Mehrdad Nazari, MSc, MBA, LEAD Fellow
read moreMehrdad is the Senior ESIA and CSR Advisor, and Director of Prizma. He has 17 years of international experience in environmental and social risk assessments and auditing, application of CSR principles, assisting companies with sustainability reporting using the GRI framework, and advising project developers and financial institutions.He was previously a Project Manager with Dames & Moore Germany (now URS), Principal Environmental Specialist with the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD, UK), and Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Research at CoreRatings Ltd (now Innovest). Mehrdad's project experience spans Central and Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union (including the Russian Far East, the Caucasus, and Central Asian Republics), Latin America and China. Mehrdad has advised the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) Office of the IFC/MIGA (World Bank Group), is a Lead Auditor for ISO 14,001 Environmental Management System and a member of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA). He studied geosciences and business administration in Germany, US and the UK. He was a Fulbright grantee, is a Fellow of Rockefeller Foundation's Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) program, and the Vice President of LEAD Canada Inc. Mehrdad has developed and implemented grant-funded initiatives dealing with biodiversity offsets, stakeholder dialogue, conflict resolution, and transboundary oil spill response. He also chaired conferences and participated in international initiatives associated with extractive industries and cross-sectoral dialogue. Mehrdad is a German national and resides in the US. Dr. Helena Barton
read moreDr Helena Barton is a social anthropologist specialized in advancing corporate responsibility (CR) strategies and management systems.
An experienced assessor of CR risk management and communication, Helena provides strategic counsel and training on a range of CR and sustainability issues, from policy-making, performance measurement, reporting and stakeholder engagement, to compliance with standards and principles. During 13 years of international consulting, she has worked with a variety of organisations, from multi-nationals to small companies, from mainstream to niche (Socially Responsible) investors, from research institutes and government bodies to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and human rights lawyers. Helena has developed, tested and delivered innovative risk management tools to companies as well as research services to investors worldwide. She conducts CR report verification, working with a global provider to develop CR reporting and assurance practices. During the past six years, she has advised an international technical board on non-financial reporting assurance and served as judge on the ACCA-Ceres North American Awards for Sustainability Reporting. A skilled writer, she writes and reviews CR communication material (print/web) and provides guidance to global companies on how to meet best practice standards in CR reporting. She has also worked with global institutional investors on formulating and implementing strategies for Socially Responsible Investment. While living in Southern Africa and Asia, Helena has conducted social due diligence (e.g. audits, impact assessments) in both rural and urban settings to help decision-makers evaluate project risk and capital requirements. She is an experienced facilitator of workshops and dialogue to help resolve conflict and build trust. She is also a regular conference speaker and has chaired a range of seminars, including a bi-annual workshop series on corporate leadership and shareholder value in the USA. Helena holds a BA (Honours) from the University of East Anglia (UK) in international development and taught at the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch in South Africa while completing her Masters and PhD degrees in anthropology. Helena is Danish and lives in Hong Kong.
Martin Birley, MS, PhD, DIC
read moreMartin has advised development banks, development agencies, governments and multinationals companies. He also authored many books, papers, reports and guidelines, co-founded the health section of International Association on Impact Assessment (IAIA) and the International HIA Consortium. Martin is the Founding Director of Birley HIA.Dr. Don Proebstel
read moreDon has a special interest in biodiversity offsets and sustainability and spearheaded the development of a partnership with Conservation International (CI) to advance GRI's strong commitment to environmental and social responsibility for its Brisas copper and gold mining project inVenezuela Russian Academy of Sciences, theMoscow State University and theWild Salmon Center Koichiro Ishimori, BA, MA.
read moreKoichiro 10 years of international professional experience includes positions as an Evaluation Officer at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Program Officer at the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID).His past clients/projects include the World Bank, UNFPA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Japanese Government, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and JBIC. Koichiro’s experience includes Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Morocco, USA and Switzerland. He studied economics, and technology/science and international public policy at Rikkyo University (Japan), University of Denver (USA), and the University of Sussex (UK). He is also a Fellow of Rockefeller Foundation’s Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD), and speaks Japanese, English and French. Koichiro is the President of the Value Frontier, Co., Ltd, a consulting firm based in Tokyo specializing in consultations on international development projects and climate change.Timothy Murphy, BA, MPhil
read moreTim's professional career spans over 35 years. He served as the Director of the Environmental Appraisal Unit of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and headed the Environmental Consultancy arm at WS Atkins, one of Europe's largest engineering and planning consultancies.Among the environmentally significant EBRD projects on which Tim worked were metallurgical processing plants in the Russian Federation and Slovakia, mining projects in Uzbekistan and the far east of Russia, oil projects off the Pacific Coast of Russia and in the Caspian Sea region, nuclear power projects in Slovakia and Ukraine, and thermal power projects in Ukraine and Bulgaria. Tim also worked closely with other international funding institutions, including the IFC, the World Bank (IBRD), and the Asian Development Bank. He contributed to an external review of IFC/MIGA's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman Office, reviewed EBRD's draft Safeguard Policies and proposed Independent Recourse Mechanism, and conducted an in-depth review of the African Development Bank's approach to Sustainability. Tim's previous clients and projects included the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme, UK Department of Energy, British Rail (Channel Tunnel Rail Link Project), UK Department of Transport (Second Severn Crossing), Sultanate of Oman (Controller of Environmental Planning), Ministry of Defense, Eurotunnel, the National Rivers Authority, and a variety of industrial and commercial organizations. Non-UK projects included the environmental impact assessment of hydro-electric projects in Uganda, Sri Lanka, Botswana and Malaysia, reservoirs in Morocco and Algeria, steelworks in Algeria and Brazil, land reclamation in Bahrain, a refinery and smelter in Oman, several industrial plants in Hong Kong, and mining developments in India and Malawi. Tim pursued his academic training in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (BA Hons, Oxford), and Town and Regional Planning (MPhil, London). Wayne Forman, BS, MS
read moreWayne has over 35 years of professional experience, including 25 years with Freeport McMoRan Inc., where he also served as Director of Corporate Environmental, Health & Safety Affairs.His expertise includes environmental site assessments, due diligence investigations, environmental audits, environmental impact evaluations, ecological baseline studies and environmental regulatory/permitting matters, and related policy development, strategy planning, and public affairs for mining, oil & gas and chemical processing industries around the world. Wayne's numerous certifications include Lead Auditor for ISO 14000 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Audits. His project experience covers Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming; and, in Canada, Panama, Indonesia, Spain, Trinidad/Tobago and the former Soviet Union (Russia, the Ukraine), Australia, Chile, China, Egypt, Italy, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Dr. William Kennedy
read moreBill's career spans over 30 years. Bill is currently an ESIA advisor to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Previously, he was the Executive Director of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and the Head of the Environmental Policy and Strategy Unit of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).At the CEC (Montreal ,Canada Concordia He also held other senior posts with the Dutch Ministries of Environment and Foreign Affairs, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Formally trained in Political Science (MA and PhD), Dr Kennedy is fluent in German, Dutch and French, has a good knowledge of Spanish and a working knowledge of Russian.University ,Montreal. John Aronson, BS, MS
read moreJohn has over 30 years of experience in environmental management and permitting of extractive industry projects worldwide, and served as independent lenders' consultant and auditor.John is responsible for technical, administrative, and financial management of environmental consulting firm, specializing in environmental management and permitting. Comprehensive project management duties for mining, oil and gas, utility, manufacturing, government, and other clients. Technical areas of expertise include limnology and aquatic ecology, fisheries, phycology, ornithology, environmental impact and risk assessment, water quality, eutrophication and watershed management and water quality modeling. Mr. Aronson has served as Program Manager and Principal Water Quality Consultant to a wide variety of domestic and international clients over the past 30 years. Mr. Aronson serves as Principal-in-Charge for large, comprehensive environmental management and permitting programs in the U.S. and in many foreign countries. He is involved in a wide variety of environmental permitting, regulatory, and policy related issues at the local, state, federal, and international levels. Mr. Aronson is considered one of the world’s leading water quality consultants dealing with NPDES, NEPA, CERCLA, RCRA, and international regulations.
Gudars Nazari, Information Systems Expert
read moreGudars has over 13 years of international experience developing solutions from design to implementation that streamlined business operations for financial institutions, hospitality, air-cargo industry, telecom and IT solution providers.Since 2003, he has provided independent advisory and interim project management services to American Express, Frankfurt, Visionapp, Frankfurt, Microsoft Germany, Munich, Zentropypartners (member of McCann–Erikson), Frankfurt, Laptop Computer GmbH, Frankfurt. Previously, Gudars was a Senior Project Manager at Chordiant Software Int, Frankfurt, where he was responsible for the enterprise wide delivering and integration of the Chordiant CRM solution to one of the top 10 insurance companies in Germany. He was also Program Manager at Axiom Consulting Group, California, where he conducted business and technical analysis for an Internet portal for the hospitality industry. Gudars reported the findings to CEO, providing critical insight to project feasibility, timeline and profitability that resulted in corporate savings of $9 million. Other appointments included Senior Project Manager with Icon Medialab, San Francisco; Manager for Fraud Monitoring System, Pacific Gateway Exchange, California; Senior IT Consultant and Innovation Manager, Pass Consulting Corp., Germany and Fort Myers; and the Deutsche Bank, Germany. Gudars studied computer sciences and economics at technical colleges in Germany and obtained his Diplomas in Computer Sciences and business administration.
Mehrdad Nazari, MSc, MBA, LEAD Fellow
read moreMehrdad is the Senior ESIA and CSR Advisor, and Director of Prizma. He has 17 years of international experience in environmental and social risk assessments and auditing, application of CSR principles, assisting companies with sustainability reporting using the GRI framework, and advising project developers and financial institutions.Dr. Helena Barton
read moreDr Helena Barton is a social anthropologist specialized in advancing corporate responsibility (CR) strategies and management systems.
Martin Birley, MS, PhD, DIC
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