WSIS Forum: Transformative Change

Helena started her career eager to find solutions to the world’s most pressing global issues by working at The Clinton Foundation and at Ashoka. Excited by the impact of technology on every aspect of life she then worked for Techstars and Big Data for Humans.Today she is on a mission to accelerate the transition to impact and sustainability as the default way of investing.She currently works for Top Tier Impact the global ecosystem for impact leaders where she focuses on fundraising and programming. She is also an angel investor in alternative protein and climate.Passionate about solving old problems in new creative ways by getting people to think outside the box to create a better world. The New School and London School of Economics graduate. Elected Founder of the Future in 2016, Forbes 30 under 30 in 2017 and one of the 50 most inspirational women in technology in Europe in 2017.

Katarina is AESG’s Partner and Global Director of Strategy and Advisory. She is an energy transition and sustainability professional with comprehensive experience in leadership positions across the value chain of the energy industry, encompassing utilities, oil and gas and renewables and large energy users. She has proven experience as an effective leader of global cross-functional teams and has spent 18 years designing strategies, public policies and implementing transformation projects across more than 30 countries in the Middle East, South-East Asia and Europe. Katarina covered cross-cutting themes shaping energy transition, including net zero, climate change, environmental protection, and sustainability. She is an active public speaker and has authored a variety of studies on energy transition and decarbonisation. She is active in industry associations and is also currently a member of the Global Executive Committee for INSEAD Energy Alumni Club and local UAE INSEAD Alumni Association. Katarina mentors actively to promote balanced leadership among her industry peers and young professionals.

Panellist bio attached to agenda materials

Previously, Lars Erik Mangset was the Chief Climate Change Advisor in KLP and a senior analyst for KLP Asset Management   Before joining KLP, Mangset held positions within applied research, industrial consulting and conservation advisory. Mangset is a board member of Norsif and is an expert advisor for the Norwegian Research Council, Science Based Targets initiative and the Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment (PACTA).

Michael Pawlyn has been described as an expert in regenerative design and biomimicry. He established his firm Exploration Architecture in 2007 to focus on high performance buildings and solutions for the circular economy. The company has developed a ground-breaking office project, an ultra-low energy data centre, a zero waste textiles factory and progressive solutions for green cities.

Prior to setting up Exploration, he worked with Grimshaw for ten years and was central to the team that designed the Eden Project. He is regularly booked as a keynote speaker on innovation and his TED talk has had over 2 million viewings.

Michael jointly initiated the widely acclaimed Sahara Forest Project; the latest version of which was opened by the King of Jordan in 2017. In 2019 he co-initiated ‘Architects Declare a Climate & Biodiversity Emergency’ which has spread internationally with over 7,000 companies signed up to addressing the planetary crisis.Since 2018 he has been increasingly providing advice to national governments and large companies on transformative change. His book Biomimicry in Architecture has been RIBA Publications’ best-selling title. His latest book, titled Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, co-authored with Sarah Ichioka, was published by Triarchy Press in December 2021.