Search Our Team

Michael Jenkins

Founding President and CEO

Michael Jenkins is the founding President and CEO of Forest Trends. From 1989-1999, he was the Associate Director for the Global Security and Sustainability Program of the MacArthur Foundation. In 1998, Michael was in a joint appointment as a Senior Forestry Advisor to the World Bank. Before entering the MacArthur Foundation, he worked for three years as an agro-forester in Haiti with the USAID Agroforestry Outreach Program. Previous to that, he was a technical advisor for a Washington-based development organization, Appropriate Technology International. In the late 1970s, 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 holds a Master’s of Forest Science from Yale University and has contributed to and authored numerous books/publications, including The Business of Sustainable Forestry: Strategies for an Industry in Transition and Capital Markets and Sustainable Forestry: Opportunities for Investment.

In 2010 he received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and in 2015 the Social Entrepreneur Award from the Schwab Foundation. Also in 2015, Forest Trends was awarded the 2015 Award for Creative and Effective Institutions from the MacArthur Foundation.

Debora Batista

Finance & Project ManagerCommunities and Territorial Governance Initiative

Debora has over 10 years of professional experience managing projects at NGOs. She has a post-graduate degree in social innovation from Amani Institute and a masters degree in sustainability management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas Business School. Her masters’ dissertation researched the impact of agribusiness on traditional communities in Brazil and their efforts to stop environmental degradation. She is fluent in English and Spanish in addition to her native Portuguese.

Prior to joining Forest Trends, Debora was a senior analyst at WWF-Brazil, working with deforestation and conversion-free finance. Before WWF, she was a program analyst at the Institute for Entrepreneurial Citizenship working on impact investment and social innovation and also was the co-founder of Engajamundo Youth Association, raising awareness among young people regarding social and environmental issues, including developing  a capacity-building methodology for young people to understand how to participate in the construction of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Genevieve Bennett

DirectorCommunications and Strategic Outreach

Genevieve Bennett leads Forest Trends’ strategic outreach and communications work. Genevieve works to advance Forest Trends’ mission through strategic partnerships; creative, content-driven communications; meaningful engagement of our coalitions of partners and thought leaders in the field; and strengthened internal capacity for strategic partnerships and outreach.

Genevieve has expertise in environmental markets and finance, and has written extensively for both Forest Trends and a range of trade and academic publications including Environmental Finance magazine, Civil Engineering, and Nature, on topics including biodiversity finance, natural infrastructure, eco-entrepreneurship, strategies for scaling public and private conservation investments, and other market cross-cutting issues. Prior to joining Forest Trends she managed a demand assessment project for the Willamette Partnership in Oregon, and has also held positions with the Breakthrough Institute, the NYC Commission to the United Nations, and NYU Wagner School of Public Service. She holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from New York University.

Lilit Bodakowski

Finance Controller

Lilit Bodakowski has over 11 years of experience in the nonprofit finance and accounting field. Her experience ranges from small local membership nonprofits to large international organizations with a variety of different donors. Some of her expertise is in the area of accounting, annual audits, project audits, annual financial and management reporting,  donor reporting, compliance, internal controls, and financial risk management.

Eszter Bodnar

Senior ManagerCommunications

In her role as Senior Communications Manager, Eszter focuses on Forest Trends’ social media presence, publication pipelines, brand stewardship, data and information visualizations, as well as leads our partnership with the USDA Forest Service on developing innovative models for cross-sectoral collaboration on large-scale restoration of national forests.

Eszter brings a unique combination of expertise, and over 15 years of experience, in strategic communications, graphic design, environmental science, and public policy. She was trained as a graphic designer in her native Budapest, Hungary, and holds a second degree in environmental biology from University College London (UCL). Eszter has worked with Forest Trends for over 12 years prior to joining as staff. She also held positions with Climate Focus and World Forest ID, and supported over two dozen environmental organizations as a communications and design consultant, including the World Bank, The Nature Conservancy, WRI, WWF, and VERRA, among others. Eszter is currently based in Boulder, Colorado.

Beto Borges

DirectorCommunities and Territorial Governance Initiative

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 pursuing nature photography and rock climbing. Beto holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Conservation and Resources Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA in Strategic Leadership from the Dominican University of California. Previously, he was Director of the Brazil Program of the Rainforest Action Network, 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 and was the Manager of Sustainable Harvesting at Shaman Pharmaceuticals, developing ethnobotanical drugs from rainforest medicinal plants. As the Executive Director of Adopt-A-Watershed, he worked on watershed conservation through place-based learning methodologies. Beto also was a Program Officer with the Goldman Environmental Foundation, selecting finalists for the Goldman Environmental Prize and evaluating project proposals for funding. Beto has also consulted for Aveda Cosmetics, Conservation International, Instituto Terra, Occupational Knowledge International, and Wildlife Conservation Network, and others. He was co-chair of Grantmakers Without Borders and currently sits on the board of the Global Greengrants Fund, Earth Island Institute, and the Environmental Law Defenders Center. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

Ryan Boshart

ManagerOperations

Ryan is an experienced non-profit and education professional with a background in education advocacy, project management, and program operations. Serving as Operations Manager, he is responsible for all administrative, HR, and executive support tasks at Forest Trends. Prior to joining the organization in 2022, Ryan worked for Little Kids Rock, a music education non-profit dedicated to providing student-centered music education programming in US public schools.

He holds a Bachelors of Music Education from SUNY Fredonia in New York and, as a lifelong musician and educator, he still teaches and performs within the Washington DC metro area.

Oly Bracho

CFO

Oly Bracho is the Chief Financial Officer at Forest Trends. In this role, she is responsible for managing the institution’s financial affairs, and in conjunction with the Board of Directors and senior leadership team, ensures that the organization makes sound strategic decisions on the use of its resources and operates in an effective and fiscally sound manner. 

Ms. Bracho has over 20 years of experience in international finance and operations with global nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining Forest Trends, she held the positions of Vice President of Finances and Operations at Women for Women International and Rare Conservation, where she led all financial aspects of the organization and oversaw its legal, information technology, annual planning and budgeting. Before Women for Women and Rare Conservation, Ms. Bracho worked at Conservation International (CI) as the Senior Operations Director for Field Programs, where she led efforts to formulate and implement sustainable financing strategies. She also worked at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) leading financial and operational functions.

Ms. Bracho holds a Master’s degree in International Management, specializing in international finance from the University of Maryland, where she also received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Ms. Bracho speaks fluent English and Spanish

Kerstin Canby

Senior DirectorForest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative

Kerstin is Senior Director of Forest Trends’ Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative, overseeing Forest Trends’ work on regulatory and market approaches to promote legal and sustainable production and associated trade of timber and other commodities harvested from forest areas, as well as policy and public finance for forests. Increasingly, this work is highlighting illegal land use / conversion, the role of conversion timber in the global sourcing of wood fiber, and agricultural supply chains from legal or zero-deforestation zones. 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 developing natural resources management projects and grants, and other forest governance programs. She has advised governments and stakeholders on REDD+ donor programs and FLEGT initiatives in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She has also worked with the US Forest Service in Oregon and was the co-founder of an environmental education program in Durham, North Carolina. Kerstin holds a BA and Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University’s School of Forest and Environmental Sciences, where she focused on economics, forestry, wetlands, and coastal ecosystems.

Terry Chen

Senior Staff Accountant

Zhuoran Terry Chen is a Junior Accountant in the finance team of Forest Trends, where he assists and processes Accounts Payable functions, reviews and processes staff timesheets, and help with month-end close. He also supports financial reporting processes, reconciles bank accounts, and other balance sheet accounts, and provides support for grant project audits and annual organizational audit. 

Terry holds an MS in Accounting with a graduate certificate in forensic accounting from George Mason University and a BA from Renmin University of China.

Rupert Edwards

Senior Finance and Carbon AdvisorPublic-Private Finance Initiative

Rupert Edwards is Senior Advisor, Public Private Finance Initiative. He provides thought leadership on topics related to REDD+, climate finance and investment, carbon markets, and valuing environmental benefits. He was formerly a Managing Director of Climate Change Capital (2004-11), where roles included Head of Portfolio Management, Carbon Finance, and where he invested in low- carbon projects in developing countries on behalf of major institutional investor clients. From 1988 to 2002, he worked in financial markets for US bank JPMorgan, including as Head of European Government Bond trading. Rupert has also acted as a consultant to the World Bank, and has authored and contributed to a number of papers on topics such as investment and climate change. He is often invited to participate as an expert on environmental finance issues, including with the US State Department, UK government, OECD, United Nations and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China, as well as with government ministries in forest countries such as Brazil and Peru and with other NGOs. Rupert has an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London and an MA in History from Trinity College, Cambridge.

Tracy Ferrier

Senior Donor Engagement OfficerDevelopment

Tracy Ferrier has over 25 years of fundraising and development advancement experience and success. She has worked in large and small shops in a variety of sectors, from public media with PBS, to service with the American Red Cross directing the expansion of programs that enhanced overall revenue in the areas of special events, capital campaigns, and annual, major, and planned giving. Her passion for connecting donors to the causes they care about is what led her to Forest Trends, where she serves as the Senior Donor Engagement Officer, building connections and enhancing these important relationships.

Tracy is a graduate of the University of South Florida where she got her fundraising start as a student phone-a-thon caller. She is an adventurous traveler, avid hiker, cyclist, and skier, and lifelong Cleveland Browns fan.

 

Gena Gammie

DirectorGlobal Water Initiative

Gena Gammie is the Director of Forest Trends’ Global Water Initiative, which aims to scale up incentives and other economic tools that recognize the value of nature and upstream communities in assuring secure, safe water. In this role Gena works collaboratively with civil society, government, and professional associations to systematically address barriers to realizing effective watershed investments and leads Forest Trends’ work on analyses and tools for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of green infrastructure, with the aim of promoting performance-based investments in green infrastructure by mainstream water resources managers. Gena brings to this role experience on forest carbon project development and analysis, climate policy analysis with ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, and strategic communication at McKinsey & Company’s Sustainability and Resource Productivity practice. Gena holds an MSc with Distinction in Environmental Policy & Regulation from the London School of Economics, where her dissertation focused on multi-stakeholder platforms for cooperative water resources management.

Jasmine Garcia

DirectorOperations

Jasmine Garcia leads global operations at Forest Trends, focusing on the strategic and tactical execution of the organization’s needs across HR, IT, Legal, Risk Management, and Compliance. Through her leadership, Jasmine enables Forest Trends to scale their impact efficiently and collaboratively.

Before joining Forest Trends, Jasmine directed operations for the global United Way network, spanning over 40 countries and territories. Her efforts allowed teams to dedicate more time to programmatic work and less to administration. During her time as the Director of the Centreville Labor Resource Center, she advocated for fair wages for day laborers, provided skills training, and created a membership program. Her work focused on Board engagement, operational effectiveness, and building a strong membership network.

Jasmine’s passion for public administration was ignited during her Peace Corps service as a Sustainable Agriculture Extension Agent in Panama, where she supported key community-led initiatives. Jasmine holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Bowling Green State University. She is known for her ability to unite diverse groups, bring order to chaos, and her positive, solution-oriented mindset.

Marcio Halla

Local Economic Initiatives LeadCommunities and Territorial Governance Initiative

Marcio Halla leads economic indigenous governance projects and coordinates field activities in Latin America for Forest Trends’ Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative. Prior to joining Forest Trends, Marcio was implementing several sustainable development projects, working closely with traditional communities and indigenous peoples in the Atlantic Rainforest and Amazon region. Since 1997, he has actively managed projects on agroforestry, organic agriculture, sustainable forest value chains, community based ecotourism and forest management and certification.  Marcio has provided auditing services for Smartwood/IMAFLORA and the Union for Ethical Bio-trade in Latin America. Marcio has also participated in several training programs related to sustainable development and management of natural resources, including the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program at UC Berkeley and LEAD International. He graduated from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Agronomy, and has a master’s degree in Territorial Planning from Santiago de Compostela University (Spain). Marcio speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Devika Jaipuriar

Manager of Institutional Budgets & GrantsFinance
Devika Jaipuriar is the Manager of Finance & Grants for the Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative. Devika brings many years of experience in non-profit operations, grant/contract procurement & management, budgeting, and financial management with World Resources Institute (WRI), where she supported the Energy Program, Sustainable Finance Center, and Climate Program during her tenure. During her time at WRI, she not only became a master at successfully managing day-to-day financial operations, but also assisted in the growth of multiple teams by ushering in several impactful grant agreements via donors from a wide variety of government agencies (both US and international), foundations, and private corporations. Devika holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology & Environmental Studies from Binghamton University in New York.

Fernando Momiy Hada

Chief of PartyNatural Infrastructure for Water Security (NIWS) Project

Fernando Momiy is an internationally-recognized champion of natural infrastructure in Peru and is the Chief of Party (COP) of Forest Trends’ Natural Infrastructure for Water Security (NIWS) Project. Fernando holds an MBA and MA in Regulation of Public Services and Infrastructure Management. He has held numerous leadership positions in his nearly 25 years of government service at Peruvian infrastructure and sanitation agencies. Most recently, Fernando has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Latin American Association of National Water and Sanitation Regulators (ADERASA), the President of the Board of Directors of Peru’s National Superintendence of Sanitation Services (SUNASS), and Director of Investment Promotion at the Agency for Promotion of Private Investment. In these roles, he has promoted more than 100 public-private investment projects in the infrastructure sector, created a regional Green Infrastructure Working Group in Latin America, and led Peru’s water sector tariff and regulatory reforms.

Aubrey Peterson

Senior ManagerCommunications

Aubrey is the Senior Communications Manager at Forest Trends. In this role, she develops strategic communications plans, oversees engaging content creation, and elevates our team’s findings across diverse media platforms.

Aubrey has over ten years of communications experience in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. From her time as a Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam to her grant management work at an international development firm, she values connecting stakeholders with the proper tools to effectively share their work. In her spare time, Aubrey enjoys hiking, cooking, and improv comedy. She holds an MA in International Affairs from American University and a double BA in Communications and History from Wake Forest University.

Tran Minh Phuc

Communications Consultant, VietnamForest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative

Minh Phuc started out in international economics, but her love for nature and curiosity about how human activities connect with the environment led her to pursue a Master’s in Conservation Biology. She is now working at Forest Trends in Vietnam, where she handles communications and graphic design. She enjoys blending creativity with her passion for nature and helping to share stories that inspire people to care more about the world around them.

Nguyen Vinh Quang

Program AnalystForest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative

Quang joined Forest Trends in July 2013 as a Program Analyst for the Forest Trade and Finance Program. He is based in Vietnam where he focuses on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, sustainable forest management, and enhancement and maintenance of carbon stocks (REDD+), and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). Most recently Quang worked for the REDD+ Program of the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) in Vietnam, focusing on integration of multiple benefits into REDD+. He also has extensive experience working on climate change, natural (forest) resource management and conservation, forest policy and tenure. Quang holds a Ph.D in Forest Sciences from Kyushu University in Japan (2008), an M.Sc. in Social Development from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines (2003), and a BA in Business Administration from Hanoi National Economics University in Vietnam (1997).

Alfredo Rodriguez

Asia-Pacific Regional Coordinator, Timber Regulation Enforcement Exchange (TREE)Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance

Alfredo Rodriguez is the Asia-Pacific Regional Coordinator for the Timber Regulation Enforcement Exchange (TREE) program within the Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative. Based in South Korea, he facilitates the coordination between the program and the Asia Pacific network and liaises with governments and key actors, while reporting policy development and implementation processes of relevant regional initiatives focused on tackling the trade in illegally harvested timber and forest products.

With experience in the private and public sectors, Alfredo has provided advisory services focused on forest products and nature-based solutions by enhancing economic and financial mechanisms for nature conservation and production, developing and improving sustainable supply chains, implementing international certification schemes, and performing due diligence for the compliance of trade regulations. Prior to joining Forest Trends, Alfredo worked at the GIZ as a forest governance Senior Advisor and with WWF coordinating forest management-related projects in the Amazon. He holds a M.Sc. in Tropical Forestry from the Technical University of Dresden (Germany) and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration.

Mia Sakura Smith

Program ManagerGlobal Water Initiative

Mia is a registered Civil Engineer with over a decade of experience in water engineering and nature-based solutions (NbS) in watersheds across Latin America and California. She recently served as lead author and project manager for the most comprehensive global report tracking investments in NbS for water, and led monitoring and evaluation for a $52 million USAID-funded project scaling natural infrastructure investments in Peru. She holds a Master’s in Environmental Engineering from MIT and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Japanese. She was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii and is currently based in Mexico City.

Angel Soto

Deputy Director of Operations and FinanceForest Trends Peru

Angel has over 20 years of experience in finance and operations with international nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining Forest Trends, he held the position of Senior Manager, Global Administration at Rainforest Alliance, where he led all operational aspects of the organization in the Latin America region. Before Rainforest Alliance, Angel worked at Conservation International (CI) as the Operations Director for Mexico and Central America, where he led efforts implement financial and operational strategies for the region. He also worked at Save the Children Guatemala, leading financial and operational functions for USAID funded projects.

Xiufang Sun

Senior Policy AnalystForest Policy Trade and Finance

Xiufang works with Forest Trends as an Analyst, based out of Beijing, China. She holds an MS in Forest Products Marketing and Management from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an MA of Engineering in Management from Jilin University of Technology in Changchun, Jilin Province in China. Most recently Xiufang held the position of Agricultural Specialist in the Agricultural Affairs Office (USDA/FAS) in the United States Embassy in Beijing. Her responsibilities included market analysis reporting for China’s forestry and forest products, tracking market and policy changes for other commodities assigned, facilitating negotiations between the U.S. and Chinese officials for trade conflicts in the agricultural sector (including forest products)and serving as interpreter for such negotiations when needed. In addition, Xiufang has worked as a consultant to the WWF China Program. She has prepared and delivered numerous presentations on hardwood use in China’s furniture industry and on potentials for exporting forest products in China. Her research has been published in various publications including the Journal of Forestry and the Forest Products Journal.

Phuc Xuan To

Managing DirectorForest Policy, Trade, and Finance

Phuc is the Manging Director for our Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Program, based in Hanoi, Vietnam. He received his doctoral degree in Geography at Humboldt University in Berlin in 2007, where he also worked as a junior researcher at the Junior Research Group on Post-socialist Land Relations. His dissertation examines the political economy of the forest sector in Vietnam, with particular attention given to the dynamics of access and control over forestland and forest resources. From 2007 to 2009, Phuc was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Anthropology Department at the University of Toronto, where he was involved in a research project entitled “The Challenges of Agrarian Transitions in Southeast Asia” (ChATSEA). Currently, in addition to his work with Forest Trends, Phuc continues to work with ChATSEA and serves as a Research Fellow at the Asia Institute at the University of Toronto.

Chris Van Dam

Territorial Governance LeadCommunities and Territorial Governance Initiative

Chris is a rural sociologist with a Master’s Degree in Environment and Development (FLACSO). His main field of expertise are the social, political and economic issues related to Indigenous people and local communities, throughout Latin America. Within Forest Trends’ Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative, he leads the Capacity Building Program on Indigenous Territorial Governance, which covers a broad range of aspects, including Indigenous Economy, and Life Plans. Prior to joining Forest Trends, he worked with the FAO and GIZ in community forestry projects, he was a member of the FSC Board representing the Social Chamber and was a consultant for many organizations, including DGIS (Netherlands), the EU, Inter-cooperation, Helvetas, and IUCN.

Kevin Woods

Senior Policy AnalystForest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative

Dr. Kevin Woods has worked in the Mekong Region, including Myanmar (Burma), for nearly two decades on environmental governance and conflict in the land, forestry and agricultural sectors. For the past decade he has worked to help build Forest Trends’ program in Myanmar. Initially focusing on more narrow legality aspects of Myanmar’s timber trade with regards to FLEGT, the Myanmar program has since expanded to encompass conversion timber from agribusiness concessions and more recently, Myanmar’s EITI for forestry and broader resource governance reforms that contribute to political federalism and environmental peacebuilding. Dr. Woods has a master’s degree in environmental science from Yale University and a Ph.D. in political ecology from UC Berkeley. He has published extensively in NGO reports, including for Forest Trends, and other policy fora, as well as academic book chapters and journal articles.