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 Actuarial Finance

Enrico's areas of expertise are risk analysis and asset-liability management, with a focus on applications in the insurance and investment management sectors, as well as the design of predictive analytics and risk management tools for a variety of asset classes. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards for his research on the modelling of non-standard risks and the design of innovative risk transfer solutions promoting financial inclusion and green technology adoption. 

Dalia Daou

Centre Director

Dalia's experience comes from market risk consulting to institutional asset managers, hedge funds and PWOs advising on risk management, analysis and attribution, optimisation for portfolio strategies, and the development of statistical historical scenario analyses, later leading the client solutions team. Dalia is also the founder and CEO of an award-wining creative business. Graduate of Imperial College London, MSc Science, Technology and Medicine, and University of Bristol, BSc Physics.

Raffaele Della Croce

Advanced Research Fellow 

Raffaele is co-Director of the Singapore Green Finance Centre. Recently, he has been special economic advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport in Italy and member of the cabinet. As Senior Economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) he has been responsible for producing research and analysis on sustainable investment, low carbon infrastructure financing, resilience and infratech.  A graduate of La Sapienza University in Rome, Columbia University in New York and the University of Oxford (PhD).

Mili Fomicov

Teaching Fellow

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 investments in nature, hereunder private investments. Her area of expertise is green finance, including fixed income instruments (green and sustainable bonds), carbon markets, investor trends and public-private financing of natural capital. She has a particular interest in the forestry, land-use and agriculture sectors. She has worked as an advisor and consultant on climate change, finance and sustainable development for 25 years and is the founder of Blue Maia Ltd. - an advisory firm. Pernille holds a PhD in environmental economics from George Washington University.

Yllka Hysaj

Research Associate

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

Honorary Research Fellow

Alex has worked 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 Associate

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

Senior Teaching 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.

Ivana Popovic

Research Associate

Ivana is a Research Associate at the CCFI and Imperial College London's Grantham Institute, where she works on climate- and nature-related financial risks and a just transition. Prior to joining Imperial, Ivana worked as a research assistant at the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge and as an assistant to the Editor of the American Political Science Review, a leading academic journal in political science. Previously, she worked in the public sector in Serbia. She obtained a PhD in Political Science from the London School of Economics, defending a thesis that examined corporate lobbying in energy policy.

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.

Karen Wang

Research Assistant

Karen's research focuses on the carbon market, climate risk, and nature-based solutions. She has worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and at Microsoft, in the data and AI sectors in Hong Kong. Karen holds an MSc in Climate Change, Management & Finance from Imperial College Business School, and is a  Schwarzman Scholar from Tsinghua University. She was named as Forbes 30 under 30 for her climate data startup work (Climind).  Karen is the first female Chinese selected as an SDGs Young Leader, recognized by the United Nations. 

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.

Claudia Hlavackova

Research Assistant

Claudia is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment, where her research focuses on climate adaptation and resilience. She is also the host of the CCFI's podcast, New Frontiers in Climate Finance, which she launched in August 2023. Claudia holds a MSc Climate Change, Management and Finance from Imperial College Business School and a BSc in Business Administration and Finance from the University of Amsterdam. 

Jean Sau

Research Assistant

Jean Sau is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment (CCFI), where her research is currently focussed on ASEAN renewable energy investments. She is a graduate of Imperial College London's MSc in Climate Change, Management & Finance programme. Prior to that, she had 2 years of experience in delivering sustainability and ESG ratings, and second-party opinions for the ASEAN sustainable fixed-income market.

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

Honorary Research Fellow

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.