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Dr. Leigh Ann Winowiecki is the Global Research Lead for Soil and Land Health at CIFOR-ICRAF, based in Nairobi, Kenya. A soil scientist, her research focuses on scaling farmer-centered landscape restoration, understanding drivers of degradation, and quantifying the impacts of land management on soil health Since 2009 she has co-developed and implemented the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) in over 40 countries across the tropics. The framework is a systematic methodology to assess soil health, land degradation, and vegetation dynamics and track restoration efforts across landscapes. She has published widely on soil organic carbon, ecosystem services, and land degradation across sub-Saharan Africa and the tropics, including a coherent set of open-access datasets. She co-founded the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), which aims to catalyze investments in soil health for human well-being and climate. She is on the Scientific Task Force and the Monitoring Task Force for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration as well as the Scientific Steering Committee for the Global Soil Health Programme. She co-leads the Landscape Restoration Transformative Partnership Platform. She is also a founding Board Member of the International Union of Agroforestry (IUAF).

Liane Randolph has spent most of her career in public service, specializing in environmental law and policy, effective administration, and a commitment to transparency and public process. She was appointed Chair of the California Air Resources Board by Governor Gavin Newsom in December 2020. Starting in 2015, Randolph served six years as a Commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission and managed numerous decisions on energy efficiency, integrated energy resource planning, and regulation of transportation network companies, as well as spearheading significant Commission policy reforms. Prior to the PUC, Randolph served from 2011 to 2014 as Deputy Secretary and General Counsel at the California Natural Resources Agency, where she worked on a wide variety of legal and policy issues. Her work at the state level builds on experience with local government that she gained while practicing municipal law as a contract City Attorney for the Cities of San Leandro and Suisun City. Randolph earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and lives in Oakland with her husband and family.

Matt Petersen is the President and CEO of Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI.) LACI is creating an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation (e.g., incubating leading startups), transforming markets (i.e., creating aspirational partnerships), and enhancing community (i.e., inspiring future entrepreneurs). LACI’s three priorities are accelerating transportation electrification, clean energy, and sustainable cities. Prior to joining LACI, Matt Petersen was appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti as the first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles. Serving as CSO for four years, Petersen was the chief architect of the groundbreaking Sustainable City pLAn, led efforts to make LA a global leader in EVs, and helped create the Climate Mayors.

Luisa, a political scientist with a focus in interdisciplinary sustainability research, started working at Bellona’s Berlin office in 2022. The international environmental and climate action organization pursues a systemic approach to climate change mitigation on a science-based and solution-oriented basis. Bellona Deutschland is committed to paving the way for a climate-neutral economy in Germany. As policy advisor for a sustainable hydrogen economy, Luisa is responsible for analyzing and advocating for a systemically sensible production, distribution, and use of hydrogen.

Collin Rees is the U.S. Program Manager at Oil Change International working to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry, support grassroots resistance against dirty infrastructure, end public support for oil, gas, and coal, and wind down fossil fuel production with a just and equitable transition. He has campaigned on climate and racial justice, labor issues, and new economic models for over a decade, spanning local to international levels. Prior to joining Oil Change, Collin worked to build the power of the student fossil fuel divestment movement at 350.org, and trained youth to run campaigns with the Energy Action Coalition (now the Power Shift Network). He campaigned at the international climate negotiations with youth advocacy group SustainUS and is now a Board member, and previously worked at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Collin studied Mechanical and materials Science Engineering at Harvard University.

Richard Folland has been Carbon Tracker’s policy and government affairs adviser since 2014 and in 2023 joined as the Head of Policy and Engagement. Richard has over 30 years of experience as a diplomat and advocate, operating at the highest level, based in Europe and elsewhere. He has worked on the climate and energy agenda, as a policymaker and as a private sector advisor, for 15 years. A former head of international energy policy at the UK Foreign Office, Richard has also been JPMorgan’s European Advisor on Energy and Climate Change, the Executive Director of the Climate Markets and Investment Association (CMIA), and the Head of Energy and Environment at Inline Policy. He was Co-Founder of the strategic advisory firm, Sustineri, working with institutional investors on climate and sustainability issues.