Verra Welcomes Three New Directors to the Board

Ken Markowitz is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington, DC, and co-leader of the firm’s global climate change practice. He advises leading public- and private-sector clients on a broad range of environmental and clean energy law, regulation, and policy issues, domestically and internationally. Mr. Markowitz has significant experience with compliance strategies and regulatory approaches to greenhouse gas mitigation and climate resilience, environmental markets, regulatory incentives, and good governance. He formerly served as the Managing Director of the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, the founding co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Cleantech and Climate Change Committee, an enforcement attorney with the US Environmental Protection Agency, and an adjunct professor at the Washington College of Law at American University.

Jim Cannon is the CEO and founder of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. He has worked on fisheries, forestry, and conservation issues in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Before starting the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership in 2006, he worked at Conservation International (CI) for nearly 10 years, including as the Acting Executive Director of the Center for Conservation and Government. His work at CI focused on forest conservation, natural forest management, and carbon financing. He served on the Marine Stewardship Council’s Technical Advisory Board from 2005 to 2008. Jim studied ecology at Cambridge University and environmental economics, management, and fisheries at Imperial College, London. In 2009, Jim was named Intrafish’s “Person of the Year.”

Dirk Forrister is President and CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). He previously served as managing director of Natsource, as a senior official with the United States. Department of Energy, and as energy program manager at Environmental Defense Fund. He also served as Chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force in the Clinton Administration. Dirk, an early contributor to US climate change policy, brings to the Verra Board considerable skills and experience in energy policy and carbon markets.

Mark Kenber has spent over two decades working on international climate and energy policy. His most recent role was as CEO of Mongoose Energy, the UK’s largest developer and manager of community-owned renewable energy assets, which he left in June 2018. Before joining Mongoose, Mark was the CEO of the international NGO The Climate Group, one of Verra’s founding organizations, where he worked for 12 years. Previously, he served as a Senior Policy Officer of World Wildlife Fund’s international climate change program, working on emissions trading and international carbon markets; as Planning Director for Fundación Natura in Ecuador; and as Climate Change Advisor to both the Ecuadorian government and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Kelley Kizzier is a fellow at the Bezos Earth Fund. She was formerly the Vice President of Global Climate at the Environmental Defense Fund. She is a renowned expert on European and international climate policy and was the European Union’s (EU) lead markets negotiator in the International Climate Negotiations for 14 years. Prior to joining EDF, Kelley was an independent consultant, and her clients included the Government of Ontario, the Western Climate Initiative, the World Bank, the European Commission, and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. From 2010 to 2017, Kelley was part of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action, where she designed and implemented EU policy on international carbon credits; aviation; maritime; land use, land-use change, and forestry ; and non-Emissions Trading System targets. Previously, Kelley was the Senior Manager implementing EU and International Climate Policy at the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland (2004-2010) and also served as the country’s Focal Point for the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation.

Julie McLaughlin is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Energy practice in San Francisco. She specializes in energy transition and has worked across 16 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Julie brings nearly 20 years of experience in clean energy and carbon offsets, spanning initiatives focused on leadership, strategy, investment, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), business development, and regulatory affairs. She regularly works with utilities, private equity, project developers, and regulators.

Prior to joining A&M, Julie spent three years working with Cogentrix, a Carlyle portfolio company and independent power producer, as Vice President of Commercial Origination and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. During her tenure, she supported M&A activities for more than two gigawatts of power projects. Previously, Julie held a variety of roles with Brookfield Renewable, E.ON Climate & Renewables, Dynamic Energy, EcoSecurities, and The Vertex Companies.

Julie earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Bucknell University, an MPA in environmental science and policy from Columbia University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Anshari is Director of Policy and Analytics at GenZero, where he is responsible for providing thought leadership on carbon pricing, policy, regulations, and standards. Before GenZero, he was a climate change negotiator with the National Climate Change Secretariat under the Prime Minister’s Office, and represented Singapore at various multilateral fora including the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He anchored the carbon markets negotiations for Singapore from 2014 to 2021.

Mandy Rambharos is currently the Vice President of Global Climate Cooperation for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and previously served on Verra’s board from 2019 to 2021. She leads EDF’s work to promote more ambitious and effective global climate action under the Paris Agreement by directing multilateral engagement, including at the United Nations and its agencies, as well as for the G20 and G7. She also leads EDF’s strategy to promote well-designed carbon pricing and markets that support the transformation toward a low-emissions future while improving the well-being of marginalized communities.

Marc Stuart is the founding managing director of Allotrope Partners and an original co-founder of EcoSecurities, one of the world’s largest developers of greenhouse gas reduction and removal projects. Marc brings to the board significant business development expertise and an in-depth technical understanding of the complexities of project development and the need for simplified and transparent procedures to enable large-scale investment.