The Team

Chairman of the Board

Priya Karve

Dr. Priyadarshini Karve has been working on developing biomass energy technologies and their dissemination in rural areas from 1991. She completed Ph.D. in Physics from University of Pune, in 1998. Since then she has worked as a researcher and Project Co-ordinator at Nexus member Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI), as a Faculty member at various engineering, architecture, management and liberal arts education institutes, and as a Founder Co-Editor of a magazine on Science & Education. The biowaste-to-charcoal technology developed by Dr. Priyadarshini Karve won ARTI the Ashden Award for Renewable Energy in 2002. Dr. Karve herself has received several national as well as international honours including the World Technology Award 2005 in Environment Category, awarded by the World Technology Network, New York.

Director

Alain Guinebault

Alain Guinebault, a physician engineer specialised in energy issues, participated in the creation of Nexus, bringing together actors who were willing to scale up the impacts of their projects through the use of carbon finance. Alain joined GERES (Group for the Environment, Renewable Energy and Solidarity) in 1984 and has been General Manager for 15 years. GERES runs programs in France and in 12 developing countries, focusing on clean energy production, energy savings and efficiency, local policy and land use, economic development and climate change.

Director

Jasmine Hyman

Jasmine Hyman is currently completing a doctorate at the Yale School of Forestry and the Environment, where she seeks to identify design principles for global climate finance schemes that promote equitable development and social justice. Prior to her research at Yale, she was the Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Gold Standard Foundation. From 2001-2005, she worked on climate and sustainable agriculture issues at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. She was the head writer and correspondent for the International Year of Rice in 2004.

Director

Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts has 23 years of professional experience in water resources engineering and management of international development programs. He joined iDE in 2000 and has been Country Director of the Cambodia program since 2002. At iDE, he leads a team of 200 people in building profitable enterprises and value chains that deliver sustainable social, economic, and environmental benefits to the rural poor. His work emphasizes the integration of engineering, social, and economic considerations. Michael has a Master of Science degree in water resources engineering with a focus on international development and has received training in market system analysis and development. Michael has overseen poverty reduction projects in Zambia, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, and Cambodia and has been a core contributor to iDE's market-oriented methodology and strategic planning process.

Director

Nathan Cole

Nathan Cole is a Managing Director of TerraClear based in Thakhek, Lao PDR. He has been the Managing Director of TerraClear (previously known as LWR) since January 2009. Based in Laos since 2005, Nathan acted in various roles with LWR prior to becoming Managing Director. He completed a M.S. in International Agricultural Development, Community Development in 2004 and had a background as a Crop and Soil Scientist. Nathan is committed to the ceramic water filter project to improve the accessibility to clean drinking water to people in Lao PDR.

Director

Sean Saminathan

Sean is an experienced legal and compliance professional with more than ten years of experience, which also encompasses legal, accounting and audit, governance, and currently about three years in banking and finance compliance-related roles. He has traveled widely throughout Asia and Europe, and has lived and worked in a number of countries, such as India, UK, Japan, Malaysia and Australia. This has afforded opportunities for self and professional development, as well as the ability to network and operate in multicultural environments. Sean joins Nexus since he believes that volunteerism like education is not a mean to an end but rather an end in itself. It allows one to look beyond the self to serve; to be inspired and to turn hope to be a source of inspiration for others in their bid to make the world a better place.

Advisor

Vivek Ahuja, Deputy Group Finance Director at Standard Chartered Bank

Vivek Ahuja is Deputy Group Finance Director at Standard Chartered Bank. Based in Singapore, he is responsible for the day to day management and governance of the Bank’s global Finance function, overseeing business performance management, financial reporting, accounting policy and taxation. A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, Vivek has more than 20 years of international financial services experience, and holds senior leadership roles in Finance, Strategy and Planning and Corporate and Institutional Banking at Standard Chartered, HSBC, BNP and ANZ.

Advisor

Jochen Nimtschek, Bain & Company

Jochen Nimtschek is a principal with Bain & Company, one of the leading global consulting firms, in their SE Asia office. Over the past 9 years he has advised clients in Europe and Asia-Pacific on corporate and business strategy, market entry and operational improvement issues, especially in the financial services industry as well as the IT services industry. He holds degree in electrical engineering from University of Bochum and MBA from IESE Business School.

Advisor

Rafael Melo, MPS

Rafael Melo is CFO at MPS, a startup joint venture between MasterCard and Smart Hub that process transactions initiated via the mobile channel. Previously, Rafael was Regional Finance Director, Asia Pacific for Embraer, a global MNC and the 3rd largest manufacturer of commercial, executive and military airplanes. Based in Singapore since 2007 and with 13 years’ experience in finance roles, Rafael holds a degree in Civil Engineering from UFMG in Brazil and MBA from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill in the US.

Executive Director

Marion Verles

Marion joined in 2009 the Climate Change Unit of GERES when she was asked to design, set up and launch Nexus. She has successfully accomplished her mission as Nexus now operates as a standalone entity, brings together 18 member organizations, a fully fledged services platform and a set of financial mechanisms. Prior to setting up Nexus, Marion gained experience in the corporate development team of Barclays Plc in London where she worked on capital raisings and acquisitions. If you ask her about her years in the city, she’ll say that there is no experience like the one that takes you deep inside the world you are trying to change. Marion holds a Master of Science from EDHEC business school (France).

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Nexus-beyond offsetting Director

Raphaële Deau

With an international relations background, Raphaele has gained marketing and PR skills over the last 12 years as group account director for the communications company Ogilvy Action and in the diplomatic service of France. In 2009, Raphaele joined the GERES-Nexus team as Communications Manager to raise the international profile of their work. Convinced that the private sector has an innovative role to play in the climate change arena, she took over the position of Nexus-beyond offsetting Director early 2011 to develop direct sales with Nexus corporate partners.

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Technical Director

Samuel Bryan

Sam's background is in environmental campaigning for Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, with a specialization in climate change. Following a M.Sc. in Environmental Technology, he joined GERES Cambodia Climate Change Unit in 2006. As a Technical Director of Nexus, he is responsible for supporting carbon finance documentation to help projects access carbon revenue.

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Alliance Director

Suzanne Chew

Suzanne's background is in carbon finance and strategic management consultancy, with a strong interest in sustainable climate change mitigation and social impact. As the Alliance Director of Nexus, Suzanne is responsible for driving a united yet adaptive approach across members, to make climate finance work for low-carbon development projects. She previously worked at McKinsey & Company in strategic management consultancy, specialising in 2006 in the climate change sector with TFS Green, a global commodities firm, where she held the position of Regional Manager, Carbon Markets. Suzanne graduated with Honours in Physics from Imperial College London, with a Masters in Environmental Technology, majoring in Environmental Economics.

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Partnerships Manager

William Theisen

William joins Nexus as Director of Partnerships covering for Raphaele Deau during her maternity leave. After receiving an MBA at HEC - Paris, William entered into the carbon finance domain working in Marketing and Business Development for The Gold Standard Foundation. Based in Mali, he then completed a research project for Nexus focusing on transparency in the carbon value chain for West African projects. Most recently William worked with GERES on carbon finance aspects for the development of a West African improved cookstove PoA.

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Senior Project Manager

Paulo Lopes

Paulo holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London where he specialized in the carbon market and is the author of “Review of Forestry Carbon Standards (2009)”. Paulo has been working with dozens of organizations to reduce their carbon footprint through internal and external reductions mainly in Europe, US, Central Asia and Africa. He also specializes in developing forestry and Gold Standard carbon offsetting projects and believes the role of the private sector is critical to help poor communities to develop sustainably and reduce the risks of climate change. Paulo brings technical expertise to support Nexus members’ carbon project development.

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Senior Communications and Evaluation Manager

Marion Santini

Marion studied political science and public affairs in Strasbourg, France. She worked for five years for the conservation organization WWF, on climate related business partnerships. As part of her job for WWF, she organized large-scale conferences in Europe and Asia and was responsible for coordinating an international business engagement platform. Marion realized that today's environmental challenges are increasingly becoming equity issues, and this is what brought her to Nexus team.

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Finance and Administrative Manager

Marlene Mollet

Marlene is a graduate in Economics & Business Administration and she also holds a postgraduate degree in Finance & Accounting Management. She previously assumed business and finance analyst roles across European countries where she acquired sound knowledge on financial & managerial reporting and business support. Spending a few years travelling in Asia and South America made her more aware of the challenges faced by the developing countries. She joined Nexus to bring financial tools to sustainable projects committed to ethics and transparency.

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Partnerships Manager

Fahreza Hidayat

Fahreza recently graduated with a Masters of Commerce in International Finance from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Prior to joining Nexus, he completed an internship with ClearWorld Energy Climate Action in Beijing where he was responsible for developing communication collateral for carbon offset projects and created social media engagement tools for corporations to engage their stakeholders in tackling climate change. He also worked in the financial industry working at Goldman Sachs as part of their global operations team. He completed his Bachelors of Arts in Economics and French from Hamilton College in New York and spent one year studying in France. He is now bringing forefront business development to Nexus.

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Finance and Administrative Officer

Putheary Kuy

Before joining Nexus team early 2011, Theary worked for three years as Administrative Assistant of the Climate Change Unit of GERES. There, she gained invaluable experience in organizing logistics for the busy travelers. As a Khmer national, Theary is the key for all administrative and finance questions at Nexus Cambodia office.

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Communications Assistant

Sokunthea Him

Sokunthea is graduated from the Institute of Foreign Languages and from the Department of Media and Communication at Royal University of Phnom Penh. She previously worked as a reporter at Economic Today Magazine as well as in communications departments of United Nation Resident Coordinator and United Nation Development Program. Her concerns about climate change impacts both globally and in Cambodia brought her to Nexus. Kunthea is responsible for the development of communication material and for the organization of events.

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Carbon Project Officer

Eleonora Gatti

Eleonora graduated with a BA (Hons) in International Relations - Cooperation and Development and holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London, where she specialized in Ecological Management. She previously worked on Land Use Change and Carbon Stock Assessments in Chile as an Environmental Consultant. She has also worked on EU Common Fishery Policy and Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing in West Africa. Her passions in sustainable forestry and carbon brought her to Nexus.

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Carbon Project Officer

Thomas Blackburn

Thomas Blackburn comes to Nexus after completing Master’s in International Development in May 2012 from the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. His studies focused on monitoring and evaluating development projects which incorporate natural resources and the environment. Last year, he received a scholarship to work in Cambodia with Pact, where he assisted with the development of Cambodia’s first community forestry REDD+ project. Thomas has also been a part of developing REDD social standard policy at the Environmental Defense Fund and mining policy for the World Wildlife Fund. He looks forward to joining Nexus to continue his work towards positive outcomes for communities and the environment.

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Alliance Officer

Elisabeth Gish

The conservation-development intersection fascinates Elisabeth. After studying Anthropology and Sociology at Smith College (USA), she went to Monteverde, Costa Rica to work in community development and moved into management of local environmental technology and education enterprises. 2007-2009, Liz completed an MSc in International Development Studies (Wageningen University, Netherlands). She selected courses in rural sociology and environmental policy with extensive collaborative components, interned at Earthwatch Institute, and conducted thesis fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon. Since 2009, she has worked as a consultant on corporate responsibility, conservation, and education initiatives. Liz joins Nexus to support Alliance members in using carbon mechanisms for grassroots development and biodiversity protection.

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Communications Assistant

Héléne Bataille

Héléne Bataille, Communications Assistant, completed her education in Business, specialized in Management and Social Sciences at the Lille School of Business Management, France. She is currently finishing her Masters degree in Project Management and Entrepreneurship in Cambodia, thanks to the partnership between the Royal University of Law and Economics of Phnom Penh, Lyon II University and Lille School of Business Management. Hélène has experience in International Project Management in France and Germany. Her enthusiasm about discovering the world brought her to Cambodia and her desire to work for an organization that represents what she cares about, climate-friendly projects that benefit developing countries, brought her to Nexus. Hélène is in charge of the implementation of management tools and supporting the organization of events.

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