Team

Board members

Marcelo De Andrade

Chairman, CEO e Founder

Marcelo has more than 35 years of experience working in the area of socioeconomic development and implementation of sustainable corporate, governmental and non-governmental projects.

He is a medical doctor, former Brazilian olympic rowing athlete and expeditionary. During his expeditions, he had his first direct contact with environmental problems caused by non-sustainable development. It was through these experience that he developed the model for Pro Natura as an institution that combined economic growth with human development and quality of life.

In 1985, he founded Pro Natura in Brazil and, in 1992 in partnership with Guy Reinaud, they expanded the institution’s activities globally across the United States, Europe, South and Central America, Africa and Asia. His contributions to the field of socioeconomic development were highlighted in the book The True Visionaries of Our Times, by German journalist Martin Haeusler. Marcelo is also co-founder and partner of Earth Capital Partners, one of the world’s largest environmentally-focused investment funds, and served for several years as a member of BHP Billiton Forum for Corporate Responsibility, DuPont’s Worldwide Biotech Panel, Procter & Gamble’s Sustainability Council, etc.

Guy Reinaud

Chairman Emeritus

Guy was Executive Director of CENTI Software from 1966 to 1973 and Global Executive Director of ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) between 1973 and 1992. Guy is known as one of the main promoters of Conservation and Agriculture of our time.

He is currently on the Board of several international institutions such as Vigeo, IBI (International Biochar Initiative), IUCN France, Eco-Carbone, European Foundation for Sustainable Territories, JTS and Fonds Français pour la Nature et l’Environnement.

Brando Crespi

Vice Chairman

As the Paris-based co-founder and chief strategist of Pro Natura International, Brando has, over the last 30 years, designed, funded and implemented numerous sustainable development projects in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

Over the past 15 years he has focused on agro ecological projects in 15 African countries primarily using biochar to fight climate change while strengthening food security. He is an active angel investor in a number of “clean and green” tech companies and sits on a number of international corporate boards.

Executives

Maria Cecilia

Peru Director

Maria Cecilia Villegas is a specialist in International public policy, political and social risk analysis and sustainable development, with solid experience in public-private articulation in favor of carrying out development projects, especially in those places that do not have an effective state presence. Ms. Villegas has strong experience in the design and implementation of development strategies based on the creation of shared value which entails working with rural communities and grassroots organizations, and in the negotiation of social agreements.

As a social and gender specialist consultant at the World Bank, she was part of the Social Inclusion group, which measured and implemented inclusion policies within the Bank’s projects. Ms. Villegas holds a Masters Degree in International Public Policy (MIPP) from the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies (SAIS), a Masters Degree (LLM) from Duke University Law School and a Law Degree form Universidad de Lima.

Tammy Tullis

Treasurer & Secretary

Tammy has over 24 years of capital market experience working in asset management, investment and private banking. In addition, to her board duties at Pronatura Global Foundation, Ms. Tullis focuses her financial acumen bringing investors to Pronatura and in the development of financial instruments. She has a special interest in Sovereign Green Bonds.

Ms. Tullis is a co-founder of the Bioregional Accelerator, a purpose-driven capacity development firm with a mission to help high-impact bioregional projects around the world realize their full ecological, social, cultural, and economic potential.

She is also active on the several finance working groups convened by Common Earth Alliance and serves as the finance steward at the Global Regenerative CoLab.

In her capital markets career, Ms Tullis led the creation of the emerging market funds, research and investment platform for a $11bn asset manager. Ms Tullis has invested into Sovereign, Corporates and projects in Asia, South America, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. She has been a regular attendee at International Monetary Fund (IMF)/ World Bank (WB) meetings and held the primary relationship with government ministers, corporate executives and industry experts. Ms Tullis is an early adopter of Environmental, Social and Governance metrics into the investment process. Early in her career Ms Tullis originated and structured international private placements ($5- $20m), syndicated large public bonds ($300m to $6 billion) and maintained the primary relationship with global issuers on behalf of HSBC Bank. Ms. Tullis has also been an interest rate futures and options broker on global exchanges.

Ms. Tullis has a MBA from the University of Miami, USA and a BA from the University of Liverpool, England. Ms. Tullis also holds the CIPM designation from the CFA Institute

Renata Lopes-Merriam

Board Director

Regenerative leader and entrepreneur, expert in communications and strategic marketing, always by mixing art with commerce.

Founder and CEO of Kingdom B, a Marketing and Partnerships NY Agency, since 2011.

Currently, she is bringing together over 20 years of native and branded content management for brands and projects, including LVMH, Interview Magazine, Maxim, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, PlumTV, InsideHook, The Nantucket Project, plus all major luxury brands in the world, to create TALKPLANET – the Marketing and Impact News platform that packages solutions, rewards action and builds community. My purpose is bringing people together to help solve our planet’s greatest challenges. TalkPlanet is ProNatura Int’l communications platform.

MBA in Marketing, current at Singularity University A360. Member of Top Tier Impact, Summit, Pinnacle of Excellence Impact. Multilingual. Citizen of USA, EU/Portugal, Brazil

Celina Moore Barton

USA Director

Celina brings 30 years of experience as a land steward, sustainably-driven entrepreneur, manager, and impact investor. Celina began collaborating with Marcelo and Pro Natura in 1993, while she was working with Ella Cisneros as the UN Liaison for the Together Foundation. Our discussions about how to facilitate positive global change by establishing efficiencies, methodologies, and a logistical framework that inventories, and integrates the needs and resources of people, projects, and organizations in service to humanity and the earth helped fuel the build out of the Togethernet, which remains a fundamental tool for the UN-Habitat program.

Celina has also stayed connected to her roots in Vermont, and worked on land conservation, real estate, and developing green methodologies using sales transactions as a catalyst to drive value back to the land. Celina worked for well-known brands such as Sotheby’s and Christies, helping them understand, represent, and tell the story of resilient rural communities, which resulted in breaking price records for conserved land, farms, and country estates in multiple counties. Celina continues to incubate several sustainably-driven companies in her holding company, Halsa Holdings, which keeps a particular emphasis on hemp and on women-owned businesses.

Celina finds inspiration in the Buckminster Fuller quote: “You never change things by fighting against the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.”

Managers

All

Brazil

France

Mozambique

Nigeria

Juliana Rolla De Leo

Director of the Pro Natura Agency of Minas Gerais

Graduated in Business Administration with a degree in Foreign Trade, MBA in Strategic Management in Corporate Finance, PhD student in Environmental Engineering from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, specializing in business modeling, management and internationalization/nationalization, sustainability and innovation. She consolidated her career in the international market with a wide experience abroad.

Since 2004, she has been working on issues related to climate change and sustainability in Brazil and abroad, having started from internationalization and environmental projects.

She is the founder of Eco-Business Solutions, Director of Products and Markets at UBQ (Brazilian Union for Quality), Administrative and Financial Director of FEAMIG, and a teacher in FEAMIG’s undergraduate and graduate courses.

She has an international background in Professional and Executive coaching from SLAC (Latin American Coaching Society) and international certification – DISC Analyst (behavior), and Skills Analyst (Assess).

Marcela Zia

Chief Cultural Officer Pro-Natura International

Marcela specializes in cultural diplomacy, with over 15 years of experience in the field. She graduated as a stage dancer at the Leipzig Opera Ballet School and has worked as a professional dancer at the Berlin State Opera, at the São Paulo Companhia de Dança and at the São Paulo City Ballet. In addition to her artistic career, Marcela has a degree in International Relations and an MBA in International Business Management from MIB – Massachusetts Institute of Business. She has worked in the management of international projects in international institutions such as the Brazil-Germany Chamber of Commerce, Goethe-Institut, APEX-Brasil and she is the president of the Piracicaba Session of the UNESCO International Dance Council. Marcela is fluent in German, English, Spanish and Portuguese and has professional experience in Germany (8 years), Spain, United States, Canada and China. Since 2015 she has been developing international cultural exchange projects throughout the world.

Juliana Bellaguarda

Administrative Assistant

Nicia Cardoso

Executive Secretary of the Chairman

Catherine Barré

Executive Board ‎Member

Mohamed Bouchent Ouf

Project Manager

Natarajan Iswaran

Strategic Councelor

Olivier Pascal

Director of Science Expeditions Program‎

Wilfrid Pineau

Project Manager

Betinha Ribeiro

Project Manager

Bill Knight

Founder, Pro Natura Nigeria

Ambassadors

Arminio Fraga

Form Central Bank of Brazil

Ignacy Sachs

Jorge Ferrão

Form Minister of Education and Human Development

Elza Galarza

Former Minister of Environment

The Lord Deben John Gummer

Form Secretary of State for the Environment

Jane Nielsen

Thomas E. Lovejoy