About

I am Global Director of Impact at the international sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future. For 25 years Forum has been working in partnership with business, governments and civil society to accelerate transformation to a just and regenerative future. Forum is internationally recognised for its approach to driving systems change and inspiring alternative futures. As Global Director of Impact I lead Forum’s programmatic work, with a focus on ensuring and increasing its impact on the world. I lead the Global Impact Team, which works across four geographies. The Global Impact team holds the leadership, technical expertise and strategic direction on Forum’s three areas of programmatic focus: Food, Energy and the Purpose of Business; our ‘Practice’ (or our unique approach to change-making, which embodies our systems change approaches and applied futures); and finally, overall programmatic quality and MEL (monitoring, evaluation and learning).

Before joining Forum I held various leadership positions at Economist Impact, which is part of The Economist Group (publisher of The Economist newspaper). I was the head of Economist Impact’s World Ocean Initiative, inspiring bold thinking, new partnerships and the most effective action to build a sustainable ocean economy. I also led Economist Impact’s Sustainability, Climate Change and Natural Resources practice in the EMEA region and was the editorial lead of the award-winning Sustainability Project. Over the years I have directed many sustainability-related research and thought-leadership projects with partners in business, government, academia and civil society, in areas such as:

food sustainability,
decarbonising technologies for cities,
getting to net zero,
• the circular economy,
ESG and real-world impact,
social impact,
building a sustainable ocean economy,
the ocean and the SDGs,
electric vehicles, and
advanced plastic recycling.

My previous roles at The Economist Group include managing editor, global health lead and Europe editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit.

As part of my wider engagement on sustainability, I am a trustee of the New Economics Foundation (a think tank focusing on social, economic and environmental justice). I sit on the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Inclusive Economies Advisory Group and the Sustainable Brands Turkey Global Advisory Board. I have also been a member of the Advisory Committee for the UN Environment Programme’s Global Environment Outlook for Business, a senior rapporteur at World Water Week, a faculty member in the Food & Sustainability Certificate Program provided by the European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability, and a judge at the Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards and the Electric Vehicle Innovation & Excellence Awards (EVIEs).

I am an experienced public speaker, having moderated and spoken at global conferences, including Economist Impact’s World Ocean Summit and Sustainability Week events, UN Ocean Conference, UN World Ocean Day, UN COP climate change conference, World Water Week, Sustainable Foods, Blue Earth Summit, EV World Congress, World Green Economy Summit, Founders Forum Climate Summit and Global Conference on Sustainable Food Systems.

I earned a bachelor of economic and social studies in international relations from Aberystwyth University and a master’s degree in diplomacy and international relations from the College of Europe.

In addition to English and my native German, I also speak Dutch, French, Italian and a bit of Spanish.

Outside of work I have been a Latin dancer since 2014, specialising in salsa and cha cha cha. I have performed with various dance teams (Caramelo, OtraDanz, Pexava) mainly in London and other parts of the UK but also internationally (including in Amsterdam, Antalya, Marrakech and Berlin).