News

Head of Research and Knowledge

Karen Lawrence has over 20 years experience specialising in designing and implementing participatory natural resource management plans linking biodiversity conservation, stakeholder engagement processes, community livelihoods and sustainable finance mechanisms.

Examples of work include mapping of Cornish coastal community landscape values, participatory natural resource use plans linked to livelihood strategies for supporting protected areas in Cambodia, Thailand and Philippines for USAID and EU projects, as well as community forestry in Nigeria for a DFID project.

She was 6 years with WWF-UK where as a design and impact advisor, she supported the conservation science and impact monitoring of the Living Amazon Initiative, supported the deforestation trend analysis with scenario assessments, and applied the IUCN ecosystem assessment methodology, she also designed and implemented with WWF Brazil an impact evaluation assessment to show the avoided deforestation of supporting rubber tappers in 3 million hectares of brazilian rainforest. All of this work was underpinned by building the capacity of local teams, facilitating community resource mapping and planning whilst linking it to remote sensing data and geographical information systems.

She is also experienced in designing strategies, projects, and developing monitoring and evaluation processes for meaningful engagement with multi-sector, and multi-cultural stakeholders. She designed and facilitated the stakeholder evaluation of the WWF PISCES project and evaluated the Civic Mediation process used in the Celtic Seas Partnership to explore relationships between the Scottish fishing industry, E-NGOs and Government. She has also worked with ZSL as an impact manager and more recently conducted an evaluation of WWF-Indonesias conservation strategy.

She has an engineering degree, a masters in land and water management and a doctorate in political ecology from Kings College London as well as masters courses in renewables energy.

You can contact Karen on: kl@projectxglobal.com

Operations and Finance Director

Peter spent 30 years as CEO/COO/FD at law & professional services firms – most recently 12 years at Bates Wells a £25 million City firm with a strong reputation as the only value-driven profit-making law firm in the UK. He led Bates Wells becoming a founding B Corp and only law firm in the UK to achieve B Corp status. Bates Wells was recently reported as the law firm both with the most improved carbon footprint and the lowest carbon footprint in the legal sector, with a 90% reduction over 10 years from 6 to 0.6 tonnes per head. He became a Board Director of Project X in December 2019.

He is also a Board member of Trustees Unlimited (also a B Corp) which both runs a professional recruitment service for finding Charity and NFP Trustees and “Step On Board” which is used by over 30 major City businesses to train and mentor their partner, executives and staff to become trustees of smaller charities. Finally, he is the Honorary Treasurer of the BWB Foundation.

You can contact Peter on: pmb@projectxglobal.com

Senior Advisor

Belissa has over twelve years of managing impact at the project and portfolio level and implementing IMM tools and systems at the Inter-American Development Bank as well as leading complex business transformation projects. She led the design and implementation of a post-investment impact measurement system for IDB Invest.

Prior to that Belissa has been counsellor for the Executive Director of Peru, Chile and Colombia at the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank, the IDB Invest and the IDB Lab. Belissa started her career at the Ministry of Economics and Finance and the Regulatory Agency for Banking, Insurance and Pensions in Peru. She has a MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Masters in finance and BA in economics from Universidad del Pacifico.

Belissa is passionate about co-creating innovative solutions to achieve systemic change that positively affects people + planet.

You can contact Belissa on: br@projectxglobal.com

Executive Assistant to Marcela Navarro

Jan is a virtual assistant with over 30 years of experience in administration and secretarial management. Jan supports small businesses with regular or one-off tasks enabling them to get on with more important activities such as generating income. A highly experienced, senior award-winning administration professional, who has worked across all sizes of business and across all sectors, including not-for-profit.

You can contact Jan on: jg@projectxglobal.com

Communications and Engagement Officer

Pablo is a graduate of Sevenoaks School working with Project X before he goes to take his Bachelor’s Degree to study English Literature at UCL. Capable of speaking four languages, Pablo brings an astute command of the English language accrued through his multiple years’ worth of blogging experience. He has been deeply inspired by the work carried out by Project X, and hopes to take advantage of this development in his sustainability knowledge to help inform his audience of pressing environmental crises in the future.

You can contact Pablo on: prn@projectxglobal.com

Community Engagement Officer

Anna’s a recent graduate from the University of Birmingham with a passion for sustainability. She is working with Project X for a short time before she heads off to start a MSc in Sustainability and Consultancy at the University of Leeds. In this time, she’s expanding and gaining more breadth and depth of her knowledge by working closely with the rest of the team. She has volunteered within the charity sector in communications, and distributes this skillset to Project X’s communications team.

You can contact Anna on: ad@projectxglobal.com

Communications and Engagement Officer

Ella joined the Project X team during her gap year to aid in Stage 4 of FEED-X, through social media communications, research efforts and graphic design before leaving to study Natural Sciences at the University of Leeds, where she will primarily study Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry with the hopes of eventually specialising in a sustainability-focused field.

Prior to this, she studied at Alton College where she gained three A*s in Biology, Mathematics and an Extended Project Qualification as well as an A in Chemistry.

In life, she tries to manage her life in an environmentally-friendly way but recognises the need for a larger institutional shift in a more sustainable direction. She has seen the efforts being carried out at Project-X, from which she has been deeply motivated and inspired.

You can contact Ella on: eb@projectxglobal.com

Senior Adviser

Daniela has a wealth of experience in both business and impact. She is the Chair of Muove and a Non-Executive Director of FTSE 100 company Halma plc.

More recently, she was CEO of Granito Group, which offers strategic advisory, financial solutions and thought leadership for asset owners and asset managers to align the interests of people, profit and planet. Prior to that, Daniela was CEO of leading venture philanthropy organisation Impetus–PEF (2006-2015). During that period, she co-founded the Education Endowment Foundation and was a member of the advisory board for the G8 Social Investment Taskforce.

Daniela started her career in venture capital and private equity, working at Citibank, Goldman Sachs and BancBoston Capital. She has a MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bsc in economics from Unicamp.

Daniela has been chosen as one of “20 People who are Changing Brazil and the World for the Better”, by IstoE Dinheiro and selected by the Independent on Sunday as one of 100 people who make Britain a better place.

You can contact Daniela on: dbs@projectxglobal.com

Director of Partnerships

Juliet’s joins the Project X team to support on development. Juliet brings a breadth of experience in the philanthropy developed during her time working for a Goodwill Ambassador to Nelson Mandela’s Children Fund, Macmillan Cancer Support, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and during her MSc in Grantmaking, Philanthropy and Social Investment at the Cass Business School where she gained a Distinction. She has continued to build the diversity of her portfolio: developing strategies for philanthropists, writing philanthropy and social investment advisory toolkits for wealth advisors, relationship building, and coordinating events and content for family office and philanthropic audiences.

You can contact Juliet on: jv@projectxglobal.com

Executive Chair and Director of Industrial Sustainability

Steve is Director of Research in Industrial Sustainability at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Manufacturing and Director of the Centre for Industrial Sustainability. His 30 year plus career within industry and academia, which includes 12 years at Martin-Baker and as Professor of Life cycle engineering at Cranfield, has focused on how industry can bring environmental and social sustainability concerns into design and manufacturing practices to bring about a sustainable industrial future.

CEO & Co-Founder

With a career of over 20 years of experience in value chain, sustainability and banking, Marcela is a recognised leader in purpose-led transformation models, with a proven track record in South America, North America and Europe. Prior to co-founding Project X, Marcela was Head of Customer Innovation at RBS, and a member of its Corporate Banking Board, where she led innovative programmes transforming the way traditional systems work together, resulting in multimillion pound savings, additional revenue for the bank, its customers and suppliers and significant environmental benefits. In 2015, she was recognised as Leader of the Year by Business Green and in 2014 she received a Word of Difference Award for her contributions to supplier inclusion.

You can contact Marcela on: mn@projectxglobal.com

Associate – GAVI-X

Belissa is an International Development Expert with over twelve years of strategic advisory, business transformation, strategic planning, and impact management and measurement. She has worked for multilateral organisations, government agencies, and private sector consulting firms in North America, Europe and Latin America. She specialises in developing business strategies, transforming strategy definitions into actionable plans, and operationalising solutions. Strong ability to engage stakeholders across different levels in the organisation and drive fact-based consensus. Fluent in English, Spanish, and French.

You can contact Belissa on: br@projectxglobal.com

Non Exec Director

Rob has focused on technology commercialisation and impact investing in resource efficiency sectors for around 30 years. He is co-founder and Chairman of a number of investment organisations including WHEB, Cambridge Agritech and Five Seasons VC. A chemist with an MA and PhD from Cambridge, Rob spent ten years in Shell’s agrochemical business before working in the 1980s with Rothschild’s Bioscience unit investigating environmental investment opportunities. He then joined KPMG where he worked on numerous M&A and privatisation transactions as well as on the development of environmental funds.

EA to Marcela Navarro and Kate Wolfenden

Kat has travelled extensively, teaching English as a second language to children all over the world through the mediums of play and theatre. Seeing this method of teaching’s positive impact first-hand, and recognising the importance of sharing knowledge, Kat decided to put these skills to use in the charity and education sector. She has two years experience in supporting C-Suite leaders before moving to Project X as an Executive Assistant to the two Co-Founders. Kat is passionate about people and the environment and is combining her personal values and professional skills in a bid to help save the world through Project X Global.

On Purpose Associate

Prior to joining Project X as a delivery support for the 10 in 10 Programme, Alice was managing strategic projects in a leading travel management company, acting as an internal consultant in activities related to structure optimisation, sales effectiveness, and global collaboration. She also worked for Ferrero France on the strategic development of a new CSR program for the brand Kinder, as well as on Trade Marketing activities for the brand Nutella. In 2017 she co-founded the Brixton Food Assembly, a local food market in South London aiming at bringing the community together around fresh, local products. Alice has some volunteering experience as a fundraiser for a charity acting around education in Burkina Faso, and participated in Model UN conferences in Cambridge and New York. She holds a Masters in Management from EDHEC Business School in France and a Master in Global Business from the University of Victoria (Canada). She’s a native French speaker who’s also fluent in English and Spanish.

Associate Feed-X

Nadia is a passionate international climate policy specialist, with diverse experience across the private sector, public sector and environmental standards. Before joining Project X Nadia supported the UNFCCC Secretariat in working with the Executive Committee for loss and damage in operationalising its mandates. Prior to this, Nadia spent more than four years inPwC’s Sustainability and Climate Change practice, working with private and public sector clients including British Venture Capital Association (BVCA), WBCSD, World Bank, and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on the Climate and Development Knowledge Network. She holds a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Environment Technology (Dist.) both from Imperial College London.

Non Exec Director

James Shaw was born in India and educated in England at Ludgrove, Shrewsbury, RMA Sandhurst and The Army Staff College. He started his working life with a brief spell in the City before joining the Army in 1971. During his 34 years of service, he deployed to the Middle East on several occasions, Northern Ireland and The Balkans. He commanded his Regiment during the first Gulf War, a Brigade in Bosnia and the largest and most complex Division comprising 13 Brigades and 34,000 soldiers during the second Gulf War. He was awarded the MBE in 1986 for services in Berlin during the height of the Cold War and advanced to CBE in 2004. Since leaving the Army in January 2005, he has worked in Private Equity, has his own Advisory Business and acts as a mentor to a number of aspiring young individuals.

Director of Strategic Communications

Simon has more than 20 years’ experience in commercial strategy, innovation and risk management. He is Managing Director of Project Rome, a communications and strategy consultancy. Previous roles include Head of Sustainability and Innovation at the accountancy firm, BDO and Managing Partner of the Sustainable Business Practice at PIPC, an international programme management consultancy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and visiting Professor of Sustainability and Innovation at Chester University.

Director of Finance

Nigel Higgs is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, and holds a Masters degree in Finance. During Nigel’s 35 years in business he has held a variety of senior finance and operational roles in companies ranging from SMEs to large multinationals both in the UK and Europe. Nigel also brings experience of working with venture capital funded companies, from start-up through to exit.

Director of the Project X Finance Community

James graduated from Oxford University and then spent almost 20 years as a trader and fund manager, including setting up the world’s first climate change hedge fund. He left the financial markets in 2008 to take a Masters in Environmental Technology at Imperial College and moved into the NGO sector to work with investors to help them address the risks and opportunities from climate change with a particular focus on ESG strategy and integration. Prior to supporting the Project X programme, James headed up the Investor team at CDP, building its investor community to 830 investors representing $100 trillion in assets.

Non Exec Director

Thomas is CEO of WWF Switzerland. Prior to taking on the role of CEO in 2012, Thomas spent 9 years heading up WWF Switzerland’s programme division and was responsible for the organisation’s national and international conservation projects. Previously, he worked in private banking for Citibank and as an engagement manager for McKinsey & Co. Thomas holds degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Durham, in International Relations from Cambridge and in Business Administration from IMD.

Non Exec Director

Sue is the Head of Corporate Stewardship Finance within WWF-UK and has been with WWF-UK since 2010. Previously Sue had been with Barclays for 23 years and had undertaken a number of senior roles, including Financial Controller for the Global Retail and Commercial Bank, Head of the Finance and Reporting Service Centre, and Group Programme Director Sarbanes Oxley. Sue is a chartered accountant with 23 years of experience in the finance sector and a German degree (BA Honours) from Exeter University.