People Moves: Tailwind Climate's MacDonald Joins RWDI, CPI Taps Ex-State Department Staffer, and More

Hi there,

Welcome to the first edition of the Climate Proof People Moves column! Here, we’ll track the latest job changes, promotions, and opportunities in climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Got a move or opportunity to list? Then reply to this email or fill in the form below (submissions can be anonymous).

Top Moves

Jyotsna ‘Jo’ Puri has joined UNEP as Director at the Policy and Programme Division, a role with wide-ranging oversight over the UN agency’s strategy and engagement with the multilateral climate funds — including the Green Climate Fund and Global Environment Facility. The Director’s role is based in Nairobi, Kenya. Puri will continue her positions at Columbia University as Adjunct Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

H.E. Mr Ole Thonke, Denmark’s Undersecretary for Development Policy and Climate Ambassador at the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has joined the Global Center on Adaptation’s (GCA) Advisory Board. Thonke brings decades of diplomatic and green finance experience to the post, reinforcing the GCA’s leadership on climate adaptation globally.

Governors Gavin Newsom and Tony Evers have been appointed Co-Chairs of the US Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition representing 60% of the country’s economy committed to implementing policies that advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson and Delaware Governor Matt Meyer have joined the Executive Committee, where they will serve together with outgoing Alliance Co-Chair New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Matt Swabey started as Head of Climate at Aviva on May 6, where he will steer the insurer’s strategy on climate resilience and nature-positive investment. Swabey joins from the management consultancy Accenture, and before that Carbon Intelligence, a carbon and climate change strategy consultancy that was acquired by Accenture in 2022. He is based in London.

Demetrio Innocenti has founded ClimFin with a core management team consisting of Katherine Bryson, Rocio Vizuete Fernandez, and Keith Bettinger. ClimFin is a bespoke climate finance consultancy working to move capital to the world's most vulnerable countries and people. All four members of the team previously had roles at the Green Climate Fund. Bettinger, who serves as Chief Technology Officer at the start-up, says ClimFin’s aim is to bring together technical knowhow and preserve institutional learnings that are in danger of being shuttered in the current political climate. ClimFin is headquartered in Florence, Italy.

Pallavi Sherikar, previously Senior Adaptation Advisor to former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry’s office at the State Department, has joined the Climate Policy Initiative in Washington, D.C. as Manager, Adaptation & Resilience.

Katie MacDonald has joined RWDI, a global engineering firm, as Director of Ventures. MacDonald co-founded Tailwind Climate, an adaptation-focused investment and advisory firm, with Emilie Mazzacurati in 2023. She will continue to work with Tailwind as an Advisor to the Research and Advisory Practice and as a Venture Partner with the resilience-focused fund. She is based in New York City.

Priscilla Cole has founded Circle Risk, a new consultancy uniting climate and natural catastrophe data with risk management functions in insurance, finance, and local emergency management. Cole previously worked at geospatial company ICEYE and earlier this year hosted New York City’s first Geospatial Risk Summit. She is based in New York City.

New Roles & Promotions

• Dr Candice Howarth has been appointed Research Director at the Quadrature Climate Foundation, after a near six-year term at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. She is based in London.

• Ru Dunham is now Financial Services Commercial Lead at Climate X, where he will work with financial institutions clients to better assess, manage, and adapt to physical and transition risks. He previously worked as a consultant at EY. He is based in New York City.

• Tessa Lennartz-Walker has been promoted to lead the Global Centre of Excellence for Climate Risk and Nature at consultancy South Pole. She now oversees offerings on nature, biodiversity, and water. Her former position was Global Lead - Climate Risks and Opportunities. She is based in London.

• Kate Gannon has been appointed an Associate at The Walker Institute, a leading interdisciplinary climate change adaptation research institution housed at the University of Reading. In this role, she will help scale applied, interdisciplinary research partnerships and build bridges with the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she works as Assistant Professor in Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Development.

• Yue (Nina) Chen has been made a Senior Visiting Fellow at LSE’s Grantham Research Institute to strengthen research and support for central banks on climate- and nature-related financial risks, with a focus on emerging economies. Chen previously served as Chief Climate Risk Officer at the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a financial regulator. She resides in New York City.

Departures

• Erin Leonard is exiting HSBC Asset Management, where she served as Global Head of Sustainability for five years. Her responsibilities will be split across internal teams led by Cathrine De Connick-Lopez. Her departure follows that of the UK bank’s Group Chief Sustainability Officer Celine Herweijer in November last year.

• Ujala Qadir has left the Climate Bonds Initiative after almost seven years at the non-profit. Her most recent position at the group was Director of Strategy and Programs. Last year, she steered development of the Climate Bonds Resilience Taxonomy, which aims to channel more finance into adaptation and resilience via fixed income instruments.

Open Opportunities

📍 Climate X is hiring in London for a Climate Scientist (Storms), Flood Scientist, and a Loss Modelling Specialist. The climate risk analytics firm also has a number of commercial and tech roles available in London and New York. Apply here

📍 Lancet Countdown seeks a Head of Policy to drive evidence-based climate and health policy action globally. The role is based in London. Applications close May 21. Details here

📍 Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering, a seed-stage ocean robotics startup, is collecting general interest applications for future roles in San Francisco. The company is building autonomous systems for seagrass restoration and maritime resilience. It is backed by investors Lowercarbon, Superorganism, and ReGen Ventures. Share your interest

Know a move we missed? Submit your update or open role for next month’s column HERE

Thanks for reading!

Louie Woodall
Editor