COP 29.5: Innovation, Accountability, and the Path to Brazil

John Kerry

Co-Executive Chair, Galvanize Climate Solutions

Former Secretary of State and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

Secretary John Kerry is co-executive chair at Galvanize, where he focuses on expanding the resources and reach of the firm’s investment strategies, originating differentiated opportunities, and leveraging firsthand knowledge as to how technology, policy, and geopolitics are shaping the energy transition. In 2021, Secretary Kerry was sworn in as the United States’ inaugural Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and the first-ever Principal to sit on the National Security Council entirely dedicated to climate change. In that role, he negotiated successful restoration of US-China climate cooperation, helped galvanize $11.3 billion dollars in Athens to protect oceans, and helped shape the commitment of almost 200 countries embracing the UAE Consensus at COP28 to transition the world away from fossil fuels. In 2013, he was sworn in as the 68th Secretary of State of the United States, becoming the first sitting Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman to serve as Secretary in over a century. As America’s top diplomat, he guided the Department’s strategy on nuclear nonproliferation, combating radical extremism, and the threat of climate change. His tenure was marked by the successful negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement, and the elevation of global environmental issues including the oceans within the framework of civilian security. From 1985 to 2013, he served as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts, and was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2009 to 2013. In the Senate, he worked closely with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to make peace with Vietnam and begin normalization of relations. In 2024, President Biden awarded Secretary Kerry the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his lifetime commitment to public service, saying simply, “the son of a foreign service officer, diplomacy is in his DNA.” As a young man, Secretary Kerry served in the U.S. Navy, completing two combat tours of duty in Vietnam for which he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. Secretary Kerry is the best-selling author of A Call to Service, This Moment on Earth with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, and his 2018 memoir, Every Day Is Extra, which The New York Times described as “a bittersweet reminder of what the country once demanded of its leaders.” He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Boston College Law School.

Matthew J. Diserio

President & Founder

Water Asset Management

Matthew J. Diserio cofounded Water Asset Management, which invests globally in water-related companies and assets including water utilities, water infrastructure, and water resources. Prior to cofounding Water Asset Management LLC, Diserio was the portfolio manager of global long-short equity funds at Schafer Cullen Small Cap LP and Diserio Partners LP. Previously, he was a general partner and portfolio manager at Water Street Capital. Diserio spent his first 12 years professionally as a senior equity analyst covering special situations at PaineWebber and in institutional equities sales at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette. Diserio graduated from Bowdoin College in 1981 with a BA in government and history.

Dr. Sarah Kapnick

Global Head of Climate Advisory

J.P. Morgan

Dr. Sarah B. Kapnick is the Global Head of Climate Advisory at J.P. Morgan. In this role, she advises the bank's clients on climate, energy, biodiversity and sustainability topics. Responsible for overseeing the Firm’s climate thought leadership strategy, Dr. Kapnick leverages extensive technical and scientific expertise to drive content strategy and advise clients at the intersection of finance, climate science, commerce, and national security. She was previously with the bank’s Asset and Wealth Management division as Senior Climate Scientist and Sustainability Strategist. Prior to her current role, Dr. Kapnick was Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), responsible for guiding the programmatic focus of NOAA’s science and technology priorities. She spent a decade at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) leading research on seasonal climate prediction, mountain snowpack, extreme storms, water security, climate economics, and climate impacts. Dr. Kapnick earned a PhD in atmospheric and oceanic sciences with a certificate in Leaders in Sustainability from UCLA and an AB in mathematics with a certificate in finance from Princeton University.

Dr. Jeremy Porter

Head of Climate Implications

First Street

Dr. Jeremy Porter is a founding member of First Street and is the Head of Climate Implications research. In this role, he leads the development of the organization’s economic implications models with a specific focus on the downstream impacts of climate change exposure to property valuation, climate migration patterns, commercial viability, risk-transfer, and other related topics with direct economic implications. Dr. Porter is widely recognized as an expert in the climate implications space with over 125 peer-reviewed scientific research papers, books, and chapters. His work covers both the substantive topic of climate exposure implications and the technical development of advanced analytic tools including statistical modeling, machine learning, and spatial informatics. As an expert in this space, Dr. Porter is regularly asked for comment and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the Associate Press, and many other national, local, and industry-focused publications. Prior to joining First Street, Dr. Porter had a long career in academia and research, including the founding of a new masters program in Data Science at the City University of New York’s - Graduate Center (CUNY-GC), the successful funding of millions of dollars in public and private grants to support his research, and the founding of multiple scientific research journals; including Spatial Demography, the Journal of Maps - Social Science, and Springer’s Spatial Demography book series. Dr. Porter holds a Ph.D. in Demography with minors in Mathematics/Statistics and Geospatial Technologies and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Applied Statistics.

Vikram Raju CFA

Managing Director, Head of Climate Investments

Morgan Stanley

Vikram Raju is a Managing Director and serves as Head of the 1GT Platform and Head of Climate Investing for the Private Credit & Equity division of Morgan Stanley Investment Management (Morgan Stanley IM). Prior to joining Morgan Stanley IM to set up the impact investing platform in 2014, Vikram was the Climate Funds Lead at the IFC/World Bank Group. Previously, he was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and a portfolio manager with Lazard Frères. Vikram is a past Chair of the Impact Council at the Global Private Capital Association and was previously an adjunct faculty member with the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Vikram received Masters degrees in Finance and International Affairs from Bombay and Columbia University, respectively. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Shaheen Contractor

Senior ESG Analyst

Bloomberg Intelligence

Shaheen Contractor, CFA, is a Senior Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Research Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, a platform that provides research on industries, companies, government, litigation and the economy, available on the Bloomberg Professional Services at BI. Her research efforts include analyzing ESG performance and its impact on risk, return and valuations across industries; drivers and challenges for ESG funds and the impacts of a low carbon transition. Mrs. Contractor has a Master of Science degree in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Symbiosis International University.

Rob Du Boff

Senior ESG Analyst

Bloomberg Intelligence

Rob Du Boff is an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence on the equity strategy team, focusing on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) research. He joined BI from JUST Capital, a non-profit that ranks the largest U.S. public companies on ESG priorities. Previously, he worked for over a decade on Wall Street as an equity research analyst, most recently as a senior oil & gas analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. He also worked at Millennium Partners and Merrill Lynch covering energy, basic resources, and retail. Rob holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA in finance and accounting from NYU’s the Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Eric Kane

Director of ESG Research

Bloomberg Intelligence

Eric Kane is an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, a research platform that provides context on industries, companies, government, litigation and the economy, available on the Bloomberg Professional Services at BI. Mr. Kane’s research focuses on identifying and analyzing current and future trends, including climate change, resource scarcity, data security and linking performance to financial value. Mr. Kane also specializes in understanding ESG disclosure and how key metrics can be incorporated in traditional company analysis.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, Mr. Kane was the Health Care Sector Analyst at the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and a Senior Analyst at Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. Mr. Kane holds a Master of Public Administration from NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a degree in political science from Bates College.

Andy Stevenson

Senior Climate Analyst

Bloomberg Intelligence

Andrew is a Senior Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst focused on climate. Prior to joining Bloomberg in Jan 2023 he was a hedge portfolio manager at Voloridge Investments, Citadel AM, and Brevan Howard and has also worked at Just Capital and the Natural Resource Defense Council.

Patricia Torres

Global Director, Sustainable Finance Solutions

Bloomberg

Patricia Torres Leandro leads the development of sustainable finance solutions at Bloomberg, including tools that help banks and investments managers identify ESG investment opportunities and manage regulatory obligations such as the EU ESG Taxonomy. She is the Global Head of Sustainable Finance Solutions at Bloomberg LP since 2019. She leads the business development team responsible for ensuring the delivery of Bloomberg’s proprietary and transparent ESG scoring model and carbon emissions estimates, its solutions for regulatory ESG requirements (SFDR, EU Taxonomy) and climate (climate risk rating, implied temperature rise and TCFD-aligned reported data), the Gender Equality Index, and finally, for embedding proprietary and third party ESG data into Bloomberg’s enterprise solutions. Prior to that, she headed various departments at Bloomberg, notably in sales, strategy, data management, and product development over the past 19 years. Before joining Bloomberg, she worked as a management consultant at Roland Berger. Patricia graduated as an economist and has done various post-graduate courses, including business sustainability management, corporate finance, enterprise selling, corporate governance and negotiation. She is also a board member of the London Women’s Forum and has a BsC in Economics from Universidade Nova in Lisbon.

Laura Fox

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Streetlife Ventures

Laura has focused her career on improving quality of life in cities, and is an operator and strategist with a passion for growth; she’s led functions from revenue and marketing to operations and product at startups and Fortune 100 companies. Prior to co-founding Streetlife, Laura was the General Manager of Citi Bike for Lyft, building it into a $100M+ ARR business that serves 1.5 million riders and is one of the largest transportation systems in the United States. She previously led diligence on urban climate tech companies at Sidewalk Labs, launched new mobility products with Boston Consulting Group’s digital ventures team, advised Bloomberg Philanthropies on their urban investment strategy, and edited a book on entrepreneurial approaches to urban growth. Laura also teaches MBA strategy courses at NYU Stern, and is on the alumni board of BCG and on the board of directors of Governors Island, which will be the test-bed for climate innovation in New York City. Laura speaks on climate-finance, mobility, and city topics globally, from The New York Times to climate conferences like The Drop. She is also on the ‘Transportation Power 100’ and ‘Top Women in Mobility’ lists. Laura received a full scholarship for her MBA at NYU Stern, and a scholarship for her BA from the University of Notre Dame.

David Hostert

Global Head of Economics & Modeling

BloombergNEF

David Hostert is the Global Head of Economics & Modeling at BloombergNEF, where he serves as the organization's chief economist. Based in London, he leads BNEF's work on energy and climate scenarios and is the lead author of the New Energy Outlook (NEO), the firm's flagship annual analysis of long-term pathways for the global energy economy. His teams produce independent, credible scenarios grounded in real-world sector and country transitions across electricity, industry, buildings and transport through 2050. Over his 14-year tenure at BloombergNEF, David has held several key leadership roles. He previously served as Head of Research for EMEA, overseeing policy, carbon, power and gas analysis, and earlier led the global wind energy research team. He began his career with internships at New Energy Finance and the Association of German Banks, contributing to research on biofuels and financial strategies. David holds an MPhil in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge and a BA in Philosophy and Economics from the University of Bayreuth.

Mark Cyffka

Chief Operating Officer

AirMyne

Mark Cyffka is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of AirMyne, a Berkeley-based company working to scale direct air capture (DAC) technologies to industrial levels. Since co-founding AirMyne in 2022, Mark has led operational strategy and growth efforts, bringing the company through the Y Combinator Winter 2022 cohort. Prior to AirMyne, Mark served as a Senior Advisor at Business Finland, where he supported Finnish deeptech and industrial companies with U.S. market entry strategies. He also spent over five years at BASF in roles spanning product development and management, co-inventing new technologies for semiconductor manufacturing and helping commercialize solutions used in electric vehicle and solar power applications. Earlier in his career, he was an R&D Engineer at Honeywell, focusing on coatings and thin films for advanced tech sectors. Mark holds an MBA from Babson College’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business and a BS in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College.

Rekha Unnithan CFA

Managing Director, Global Head of Private Equity Impact,

Nuveen

Rekha is a Managing Director and Global Head of Private Equity Impact Investing, where she is responsible for executing Nuveen’s private equity impact and climate inclusion strategy. She was an early visionary establishing the intentional leadership in the impact investing platform for Nuveen. Prior to joining Nuveen in 2012, Rekha was a Vice President in the institutional investment group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She also held various positions in institutional investments, investment oversight, and risk management at Merrill Lynch. Rekha graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A. with a specialization in Financial Instruments & Markets, Social Innovation and Impact from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® and CIMA designations. Rekha serves on the advisory board of the Operating Principles for Impact Management and as chair of the Global Private Capital Association’s Impact Council. She is a board member on several current portfolio companies to help drive strategy and performance.

Ana Moro

Team Leader, Sustainability & Commodities Specialists

Bloomberg

Ana is a solutions leader with +14 years of experience in portfolio management tools with Bloomberg, MSCI and S&P. All big providers of Data and Technology solutions. She is an ESG market specialist in Bloomberg focused on supporting the adoption of ESG factors in the investment process. Her experienced has focused on the innovation, development, commercialization and increased adoption of ESG datasets and climate solutions in line with evolving regulations, market landscape and user needs. Ana is also an active Climate Ambassador helping diverse groups to conduct simulations about climate change strategies to enable awareness and commitment.