Advisory Board

Caroline Petersen is a sustainable finance expert with 17 years of experience working with UNDP, World Bank and WWF – supporting developing country governments to access grant finance from bilateral donors, the Global Environment Facility, Adaptation Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund, Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Climate Investment Funds. Caroline is Chair of the independent Technical Advisory Panel of the GCF, which provides the Board with technical assessment of public and private sector funding proposals, and she has specialist expertise in nature-based adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction, as well as climate-resilient, low-emission water, agriculture and forestry sectors. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, and is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Claudia has served as Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, the world’s largest non-profit partnership of food, land, and water systems research institutes; Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI); and the World Bank’s Global Lead for Water Security and Water Resources Management. She has devoted her career to the challenges of water, food and climate in the developing world and has been recognized with appointments including Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Oxford University, Honorary Member of the International Water Resources Association and Fulbright Scholar. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ken is the retired chairman and CEO of General Mills, the US based multinational food company.  Ken spent much of his career living abroad as CEO of a joint venture company between General Mills and Nestle. Currently Ken is active on corporate boards and is involved in early childhood education initiatives in Minnesota and is past chair of the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota. Ken and his wife Wendy are very active supporters of The Nature Conservancy. They have two daughters and wonderful twin grandchildren.

Madeleine Portmann is a development finance expert with more than 15 years of experience in infrastructure project finance, particularly in the water and sanitation sector. She currently serves as Deputy Head of the Water and Sanitation Division at Agence Française de Développement (AFD), where she co-manages a team of 30 professionals working to expand access to water and sanitation in AFD’s countries of intervention, with a focus on climate resilience and sustainable development.
Prior to this role, Madeleine worked as a Senior Investment Officer for Proparco, AFD’s subsidiary dedicated to the private sector, where she led the structuring of impactful projects such as the USD 100M Tietê River pollution abatement facility in Brazil. Her career with AFD has also included assignments in Istanbul and Bangkok.
Madeleine holds a Specialized Master in International Risks Management from HEC Paris and a Master in International Relations from Sciences Po Bordeaux.

Newsha Ajami is the Chief Strategic Development Officer for Research at the Berkeley Lab’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Area. A leading expert in sustainable water management and smart cities, in her current role at LBL, she leads interdisciplinary research initiatives at the nexus of water, energy, and climate. Her work over the past twenty years has focused on developing multidisciplinary, data-driven, and policy-centered solutions to achieve sustainable, resilient, and equitable water solutions.
Dr. Ajami was a mayoral appointee to the San Francisco PUC and a gubernatorial appointee to the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. She serves on the National Academies Water Science and Technology Board, is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, and sits on several advisory boards. She received her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC, Irvine.

Venkat Iyer is the Senior Director, Climate Resilience for The Coca-Cola Foundation. He leads the climate portfolio that advances nature based and water management solutions for vulnerable communities to prepare, recover, and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Iyer worked globally across organizations that included the World Resources Institute (WRI), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) leading multi-sectoral task teams to develop sustainable finance solutions for wetlands and forests in Asia, Africa, and South America. His development experience stems from co-designing resource management solutions with local communities in over 11 countries. Venkat holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Cornell University, with a specialization in natural resources, and a master’s degree in environmental science and policy from Columbia University.