People

Michael Wilkins

Executive Director and Professor of Practice

Mike's career encompasses 28 years at S&P Global Ratings. As Managing Director and global head of Sustainable Finance, Mike had global responsibility for the firm’s sustainable finance research activities. Previously head of the Infrastructure Finance Ratings analytical group covering utilities, project finance, PPPs and transportation in EMEA. Mike is a member of the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), holds an MBA from Cass Business School and a BA from the University of Bristol.

Patrick Bolton

Research Director CCFI, and Professor of Finance & Economics

Patrick was Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. His career began at University of California at Berkeley, then Harvard University, L' Ecole Polytechnique, LSE, l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, and Princeton University. A graduate of University of Cambridge and Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, London School of Economics (PhD) and Co-author of, Contract Theory, and Credit Markets for the Poor.

Enrico Biffis

Associate Professor of Finance

Enrico's expertise is in risk analysis and asset-liability management, with a focus on the insurance and investment management sectors, and predictive analytics and risk management tools. Collaborations with financial institutions include the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and Enrico has won awards for modelling and hedging of large risks. Formerly at Georgia State University, Nanyang Business School and Bocconi Milan, and a fellow of the Pensions Institute and MRIC.

Dalia Daou

Centre Manager

Dalia worked in market risk consulting to institutional asset managers, PWOs and hedge funds advising on risk management, analysis, attribution and reporting for portfolio strategies and managed the development of historical scenario analyses. Dalia is also the founder and CEO of an award-wining creative arts business. Graduate of Imperial, MSc, and University of Bristol, BSc Physics.

Mili Fomicov

Research Associate

Milica was a Director and Portfolio Manager in the Multi-Asset Strategies team at BlackRock. Previously, a Portfolio Manager on J.P. Morgan's CIO team, and multi-manager for US and Japan equity funds at Barclays, and AllianceBernstein in the US.  Graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA and Austin College, BA.

Bob Buhr

Honorary Research Fellow

Bob retired in 2017 from a 30-year career as a corporate bond analyst, and now focuses on areas of interest to investors, particularly climate risks and adaptation strategies.  He has published numerous ESG and climate-related reports, including  on Green Bonds, and, since joining CCFI, climate vulnerable countries and sovereign risks, and firm-based risks relating to climate risk impacts. Bob received a BA from Ithaca College, and a Ph.D. from Brown University.

Pernille Holtedahl

Research Fellow

Pernille’s primary research interests are models and incentive systems for increasing private investments in nature. In addition to her research activities at CCFI, she is a senior consultant to CICERO Shades of Green (now a part of S&P Global) and founder of Blue Maia Ltd., an advisory firm. Her expertise lies in nature investing, green finance and green bonds – with particular exposure to the forestry, land-use and agriculture sectors. She has worked as an advisor on climate change, economics and sustainable development for over 20 years and holds a PhD in environmental economics from George Washington University.

Yllka Hysaj

Research Assistant

Yllka joined the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI) after finishing her PhD at the University of Bristol. Her research interests are FinTech, Global Talent Management, Future of Work and Innovation. Her current research focuses on London's FinTech community, exploring FinTech as knowledge-intensive firms, and global talent mobility through the lens of transnational professionals. Yllka is also an executive committee member of the Financial Geography Global Network (FinGeo). Previously, Yllka worked as a Teacher Assistant at Bristol University. Prior to joining academia, Yllka had industry work experience in sales and data analysis in Kosovo.

Marcin Kacperczyk

Professor of Finance

Marcin's research interests are in investments, information economics, climate risk, financial intermediation, and artificial intelligence. Including pricing of carbon risk, incentives to divest carbon-intensive assets, and the role of global regulation and technological changes therein. Research Associate at the Center for Economic Policy Research, research advisor at the European Central Bank and formerly President of the European Finance Association.

Alexandre Koberle

Advanced Research Fellow

Alex works with both CCFI and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. His research on long-term scenarios of socio-environmental change, focuses on the energy-land-climate nexus. His work into policy objectives spanning energy use, climate action, agriculture, and conservation uses energy systems and land use models at national to global scales. Previously at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Iva Koci

Research Assistant

Iva is researcher in sustainable finance investigating how capital markets can address environmental externalities. She is currently finalising a PhD at King’s College London on a full Doctoral Research Scholarship. Concurrently, Iva is a Teaching Fellow at Imperial College Business School at masters’ and MBA level. Iva previously worked as a consultant in financial advisory services at Deloitte and in fixed income at Robeco Asset Management.

Anastasiya Ostrovnaya

Research Fellow

Anastasiya worked for 10 years as a credit trader at a global investment bank on structured credit products, index ETF, bonds and CDS developing expertise in financial markets and risk management. She worked on green bond market research with Climate Bonds Initiative, and led an ESG portfolio review for a wealth management. Graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, PhD.

Dr. Raúl Rosales

Senior Executive Fellow

Dr. Raúl C. Rosales is a Senior Executive Fellow at Imperial College Business School and serves as a Member of the management committee of the Singapore Green Finance Centre. He also serves as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Engineering at King’s College in London. Raúl also works as a Senior Advisor for Orchard Global, an alternative asset manager. His background in the financial industry spans 30 years including as a Senior Banker for Energy at EBRD and as Global Head of Multilateral Development (MDBs) at BBVA. He holds a Doctorate in Civil Engineering (2013) specializing in sustainable finance for infrastructure and energy investments.

Antonique Afonso

Project Manager

Antonique is the Project Manager for CCFI with a focus on the corporate partnership with Standard Chartered, and its co-management of the Singapore Green Finance Centre (SGFC), to support the delivery of diverse activities within research, executive education, and industry engagement. Antonique holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and is currently completing her MSc in Global Political Economy.

Rachel Jury

Centre Administrator

Rachel has worked with the Business School as a professional staff member for 3 years. She holds a Bachelor of Communication Studies. Rachel has worked as an administrator in many industries, including hospitality, film and television, photography, major events and commercial property management. Rachel provides administrative support to the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment team.

Charles Donovan

Honorary Fellow

Charles was the first Executive Director of the CCFI. Previously  Head of Structuring and Valuation for Alternative Energy at BP and an Analyst at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Graduate of University of Washington, Vanderbilt University, and IE Business School. Currently a professor at University of Washington. He is the Editor and Co-Author of Renewable Energy Finance: Powering the Future.

Gireesh Shrimali

Honorary Research Fellow

Gireesh Shrimali is the Director of CPI’s India program, and a Fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University. Working to reduce barriers to increase investment for India’s renewable energy targets. Graduate of Stanford University, PhD, University of Minnesota, MS, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), B.Tech.

Mandeep Singh

Research Associate

Mandeep joined CCFI after finishing his Ph.D. in Banking and Finance at the University of New South Wales. His research interests are climate finance, banking, and empirical asset pricing. His current work focuses on the implications of climate-related factors for credit markets. Previously, Mandeep worked as a Senior Credit Risk Analyst for the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Zahra Hashemzadeh

Visiting Research Fellow

Zahra is a researcher in sustainable finance, studying the integration of ESG criteria in portfolio management as well as the effects of companies’ adoption of sustainability-oriented measures. She will be awarded her PhD in financial economics from Lund School of Economics & Management, Sweden in May 2022. Zahra is visiting the CCFI on a scholarship from the Swedish foundation “JanWallanders och Tom Hedelius Stiftelse samt Tore Browaldhs Stiftelse.”