees in Swahili.
Mono is a multi-disciplinary professional who works across art, design and education. By incorporating visual and empathetic language into project management, Mono blends creativity and pragmatism to bring impactful ideas to life.
Neelam Patil has been an educator since 2000. Her work specializes in empowering children to face the coming challenges through climate resilience, mindfulness, and plant based culinary education. She is the founder of Bliss Belly Kitchen School of Yoga and Cooking for Children, and the Program Director of Green Pocket Forests, a project of the NGO International Association for Human Values. You'll find her teaching science and climate literacy in the Berkeley Public school system in California.
She helped to bring the first Miyawaki schoolyard forests to Berkeley, California in November 2021, and was subsequently awarded Innovative Teacher of the Year 2022 by TIME Magazine.
Tamsin is a social impact innovator. She is known for her pioneering work as founding president of the ground-breaking (RED) campaign, and has helped advise and build various mission-driven brands and public facing initiatives for global foundations.
Teo is a creative designer with a background in digital media and fashion. She is passionate about environmental work and visual storytelling and is excited to combine these two within SUGi.
Áine is a writer and producer with a background rooted in arts and culture. With a rich history across journalism, video and audio production, she produces our podcast SUGi Talks.