GARP 2025 Climate and Nature Risk Symposium

Patrick Amis is head of the Directorate General Specialised Institutions and LSIs at the European Central Bank, entrusted with the direct supervision of 55 significant banks and the oversight of the less significant institutions within the European Single Supervision Mechanism. He is also in charge of the integration of climate-related risks into the European Central Banks’ supervisory approach. Before his current appointment he joined the ECB in March 2014 as Deputy Director General at the Directorate General Micro-Prudential Supervision I, responsible for the direct supervision of the 30 largest and more complex of the significant institutions in the Eurozone, and then as Director General of LSI oversight.

Before joining the ECB, Patrick Amis had a supervisory career in the Banque de France, which he joined in 1995, where he took a variety of positions in line supervision and prudential policy. He also chaired working groups on accounting, both in the Basel Committee and in the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) and was Deputy Secretary General of CEBS from 2008 to 2010.

Julie Baddeley is one of the U.K.’s most experienced women directors having served in an executive and non-executive capacity on the boards of leading companies in the FTSE 100 and 250 indices, as well as major public sector organizations.

In 2001 she moved to a portfolio career and has served as a director across a range of sectors including consumer, retail, financial services, professional services and global industrial. She was chairman of global recruitment company Harvey Nash plc until its sale in 2018.

At the Said Business School, Julie coached top business teams from around the world on the execution of business strategy, having previously been the partner in charge of Accenture’s change management practice in Europe. She was Executive Director at Woolwich plc responsible for HR, IT and the insurance businesses.

Julie is active in raising the awareness of boards of U.K. quoted companies on the impact of climate change on their business models and balance sheets as well as the impact they are having on the global climate. She is Director of the Hughes Hall Centre for Climate Change Engagement, which aims to bring Cambridge University thinking on climate science, law, regulation, risk and communication into the boardroom.

Doug works in the Strategic Risk Division within Natwest Group, focussing on the embedding of climate risk analytics within scenario analysis and wider risk decision making. Doug has led the capability build and delivery of the Natwest Group submission in the Bank of England climate stress test (CBES). He has held various other roles in the bank, including within pension risk; operational risk capital; and pension strategy. Prior to joining Natwest Group, Doug worked for KPMG’s pension consulting business and is a member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Mirko joined USS Investment Management Limited (USSIM) in 2015 and has been in his current role as Head of Investment Strategy since 2019. He is responsible for the design and management of the asset allocation of DB and DC funds as well as for providing investment advice to USS non-executive bodies. 

Prior to USSIM, Mirko was Head of Asset Allocation-EMEA at Russell Investments where he was responsible for designing model portfolios and reviewing the asset allocation of EMEA funds. Before his appointment at Russell, Mirko held positions at Aviva Investors, where he was Head of Strategic Asset Allocation and Multi-Asset Fund Manager, and Willis Towers Watson, where he was a senior investment consultant. 

Catherine is a senior leader in the sustainability sector, with experience in developing and nurturing partnerships for impact. Catherine joined WRAP in October 2021, bringing experience from roles at The Fairtrade Foundation and The Coop. 

Catherine is passionate about building a fairer and more sustainable planet for future generations. Her responsibilities at WRAP include leadership of our business collaboration work - including through our voluntary agreements on food, plastics and textiles - as well as oversight of WRAP’s citizen behaviour change activities. 

Gavin brings three decades of experience in leading and managing conservation and environment campaigns globally, nationally and locally – focusing on climate change, forest conservation, ocean conservation, business & finance sector mobilization, sustainable use, advocacy communications, policy engagement and indigenous / community partnering.

Gavin is a former Director of the Nature Positive Initiative at WWF International for 5 years, joining from WWF Hong Kong where he was the Conservation Director. He previously served as the Head of Forest Campaign then Head of Climate & Energy Campaign at Greenpeace International. He holds an Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management/Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

Ajay is the Director of Systemic Risk Assessment at the Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment (ASRA), an independent non-profit initiative hosted by the United Nations Foundation that aims to mainstream systemic risk assessment in policy and decision-making in response to current and future challenges. Ajay is responsible for the development and implementation of frameworks, tools and methods to help organisations and communities understand interacting, compounding and cascading risks. 

Ajay is also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College London, where he previously worked on climate change mitigation, the energy transition and associated physical and transition risks, using integrated assessment and energy system modelling. 

An ecologist and environmental scientist by background, Rob has worked across climate change research, forestry science, cleantech operations, and sustainable business roles. As Co-Founder of Treeconomy, he spearheads the company's efforts to bring trust, traceability, and transparency to nature-based carbon removal projects. Established in 2019, Treeconomy harnesses earth observation and AI to deliver best-in-class carbon measurement and project monitoring for corporate credit buyers and natural capital investors. Seeking to scale high quality supply, the company supports a variety of landowners all the way from nature project conception to the sale of carbon removal credits.

Hailing from Toronto but residing in London, Rob holds an MSc in Environmental Technology (Sustainable Business) from Imperial College. He was a Fulbright Killam Fellow in Environmental Resource Management at the University of Washington, and is a Global Sustainability Fellow, World Economic Forum Uplink Top Innovator, and One Young World Ambassador.

Max has over 28 years’ experience in venture and private equity, and is the co-founder of Accelerate, a global impact investment firm, Hycap, a Hydrogen private equity fund and Ocean 14 Capital, an Ocean impact private equity fund. Prior to Vedra he co-founded Gottex Fund Management in 1998 an alternative investment platform which he successfully scaled to $16bn of AUM and took public on Swiss stock exchange in 2007. 

Max has significant experience as a venture and private equity investor and a successful track record in building institutional asset management companies in the alternative industry. Max holds a Business Degree in Finance from University of Virginia, where he teaches global impact investing.

Hirotaka Hideshima is Counsellor on Global Strategy to President and the Board of Directors of the Norinchukin Bank from April 2021. In November 2022, he became a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). He has been involved in the development of the sector guidance for financial institutions, the getting started guidance, and the discussion paper on value chains.

Hirotaka Hideshima has worked for the Bank of Japan from April 1989 to March 2021. He has represented the Bank on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) between August 2010 and September 2012, and then again between January 2018 and March 2019. He co-chaired the Definition of Capital Subgroup (when it developed the definition of regulatory capital for Basel III), and the Macroprudential Supervision Group (when it developed the G-SIB assessment framework). From July 2002 to July 2005, he was seconded to the BCBS Secretariat at the Bank for International Settlements. After dealing with Japan’s banking sector problems in the mid-1990s, he served on various working groups of the BCBS.

Rumi leads the Sustainability Institute’s research at the intersection of capital markets, applied finance, and sustainability. He oversees collaborations with policymakers, investors, and academia to drive thought leadership and explore emerging trends, investment themes, and innovative solutions shaping global markets. He joined MSCI in 2020 and was previously Head of Fund Research for MSCI ESG Research.

Previously, Rumi worked at J.P. Morgan (Nutmeg Investments), where he was Head of Fund Research and managed multi-asset portfolios for institutional and retail clients across Europe and APAC. He also worked at BNY Mellon in structuring funds, and at UNICEF, researching the impact of clean water infrastructure on social mobility.

Rumi began his career at Shell as a petroleum engineer, with a focus on carbon capture and storage in the North Sea, where his experiences shaped his perspective on energy transition and sustainable finance.

Rumi holds a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Manchester.

Lou Munden is the founder of TMP, an independent organization that helps stakeholders respond to interconnected global risks. He specializes in developing quantitative systems that translate complexity into actionable guidance — from climate risk and resource governance to conflict exposure and geopolitical stress. In 2009, Lou created TMP to fill a critical gap: the lack of serious attention to near-term climate disruption and the cascading impacts it could trigger. Since then, he has led fieldwork across 30+ countries and helped governments, corporates, and communities manage evolving threats across transition minerals, infrastructure, supply chains, and civil stability. Lou’s early career included designing algorithmic trading systems and scaling Go2Net to a $2.4 billion market cap. Known for his direct communication style, he has briefed senior leaders and spoken at events across six languages. Lou is based in Japan.

Dimple Patel is a multi-exited Founder and entrepreneur, currently CEO at NatureMetrics, the leading provider of nature data intelligence solutions. NatureMetrics harnesses transformative technologies like environmental DNA and AI to generate unprecedented biodiversity insights for businesses and governments globally, and has been recognised as a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer 2024, BloombergNEF Pioneer 2024 and Earthshot Prize Finalist 2024

With 15yrs experience founding, scaling and exiting multiple successful ventures, such as Love Koffee and Trouva, Dimple’s work spans across multiple sectors and geographies. She has led teams through international expansions and acquisitions, with her previous company Trouva ranked #1 in the Startups 100 list in 2020, and operating in 50 markets at exit.

Dimple is deeply passionate about creating social impact and actively supports underrepresented founders as a mentor and advisor. She also serves as an ambassador for grassroots organizations that provide opportunities for young people. Dimple regularly shares her expertise through articles for publishers such as Impact Investor, BBC, Drapers magazine and Sifted.

Julie is an earth system scientist & climate tech investor. Her focus is investments in ocean climate solutions and climate tech, and commercializing technologies, by evaluating climate risk, in concert with strategies for climate resilience. Julie also works at cultivating initiatives and collaboration to collectively ensure a life-sustaining planet for our children.

Paige Roepers is the Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Ledger, leading the adoption of outcome-driven solutions for coastal resilience, environmental monitoring, and sustainable development. A marine biologist and seasoned divemaster, she has conducted field research in The Bahamas, Fiji, and Indonesia. She began her career at Barclays Investment Bank in Equity Private Capital Markets, raising growth-stage financing for European startups, before joining Founders Intelligence, a strategy consultancy focused on corporate innovation. She holds a degree in Biology, specializing in Marine Biology, from the University of St. Andrews.

Tony leads Howden’s work on climate transition planning and finance, helping financial institutions, corporates and governments to accelerate their climate strategies and de-risk their transition investments. Prior to Howden, he led transition planning, transition finance and sectoral transition pathway initiatives at GFANZ (Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero), was part of the delivery group for the Transition Planning Taskforce (TPT), and also led CDP’s disclosure and scoring platforms, integrating the TCFD. 

Tony has over 27 years global experience in strategy advisory, risk management, disclosure and programme delivery, with over 18 years as a leader and expert in climate change, environment and sustainability issues affecting businesses, financial institutions and governments

Erica Sassu was the EMEA Climate & Environmental Risk Executive responsible for the integration of climate and environmental risk in the risk management framework as well as second line oversight of the Enterprise climate scenario analysis programme. 

As part of her role, she was also responsible for the development and coordination of climate and environmental risk reporting used to ensure senior management oversight of climate and environmental risks impacting the bank.

Prior to this role she was the Legal Entity Executive of the Enterprise Scenario Planning and Execution team covering Stress Testing, Recovery and Resolution deliverables for international material entities. She managed a team based in Charlotte, Dublin and London.

She joined the Bank in September 2014 working in the International Stress Testing team. In January 2020 she has been promoted Managing Director as she took further responsibilities in the Enterprise Scenario Planning and Execution organization. 

Prior to Bank of America, she was a Senior Manager in EY London in the Quantitative Advisory Services practice. She gained experience in Financial Services on various areas including stress testing, credit risk modelling, model validation and OTC derivatives valuation.

She obtained an MSc in Quantitative Finance (La Sapienza University, Rome) in 2008, the GARP professional qualification as Financial Risk Manager in 2009 and the GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate in 2021.

Mark Symes is a Programme Director at the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), leading a programme on responding to climate tipping points (https://www.aria.org.uk/what-were-working-on/). 

He is also the Professor of Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Technology and a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. At the University, his main research interests are in developing new electrochemical processes and electrochemical technology for the more sustainable production of fuels and key chemical feedstocks. 

Mark is a founder and chief scientific officer at Clyde Hydrogen Systems, a spin-out from my research lab that is developing a new generation of decoupled electrolyzers for converting renewable electricity into green hydrogen.

Nigel Topping was the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion from the COP26 Presidency, appointed by the UK Prime Minister in January 2020. Working alongside Chile’s High Level Champion for COP25 and Egypt’s High-Level Champion for COP27, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Mr Topping helped strengthen collaboration and drive action from businesses, investors, organisations, cities, and regions on climate change, and coordinate this work with governments and Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He is the founder with Gonzalo Munoz of Ambition Loop, a global NGO based in Chile.

Mr Topping was CEO of We Mean Business, a coalition of businesses working to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon economy. Prior to that he was Executive Director of the CDP, following an 18 year career in the private sector, having worked across the world in emerging markets and manufacturing. He is currently Business Champion for the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) and a non-executive director of the UK Infrastructure Bank.

Thomas is an experienced professional with deep expertise in environmental economics, finance, and policy making. He has worked for the Bank of England, HM Treasury, the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and Aviva. 

Thomas is currently Group Nature Lead at Aviva. In this role, he leads the development and oversees delivery of Aviva’s nature agenda, ambition, and actions. This includes leading the prioritisation, development, and coordination of nature-related activities across investment, insurance, and operations areas of the business to deliver on such ambition. Thomas is also currently an independent member of both the UK's Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) College of Experts, and UK Statistics Authority National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE). 

Thomas was previously Head of Capacity Building and Regulatory Engagement for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Prior to joining TNFD, he worked at the Bank of England, where he developed and led the Bank’s initial approach and strategy to nature-related financial risks, and co-authored a range of NGFS and UN SIF foundational publications related to nature-related financial risk. Thomas was also previously an Economic Advisor of the UK government’s The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review.

Dr Oliver Wing is the Chief Scientific Officer at Fathom, where he oversees the company’s scientific research initiatives . He takes a leading role in the design and development of Fathom’s flood risk products ensuring that they are centred on rigorous academic research. His leadership ensures that the modeling techniques used are research-driven, transparent, and peer-reviewed.

Dr Wing obtained his PhD in Geography at the University of Bristol, where he remains an Honorary Research Fellow in the Hydrology Research Group. He continues to publish and review papers in the world’s leading hydrology journals, and speaks regularly on issues related to flooding and climate change at academic conferences, industry events, and in the media. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Catastrophe Risk and Resilience.