We support our clients' shift toward sustainability in two basic ways: firstly by bringing to the table broad and deep expertise. Our people have backgrounds ranging from strategic consulting, to journalism and communications, to environmental and social activism, to financial and business management. Many of them bring 15-20 years of experience to their work.

Secondly by sharing who we are as well as what we know. When clients hire Ecos, they get all of us - our passion, our principles, our unequivocal commitment to help create a world that works. Ecos isn't just a job for us, it's something to which we give our all. We believe in bringing creativity, a sense of fun, and a can-do attitude to everything we do.

CONSULTANTS

Joakim Bergman, Senior Consultant (Sweden)

Joakim’s history with Ecos dates back to its conception in London in 1995, when he and Paul partnered with Paras, to form ParasEcos. In 1996, Joakim established and ran a solutions focused market campaigning business in Sweden.

Joakim has unique experience in developing market growth strategies around sustainable products and services for large international corporations. His former clients included forestry companies and building materials companies. He has broad expertise in analysing market landscapes and developing strategies toovercome obstacles.

Joakim's experience in local community engagement is grounded in his varied roles working for Greenpeace in Europe, the US and Australia. During his time as Campaign Director of Greenpeace Sweden some of the organisation's most innovative campaigns, including the chlorine bleach campaign in the pulp and paper industry and the PVC campaign in furniture manufacturing was carried out by his team.

Joakim has served as a director on the boards of Greenpeace USA, and CEE, as well as CEO of Greenpeace Sweden and Deputy CEO of Greenpeace International. He has a degree in building engineering from the Technological School of Helsingborg and undertook legal studies, specialising in international environmental law at the University of Lund. Joakim is now based in Sweden.

Joakim can be reached at joakim.bergman@ecoscorp.com

 

Emily Cracknell, RESEARCH AND STRATEGY ADVISOR

Emily has over 9 years experience in strategic communications focusing on sustainability, environmental management and community and stakeholder engagement across a range of sectors. Combining her passions for environmental sustainability and public participation on this issue, she has developed strategies and communication packages on issues ranging from climate change through to water conservation and air quality.

During the development of these projects she has collaborated with NGO’s, local, state & federal government bodies, business, industry, local communities and academic institutions.

For the past two years Emily has been acting as Chief of Staff at Ecos and is now working full time as a consultant.

Her professional experience includes academic research, river & riparian management and community & stakeholder relations management for large infrastructure projects. Emily has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Macquarie University with majors in Resource & Environmental Management & Physical Geography.

Emily can be reached at emily.cracknell@ecoscorp.com

 

Benjamine Lahousse, Financial Sector, Responsible Investments Specialist

Benjamine recently joined Ecos to strengthen the financial sector team and contribute her expertise in the area of Responsible Investment. She assists clients in improving their overall sustainability strategy and facilitates the implementation of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment* which is currently particularly relevant to Ecos’ superannuation and investment management customers.

While living in the UK, Benjamine worked for ASSET4, a leading provider of extra-financial data, where she was designing tailored solutions enabling the integration of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) concerns into clients’ investment management process. Benjamine also worked as a Responsible Investment analyst for I.DE.AM, the sustainable asset management arm of Credit Agricole. Prior to that, Benjamine was involved in the financial services team of a sustainability rating agency, where she developed an expertise of ESG risks assessment, contributed to the sector risk mapping process and developed understanding for wider corporate social responsibility issues.

For a period of three years, Benjamine worked as an operational auditor for ABN Amro Asset Management in the Netherlands. She gained knowledge of the value chain and operational risks associated with asset management activities.

Benjamine obtained her Master in Business Economics from the University of Amsterdam and a Bachelor in International Management from HES/ISER in Rotterdam. She speaks French, English and Dutch fluently.

Benjamine can be reached at benjamine.lahousse@ecoscorp.com

*The UN PRI is a worldwide investor initiative aiming at integrating environmental, social and governance concerns into investment decision-making, active ownership practices and investment management. As of June 2008, the initiative represented investors with USD 14 trillion in AuM. Ecos is also a signatory of the UN PRI as a professional services partner. To find out how Ecos can help you implement the UN PRI go to Ecos UN PRI capability statement...

 

 

Robbie Kelman, Marketing and Innovation Advisor

Robbie has worked for Ecos Corporation for since 2003 on a range of sustainability related projects including those with Anglo Coal Australia, Comalco, Diageo Australia, Hi Fert, Newcastle Permanent Building Society, Revive Recycling and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

Prior to this Robbie worked on climate change and other environment issues with Greenpeace in Australia, New Zealand and the UK as well as developing employment programs with an Aboriginal Corporation in NSW. Robbie brings with him strong relationships with the environment movement and knowledge of how this sector operates, strategic insight, creative processes and innovation development and a thorough understanding of the suite of sustainability challenges society and companies face.

Robbie has a Bachelor of Applied Science, Social Ecology from the University of Western Sydney.

Robbie can be reached at robbie.kelman@ecoscorp.com.

 

 

Mark Lyster, Financial Sector and Markets Leader

Mark is a founding member of Ecos Corporation. His expertise lies in advising large corporations on how to embed sustainability into their organisation in a way that adds shareholder and stakeholder value. He specialises in the finance sector where he advises on lending and investment risk, portfolio management, climate change, product development and supply chain strategies.

Mark assists clients in developing and implementing practical business strategies and performance management systems. He provides strategic advice and implementation support at an executive and operational level. Through working with leading companies over the last decade, he has co-developed Ecos’ unique methodology on operationalising sustainability. Mark has led ‘whole of company’ integration assignments in some of Australia’s leading companies, including Colonial First State Asset Management, ANZ, Insurance Australia Group, Zurich Australia, Newcastle Permanent, Maple-Brown Abbott, Diageo Australia, AGL, Wattyl Paints, Placer Dome and the Commonwealth Bank.

Prior to joining Ecos Mark held senior management positions in the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank and was Director of Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s Global Environmental Solutions practice in Australia. He has extensive knowledge and experience of working with multilateral funding agencies and non-government organisations, and participates in a number of international forums focusing on finance and sustainability. Mark is a regular conference speaker and commentator on the business of sustainability in the finance sector.

Mark has a Masters in Agricultural Economics and attended the Executive Development Program at the International Institute of Management Development, Switzerland.

Mark can be reached at: mark.lyster@ecoscorp.com

 

KatHARINE (KATS) Maroney, US PARTNER

Kats is based outside of Philadelphia, PA and is a partner in the US team. Her skills in developing sustainability business strategies include strategy development, internal alignment and communication and stakeholder engagement. Her primary work over the last five years has been working on various Ecos projects with DuPont.

Before joining Ecos, Kats worked in the US Congress as Chief of Staff for Congressman John Porter, representing a district near Chicago, Illinois. In this capacity, she focused primarily on issues relating to the environment and foreign assistance. She served as Porter's staff representative on committees whose focus lay in funding for the US Agency for International Development, Export Credit Agencies and US contributions to multilateral institutions as well as domestic funding for biomedical research and other public health initiatives.

Prior to her time on Capitol Hill, Kats worked at Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), a non-profit organization that helps to connect US legislators interested in global environmental issues with their counterparts around the world. Kats served on the GLOBE Board until 2005. In addition, Kats serves as President of the Board of the Pt. Lookout Farmlife and Watershed Preserve Foundation, an organization working to promote awareness among children and adults of the inter-connectedness of art, science and the environment in Pennsylvania and Delaware. She also serves on the Board of the Brandywine Conservancy which seeks to conserve the environmental and cultural resources of the Brandywine Valley, PA, with a concerted focus on conservation of local water quality and quantity.

Kats can be reached at: kats.maroney@ecoscorp.com

 

Don Reed, US PARTNER

Don is based in Boston and is a partner in the US team. His background as a Chartered Financial Analyst brings invaluable perspectives to Ecos’ work in demonstrating and measuring the business value of sustainability to shareholders.

A former Director of Research at The Carson Group in New York, where he provided capital markets consulting services to some of the world’s largest public corporations, Don works both with our corporate clients to maximise shareholder value through social and environmental strategies and with institutional investors, advising on ways to measure and capture this value. Don has worked with several clients to adapt their capital allocation and other business decision-making systems to incorporate the financial value of sustainability.

His extensive career spans both the financial service and non-government worlds. As co-founder of Excelsior Capital Corporation, Don collaborated with leading pension funds to design, develop and implement new institutional investment products with positive economic development benefits.

At the Washington-based World Resources Institute, Don led the world-renowned think tank’s corporate engagement program, helping investors measure the value of sustainable business strategies, and companies enhance shareholder value through profitably reducing their environmental footprint.

Don is a highly regarded speaker and author of Green Shareholder Value, Hype or Hit? and Stalking the Elusive Financial Case for Corporate Sustainability, published by World Resources Institute. He is also the co-author of Competitive Plus, a review of economically targeted investments, published by the New York State Industrial Cooperation Council. He continues his writing career at Ecos, as co-author of our discussion paper, Single Bottom Line Sustainability.

Don holds an honours degree in political economy from Princeton University and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Don can be reached at: don.reed@ecoscorp.com

 

Jack Holden, Head – Carbon Management

Jack is based in Melbourne and was invited to join Ecos in 2007 to respond to the increasing demand for carbon management and climate change services. He has a particular interest in capacity building and supporting others to find creative but pragmatic solutions to climate challenges .

He brings a rich understanding of carbon policy and markets as well as practical experience in managing carbon emissions and climate risk in Australia and Asia. His experience provides real value to clients seeking carbon and climate solutions.

Previously Jack was responsible for carbon strategy at Easy Being Green. An innovative supplier of verified carbon credits. Jack has extensive practical experience as a sustainability practitioner in state & local government. He has led the sustainability team at the City of Melbourne and held senior roles in the Victorian Government’s Greenhouse Policy Unit.

In government he managed projects including the carbon emissions of the vehicle fleet and the “carbon neutral” 2006 Commonwealth Games. Jack also managed the “CarbonTender” project that used a market-like mechanism to establish over fifty carbon sinks with permanent native vegetation.

He was also involved in developing a framework for a climate change adaptation strategy.

He was a member of the Australian Standards working group for carbon accounting in forestry projects. Before this he has worked in sustainability roles in Landcare and natural resource management in commercial, government and the community, mostly in regional areas.

He designed and built his family’s own passive solar home that is self sufficient for water and energy with solar power and a woodlot that provides carbon neutral heating.

His academic qualifications include a Masters of Public Policy and Management from Melbourne University and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Management from Deakin University.

Jack can be reached at jack.holden@ecoscorp.com