Our team and board

Karim Laouabdia-Sellami is the former deputy general director of the Agence francaise de biomedicine, a French government body, former director of MSF’s Campaign for Essential Medecine and former Director General of MSF in Paris.

Marc Hermant is the Director of Human Resources at Unisanté. Unisanté is a university centre for general medicine and public health based in Lausanne. The institution has nearly 900 employees active in research, academic training, prevention and care.

Marc Secretan is a Partner at PwC. With his role of Non-for-Profit Leader for PwC Switzerland, Marc has been able to focus a significant part of his time into audit and advisory services to Non-for-Profit organizations and Philanthropic foundations over the past years. In addition, he is involved in the services provided to the Family businesses and middle market industry in Romandie.

Gilles Carbonnier is the Vice President of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a Professor of Economics and Development at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales et de Développement of Geneva (Graduate Institute).

Elise Buckle is President of Climate and Sustainability, advisor to the UN and former director of special projects at the Climate Action Network. She has a huge wealth of experience and networks in climate policy agenda driving.

Sonia Roschnik is Executive Director at the Geneva Sustainability Centre.  She is former International Climate Policy Director at Healthcare without Harm, and former director of the sustainability unit at the National Health Service (NHS) of the United Kingdom. She is a specialist of the sustainable transformation of health services.

Alexa joined the Climate Action Accelerator to lead the fundraising and resource mobilisation pillar of the initiative. Her career path brings together the fields of human rights advocacy, environmental transition and higher education. After a humanitarian mission in Bosnia with Médecins du Monde, she worked for 10 years with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), where she was successively in charge of the Latin America office, developed the institutional fundraising office and, more recently, was a representative to the UN in Geneva. After obtaining a Master’s degree in international environmental and human rights law in Montreal in 2009, she joined the academic world and taught on climate change, environmental transition and human rights, notably at John Abbott College in Canada, where she also helped the institution to initiate its own transition. She also holds a bachelor’s in Political Science and Latin American Studies from McGill University. Alexa joined the initiative because she is convinced of the imperative to accelerate the race towards carbon neutrality.

Alexandre joins the Climate Action Accelerator to coordinate its community of actors. A nurse by training, he has worked since 2010 in emergency and psychiatric services and as a project and research manager in health promotion. Graduated with a Master’s degree in Public Health and Environment from the Université de Lorraine and a Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, he worked for five years in the response to health crises for the United Nations in West Africa and the DRC. An activist since 2018, he participated in the co-founding of the francophone association Alliance Santé Planétaire. This activity led him to develop the promotion of planetary health in the Francophone space and to teach it at Sciences Po Paris. Defining himself as a planetary health nurse, Alexandre hopes to participate in the emergence of a coalition of actors committed to taking care of all living things in order to preserve and regenerate the conditions of habitability of our Earth.

A seasoned professional in humanitarianism, security and peace, Beatrice brings to the Climate Action Accelerator 20 year experience in the area of public policy, research, strategic management, and project development with a commitment to improve the fate of populations caught in crisis.  

Beatrice currently holds the position of Policy Engagement Director where one of her main areas of focus is the amplification of the climate transformation of the humanitarian sector. Throughout her journey as a humanitarian workers, she was deployed in multiple conflict-affected countries, and served in several leadership roles at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) including as Deputy Executive Director at MSF Switzerland, and as International Coordinator for Advocacy, Operations, and Representation (MSF International) where she headed MSF’s humanitarian diplomacy team. Most recently, Beatrice was Europe Director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), in charge of CIVIC’s engagement with European Governments, the European Union, and NATO in view of promoting better policies and practices to improve the protection of civilians. She also oversaw CIVIC’s program in Ukraine and in the region.   

Beatrice served as Board Director representing civil society at the International Code of Conduct Association for Private Security Providers (ICoCA) from 2018 to 2023. She also sits at the Board of the Groupe URD, and is a member of the She Changes Climate Network.  

She holds a Master degree in Public Policy from Princeton University and graduated from Sciences Po Paris.  

Blerim Arslani is a consulting engineer specialising in energy and carbon footprint measurement and analysis. As part of the measurement team, he contributes his expertise by helping our partners to quantify their footprint and monitor this crucial data.

Alongside his involvement with CAA, Blerim also works as a consultant in energy, energy efficiency and smart building. This dual expertise enables him to keep in close touch with the latest advances and innovations in these constantly evolving fields.

Blerim holds a master’s degree in energy and the environment from the HES-SO in Switzerland, which he has supplemented with a range of training courses, particularly in web application development, data analysis and machine learning. His commitment to our initiative stems from his deep conviction that decarbonisation plays an essential role in creating a sustainable society.”

Bruno Jochum is the director and founder of the Climate Action Accelerator. He has been involved in emergency medical humanitarian action for 20 years, having worked all over the world, from Iran to Rwanda to South Africa. After several years in the field with Médecins du Monde as well as with Médecins sans Frontières, he became successively Programme Manager, Director of Operations and then Director General of Médecins sans Frontières in Geneva (OCG), an NGO employing 7000 staff and a budget of 260 million CHF. Before launching the initiative, he was a Global Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, where the Accelerator was incubated. Bruno has a degree from Sciences Po Strasbourg in Political Studies and holds a Master’s in Political Science from University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne and in International Public Law from the University of Nancy. His awareness of the human impacts of climate change and his taste for challenge led him to launch this new non-profit initiative, which aims to make a difference by operationalising climate action and provoking a domino effect among organisations in society.

Cédric Martin works closely with key partners of the Climate Action Accelerator in defining their climate and environmental roadmaps. He has an international professional background, notably in emergency humanitarian work in conflict zones and as a programme manager with Médecins sans Frontières. He then worked for several years as a consultant on organisational resilience, risk analysis, critical incident response and the evolution of organisational practices with Accomplir Consulting. Inspired by participative management models and trained in non-violent communication, he has developed a particular aptitude for listening and accompanying organisations in their transformation challenges. Cedric holds a degree in engineering from the l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) in France and is also trained in carbon assessments. In a very personal approach, Cédric joined the Climate Action Accelerator to align his professional commitments with his deep motivations.

Charlotte Cochaud is the creative one in the team, coordinating the communications strategy and social media content production for the Climate Action Accelerator. She has a long expertise in communication, developed when she was Head of Communication at Michel et Augustin and Head of social media at Chanel. She founded and currently leads her own communications consulting firm, DIFFERENT. During the first COVID lockdown, she launched the community “Et Après?” in order to ask questions on the transition in the fields of tourism, work and the environment. Charlotte holds a bachelor’s degree in applied foreign languages and a Master’s in international communication strategies from the University of Burgundy. Close to nature, she joined the Climate Action Accelerator because she is passionate about transition issues and wants to do her part.

Before joining Climate Action Accelerator as a Project Manager, Dan has long and solid experience in leading teams and in management of strategic projects/dossiers in humanitarian, development, and health international organisations. Dan worked in different managerial functions in various part of the world during his career. This has given him strong knowledge and professional expertise to operate in complex contexts/settings as much as in the executive world as a general director in the headquarters of Médecins Sans Frontières in South Africa & in Sweden as well as general manager for the private medical assistance organization International SOS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Mozambique.

Dan holds originally a master in geography and post-graduate in Local Development & Urban Planning which was the starting point of his early professional career as urban planner for the French Ministry/Department of Transport & Public Works and thereafter as a private consultant/advisor in two co-owned consultancy firms in South-France: Arcades & Tecla

Estelle Januel’s role at the Climate Action Accelerator includes working with aid organisations on their decarbonisation roadmaps as well as on the organisation of events. She has 12 years in the private sector, managing high-level marketing and communications projects with different international companies. Prior to joining the Accelerator, Estelle was most recently working at the Médecins Sans Frontières Middle East Hub in the United Arab Emirates, and before that, at the Department of Africa of the French Secours Catholique. She acquired a master’s degree in Social and Solidarity Economy from Institut Catholique de Paris, to align her personal convictions with her professional career. She also has a Master’s in Communications Arts from EFAP. Trained in the Carbon Footprint assessment method, she holds a Centrale Supelec Exed certification on sustainable business. Passionate about the ecological transition, she joins the Climate Action Accelerator with the desire to contribute to the so called “Tipping Point”, when the adopted change becomes the new standard.

Hichem supports the Climate Action Accelerator as a focal point for the modelisation and impact of the environmental roadmaps on organisational resources.

Hichem joined MSF in 2004 and served as emergency coordinator in 7 field missions. He then became Treasurer of MSF Australia, serving on multiple MSF boards and finance committees. Before joining MSF, he worked as an external auditor for EY, as mergers and acquisitions analyst, and as program manager and internal auditor for the French Development Agency. He has also held several management and executive positions in not-for-profits organisations and government agencies, leading the strategy and corporate functions. More recently, he was a Director with Nous Group, the largest Australian-owned management and strategy consultancy.

Hichem holds a Master of Management and Finance from ESCP-Europe, and was a Fulbright scholar in not-for-profit leadership at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Hichem joined the CAA because as annoying as his two children can (sometimes) be, he still loves them, and wants them and their children to enjoy Mother Earth beyond 2050.

Jean Colrat is the Climate Action Accelerator’s engineer in carbon footprint measurement and analysis, assisting partners in their methodology and helping to identify the levers and solutions. In his previous work experiences, he specialised in the assessment and management of human risks within various multinational companies, work which took him from Chile with AcroTec to Congo with SOFRECO. He then moved on to audit and project assignments on environmental issues, including the implementation of low-carbon strategies, adaptation to climate change, training and awareness-raising on environmental issues. Jean has a degree in business management from IEA Paris and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the Institut Génie de l’Environnement et l’Eco-développement. Jean joined the Climate Action Accelerator because the community approach to sharing and action resonates with his personal commitments.

Katy joined the Climate Action Accelerator to reinforce the resource management section. She previously worked in the not-for-profit sector, supporting public health programmes in Asia and Africa, and in the private sector in the field of communications. She holds a Master’s degree and a Master of Advanced Studies in Political Science from the University of Geneva, specialising in public policy and ethics, as well as a DAS in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Management from the Haute école de gestion de Genève. Katy joins the initiative as she wants to contribute to the transition towards a net zero, more sustainable world and out of her interest in participatory methods.

Kiran Jobanputra leads the development of the health sector strategy of the initiative. He is a medical doctor specialising in family practice and public health, currently working as a family physician for the UK National Health Service. He previously worked for 14 years in humanitarian medical programmes with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and subsequently as deputy medical director and head of the Manson Unit, a Research and Development team within MSF. In this capacity he developed the environmental health and climate crisis adaptation strategy for MSF’s Amsterdam operational centre and supported several environmental health programmes including a lead poisoning intervention in Nigeria and an occupational health programme in Bangladesh. Kiran holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Edinburgh and a Master of Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He joined the Accelerator to bring together his interests in health equity, improving access to care in fragile and conflict affected settings, and strengthening resilience and environmental sustainability of health services.

Macarena supports the communication and mobilisation teams at the initiative. She previously worked as a journalist and content creator for the Argentine Government, managed the social media channels at TV station Crónica and contributed to the coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic at elDiarioAR. Now finishing her master’s degree in Specialised Translation at the University of Geneva, she developed an interest in climate while doing a translation internship at WMO. Macarena joined the Climate Action Accelerator because she wants to contribute to organisations taking direct action to mitigate climate change.

Margot joined the initiative and is a support to the programme team. Her experience in building sustainable destinations led her to establish the CSR department of the Nice Cote d’Azur Convention and Visitors Bureau, crafting both internal and external sustainability strategies with various institutional stakeholders. Currently graduating from a Master’s in Sustainability and Energy Management at Bocconi University, Margot’s passion for climate change issues and global development led her to the CAA. Fluent in French, English, Spanish, and Italian, her deep interest and commitment to Africa and Middle Eastern affairs fuel her determination to forge a career in the international arena.

Melissa McRae joins the Climate Action Accelerator to support the development of the health sector pillar, working on its strategy and programme. She is a general practitioner, dual trained in Emergency Medicine and Public Health. In the humanitarian sphere for the last 15 years, she has worked in a range of roles including clinical care, medical operational strategy development, implement and evaluation, research, management and leadership and most recently medical ethics. Her work has predominantly been with the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), beginning as a doctor with MSF in 2005 in South Sudan and most recently as Medical Director for MSF Operational Centre Amsterdam (OCA) and with the Research Unit based in Geneva. Melissa is currently working for the MSF Research Unit on Humanitarian Stakes and Practices. She holds a Master’s in public health and Tropical Medicine and is currently completing a Master in Bioethics with a strong interest in climate injustice. She joined the Climate Action Accelerator to provide practical, sustainable solutions for populations most affected by climate change.

Mélody Verot joins the Climate Action Accelerator to assist team members working on decarbonisation roadmaps. She is an independent junior researcher and project assistant specialised in humanitarian and global development issues. She has experience in consulting with Accomplir Consulting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne and a Master’s degree in migration and global development from the University of Sussex. She joined the Accelerator to take part in an innovative organisation taking meaningful action to create lasting change. She is passionate about global justice and how climate change influences other social and economic concerns of our time and future.

Paolo joined the Climate Action Accelerator to work on measuring carbon footprints and modelling decarbonisation trajectories.
After a Master’s degree in Organizational Management and Administration and an Engineering degree in Logistics, he specialised in GHG footprint measurements during an experience at Médecins Sans Frontières, carrying out the calculations of the Swiss section.
Paolo joined the initiative because he is convinced of the importance of accurately measuring greenhouse gas emissions to enable effective and realistic planning of reduction and decarbonisation efforts.

Pascal is part of the Solutions team, in which he is the buildings, energy and waste focal point. Architect with a long practice in design and construction for the private and public sectors in France, Pascal has been involved in humanitarian action for 25 years. Having worked for a long time with Médecins Sans Frontières – in South-East Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America – as construction coordinator and technical director, he has acquired a large experience in the field of aid. Afterwards, Pascal was technical and logistics manager at the MSF operational centre in Geneva and then consultant for various international organisations including IOM, WHO, the Red Cross and Save the Children International. He is specialised in hospitals and health facilities, including infection prevention and control, and in emergency shelters. Pascal is a government-certified architect (DPLG) from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Montpellier. He joined the Accelerator because he is convinced of the need for a rapid ecological transition.

Pierre Beurrier is responsible for human resources, finance and participatory dynamics at the Climate Action Accelerator. Through his consultancy firm Accomplir Consulting, Pierre has worked with health and humanitarian organisations for the past 15 years to meet the challenges of their transformation. He has held positions of administrator, project manager and head of mission in humanitarian organisations as well as administrative director in a medical surgery and obstetrics health establishment in France. Pierre holds a degree in Business & Management, International Law and International Relations, as well as a Master’s in Social and Environmental Transformation from the Green Management School. Aware of the climate emergency and the challenge to be met, he joined the Climate Action Accelerator to work on the launch and development of a non for profit start-up that thinks differently.

Sonja Schmid is part of the Solutions Teams and is the thematic focal point for procurement and supply. She has over ten years of experience in the field of sustainability, specialising in purchasing and procurement standards. She was previously Corporate Responsibility Manager at ALDI and Senior Manager of the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative at the Consumer Goods Forum. Prior to that, she worked for a leading consultancy on climate, environment, and development based in Germany and named Adelphi. Sonja holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Political Science from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. She also has training in social auditing and social banking, as well as a certificate in permaculture and in stakeholder engagement for sustainability projects. Sonja joins the Climate Action Accelerator as she wants to contribute to the transition to a net-zero world and is convinced in the power of collaborative networks.

Zaninka Ntagungira supports transversal projects and partnerships at the Climate Action Accelerator and is leading the development of the support programme for national actors. She previously worked as a researcher on a youth and permaculture project in Guinea with the International Trade Centre and collaborated with the Rwanda Environment Management Authority on research on the history of plastics in the country. Before that, she worked in research and community management with the OCDC in Washington D.C working on cooperatives in developing countries and with the UNHCHR in Conakry working on access to justice. She holds a master’s degree in development studies from the Geneva Graduate Institute, specialising in environment and sustainability, and a bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of Tampa. She joined the Climate Action Accelerator because she wants to participate in concrete, direct and operational steps towards mitigating climate change.

Damien Friot is an associate expert with the Climate Action Accelerator, providing guidance on carbon footprint methodologies and analyses. He has been working in the fields of environmental and social assessment, innovation as well as entrepreneurship for the last 20 years.

Currently, Damien is a co-lead of a master class at EPFL on the Life Cycle Performance of product systems. He has adapted footprinting and economic-energy-environmental models (Life Cycle Assessment, Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis) to multiple issues like sustainable investments, global value chains, or the valuation of natural, human and social capital. He has also been providing consulting services on product/corporate environmental strategy and reporting, as well as on the digitalization of environmental information to dozens of companies.

He has trained hundreds of professionals and master’s students, participated in normalization efforts on environmental product labeling and corporate footprinting as well as driven or participated in the development of a dozen of software for environmental assessment. Damien holds two BA (International Relations & Geography), two MSc (International economics & Environmental engineering and management), and a Ph.D. in Engineering.

Damien co-founded the following firms and organisations:

• Ecometrics (in 2018), where he is now working, focused on the development of quantitative methods and data for complex environmental and social issues
• EA-Environmental Action (in 2013), specialized in the development of plastic footprint methodologies
• Quantis (in 2006), one of the leading global firms in Life Cycle Assessment

Patricia (Trish) Schwerdtle is associate expert with the Climate Action Accelerator, working on the development of the health sector pillar. She is a researcher at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH) in Germany, working in a climate change and health research consortium. Previously, she worked in clinical emergency nursing in rural-remote Australia and in the Pacific, in primary health care in South Sudan, and in European tertiary hospitals before moving into academia after a decade. She also has experience in humanitarian governance and has been involved with MSF since 2007. She holds a double bachelor’s in Nursing and Health Promotion, and two post-graduate diplomas in Critical Care and Health Professions Education. She also holds a Master’s in International Health and is completing a Ph.D. in Global Public Health, focusing on climate-related migration and health. Trish joined the Accelerator because wants to be a part of accelerating the transition of health systems to carbon neutrality and climate resilience.

Samantha Brangeon is an associate expert with the Climate Action Accelerator, joining to help the initiative better understand the positioning, ambitions and financing of the main international aid donors on the question of climate. After fifteen years in coordination positions in various humanitarian organisations, including ACTED and Christian Aid, she specialised in supporting humanitarian organisations to reduce their environmental footprint. She worked for 7 years as Environmental Researcher at Groupe URD, where she was in charge of the Humanitarian Environment Network. She is currently a consultant on these issues and working on a USAID-funded project to reduce the amount of waste generated by the sector and improve recycling on the field. Her studies include a Bachelor’s in European Studies from the University of Essex, a Master’s in Sustainable Development (from Université Paris Dauphine – PSL) and in Development Administration and Planning (from University College London). She has been following the development of the Accelerator for several months and finds it an exciting initiative to join.