Our Team
We've found that the critical success factor in building good growth value chains is in finding the right partners at every node. We have a small core team, a wise and wonderful advisory board, and a growing number of key partners.
Co-founder
Mandar Jayawant
An engineer and development economist by training, I've worked on rural development and environment conservation projects, agribusiness, finance, and infrastructure in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.
Previously a senior manager at Asian Development Bank, I founded Mongolia’s first ever private equity fund and have been developing financing models for regenerative business systems.
Co-founder
Nick Keppel-Palmer
I started out developing conventional growth strategies for big companies - within VW Group and then later for the brand business Wolff Olins advising numerous banks, professional services firms, media companies, and big public services .
That all convinced me that the fastest way to create truly regenerative systems is to build new ventures from scratch - so I've spent the last 8 years designing business and go-to-market strategies for new ambitious eco-friendly businesses.
Stuart Anstee
COO. An international leader in private sector conservation, deep expertise in managing biodiversity and ecosystem restoration programs.
Rachel Carvell Spedding
CEO. Founder of NavyGrey “one of the top ten sustainable brands to have on your radar”
Cédric Bussac
Ecosystems lead. Agriculture value chain designer and architect of multiple sustainability programs. Former country head for AVSF in Mongolia. Eco inspiration - cycled from Bangkok to his new home in Tbilisi via Ulaan Bataar.
Conservation partners
Dr. Barry Rosenbaum
Barry heads up the Altai Institute - an NGO working to conserve the snow leopard population in western Mongolia.
Barry is working with the herder communities of Deluun to create our first yak value chain.
Ray Victurine
Ray leads the WCS Business and Conservation Initiative, which engages with industry and governments to support policies and practices that seek to balance conservation objectives with development interests through design and implementation of best practices aimed at reducing and compensating for impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Brand partners
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Julian Wilson
CEO and founder of Khunu
Captain in the UK army, then financial spin doctor. Designed Khunu with the express aim to deliver social good from the outset.
Spends much time in China, Tibet, Nepal and Mongolia working directly with the producers in the supply chain
Nick Spencer
CEO of IBIS rice
initially an entrepreneurial landscape gardener, then a driving force in a green logistics company, and now a passionate advocate for regenerative business, rice, rice cakes, Cambodia and beyond
Board of advisers
Louise Kjellerup Roper
CEO at Volans. Previously marketing ‘bleeding-edge’ software companies such as Cisco and Check Point Software Technologies in the 1990s, before more recently launching Cradle to Cradle and circular economy FMCG brands into Europe. A guest lecturer at both Cranfield University and the University of Exeter and part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s CE100 network.
Sarah Forster
CEO and Co-Founder of The Good Economy. Formerly Deputy CEO of
Big Issue Invest, director at the New Economics Foundation and Senior
Economist at the World Bank where designed and led large scale poverty
alleviation projects in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Mark Hepworth
Director and Co-founder of The Good Economy. Formerly co-founder of
Local Futures Group and policy advisor to OECD, UN Economic Council
and the European Commission. Multi-disciplinary economist focused on
role of business and finance in driving inclusive economic development.
Stephen Groff
Formerly: Vice President of the Asian Development Bank; Deputy Director of the OECD; Vice President at the Millennium Change Corporation; CEO of the National Development Fund for Saudi Arabia
Michael Herlihy
Independent Director at John Lewis Partnership - making sure the partnership stays on mission.
Formerly General Counsel at Smiths, from February 2020 Michael will take on the role of one of two independent directors at John Lewis, charged with challenging the business on how it is upholding the principles of its constitution.
