Board of Directors
Aminu Umar-Sadiq
Aminu Umar-Sadiq
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority which manages Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund. Aminu also holds non-executive positions on boards including InfraCredit, Development Bank of Nigeria, and Renewables Investment Platform for Limitless Energy. Aminu previously held roles at Morgan Stanley, Denham Capital Management, and Société Générale. Aminu is a member of the European Union High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance for Emerging Economies and the Sustainable Investment Advisory Council for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford.
Christopher Marks
Christopher Marks
Managing Director at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Bank (MUFG), leading its global growth markets and blended finance initiatives. Prior to his current role Christopher has also managed corporate and investment banking in developing markets, spearheading innovative finance for sustainable development goals and climate projects, and overseeing risk management of a €60 billion portfolio. Before joining MUFG, Christopher was a senior advisor at the African Development Bank and consulted on sovereign debt management for the IMF; and was Global Head of Debt Capital Markets for BNP Paribas. Christopher holds degrees from Colgate University, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Sciences Po de Paris, and Princeton University.
Price Lowenstein
Price Lowenstein
Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Sovereign Risk Insurance Limited, prominent emerging market credit and political risk insurer, which since inception has underwritten more than 2,000 transactions and its global portfolio is spread over more than 100 emerging and frontier markets and his expertise extends to risk analysis and risk transfer for bank lending and equity investments in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Former Soviet Union. Price is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he previously served on the board of the African Trade Insurance Agency, a multilateral agency and the leading provider of investment and credit risk solutions in Africa. Price holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado College and a master’s in International Relations and Chinese Studies from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Ricardo Nogueira
Ricardo Nogueira
Board member of Washington DC’s Green Finance Authority and serves on the Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) independent Technical Advisor Panel, which advises the GCF’s Board on all funding decisions. Ricardo previously served as Senior Advisor on Climate Finance in the U.S. Department of State and was a U.S. board member of the GCF. Prior to public service, Ricardo worked in private sector fund management and practiced as a lawyer, both with a focus on carbon markets and clean energy. Ricardo obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Lafayette College and Juris Doctor from Seton Hall School of Law.
Stacy Swann
Stacy Swann
Stacy Swann is an investor with more than 25 years’ experience in project finance, venture equity, and blended finance. She is Founder of Resilient Earth Capital, and the Managing Director for Blended Finance at IDB-Invest, the Inter-American Development Bank’s private sector institution. Stacy was previously Chief Executive Officer of Climate Finance Advisors and has held senior and executive positions with the US Department of Treasury, Enron Corporation and other organisations. She is regularly engaged by investors and policymakers alike on topics related to climate-related financial risk and opportunities, and sits on the Board of the Green Guarantee Company in her personal capacity. Ms. Swann holds an MBA in Finance and Development Economics from American University, a Master’s degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree from CUNY – Hunter College.
Thomas Venon
Thomas Venon
Partner and founder at Eighteen East Capital and Executive Director of the Center for Development Finance Studies. Thomas currently leads product development for the United Kingdom Government’s Foreign Commonwealth Development Office flagship MOBILIST program and helped the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Africa launch the Liquidity & Sustainability Facility, a repo facility for African sovereign debt. Thomas previously managed a pan-African institutional asset management business and held senior positions at Standard & Poor, Royal Bank of Scotland, and ABN Amro Bank. Thomas holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Cape Town and a Master in Applied Finance from the University of Melbourne.