Help Save Rainforests & Endangered Species
Our Team
Our Team
The CfRN team and country negotiators at the Bonn Climate Summit, June, 2023
a
Board of Directors
Dr. Geoffrey Heal (Chairman)
Professor of Social Enterprise and International and Public Affairs, Columbia
Geoffrey Heal is the Director of the Earth Institute’s Center for Economy, Environment, and Society. He previously served as Vice Dean of the Business School and managed the Executive MBA Program.
Mr. Ruben Kraiem
Senior Counsel, Covington and Burling LLP
Rubén Kraiem, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, leads the firm’s Latin American practice, and was a co-founder of its Clean Energy and Climate Industry Group. He is an honorary trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council (having actively served on the Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2009) and a member of the Board of Directors of Resources for the Future, where he is the Chair of the Board’s Audit & Compliance Committee.
Mr. Thomas Negints
Former Minister of Environment, Papua New Guinea
Mr. Thomas Negints is the Chairman of South Seas Tuna Corporation and the former Chairman of Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation, the largest regional bank. My Negints is also a former director at WESEC Investment.
H.E. Mr. Cristobal Sequeira
Policy Coordinator, Latin America, of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations (CfRN)
Mr. Cristóbal (Tito) Sequeira is the Policy Coordinator, Latin America, of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations (CfRN). From 2006 through 2007, Minister Sequeira served as Nicaragua’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources where he oversaw the large-scale promotion of nurseries for reforestation initiatives in the country.
Rainforest nations are slowing deforestation based on goodwill and with little financial support. Join our movement.
“We attract and retain high-caliber, mission-driven professionals from around the world.”
“We attract and retain high-caliber, mission-driven professionals from around the world.”
Team
Kevin Conrad
Executive Director
Kevin Conrad founded the non-profit Coalition for Rainforest Nations in 2004, where he remains Executive Director. He served as Ambassador and Special Envoy for Environment and Climate Change in the Department of the Prime Minister and National Executive Council of Papua New Guinea from 2005-2014.
Federica Bietta
Managing Director
Ms. Federica Bietta is the Managing Director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. Ms. Bietta is an internationally recognized expert in the development of international agreements related to climate change and specific mechanisms that include emissions resulting from tropical deforestation.
Mark Grundy
Managing Director, Marketing & Communications
Mark Grundy is a Managing Director, Global Marketing and Communications. He brings 18 years of experience in public relations and communications within energy, environment and climate working for agencies, governments, corporations and non-profits in USA and Europe.
Leonardo Massai
Senior Legal Expert
Leonardo Massai has 20 years of experience on international environmental law, climate change mitigation and adaptation, forestry, human rights and carbon markets.
Michael Mitchell
Director, Operations and Projects
With a strong portfolio of successfully managed projects, Michael Mitchell got his start working in the non-profit sector. Since then, he’s been credited with many successful product launches, campaigns and organizational initiatives that have strengthened his skills in the field.
Lindsey Streeter
Head of Development
Lindsey leads our fundraising, development, and revenue growth here at the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. She is a seasoned professional fundraiser, philanthropic strategist, and advocate for climate and social impact. Lindsey has over a decade of nonprofit sector experience and has worked most extensively for progressive organizations in environmental advocacy, climate action, and economic development.
Javier Fernandez
Director of MRV
Javier Fernández is our Director of MRV, working to ensure that rainforest nations have access to state-of-the-art knowledge, tools, and methodologies for achieving high quality REDD+ emission reductions and removals.
Yolanda Bulo
Senior Finance Officer
Mrs. Bulo is the Senior Finance Officer of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations where she handles the Finance Department operations of the Secretariat in New York. She assists and works closely together with the Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and the Senior Program Officer.
Ameeta Chinkan
Operations Manager
With twenty years of experience working at a private University in NYC. she is a resourceful problem solver who is adept and effectively assisting in a variety of trades. Ameeta was born in Guyana, South America, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York; and holds a MS in Human Resource Management.
Thelma Krug
Senior Team Expert
Thelma Krug is a former researcher at the Earth Observation Coordination at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil, under the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC). She was elected Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the Sixth Cycle of Panel (October 2015 – October 2022), after having been co-chair of the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories from 2002 until 2015.
Eduardo Reyes
Senior Advisor
Eduardo Reyes is a Senior Advisor to the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. He served as Panama’s Vice Minister of Environment (2004–2009). Mr. Reyes has been a UNFCCC negotiator since 2002, working on behalf of Panama initially, and since 2010 on behalf of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of climate change, particularly in the forest, energy, and financial sectors, and is an expert advisor on adhering to UNFCCC agreements, such as the Paris Agreement.
Emilio Sempris
Regional Director
Emilio Sempris is the Regional Director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations for Latin America and the Caribbean. He served as Panama’s Minister of Environment from 2017 to 2019.
Tosi Mpanu Mpanu
Regional Director, Africa
An economist by training, Ambassador Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu holds an MBA in Finance and Investments (2000, George Washington University) as well as a Masters in European Studies and International Relations (2013, Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne). He possesses over two decades of experience in the areas of sustainable development, climate finance, renewable energy, environment and diplomacy.
Dr Jagdish Kishwan
Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator
Dr Jagdish Kishwan is an internationally acclaimed Climate Change and Forestry Specialist. A former member of the Indian Forest Service with a PhD in Forestry, he has held many distinguished assignments, including Head of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, and Chancellor of Forest Research Institute University.
Milena Niño
GHGI Expert
Milena is a Colombian Environmental Engineer, with double Master’s Degree in Environmental Forestry and Agricultural Development. She has 3 years of Doctoral research, studying forest carbon accounting in the Caribbean Region.
Eloïse Guidi
GHGI Expert
Lucila Balam
GHGI Expert
Lucila is an expert in GHG Inventories for the AFOLU and REDD + sector. She has been part of the Coalition since 2019, working with countries in the development of their GHG inventories, UNFCCC reports, Forest Reference Levels, training and capacity building, among other activities.
Alphonse Bizimana
GHGI Expert
Alphonse is a Greenhouse gas inventory and REDD+ expert. He is a member of the Reporting for Results-Based REDD+ (RRR+) Project.
Alphonse holds a PhD degree in Statistics from the Postgraduates College (COLPOS, Mexico) and a MSc degree in Probability and Statistics from the Centre for Research in Mathematics (CIMAT, Mexico). His research interest is based on Statistical Modelling and Robust design of experiments.
Marcial Arias
Technical Coordinator of Collect Earth and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Marcial joined the Reporting for Results-Based (REDD+) Project team in 2022. Panamanian by birth and a member of the Guna indigenous people, Marcial has a degree in Environmental Sciences. He has more than 15 years of experience in remote sensing, geographic information systems, and forest monitoring. He is a certified specialist in the use and management of drones.