its all about our people
We are global leaders with extensive, top-tier professional experience in carbon project development and carbon markets, major projects execution and management, emerging markets resources transactions and commercial structuring and finance.
Chief of Staff
Rafael Barone
Senior Associate
Jonathan Thurling
Jonathan has over 5 years’ experience in emerging market investment and climate finance.
Jonathan was previously an associate at Climate Fund Managers, an innovative blended finance fund manager investing exclusively in emerging markets. Together with Darren, he helped raise Climate Investor Two, a target USD 1 Billion blended finance fund focused on sustainable energy, circular economy, water, and ecosystem projects. During his time, he facilitated the investment of several different climate providers into the fund and developed the market research and investment strategy for the firm’s new climate finance investment products.
Prio to joining Climate Fund Managers, Jonathan was a development economist at Urban-Econ Development Economists (based in South Africa) where he developed economic impact assessments, business plans and models for public and private sector organizations. He started his career at Kempen & Co, a Dutch investment bank.
Jonathan holds an MSc in Economics with Distinction (specializing in Sustainability & Growth) from Tilburg University and a BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Cape Town.
Senior Legal Counsel
Catherine Lobb
Catherine has close to a decade of top-tier legal experience, having advised on a wide variety of corporate finance and M&A transactions in multiple jurisdictions for clients across several industries, including commodities and natural resources.
Prior to joining Imperative, Catherine was an Associate at Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto, Canada where she advised corporate, investment banking and private equity clients on domestic and cross-border transactions and general corporate matters including IPOs, common share offerings and acquisitions, investment grade and high yield bonds, and credit facilities.
Before that, Catherine was an Associate at Sidley Austin LLP in their New York, London and Sydney offices where she established a global practice focused on advising corporate and investment banking clients as they conducted public and private securities offerings in the U.S. equity and debt capital markets. Catherine regularly participated in pro bono initiatives, including the Veterans Advocacy Program and the Emerging Enterprises Pro Bono Program.
Catherine holds a Bachelor of International Studies with Distinction (majoring in Globalisation) from the University of New South Wales and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Sydney. Catherine is a qualified lawyer in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Chief Executive Officer
Scobie Mackay
Scobie has approximately 20 years’ experience across voluntary carbon, international trade, cross-border commodities transactions and structured finance.
Previously Global Head of Origination, Structuring and Sales for Macquarie Group’s Global Carbon Business, Scobie authored the business plan for, and led the establishment of, the voluntary carbon business for Macquarie.
Scobie has sat on the Taskforce on Scaling the Voluntary Carbon Market, the Sustainable Markets Initiative Working Group on Carbon Markets, the Environmental Defense Fund & High-Tide Foundation Steering Committee on Mobilizing Voluntary Carbon Markets and other thought-leading forums in the voluntary carbon space.
Academically, Scobie holds a Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences), a Bachelor of Laws (Hon) and a Master of Laws Degree in International Law, all from the Australian National University. He is currently an Executive MBA candidate at Oxford University.
Scobie is a qualified lawyer in England and Australia.
Chief Commercial & Legal Officer
Jake Howard
Jake has approximately 20 years in legal and commercial practice, having advised on projects and transaction in over 45 countries worth over US$20 billion in value.
Previously General Manager, Green Hydrogen at Fortescue Future Industries where he led investments, offtake negotiations and project development across multiple emerging markets projects.
Prior to that, Jake was a senior equity partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, where he had a 16-year career, specializing in emerging market cross-border commodities, energy and resources projects and transactions, including for example a sub-Saharan African carbon project portfolio.
Jake has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University and is currently an Executive MBA candidate at Oxford University.
Jake is a qualified lawyer in England and Australia.
Chief Operations & Projects Officer
Mark Welch
Mark has held a range of executive level positions globally.
His current role is Chief Operations and Projects Officer for Imperative Global.
Previously, Mark spent 19 years with KBR, a leading global engineering, technology and project delivery company providing solutions to the energy markets and governments of the world.
With KBR, Mark held a range of roles including head of strategy & acquisitions and global senior vice president of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).
Highlights of Mark’s career with KBR included;
Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New South Wales in Australia and an MBA (Project Management Specialism) from Henley Management College, UK.
Chief Financial Officer
Jackie Pham
Jackie is an established finance leader with nearly 20 years of experience across energy, fintech, and more recently ESG technology & services.
She was previously the Director of Finance at Topl, and prior to that was the VP & Head of US Finance at NCR Cardtronics, where she oversaw over $800MM in revenues.
She is well-respected for her ability to deliver durable and dynamic solutions while bridging mid to long term strategies, which has made her successful in driving business transformation, and most importantly, developing people.
Jackie holds a dual BBA degree in Finance and Management of Information Systems from the University of Houston and an MBA from Rice University.
Chief Technology Officer
Kim Raath, PhD
Kim was previously CEO and co-founder of Topl, a purpose-built blockchain infrastructure designed to increase coordination and efficiency in ethical or sustainable ecosystems, create stories for responsibly sourced products, and unlock innovative financing mechanisms across industries.
Kim has worked in over 18 developing countries to rebuild and strengthen communities by implementing innovative forms of technology.
Kim comes from an ethical mining and sustainable agricultural background with roots in South Africa. And she holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and is the first Rice University student to simultaneously complete an M.A. in Economics and a Ph.D. in Statistics.
As a leader in sustainability, Kim is a member of CNBC’s ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) Council and sits on the advisory board of Xpansiv, a global market for ESG-inclusive commodities. She also serves on the advisory board of Rice University’s Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems (CoFES) and a few other impact-driven companies and foundations.
VP Project Development
Darren Moens
Darren has 10 years of experience investing in renewable energy and climate projects across global emerging markets.
Prior to joining Imperative, Darren was an investment manager and capital raising executive at Climate Fund Managers, an innovative blended finance fund manager investing exclusively in emerging markets. While there, he developed and raised Climate Investor Two, a USD 700mn fund with an investment mandate for sustainable energy, circular economy, water and ecosystem projects. In this role he led the development of the market research and investment strategy for the following sectors: carbon credits with a focus on blue carbon, seaweed aquaculture and nature-based solutions for water management.
Prior to joining Climate Fund Managers, Darren was an investment manager for the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and in this role sourced, structured and executed numerous renewable energy transactions in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as being part of the team which created FMO’s sustainable forestry investment strategy.
Academically, Darren holds a Master of Science in International Finance from the University of Amsterdam as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. In parallel with his studies Darren served for 4 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, including a year in Afghanistan as part of the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team in 2008.
VP Carbon Investments
Arthur Vanderschooten
Arthur has about 10 years of experience in the development and financing of carbon, natural capital and impact investment experience in emerging markets.
Prior to joining Imperative, Arthur worked for South Pole’s global Structure Carbon Finance team where he was in charge of securing and closing large scale NBS investments for corporate clients, primarily with water filters, reforestation and REDD+.
He was previously the lead Private Equity Investment Officer for Forestry at FMO, the Dutch development bank, leading various innovative transactions in Asia, Latin America and Africa (funds, strategic and minority acquisitions, loans and restructuring). Arthur started his career working with two different carbon project developers, working on various key steps of the carbon asset development for a cookstove project in Burkina Faso and ARR/IFM VCS CCB certified projects (baseline, registration, MRV, execution).
Arthur holds Masters in Environment and Resources Management from the VU University in Amsterdam, and in Corporate and Market Finance from Science Po Strasbourg. He also holds a bachelor’s in Economy and Law from Strasbourg University and Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia.
VP Strategy & Origination
Kian Keong Soon
KK has approximately 7 years across voluntary carbon and structured commodity finance.
KK has over 7 years Macquarie’s client-execution lead for top-tier accounts, overseeing end-to-end (origination, structuring, execution) of over 340 physical oil purchase, sale and inventory monetization transactions worth >$17bn. This involved commercial & contractual negotiations, deal structuring, pricing and execution, ongoing oversight and operational handling of cargo flows, and risk distribution with banking partners and insurance providers. Cargo flows were global in nature (US-Asia, Europe-Asia, US-Australia, US-Mexico, LATAM-US, Africa-LATAM) and across the spectrum of crude and oil products.
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Head of Africa
Jaco Venter
Jaco is a veteran carbon and conservation specialist with over 25 years of African experience in nature-based solutions, carbon/conservation project design and large multi-stakeholder project execution. His pragmatic approach to project execution is strengthened by further specialization in development finance that includes project finance, blended finance, and impact/carbon investments.
Previously, Jaco was the senior investment manager (Africa) for South Pole, leading and supporting NBS carbon investments in Africa. As the Head of Strategic Programmes (Africa) at Conservation International, Jaco was based in Nairobi, Kenya. He was responsible for the development and implementation of nature-based projects across 18 African countries. He led all GEF (Global Environmental Fund – World Bank) and Green Climate Fund (GCF) proposal development, project design, execution and scale-up.
Jaco holds a BSC (Hons) in Environmental Science from Rhodes University and a Masters in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.
Technology Project Manager
Chris Everts
Chris was previously employed with Dimension Data, a technology company specializing in information technology services focusing on consulting, technical and support services. Primarily focused on data administration and analytics.
Chris has experience in implementing ERP software and IoT technology solutions empowering organizations and transforming operations to become digitally driven. Chris has implemented projects in various industries including mining and agriculture. He has implemented software and technology solutions in emerging African countries such as the DRC, Swaziland, and South Africa. He also has experience in technology product development, specifically focused on product demands driven by customer needs.
Chris is from South Africa and holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and is currently completing his MBA from Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) at University of Pretoria. He strives to create value in projects by enabling partners with relevant technology driven solutions.
Head of China & Technical Lead
Ruth Wang
Ruth has 21 years of experience in the carbon & energy business, across commercial, technical and project audit roles.
Prior to joining Imperative, Ruth was at Macquarie for 13 years. She was last Vice President and Head of Energy Sales (China), where she helped establish the energy business in China from scratch for 8 years, drawing from a deep network of relationships across government, corporates and SOEs. Before this, she had served 5 years as the Technical Advisor for GHG emission projects, where she directly contributed to the execution of 53 projects under the CDM scheme, with annual volume of over 15m tC02e.
She started her career serving in the Chinese Government for 5 years under its National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) as researcher for Energy Efficiency Pilot Projects funded by the World Bank, Global Environment Fund and NDRC. She later served for over 4 years as a Carbon Project Auditor in DNV, where she validated more than 197 projects and verified 61 monitoring reports, involving 38 methodologies across Gold Standard and CDM.
Business Manager
Jessica Hyams
Prior to joining Imperative, Jessica was an Assistant Vice President, Commercial Lending at Prosperity Bank. Prior to this, she was a financial researcher for an investment banking firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions within the UK market.
She has experience in financial modeling and analysis, corporate finance and accounting. Jess holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance with a focus on Global Energy Management from the University of Houston.
Finance Manager
Joseph Callahan
Joseph has held various finance positions across software, fintech and wealth management industries.
Prior to joining Imperative, Joseph led the Finance organization for the DSOM business group at BMC Software, a $1B revenue business with multiple products. Before BMC Software, Joseph spent 4 years at NCR Cardtronics where he led the pricing initiatives for the Financial Institutions business and was Finance Manager for the Allpoint product. Prior to that, Joseph supported a top 2% producing wealth management advisor at Northwestern Mutual and managed investment strategies and insurance operations.
Joseph holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Houston Downtown.
Technical Manager
Elsa Du
Elsa has 12 years across carbon, energy and leasing businesses.
Elsa was a former Technical Manager at Carbon United Great Certification, where she was mainly responsible for conducting annual carbon emission audits of enterprises across power, chemical and ceramic industries, involving on-site inspection, data monitoring and crosscheck, document verification and audit report issuance, validating more than 20 projects and companies.
Elsa was previously with Macquarie’s commodities finance business where she was a Senior Client Manager, participating in over 15 energy projects and helped build strategic partner relationships for carbon projects in China. Prior to this, she was with the Corporate & Asset Finance department of Macquarie, taking responsibility of the financial analysis, drawdowns origination and the ongoing leased asset management in Asia, covering more than 20 projects and completing 100+ drawdowns.
Elsa is a CFA designation candidate and is currently an MBA candidate of Tsinghua University. She holds an MA of International Economics & Finance from Brandeis University and BS of Economics from Central University of Finance & Economics.
Technical Manager
Kinne Gueye, PhD
Kinne has over 10 years of experience providing science-based policy and technical advice for the development of forest conservation and environmental projects in Latin America and Africa.
Prior to joining Imperative, she worked as an independent consultant providing technical advice for the development of carbon forestry projects in the tropics and helped various clients, including local communities, landowners, local governments and private companies on sustainability issues, including ecological impact assessment, woodland creation and sustainable forest management. Previously, she led the development of a multi-partnership research project in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve to evaluate REDD+ strategies and coordinated the environmental compliance of the Supervia Poniente in Mexico.
She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Environmental Geography, a BSc in Biology – both from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and a diploma in Environmental Modelling from ITC/University of Twente (The Netherlands).
GIS Analyst
Nay Lin Tun
Analyst
Jack Phillips
After graduating with a B.S. in Environmental Science in 2021, Jack is now a budding sustainability professional with specific interest in carbon offset strategies and driving impact through project implementation.
Professionally, Jack has a track record of sustainability work, having worked as a research assistant for the City of Santa Monica to help their sustainability team develop new environmental indicators to assess the city’s environmental quality. He volunteers for the DC chapter of the Sierra Club and performs pro-bono sustainability consulting for a UCLA-founded consulting firm. Outside of sustainability-related work, Jack has professional experience in marketing and business development in a high-growth, fast-paced startup environment.
Analyst
Maria Florinna (Inna) Triviño
Inna has over 7 years of experience in environmental science, technical writing, data analysis, research, and project management & coordination. She has worked in various environmental fields and across environmental service projects, including environmental monitoring, impact assessment, social impact research, feasibility studies, master development plans, and land use and urban planning and development.
She was previously an environmental scientist, project manager & coordinator, and water module team leader with AECOM Philippines for 4 years, where she worked on several projects for a range of industries, including power, water supply, urban planning, and land development.
As an independent consultant, she held environmental science, technical writing, research, and project management and coordination roles with Jacobs Australia, Centre for Conservation Innovations Philippines (CCIPH), Futures Inc, and Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute. Notably, as part her work with CCIPH, she actively consulted the Philippines government on the authoring of its National REDD+ Strategy.
Inna holds a BSc (Environmental Planning & Management) from Miriam College.
