Thomas is a seasoned conservationist with a wide range of experiences, from working boots on the ground in the field of Protected and Conserved Area Management in Argentina (helped set-up a private reserve) and central Vietnam (helped co-managed a marine protected area) to the Financial Sector as Regional Investment Officer for South America and Global ESG Specialist at Proparco/AFD Group, where he had an investment portfolio under his responsibility of more than USD 240 million. As Senior Manager at Conservation International Europe, Thomas led fundraising efforts worth more than USD 50 million, including a landmark partnership with French President, Emmanuel Macron, under the Save Our Amazon fund announced at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
More recently, Thomas designed, launched and is currently leading one of the biggest coastal and marine conservation programme in the Eastern and Southern Africa region as IUCN’s Regional Technical Coordinator for Coastal and Ocean Resilience. Thomas thrive in fast paced and challenging environments, where innovation and entrepreneurship is required to design solutions as well as out-of-the-box and forward thinking to make these solutions a reality and overcome challenges. Thanks to his mixed background in both conservation and finance, Thomas has been spearheading the development of several first-of-its kind innovative financing mechanisms and is constantly looking for new ways of generating sustainable streams of revenue for both Nature and the people that depend on it.
