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January 13, 2025February 4, 2025 by rwobeter

Speakers RFSI Europe 2025

Muriel Arts is senior advisor of the nature and food platform at Systemiq, a global sustainability system change company. And CEO of IMPACTING.today, a boutique sustainability strategy, interim management and innovation company. Focused on agriculture, food, beverages, and construction. She works with executive teams, boards, companies, and their value chain partners mainly in Europe. Ze is a supervisory board member, co-host of the weekly Dutch radio show BNR Sustainable and senior faculty member of RSM Executive Education. Before becoming an advisor, Muriel worked 22 years as executive director for global FMCG, Telecom and Media companies. Muriel graduated as a doctor in medicine from Utrecht University in 1988. In 1991 she switched to the business world.

Muriel ArtsLENS & Systemiq | Senior Advisor

David Bennell is a leading Sustainability professional with over 25 years of experience with corporations and investors, as well as with many of the world’s top NGOs and philanthropic foundations. He’s a managing director the $28 billion Transformational Investing in Food Systems Initiative and an investor in start-ups focused on digital climate solutions and bioscience. He worked in the corporate sector for three prominent corporations leading R&D, leadership development and sustainability programs and held a 5-year appointment at MIT as adjunct faculty in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. David helped co-found the for-profit social enterprise company CottonConnect (a 2012 finalist for World’s Most Ethical Company), helped launch a multimillion-dollar USA impact investing fund focused on rural economic development, and co-created and led the global apparel industry standards non-profit Textile Exchange. David wrote and presents one of the world’s most watched sustainability education courses viewable on Linked In Learning (titled Sustainability Strategies) named the #1 global course for impact investors. He serves on the board at Wolfe’s Neck Center, home of the global agriculture technology platform OpenTEAM, and is a board director at American Forests, the USA’s oldest forest conservation organization founded in 1876.

David BennellTransformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS) | Managing Director

Paola is an innovation and systems transformation executive focused on sustainable development and food security solutions, as well as the frontiers and resilience of human systems. She currently leads the Food and Agriculture Portfolio for Pegasus Capital Advisors, leading portfolio investments for 2 large sustainable development funds focused on the Global South and accredited by the UN’s Green Climate Fund. Previously, she was the Chief Innovation Officer for Mars, Inc, preceded by a distinguished leadership career across multiple functions. Known as a systems thinker, managing complex networks, deploying multi-disciplinary change in large-scale programs, her current focus is in helping broad acceleration and scale up of Sustainable Development Goals solutions across multiple sectors and stakeholders.

Paola de AlmeidaPegasus Capital Advisors

Ivo DegnClimate Farmers | Co-Founder

Maarten is program manager regenerative economy at the DOEN Foundation. DOEN supports pioneers who strive for a greener, socially inclusive, and more creative society. Maarten has over 20-years’ experience in impact investing, climate finance, food systems, sustainability, social welfare, and entrepreneurship. For DOEN he has a specific focus on regeneration, innovative business models, food systems and energy transition in the Netherlands, East Africa, and India.

Maarten Derksen DOEN Foundation

Simon is a co-founder and General Partner at Pelican Ag – the UK’s first venture fund investing in regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. Simon is a career veteran of the impact investing field having worked on over 50 capital raising mandates over the past 14 years and helping to raise over £230m for socially and environmentally progressive companies. During this time he also advised institutions in developing their own impact investing strategies. Simon’s passion for food, produce and ecology started in early childhood through his family’s suburban organic vegetable garden – an obsession that continues to this day.

Simon EvillCo-Founder & General Partner | Pelican Ag

Amy Godfrey has been a doctor in the NHS for 7 years, specializing in anesthetics and intensive care medicine. Over the past three years she has developed a keen interest in regenerative food systems, seeing first hand the devastating health and economic impacts of chronic, diet-related diseases. She decided to pursue a career within the space last year and believes that innovation and entrepreneurship lie at the heart of solving our health and climate crises. She has recently started working for The First Thirty, an operator-led early-stage fund investing in technology to unlock human and planetary health, by investing in the food system.

Amy GodfreyThe First Thirty

Cristina Hastings Newsome is Head of Sustainability at Nuveen Natural Capital (NNC), leading the strategy and implementation of sustainability across NNC’s global platform. She sits on the Nuveen Natural Capital Leadership Team and the Global Investment Committees and leads the cross-functional ESG Committee, which strives to implement our holistic Nature, Climate and People approach to land-based investments. Cristina brings over twenty-five years’ experience in sustainability leadership and strategy, with previously held roles in Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), Accenture, AstraZeneca, and the Tropical Forest Alliance. Cristina graduated with a B.A and M.A. from the University of Oxford, an M.B.A. from the London Business School, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains from the University of Cambridge.

Cristina Hastings NewsomeNuveen Natural Capital | Head of Sustainability

Jochen Hauff is a corporate strategy, policy, and sustainability leader with over 25 years of experience. He coordinates the Advisory Board of “Adapt Your World 2025,” a project aimed at mobilizing private investment in climate resilience. As a Senior Brandt Fellow at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy and a faculty member of the Renewable Energy Management Program at St. Gallen University, he shares his vision and insights with students. Jochen has extensive experience from his long-term tenures as Director of Corporate Strategy, Energy Policy & Sustainability for BayWa r.e. Group, Vice President of SolarPower Europe, and at the consultancy Kearney. He now focuses on climate resilience, particularly soil health, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable forestry, which he sees as crucial for increasing resilience to climate change impacts on land, life and livelihoods. Jochen acts as a seed-investor in the Generation-Re syndicate.

Jochen HauffRenewables & Resiliency Strategist and Investor

Johanna manages investor relations at Gårdskapital, an emerging specialist fund manager focusing on debt and hybrid capital for Swedish agriculture. She grew up on a self-sufficient farm which has shaped her passion for good farming practices, food security, and new technology. After 25 years in capital markets and sustainable finance at Cordet Capital, Morgan Stanley, among others, she now focuses on developing financial structures that support agriculture and implementation of new technology. She is interested in promoting investment strategies that fund sustainable land management, soil health restoration and climate-positive farming. As a frequent international speaker Johanna is passionate about engaging in discussions on sustainable finance and impact driven investment structures to build strategic relationships within the sector aimed at shaping a resilient, food-secure, and climate-positive future.

Johanna HolmströmGårdskapital AB | Partner & IR

Matt is the Chief Scientific Officer at Regenerate Group and is responsible to set frameworks for soil testing methodologies as well as analysis and management of soil carbon data, carbon modelling and oversight, alongside feeding into the product, investment, and asset management teams of Regenerate. Matt is also an active farmer with his own beef cattle herd and sheep flock on his family farm in Northumberland. Matt is a published academic and has recently completed a DPhil at the University of Oxford, which analysed the impact of Regenerative Agriculture practices on soil carbon and agricultural productivity.

Matt JordonRegenerate Group | Chief Scientific Officer

Simon has been intensively researching and working in all spheres of agrifood ecosystems 'Seed to Compost’. In 2023, as a lead author in a collaborative study with global reach and novelty by the Boston Consulting Group, he contributed to a world's first in-depth socio-economic and -ecological analysis of the complex problems impeding and potentials of regenerative change from a national economic perspective. On an EU level in 2023, he lead-organized the EU Soil Health Law Coalition, which brought together stakeholders with a combined annual turnover of more than €215 billion. As consultant he works with a diverse array of actors in agrifood systems such as the REWE Group and the EU Commission. Currently, he acts as the Executive Director and Lead Strategy and Policy Steward of the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA). EARA is an independent farmer-led coordination, advocacy and enactment organisation of the movement of regenerative agriculture at the European level.

Simon KraemerEuropean Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA)

Alessia is responsible for the development of impact policies, measurement and reporting at SLM Partners, while assisting with the development of new fund strategies and investment opportunities. She is based in London. Alessia has broad experience in impact investing across both the retail and institutional investment landscape. She previously led responsible investment research at Redington, a UK-based investment consultant which advises on over $500billion of assets. As part of this role, she sourced and researched impact investment opportunities across a wide range of asset classes – both private and public – and helped her client base of pension funds, endowments, foundations and wealth managers integrate sustainability considerations in their investment process. Before that, Alessia completed a 3-year analyst program at J.P. Morgan where she was closely involved in the creation of J.P. Morgan’s first sustainable fund-of-fund solution for private banking clients. Alessia completed the Huntsman Program, a coordinated dual degree at the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School of Business). She holds French and Italian citizenship.

Alessia LendersSLM Partners | Head of Impact

Hayley is an investment professional with experience in food and agriculture spanning both professional experience in impact-focused private market research in New York/ London, as well as hands-on exposure to operating family farms in South Africa and the UK, with which she is still integrally involved. Building on 5 years prior experience at impact-dedicated advisory firm, Flat World Partners, Hayley is currently working across consulting projects for private market investors looking to transition their portfolios into thematic impact investments. She is also part of the founding team of Kinjani, an African climate tech venture studio focused on food systems, urbanisation, materials and critical minerals which launched in 2023. Hayley has a MS Sustainability Management from Columbia University, with a focus on sustainable finance and agriculture, and holds a BSc Genetics Hons from Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Hayley MoleImpact Investor | Food, Ag, Climate, Sustainability & Land

Ali Morpeth is Co-Founder of Planeatry Alliance and an award winning Registered Public Health Nutritionist (RNutr) working at the intersection of health and sustainability. She works with business, policy and NGOs to deliver changes that are win-win for people and planet. Ali is passionate about the opportunities that arise from drawing the dots between health and sustainability, and believes we can address the failings of the food system faster and smarter by working across these disciplines. She recognizes that what we eat, and the way food is produced, is driving interrelated crises - to public health, climate and nature, but doesn’t think this is inevitable. Instead, Ali believes healthy diets from sustainable food systems are a golden opportunity to drive the changes we need to see. To move the needle in the food system at the pace that’s needed, Ali recognizes we need to collaborate boldly, find new ways of working and sit in uncomfortable places where we would not usually find ourselves. She has consulted for businesses and retailers as well as working extensively with NGOs and on government food policy. She is an advisor to a number of leading food NGOs, an Affiliate of Fix our Food and a visiting researcher at Leeds University.

Ali MorpethPlaneatry Alliance | Co-Founder

Currently Global Head of ESG Solutions, heading up a team advising companies of all sizes (£20m-£80bn EBITDA), cap structures, sectors & markets to identify sustainability opportunities, supporting with sustainability strategy, structuring sustainability linked financing, identifying ‘green’ acquisitions, sustainability pools of capital, exit preparedness and leading ESG workstreams within private and public market equity raises. Prior to joining ESG Solutions in 2021, Gayle spent 5 years at HSBC Asset Management leading their Global ESG Engagement function. In this role she led company-specific engagement plans to influence ESG practices as an equity shareholder and supported global equity teams integrating ESG practice into stock selection, valuation and portfolio construction. She led several investor coalitions on climate change including 10 companies for Climate Action 100+ initiative and was an active member of IIGCC Corporate Engagement Programme. Prior to joining HSBC in 2016, Gayle worked as an ESG Analyst at Aviva Investors where she led implementation of Aviva’s strategic response to climate change which included a voting policy and divestment programme. Previously she was Senior ESG Advisor at ISS and MSCI, Corporate Governance Analyst at PIRC, and Project Manager at UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative.

Gayle MuersHSBC | Global Head of ESG Solutions

Ben is the Chief Investment Officer of Yeo Ventures, a fund manager with a simple mission; to drive the transition to a natural and healthy food system. Yeo Ventures backs the founders and companies that have set their sights on disrupting the industrialized food system with regenerative solutions that prioritize rebuilding planetary and human health. Currently deploying funds from the Yeo Valley Organic business in the UK, Yeo Ventures is raising a second fund to 10 x our impact in the regenerative food system. Prior to Yeo Ventures, Ben was a partner in a private equity fund based in London. He trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG, and has held a number of roles in corporate finance advisory. He lives in Somerset and, outside of work, is a qualified horticulturalist who is obsessed with growing his own food, and chairs the board of a not-for-profit organic community farm.

Ben NewtonYeo Ventures | Chief Investment Officer

Dana Rakha-Michalon, Senior Manager, One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Dana manages the work on scaling Regenerative Agriculture in OP2B with an aim to catalyze collective investments in landscape projects with leading business. She also leads the work on driving alignment of an integrated Reg Ag measurement architecture in WBCSD, with 50 member companies and 20 ecosystem partners participating in consolidating measurement frameworks as well as strengthening the measurement infrastructure. Dana is an agronomist and landscape architect, specialized in environmental management. Prior to joining WBCSD, she has worked for 10 years managing large-scale landscape projects in Europe and the Middle East. She also holds an MBA with a specialization in Strategy & Multinational Enterprise Management from EMlyon Business school.

Dana Rakha-MichalonOne Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Chris is founder and General Partner at Pelican Ag – the UK’s first venture fund investing in regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. Before this he grew Pelican Founders as a leading impact investment advisor for sustainable food and ag companies. Working with over 35 companies which received over £350m in subsequent funding. Previously he spent 16 years at Blackrock, Jupiter and CCAM, where he raised $1.8bn for 5 funds. He’s trustee to a 7k acre commercial farm in Scotland. Steers Patagonia’s 1% for the Planet UK initiative and is passionate about gut health.

Christopher RamsayPelican Ag | Founder & General Partner

A social entrepreneur passionate about regenerative business, food and development, Edouard is a founding General Partner of the OSC Fund. The fund is an initiative of One Step Closer (OSC) and strategically invests in early-stage companies spanning the entire agricultural value chain—from farming and production to sales and marketing, distribution, and upcycling. Leveraging the collective strength and proven track record of the OSC network of founders and CEOs, the OSC Fund offers purpose-driven entrepreneurs with alignment funding, peer support, and c-suite support from entrepreneurs and founders who bring best-in-class contributions.

Edouard RolletOne Step Closer (OSC) Fund | Founding General Partner

Fernando manages Meraki Impact, the impact investing arm of his family’s single family office in Brazil. Meraki was born out of his calling to conserve the forests, restore degraded land and biodiversity. and curve down deforestation. Meraki now guides the family office towards a 100% impact portfolio across all asset classes. He directly manages the investments that focus on changing agriculture and our food systems to regenerate the planet.

Fernando RussoMeraki Impact | Founder

Anouk leads The Nest’s allocations that aim at building more resilient food systems. With an engineering & economics degree, an enormous passion for food&ag, and a huge respect for nature, she looks for initiatives and collaborations that can help drive systemic change in our food system. The goal is to marry environmental health, human health and nutritional value by bringing back a holistic view on our food system. Formerly in strategy consulting, with solid experience in both the non-profit world and family advisory, she focuses on bringing the corporate and philanthropic worlds closer together to drive profound shifts.

Anouk SchoorsThe Nest | Investment Manager

Joszi Smeets is dedicated to driving systemic change in the food and agriculture sector. As a social geographer, she co-founded Food Hub with the belief that food transition is driven by people and is deeply emotional and cultural. For over 15 years, she has been developing innovative educational programs, training new food changemakers, and supporting transformative initiatives. At Food Hub, Joszi leads programs that equip professionals with the knowledge, skills, and tools to shape the food transition. She also co-developed the introductory course in Regenerative Agriculture together with the farmers at T'Gagel and was one of the initiators of De Nieuwe Boerenfamilie and De Boerenversneller, initiatives aimed at supporting and accelerating the next generation of farmers. Alongside her work in food system innovation, Joszi has deepened her expertise in trainership, personal leadership, and trust-building. These elements are key to her approach in empowering individuals and organizations to navigate the complexities of food and agriculture transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that food system transformation is not just about systems, but about empowering people to create change.

Joszi SmeetsFood Hub | Founder & Creative Director

Eric Smith is CEO/Co-Founder of Edacious, a technology platform for differentiating food quality and creating linkages between soil and human health through food nutrient composition. He was most recently Director of Neglected Climate Opportunities, the Grantham Foundation's venture capital vehicle where he led investments in businesses that can remove carbon and GHG at scale. Eric was previously with SJF Ventures and worked for BlackRock on climate finance, in addition to providing advisory services to forest carbon and other natural resource management projects. He received his MBA and Master of Forestry from Duke and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica.

Eric SmithEdacious | CEO

Ben Stafford is a specialist investor, entrepreneur and climate innovator with expertise in impact private equity investments. Ben co-founded Regenerate Asset Management, a returns-driven and purpose-led impact investment firm, which establishes impact strategies for the private markets with an primary focus on natural capital, regenerative agriculture and climate positive agri-technologies. Ben co-manages the firm’s flagship private equity fund “RESA” focused on transitioning agricultural businesses to regenerative.  As a skilled investor in real assets and agriculture, Ben has pioneered Natural Capital and regenerative business models which generate financial return and positive impact on the environment.

Ben StaffordRegenerate Asset Management | CEO

Philip Taylor, Ph.D. (he/him) is the Executive Director of Mad Agriculture. He co-founded the organization in 2016 with his life partner, Nicole Brinks, to reimagine and restore our relationship to the land, sea, and each other through good agriculture. Prior to founding Mad Ag, Philip was a career global ecologist who specialized in ecosystem and soil carbon cycling. His research ranged widely, from understanding soil ecology and ecosystem biogeochemistry to exploring solutions to the sustainability challenges of agriculture. Philip’s work has been published in numerous journals, including Nature, Nature Climate Change, and Ecology, and he has diverse international experience in both private and public sectors, having led research and business efforts throughout North America, Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Now, he is bringing his entire being into Mad Agriculture—his life’s work, until he returns to the soil.

Philip TaylorMad Agriculture | Executive Director & Co-Founder

After completing a master in Mathematics, Thekla went on to consult for McKinsey in Amsterdam. A cycling trip through Asia opened her eyes for the possibilities of farming in harmony with nature and in 2014 she moved to South Africa to pursue her work on sustainable agriculture. Since then, she has been working relentlessly to make regenerative farming work as a business for farmers across Africa. With her team at Grounded she has founded multiple regenerative businesses, including processing companies for high value crops, a vegetable farm and a wholesale company. Her latest (ad)venture is an investment fund, Grounded Investment Company - which invests in regenerative agri-processors in East Africa.

Thekla TeunisGrounded | Founder and Managing Partner

Gonzalo is a Farmeneur. In 2009 he co-founded "Naranjas del Carmen" with his brother to sell oranges from a small orchard belonging to his grandfather. Today, they manage 650 hectares of organic and regenerative farming in the region of Valencia, producing citrus fruits, olives, nuts, kiwis, persimmons, pomegranates and other garden produce. As a result of the success of Naranjas del Carmen in 2017 the Úrculo brothers launched CrowdFarming together with Moises Calviño and Juliette Simonin to revolutionise the food supply chain. Today, CrowdFarming, with a presence in 4 countries and more than 200 employees, has become the main alternative to supermarkets, helping 300 farmers to sell their products directly to more than 500,000 families in Europe through crowdfarming.com.

Gonzalo ÚrculoCrowdFarming | Co-Founder

Bart van der Zande is the co-founder of Fresh Ventures Studio: starting multiple new organizations a year focused on the transformation towards a regenerative food system. Passionate about taking a systems perspective on work and life. Helping drive more talent, capital and energy towards this transformation. Always looking for what should be build and how should it be done to bring about a healthy, increasingly self regenerating food & economic system.

Bart van der ZandeFresh Ventures Studio | Co-Founder

Since 2011 Koen has been following the regenerative agriculture and food space when he stumbled upon the carbon sequestration potential of regenerative farming. Under "Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food" he has published more than 350 podcast interviews with impact investors, fund managers, farmers and many others. Regenerating soils and ecosystems by putting money (big and small) to work is the central theme that drives him. He is also manager at the Impact Investor community nonprofit Toniic.

Koen van SeijenInvesting in Regenerative Agriculture and Food Podcast

Eline Veninga is a passionate advocate for regenerative agriculture and community-driven solutions. As Chef the Mission of Lenteland, she works to develop multifunctional farms with a scalable businessmodel and transitioning them into community ownership. Inspired by E.F. Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful, Eline combines a deep respect for nature with innovative, inclusive approaches to empower future farmers and local communities. She brings 5 years of experience in the area of peace&security matters and 10 years of experience in food retail (Jumbo, Albert Heijn, Marqt). Additionally she has been actively involved in the Slow Food Youth Movement and initiatives connecting citizens with their natural environment.

Eline VeningaLenteland | Chef the Mission

Addy works across the private equity and venture capital team at Regenerate Asset Management. Addy has over 10+ years’ experience in the VC sector with 6 years specifically focussed on AgriFood Tech. Addy has a deep AgriFood knowledge, having been a food entrepreneur as well as working across the agrifood supply chain. She is an active angel impact investor and has consulted for various climate incubator programmes. Addy is dedicated to supporting women across the food and finance sector through organising networking events. Addy is very involved in the charity sector where she volunteers in various homeless projects across London to alleviate food poverty.

Addy Windsor-CliveRegenerate Asset Management | Manager – Investor Relations

Antony Yousefian is a Partner at The First Thirty Ventures, where he focuses on the crucial role of soil health in both planetary and human well-being. He specialises in identifying and funding early-stage entrepreneurs who leverage data-driven, deep-tech solutions to drive innovation in the agri-food sector. At The First Thirty, Antony steers investments towards technologies that create a competitive advantage by harmonising with nature. His career began in asset management, where he recognised the growing importance of sustainable investing and pinpointed the agri-food sector as a key intersection for addressing investor demands about productivity, environmental impact, and social responsibility. This insight led him to explore private investments in early-stage technologies, which culminated in founding and helped to scale up several start-ups in the agri-food space. Now, Antony applies his extensive experience to support the next generation of innovators at The First Thirty. In addition to his investment role, Antony is a nominator for the Earth Shot Prize and serves as an advisor to the Food Foundation and Agrimetrics.

Antony YousefianThe First Thirty | Partner

Zuzanna Zielińska is an environmental nutritionist with a mission of connecting agriculture and healthcare. She founded HarvestCare, a start-up bringing food prescription models for diabetes type 2 patinets to the Netherlands. Zuzanna is also a co-founder of a Regenerative Healthcare European Organization, which promotes the soil-human health connection and nutrient density in the EU ecosystem.

Zuzanna ZielinskaHarvestCare & RHEA

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