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.

Judson Berkey is a Managing Director in the Chief Sustainability Office at UBS based in Zurich where he has worked since 2003 on global risk, regulatory and compliance topics. He currently focuses on sustainable finance policy and regulation including engagement with policymakers and standard setters. He graduated from Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia and is on the board of ECOFACT. He currently chairs the Institute of International Finance Sustainable Finance Working Group and is a member of the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

Julie is Director of Strategic Initiatives at Generation Investment Management, where she works at the intersection of finance, sustainability, and systemic risk, developing innovative responses to ecological and societal challenges. She has a technical background in environmental risk, holding a PhD and master’s in environmental chemistry. Her career has spanned ocean monitoring at NOAA, public health science at Public Health England and Wellcome Trust, and leadership in climate risk and adaptation at Climate-KIC.

Julie has spent her career navigating extreme environments—whether in Antarctica or investment management—both requiring resilience, foresight, and a high tolerance for paradox.

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. 

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. 

Alyssa Gilbert is the Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment and the Director of Undaunted, Imperial College London's climate change innovation hub, run in partnership with the Royal Institution. Alyssa leads a team at the Grantham Institute and together with Enterprise colleagues from across the university they run several programmes to develop research, innovations and talent to nurture solutions to tackle the world's most pressing environmental challenges.

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.

Marco is the Convenor of the Nature Positive Initiative. He moves from WWF International where he held the role of Director General 2014-2022, and Special Envoy in 2023. Before joining WWF he was Global Director of Network and Programme and subsequently CEO of BirdLIfe International.

Marco’s experience and career ranges from ecological field research to high level advocacy and international policy, nature reserve management, integrated conservation and development projects, environmental education, NGO development, communications and campaigning, in many countries all over the world.

Marco is a member of the China Council (CCICED) and of the Board of Directors for the Fondation Prince Albert III de Monaco, former co-chair and now Board member of the Belt and Road Initiative Greening Coalition, a founding member of the Nature Action Agenda and the Friends of Ocean Action at WEF, outgoing co-chair of the Global Commons Alliance and member of the UN Global Compact Board.

Laurie Laybourn is executive director of the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative (SCRI), a think-do tank that helps develop capabilities for securing a better world even as the environmental crisis escalates. He is an associate fellow at Chatham House, a visiting fellow at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, and an associate fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). He is a trustee of the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and sits on the board of the Economic Change Unit, an organisation he founded. Previously, he was Director of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and has worked at the LSE, Oxford University, and the UK Parliament. Laurie regularly appears on television, radio, and in print.

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.

Dr Nicola Ranger is Director of the Resilient Planet Finance Lab at the University of Oxford, Executive Director of the Oxford Martin Systemic Resilience Programme and leads the Resilience and Development Group of the Environmental Change Institute. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking of the Oxford Martin School and a co-Director of the UK Integrating Finance and Biodiversity Programme. 

Nicola brings 20 years' expertise in risk, analytics, economics, finance and fiscal policy as a practitioner and researcher across industry, government, IFIs and academia. She works with governments, Central Banks, regulators, financial institutions and international organisations to help align policy and finance with resilience and sustainability goals. She is currently a senior advisor to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), a member of the UK’s Green Taxonomy Advisory Group and co-Chair of the Resilient Planet Data Hub, an international public-private partnership with the UN and Insurance Development Forum providing open data and analytics on climate and nature. Until recently she was a Visiting Academic at the Bank of England, a member of the European Commission’s High Level Expect Group on Sustainable Finance in Low and Middle Income Economies and a Director of the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment. 

Nicola joined Oxford from the World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice, where she worked with financial institutions, Ministries of Finance, Central Banks and regional institutions to strengthen financial resilience and implement systems and processes to strengthen national and global resilience to shocks and crises. Prior to this, she held senior roles at the UK Department for International Development, the London School of Economics and Political Science, HM Treasury, Risk Management Solutions and Defra. Nicola completed her postdoctoral research in climate economics and policy at the London School of Economics 

Holly joined Howden in 2024 as a Director in Howden’s Financial Institutions business leading on Sustainable Finance Solutions. Working with banks and the broader finance community, Holly identifies and structures risk transfer solutions that enable greater and more efficient capital deployment towards decarbonisation and transition projects.

Prior to Howden, Holly spent a decade as a Debt Capital Markets and Derivatives specialist at NatWest, managing a portfolio FTSE100 Infrastructure and project finance sponsors with their financing and risk management needs. Whilst at NatWest, Holly was offered a secondment to the Sustainable Markets Initiative as Sustainable Investment Director where she focused on blended finance and de-risking solutions to scale private sector investment in the transition to net zero.

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.

Willemijn Verdegaal is a global leader in integrating climate and sustainability risks into investment decision-making and financial regulation. She is the Co-CEO and Chief Product Officer of Trex, a spin-out from the University of Exeter, pioneering science-based, non-linear, climate-informed risk management tools for the investment community.

With over 15 years of experience across finance, policy, and climate science, Willemijn has advised boards of major pension funds, insurers, banks, sovereign wealth funds, regulators, and governments worldwide. She previously co-led Climate & ESG Solutions at Ortec Finance, integrating climate scenarios into strategic investment models, and led climate finance negotiations for the Dutch government at the UNFCCC.

A seasoned speaker and entrepreneur, Willemijn is passionate about driving systemic change and helping investors navigate the complexities of the energy transition and climate tipping points.

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.