Today, NatureFinance has announced Julie McCarthy and Simon Zadek as the new Co-CEOs. Together, they will guide the organisation to a new level of impact in making nature count in global finance.
“Establishing a Co-CEO arrangement with Julie will help to ensure that NatureFinance strikes the right balance between technical expertise and market experience, disruptive risk appetite and thought leadership, and broad-based convening and execution capabilities in delivering outcomes commensurate with the scale of the challenges we face”
– Simon Zadek, NatureFinance Co-CEO
This new leadership approach aims to capitalise on the expertise of both individuals as NatureFinance advances its mission to align global finance with positive impacts for nature, people and climate, especially in the context of unprecedented nature loss and climate change.
“I am thrilled to partner with Simon in guiding this next era of NatureFinance’s impact on making nature count in global finance. In a moment where we are rapidly pushing up against planetary boundaries and confronting record inequality, NatureFinance is committed to supporting disruptive innovations that can help advance a more equitable global nature economy.”
– Julie McCarthy, NatureFinance Co-CEO
Julie is coming to the role after a year as NatureFinance’s Managing Director and over 20 years of non-profit and philanthropic leadership experience in the areas of economic justice and financial governance. Her experience includes senior advisor to the chair of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All, founding Co-Director of the Open Society Foundations’ (OSF) Economic Justice Program and founding director of the Open Government Partnership.
Simon has been Executive Director of NatureFinance since its inception and has held many positions over a 40 year career in nature and finance, including Head, Secretariat, UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, Senior Advisor on Finance in the office of the UN Secretary General, and Co-Director of UNEP’s Finance Inquiry.
In 2024 NatureFinance will continue expanding its work and exploring disruptive measures required to get a grip on the climate and nature crisis.
Key impact areas will include financial innovations like sustainability-linked sovereign debt and nature credit markets, as well as, working collaboratively to put the bioeconomy at the top of the global agenda, advancing the use of appropriate biodiversity data in disclosing and managing nature-related risks and shaping nature-positive markets.
