Advisory Board

Sammy Gensaw, III, (Yurok) is the Founding Director of the Ancestral Guard, Artist, Yurok Language Speaker, Singer, Writer, Cultural/Political/Environmental Activist, Regalia Maker, Mediator, Youth Leader & Fisherman.

Tom is the founding partner of At One Ventures, which backs early-stage (Seed, Series A) companies using disruptive deep tech to upend the unit economics of established industries while dramatically reducing their planetary footprint.

Previous to founding At One, Tom was a founding member of Google X where he led the teams that created self-driving cars, deep learning artificial intelligence, wearable augmented reality and internet connectivity expansion. He played a significant role in established projects with global reach including Microsoft (Outlook) and Yahoo (Search, Answers).

He has also spent time in the developing world and via social entrepreneurship accelerators, mentoring 200+ entrepreneurs working on global development issues such as access to clean water, electricity, education, health care, and employment.

Tom has spoken at TEDx, Aspen Institute, YPO, SuperVenture, IDEO, Unreasonable and Summit at Sea. He is also a lifelong inventor, with 75 patents across hardware, software, design, and mechanical systems.

Jessica oversees coverage of companies within the Industrials and Materials sectors in the US and Canada for the BlackRock Investment Stewardship team, where she is responsible for engaging with public company management teams and boards of directors on material ESG risk factors on behalf of BlackRock’s clients. She is also responsible for voting BlackRock's shares at these companies' annual meetings. A key focus area within her sectors includes the assessment of climate- and nature-related risks, in the context of a company’s long-term outlook and broader considerations for a transition to a lower-carbon economy. Jessica also regularly engages on topics such as governance, compensation, board composition, human capital management, activism, M&A, and strategy.

Jessica is BlackRock’s representative on the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which aims to create a risk management and disclosure framework for organizations to report and act on nature-related risks. Jessica brings over 13 years of experience in ESG-related roles and financial services; before joining BlackRock, she was on the Stewardship and Corporate Governance team at TIAA. Prior to working at TIAA, Jessica provided financial planning to wealth management clients. Jessica began her career at Moxy Vote (TFS Capital), a start-up focused on proxy voting and retail shareholder advocacy efforts.

Jessica is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and holds various securities licenses. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in English.

Dr. Tobin is an ecologist and attorney with over two decades of private sector experience, having worked in the international finance industry for much of his career. Following a decade of corporate legal practice in the area of emerging markets finance, while actively providing counsel on environmental conservation matters on a pro bono basis, he turned his full attention towards the growing area of corporate sustainability, becoming Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability at Credit Suisse. In this position, he pioneered a variety of initiatives and policies aimed at setting the finance industry on a more sustainable course. In 2016 he transitioned into a faculty position at Cornell University, where he teaches corporate sustainability, environmental and social risk management, impact investing, environmental finance, and related topics to undergraduates and graduate students in business and public affairs. His research focuses on the use of financial tools to generate positive outcomes in the areas of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. In addition, he actively engages with industry and civil society to develop financial solutions to sustainability problems, including as co-founder of the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC). Dr. Tobin has extensive leadership and governance experience in not-for-profit entities at the board level, particularly in the areas of environment, science, and education.

Troy is a co-founder and CEO at Earthshot, which is financing nature restoration projects at planetary scale. He previously co-founded RIZOME, a pioneer in climate-positive bamboo lumber, and worked in project finance for renewable energy and agriculture projects. He is passionate about restoring human relationship with non-human nature and creating scaled institutions that honor the sacredness of life.

Samantha Power is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Finance for Gaia. She is a Nature Finance Specialist and Ecological Economist based in Oakland, CA on the ancestral land of the Ohlone people. Through Finance for Gaia, she supports clients to: pursue cross-sector collaboration and cooperation, develop and implement visions and strategies that lead to transformative economic change, and put finance in service to life. It is her personal mission to heal how humans interact with the Earth through the economy – moving from extraction and destruction to regeneration.

Samantha believes that our biodiverse ecosystems are the organs of the Earth and must urgently be protected to ensure resilience to climate change, meet the needs of all, and to provide humanity the continued ability to thrive. She believes in the criticality of a just transition to the zero-carbon, nature-positive economy that puts the needs of the most vulnerable at the center and builds on the wisdom of indigenous practices. She is working to drive a global economic and social transformation that fundamentally shifts how we relate to and value the natural world.

Samantha worked with the World Bank for more than 5 years where she was a leading voice on nature finance and an author on multiple reports on the topic. She has advised finance ministries, central banks, and investors. Her previous work includes consulting on climate and nature finance and policy at consulting firms and for a political candidate. Samantha holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs and International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in International Economics from Louisiana State University.

Currently, Shannon Cosentino-Roush serves as the Chief Strategy Officer at Finless Foods — an alternative seafood company that is committed to creating a future for seafood where the ocean thrives. Shannon is inspired by the dynamic opportunity this rapidly evolving industry presents to reshape our interaction with the ocean, by expanding the way we think about, produce, and consume seafood - particularly bluefin tuna.

In her role, Shannon oversees multiple departments from Policy and Regulatory Affairs to Sustainability, Marketing, and Communications. In addition to supporting and guiding the vision, planning, and decision-making for the company, She also focuses heavily on building greater buy-in, collaboration, and investment for alternative seafood and food system innovation among ocean conservation and policy experts, seafood industry representatives, food industry players, global governments, and broad strategic partners.

Prior to Finless, Shannon built her expertise and career around a passion for creating and implementing policies and systems-change that strengthen sustainable fisheries, protect biodiversity, and ensure a healthy, thriving ocean. Her professional journey began with a B.S. in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Santa Clara University followed by a J.D. and Masters in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School.

Following this, Shannon has developed a breadth of applied expertise, from the global stage to the field, through a range of positions including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the US Government (NOAA), various global-focused NGOs, and as a technical ocean policy and legal expert on a range of international projects across the US, Asia, and Africa. Through these experiences, she has honed in on her dual passion for catalyzing systems
change through innovation and policy, which led her to co-found a cross-disciplinary, zero-waste hackathon in partnership with NYC’s Department of Sanitation as well as inspired her to join Finless Foods. Shannon applies her expertise to advance policies and catalyze innovative solutions (finding the power lies in the synergy of these together) for the benefit of the ocean, biodiversity, and overall planetary sustainability.

Renata Pollini is the Head of Nature at Holcim. She joined the company in November 2020. In her current role, she led the development of Holcim's new Nature strategy, setting out measurable water and biodiversity targets. She is an official member of the Task Force for Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), represents Holcim at the Science Based Target Network (SBTN) Corporate Engagement Program and an active member of Business for Nature’s Strategic Advisory Group. Prior to this, Renata worked 10 years for Syngenta in various global, in-country operational and strategic positions. In her last role at Syngenta, Renata led the sustainability function in Brazil. Renata was born and raised in Brazil. She holds a Bachelor in Biology from the Federal University of São Carlos, a Master in Sustainable Development from University of Basel and an MBA from the University of St. Gallen.

Working in sustainability for over 22 years, Marine joined HSBC to create the Sustainability function for France in 2004, and then headed the function for Europe. Since January 2021, as HSBC’s Group Advisor on Natural Capital, she coordinates the Group’s response to nature related risks and opportunities, liaising with business lines and functions and bringing in insights from external working groups such as TNFD or CISL Biodiversity working groups.

Marine is also professor at Sciences Po Paris, a leading Higher Education Institution, where she teaches “Finance & Biodiversity” to student enrolled in the Environmental Policy Master.

A Board member of Friendship, a Bangladeshi nonprofit, and of the Fondation Egalité des Chances, she acts as Auditor of IHEDN (Institute of higher studies in National Defense) and CHEE&DD (Institute of higher studies in Environment and in Sustainable development). Marine holds a MSc in Museology from University Paris IV, a MSc in Publishing and a BBA in Finance from Pace University, New York.

Lucy Almond is a strategic communications and coalition-building specialist, proficient in delivering projects at a strategic or operational level, with a special interest in natural resource sectors, technological and social innovation.

She has been the driving force behind the Nature4Climate (N4C) coalition – where she is currently working as Chair. N4C is a strategic mobilisation response to climate change that aims to increase investment and action on natural climate solutions. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) hosts the secretariat for 18 other international coalition partners: UNDP, UN-REDD, UNEP, CBD, IUCN, CI, EDF, Global Mangrove Alliance, Birdlife International, Re:wild, WCS, Woodwell Research Centre, WBCSD, WRI, WWF, We Mean Business, the Food and Land Use Coalition and Youth4Nature.

Tim Christophersen joined Salesforce as VP, Climate Action in May 2022. Within the global Impact Team, he is focused on the role of nature-based solutions to climate change. Tim is based in Denmark.

Before joining Salesforce, Tim was Head of the ‘Nature for Climate’ Branch at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and led a growing global movement backed by all UN Member States and over 120 partner organizations to ‘prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide’: the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.

He holds a degree in Forestry and Forest Conservation Engineering from Dresden University of Technology. He previously worked for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), where he led the portfolio on the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity. From 2017-2019, he was elected Chair of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration.

From 2002-2007 he was Regional Programme Coordinator for Europe, the Caucasus and the Commonwealth of Independent States at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He also worked for the Danish Ministry of the Environment, and for the European Commission.