Michael Jenkins, President and CEO

Tundi Agardy, Director, Marine Ecosystems Program

Beto Borges, Director, Communities and Markets Program

Carina Bracer, Project Manager, Ecosystem Services Program

Kerstin Canby, Director, Forest Trade and Finance

Nathaniel Carroll, Project Manager, Ecosystem Marketplace & Ecosystem Services

Phil Covell, Business Development Facility

Susan Dobbertin, Office Manager

Kate Hamilton, Manager, Carbon Program

Amanda Hawn, Project Manager, Ecosystem Marketplace

Frank Hicks, Director, Business Development Facility

Becca Madsen, Biodiversity Manager, Ecosystem Marketplace

Patrick Maguire, Program Manager

Deborah L. McKay, Director, Operations

Hannah Murray, Associate Manager

Dan Nees, Director, Chesapeake Fund project

Alice Ruhweza

Aboubakar Mama Sambo, Senior Accountant

Sara Namirembe, Coordinator, East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group's Incubator initiative

Jordan Sauer, Program Associate

Allison Shapiro, Program Associate, Carbon Markets - Ecosystem Marketplace

Bryan Straathof, Director of Finance

Kerry ten Kate, Director, Business and Biodiversity Offset Program

Rebecca Vonada, Program Associate

Sissel Waage, Senior Coordinator, Katoomba Group

Tundi Spring Agardy
tel. (240) 505-9105
Tundi Agardy is an internationally renowned expert in marine conservation, with extensive field and policy experience in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, North America and the Pacific. Tundi specializes in coastal planning and assessment, marine protected areas, fisheries management, and ocean zoning, and has published widely in these fields. She founded Sound Seas in 2001 as an independent group working at the nexus of policy and science to promote marine conservation. At Forest Trends, she is heading up the MarES initiative – a program looking to protect Marine Ecosystem Services through Payments for Ecosystem Services markets. Tundi works with international think tanks, foundations, multilaterals, museums and academic institutions, environmental groups, and consortia with interest in solving local and regional coastal and marine conservation problems. She received her Ph.D. in biological sciences and Masters in Marine Affairs from University of Rhode Island, was postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, completed her undergraduate work at Wellesley and Dartmouth Colleges.  She has served as Senior Scientist for WWF and began Conservation International’s Global Marine Program, which she oversaw as Senior Director. She also led the coastal portion of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment – a 3 year global analysis released in 2005 that represents the consensus of over a thousand scientists on the state of the world’s ecosystems.

Beto Borges
tel. (707) 400-6714
Beto was born and raised in São Paulo , Brazil, where he obtained an AA degree in industrial chemistry from Escola Técnica Oswaldo Cruz and worked as an ecotourism guide in the Atlantic rainforest, while practicing nature photography and rock climbing. Borges holds a Bachelors of Science in Conservation and Resources Studies from the University of California, at Berkeley and a MBA in Strategic Leadership from Dominican University of California. Borges was the director of the Brazil Program at Rainforest Action Network for 9 years, promoting forest policies, community economic development and indigenous land demarcation in the Amazon region. He also worked for Aguirre International evaluating environmental programs for AmeriCorp-USA during President Clinton's administration and was the manager of sustainable harvesting at Shaman Pharmaceuticals, developing drugs based on the ethnobotany of rainforest medicinal plants. As the executive director of Adopt-A-Watershed he worked on watershed conservation through placed-based learning methodologies. Borges was a program officer with the Goldman Environmental Foundation, selecting finalists for the Goldman Environmental Prize and evaluating project proposals for funding. His additional involvement in philanthropy is in his current role as a board member of Global Greengrants Fund and former co-chair of Grantmakers Without Borders. Borges has also consulted for Aveda Cosmetics, Conservation International, Instituto Terra, Occupational Knowledge International, and Wildlife Conservation Network, among others. He is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Carina Bracer
tel. (202) 298-3008
Carina manages the regional Katoomba Group for Tropical America. Her current work focuses on the intersection between legal and governance needs for evolving ecosystem services transactions and how these rely on appropriate technical and business and financial expertise.  In documenting and disseminating the experiences in these areas, the group hopes to improve the capacities of communities and poor resource owners to obtain positive outcomes from engaging in these market-like transactions.  Before joining Forest Trends, Carina worked with the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance and for the National Forestry Commission in her native country of Mexico implementing the national water services program.  Prior to graduate studies, her work focused on medicinal plant harvesting and marketing, Non-Timber Forest Product development, and forest certification.  She completed dual masters degrees in Public Policy and the Energy and Resources Group at University of California at Berkeley, and has an International Relations undergraduate degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and English.

Kerstin Canby
tel. (202) 298-3015
Kerstin is the Director of the Forest Trade and Finance Program at Forest Trends. In addition to general program management, her work specifically focuses on policies and trade issues related to the illegal logging, corruption and associated trade, such as the role of financial institutions and investment flows in combating illegal and unsustainable harvesting practices. A significant portion of her time is spent on the China / East Asia region. Prior to joining Forest Trends, Kerstin worked at the World Bank, where she worked with the Bank's Governance and Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Programs, coordinating the Africa FLEG ministerial process and providing training to local NGOs interested in developing independent monitoring networks; the World Bank's CEOs ad hoc Forum on Forests; and as special assist to the Director of the Environment Department. She continues to work with the World Bank, advising on the development of the Europe / North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Ministerial process.  Kerstin has also worked with the US Forest Service in Oregon (economic and land management analysis), was the co-founder of an environmental education program in Durham, North Carolina, and was a teaching assistant of environmental economics at Duke University. Kerstin holds a BA from Duke University , as well as a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University 's School of Forest and Environmental Sciences, where she focused on forestry, wetlands and coastal ecosystems.

Nathaniel Carroll
tel. (415) 315-9011 x103
Nathaniel is a project manager with both the Ecosystem Marketplace and the Ecosystem Services Program.  He has been with the Ecosystem Marketplace since early in its development and has worked as project lead for the Business Development Facility.  Before joining Forest Trends, Nathaniel worked as a consultant for a private forestry and real estate company in Panama, channeling private investment to restore degraded lands and generate profit from native species forestry.  Nathaniel spent two years with Conservation International's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science and their Rapid Assessment Program.  He has over three years experience conducting ecological research, from the Rocky Mountains to Andes, from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to the Penobscot Bay.  Nathaniel holds a Bachelor of Science from Tufts University and a Master's in Forest Science from Yale University.  Nathaniel is based in Portland, Oregon.

Phil Covell
Phil joined Forest Trends’ Business Development Facility, bringing over 20 years of experience in the development and financing of environmental enterprises in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.  He has been a Budget Manager at the US Peace Corps, a founding Director of fund manager Triodos PV Partners, Executive Director of Enersol Associates, Inc., and Chief Financial Officer of Soluz, Inc.  He holds a Bachelors of International Studies from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT, and an MBA from the University of California, Davis.

Susan Dobbertin
tel. (202) 298-3000
Susan joined the administrative team at Forest Trends in July 2008. Prior to joining Forest Trends, Susan’s experience with wildlife management and invasive species include internships and biological technician positions with the Central Pine Barrens Commission and the Nature Conservancy; Fire Island National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the SCA. She studied conservation biology at Warren Wilson College and graduated with honors in 2005 with a BS in Biology and Environmental Studies.

Kate Hamilton
tel. (202) 470-1960

Katherine Hamilton is the carbon project manager at Ecosystem Marketplace. Before joining Ecosystem Marketplace, she earned a masters degree at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where she focused on corporate environmental management and wrote her thesis on the voluntary carbon market. At Yale, Katherine worked as a Hixon Center for Urban Ecology Fellow with United Nations Development Program- Latin America/ Caribbean and a lead research assistant at the Yale Environmental Law and Policy Center. Before attending graduate school, she held positions with Natural Capitalism Inc. in Boulder, Colorado and was based in Paris, France as the International Council for Science's Program Coordinator for U.N. World Summit for Sustainable Development preparations. She has also taught outdoor education. Katherine completed a B.A. in International Relations at the University of Michigan in 2001.

Amanda T. Hawn
tel. (415) 315-9056
Amanda is Program Manager to The Ecosystem Marketplace as of January 1, 2006. She studied ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University with Steve Pacala and completed graduate work in the same through a Princeton fellowship at the University of Cape Town 's Percy FitzPatrick Institute with Morne du Plessis. She has lived and studied in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, the Netherlands Antilles and the United States and has held jobs photographing chimpanzees, teaching math and science to first year university students and researching the population dynamics of coral reef fish. Prior to joining the Ecosystem Marketplace, she worked as a science writer, authoring articles about conservation, development and ecology for a variety of publications. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including The Economist, The New York Times, Conservation in Practice and, The Ecosystem Marketplace.

Frank Hicks
tel. (506) 203-3394
Frank is the Director, Business Development Facility at Forest Trends. Frank has over 20 years of International Development experience, with more than 16 years based in developing countries. He is currently the President of Sustainable Development International, a Costa Rican organization he founded that provides consulting services on sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation, enterprise development, strategic planning, development finance, monitoring and evaluation, and agricultural certification issues. He is currently responsible for developing the Rainforest Alliance's strategy for expanding its sustainable cocoa operations. Formerly, Mr. Hicks was Director of the Rainforest Alliance's Sustainable Agriculture Program, and, before that, Vice President of Organic Commodity Products, an organic chocolate company, based in San José, Costa Rica. Prior to that the worked as the Program Manager for TechnoServe's Ghana office, the Regional Representative for the Biodiversity Conservation Network, a USAID-funded program that supported environmental enterprises in Asia and the Pacific, based in the Philippines, and as a program officer with the Ford Foundation based in Nigeria and New York City. He is currently a board member of the Nature Conservancy's EcoEnterprises Fund and an advisor to Ecoagriculture Partners, an international NGO. Mr. Hicks has a Master's Degree from Harvard University 's Kennedy School of Government, with a focus on international development, and a Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University in Human Biology.

Becca Madsen
tel. (443) 534-0425
Becca joined Forest Trends in August 2008 as the Biodiversity Program Manager of Ecosystem Marketplace.  Prior to joining Ecosystem Marketplace, she was a Presidential Management Fellow with the US Forest Service, informing mitigation banking business proposals while on loan to Environmental Banc & Exchange and analyzing demand for water quality trading. Becca completed a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, where she was selected as a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow. Before attending graduate school, she served as a small business volunteer with the Peace Corps in Mali and worked on water quality and land conservation issues in city government in Texas.

Patrick Maguire
tel. (202) 298-3011
Patrick joined Forest Trends in June of 2007 as the Program Manager of the Business and Biodiversity Offset Program (BBOP).  Patrick has ten years of experience managing diverse international conservation and development programs.  Previous work included managing community forestry based enterprises in Nepal for the World Wildlife Fund; helping to establish the Conservation Finance Alliance and overseeing the development of a guide on innovative conservation financing while at The Nature Conservancy; and serving as a consultant to USAID’s Biodiversity and Forestry Team with Chemonics Inc. Patrick received his Master’s degree in International Relations and Resource and Environmental Management from Boston University.  As BBOP Program Manager, Patrick’s responsibilities include coordinating the work of the BBOP Secretariat, liaising with pilot projects, helping develop biodiversity offset methodologies and the BBOP toolkit, developing funding proposals, budget management, and coordinating program meetings.

Michael Jenkins
tel. (202) 298-3000
Michael is President & CEO of Forest Trends. In 1998 Michael was in a joint appointment as a Senior Forestry Advisor to the World Bank. From 1989-1999 he was the Associate Director for the Global Security and Sustainability Program of the MacArthur Foundation. Michael's responsibilities with the Program included all grant making in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as overarching program management. Before entering the Foundation, he worked for three years as an agroforester in Haiti with the U.S.A.I.D. Agroforestry Outreach Program. Previous to that he worked with a Washington based development organization, Appropriate Technology International, as a technical advisor. In the late 70s, Michael was a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay working in agriculture, apiculture and forestry projects. He has traveled and worked throughout Latin America, Asia and parts of Africa, and speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, Creole and Guaraní. Michael has contributed to a number of books and articles and with Island Press published "The Business of Sustainable Forestry, Strategies for an Industry in Transition". He holds a Master's of Forest Science from Yale University.

Deborah L. McKay
tel. (202) 298-3003
Deborah is Director, Operations for Forest Trends. Deborah's role includes overseeing the financial reporting and budget process as well as assisting in fundraising. Deborah most recently worked for the World Bank in the office of the Italian Executive Director. Prior to working at the Bank she managed stores for The Timberland Company and ran a commercial department for United Colors of Benetton in Washington, D.C. She speaks Portuguese and Italian fluently and Spanish and French proficiently. Deborah holds a BA in History from the University of São Paulo, in São Paulo, Brazil.

Hannah Murray
tel. (202) 298-3005
Hannah is the Associate Manager for the Tropical America Katoomba Group. She most recently worked with The Forests Dialogue at the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry on international dialogues addressing sustainable management of planted forests. Hannah's involvement in natural resource management in Latin America goes back to 2003, when she initiated a project to strengthen regional conservation efforts in Patagonia. Hannah has worked at the Rainforest Action Network, Earth Island Institute's Borneo Project, and at the Yale School Forests. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French and German. Hannah holds a Master of Forestry degree from Yale and an undergraduate degree from Harvard.

Alice Ruhweza
Alice has worked for various organizations in different capacities as subject matter expert, project manager, coordinator and consultant in various areas including Trade, Telecommunications, the Environment and Health. She is the Network Coordinator for the East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group. Before joining the East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group, Alice worked as  a Consultant with the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) as Coordinator of the Lead Agency Component. The component sought to ensure that government ministries and the private sector incorporate environmental concerns in their policies/plans/programmes.  While with NEMA, Alice was actively involved in documenting and exploring the potential of payment for ecosystem services as a tool to increase funding for conservation and sound environmental management in Uganda. Previous work experience includes positions with Sprint Corporation USA , and the African Environmental Research and Consulting Group. Ms. Ruhweza holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Makerere University , and a Masters Degree in Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin , USA.

Aboubakar Mama Sambo
tel. (202) 298-3013
Abou joined Forest Trends team in August 2008 as a Senior Accountant.  He has ten years of accounting and financial management experience supporting international development programs, working in both the governmental and non-profit sectors.  Prior to joining Forest Trends, Abou worked as Manager of International Accounting with the National Cooperative Business Association where he helped build and strengthen the overseas field offices  and home capacity in accounting, financial control and budgeting, and project financial management over the last 3 years. He has a masters degree in Finance/Accounting from the National University of Benin, and speaks English, French, Fon, Goun, Dendi, Mina, and Yoruba.

Sara Namirembe
Sara joined the Forest Trends team as the coordinator of the East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group's Incubator initiative.  Sara has extensive experience in Agroforestry and facilitating collaborative/ participatory natural resource management and conservation with programs like EMPAFORM Uganda (Strengthening and Empowering Civil Society for Participatory Forest Management in East Africa) under Budongo Forests Community Development Organization, NatureUganda, and Environmental Alert.   Prior to joining the Katoomba Group, Sara served for eight years in the academic community as a lecturer and department head of Community Forestry and Extension in the Faculty of Foresty and Nature Conservation at the Makerere University .  She holds a B.S. in Forestry from Makerere University; a Master's in Forestry and Environmental Management from the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton; and a Ph.D. in Forestry and Agricultural Sciences from the University of Wales, Bangor.

Dan Nees
Dan joined Forest Trends in August 2008 as the director of Forest Trends’ Chesapeake Fund project, which is a new effort to establish water quality markets throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.  Dan came to Forest Trends from the World Resources Institute (WRI), where he directed water quality programs.  Prior to WRI, Dan was the director of University of Maryland’s Environmental Finance Center for six years.  During that time, Dan assisted communities throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed and Mid-Atlantic region in their efforts to implement and finance environmental and sustainable development initiatives.  His work has focused on developing and building coalitions of diverse interests groups and directing them towards common financing and implementation goals.  Dan holds a B.A. in Economics, a Master of Environmental Policy, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Jordan Sauer
Jordan Sauer joined Forest Trends in February 2008 as the Program Associate for the Forest Trade and Finance program. Prior to joining Forest Trends, Jordan worked briefly with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London, assisting with the consultation process on the Global Forest Partnership consultation. Jordan recently graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London with an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy. His master’s thesis explored the effectiveness of forest certification and public governance initiatives in regulating illegal logging in the Asia-Pacific region.

Allison Shapiro
Allison is a Program Associate with the Carbon Markets program of the Ecosystem Marketplace. Prior to joining Ecosystem Marketplace, she worked at the consulting firm ICF International, where she worked on various environmental consulting projects including environmental impact assessments. Allison graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a BS in Science, Technology, and International Affairs and a concentration in Environmental Studies. At Georgetown, she co-founded the University’s sustainability committee, participated in a field study of former Mayan wetlands in Belize, and worked as an intern at Forest Trends. Allison speaks Spanish and English.

Bryan Straathof
tel. (202) 298-3009
Bryan Straathof is the Director of Finance for Forest Trends.  He has 15 years of financial management experience supporting international development programs, working in both the governmental and non-profit sectors.  While serving at the Peace Corps, he supported programs throughout the Europe, Mediterranean and Asia Region.  Bryan also served as Peace Corps budget manager, responsible for overseeing one-third of the Agency's annual budget, including both international and US-based offices.  Prior to joining Forest Trends, Bryan served as director of finance for the NGO, Citizens Development Corps, and for the international division of the National Cooperative Business Association (also known as CLUSA).  NCBA's programs, primarily funded by USAID, provide economic development assistance to rural farmers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  Bryan earned his Certified Public Accountant and his Bachelor's Degree of Science in Finance from University of Maryland. 

Kerry ten Kate
Kerry is Director of Forest Trends' Business and Biodiversity Offset Program, a new partnership of over 30 companies, government agencies and conservation experts. Formerly a practicing barrister, Kerry joined the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the "Earth Summit") in 1990. Since then, she has conducted research and offered policy advice to governments, industry, investors and the UN on issues ranging from conservation and sustainable development strategies to trade and environment policies. Her focus since 1994 has been on biodiversity, including access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing, on which she has written extensively. At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, she led the team developing and implementing genetic resources policy and establishing Kew as a centre of expertise on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Subsequently, as Policy Adviser to Kew's Director, she advised the UK and other governments on the CBD and sustainable development strategies. From 1999 to 2002, she was a member of the UK delegation to the negotiation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and negotiating sessions of the CBD. From November 2002 to September 2006, Kerry was Director of Investor Responsibility at Insight Investment, engaging with the multinational companies in which Insight's £89 billion fund is invested to encourage them to adopt best practice on environmental, social and ethical issues and working with Insight's fund managers and analysts to take these issues into consideration in investment decisions.  She writes, broadcasts occasionally for BBC Radio 4, is Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the UN University, a member of IUCN's Species Survival Commission and on the Steering Committee of the Global Biodiversity Forum. She is also a member of the UK Government's Darwin Advisory Committee.

Rebecca Vonada
tel. (202) 298-3004
Rebecca is a Program Associate with the Tropical America Katoomba Group (TAKG), Communities and Markets Program, and the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programs (BBOP). Her work focuses on community involvement in developing payment for ecosystem services schemes and she provides management support to BBOP and TAKG. Rebecca has a Master’s Degree in Development Planning and Environmental Sustainability with a certificate in Latin American Studies from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree from Juniata College in Environmental Science and Policy. Prior to coming to Forest Trends, Rebecca worked in a rural community in Ecuador, teaching community members how to keep their children safe when applying pesticides. Rebecca speaks Spanish and English.

Sissel Waage, Ph.D.
Sissel is Senior Coordinator of the International Katoomba Groups. She has over fifteen years of experience working on environmental and social aspects of sustainability issues in Africa, Europe, and North America . Her areas of focus have included sustainable business, environmentally-aware product design, community-based conservation, and conservation-based economic development. Sissel has consulted with a range of private, nonprofit, and philanthropic clients, including: IDEO, Business for Social Responsibility, SustainLane.com, “The Head Table” Reality TV Program, the Garfield Foundation, the Packard Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, the Biodiversity Support Program, UC Berkeley's Blodgett Forest Research Station, and several other international conservation and development organizations. Prior to consulting, Sissel launched and directed the R&D Program at The Natural Step, an international advisory services and research organization focused on sustainable business. She also served as core staff with The Natural Step's Services Group, advising Fortune 500 companies on integration of sustainability into strategy, operations, reporting, and philanthropy. Before joining The Natural Step, Sissel worked with Sustainable Northwest and the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) East and Southern Africa Program. Her work has been published in a range of journals including Corporate Environmental Strategy , Society & Natural Resources , Political Geography , the Journal of Sustainable Forestry, and the Journal of Cleaner Production. Sissel completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and received her B.A. from Amherst College, in Massachusetts. She has also studied at the University of Oslo , in Norway , as a Fulbright Scholar, and at the National University of Singapore.