Our Team
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.
Research Director CCFI, 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 has been managing the CCFI for 6 years focused on partnerships, strategy, impact and operations over a period of high growth. Her 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; Level 7 Strategic Management and Senior Leadership Award, Chartered Manager, Fellow Chartered Management Institute.
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).
Teaching Fellow
Mili leads clean energy research at the CCFI. She also works on transition finance frameworks and teaches Clean Technology Investment. She is Co-Director of the SGFC Academy. Her work has helped mobilize capital for ASEAN renewables. Previously, she was a Director and Portfolio Manager in the Multi-Asset Strategies team at BlackRock. Mili was a Portfolio Manager on J.P. Morgan's CIO team, and managed US and Japan equity funds at Barclays. Mili has an MBA in Finance, Economics, Econometrics and Statistics. She is on the Spark Change Advisory Board.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Raúl C. Rosales was instrumental in the launch of the Singapore Green Finance Centre in 2020 and now serves on its management committee. Additionally, he is the strategic engagement lead at King’s College Net Zero Centre and recently assumed the role of Professor of Practice in Net Zero Asset Management within the Department of Engineering. With over 30 years in the financial industry, Raúl has held senior roles, including Senior Banker for Energy at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Global Head of Multilateral Development Banks at BBVA.
Kaveh Salehzadeh-Nobari
Research Associate
Kaveh is a Postdoctoral Researcher, focusing on machine learning, econometrics, and climate-related mathematical finance. He is also a Postdoctoral Researcher in Data Science at the London School of Economics. Previously, Kaveh held research roles at Imperial College London and Lancaster University, where he worked on high-dimensional statistics, econometrics, and financial projects, collaborating with institutions like the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics.
Ryan Williams
Research Fellow
Ryan Williams is a Research Fellow at the CCFI. He is also currently the Chief Economist at Enoda, an cleantech company based in Edinburgh and serves on the UK’s Regulatory Policy Committee. He was previously a Director at Grant Thornton UK, specialising in energy economics and a Principal at Oxera, where he managed regulatory initiatives across industries like electricity, gas, telecoms, water, and transport. As an academic, Ryan was previously an Associate Professor at at Université Paris Dauphine and at the University of Arizona in the United States. Prior to academia, Ryan worked for PwC.
Benjamin Horton
Visiting Professor
Professor Benjamin Horton is Director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore and a professor at the Asian School of the Environment in Nanyang Technological University (NTU). His research concerns sea-level change, with the aim of understanding and integrating the external and internal mechanisms that have determined sea-level changes in the past, and which will shape such changes in the future. He has won several awards in his career and contributed to both COP26 and IPCC outputs.
Maria Salinas Azaola
Research Assistant
With seven years of experience in climate finance, Maria has dedicated her career to advance climate action. She spent four years working for the British government, managing a climate mitigation program in Mexico that addressed seven different sectors. Following this role, she became the national coordinator for the Latin American Climate Asset Disclosure Initiative, supporting institutional investors in adopting the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Currently, Maria is concluding an MSc in Climate Change, Management, and Finance, solidifying her commitment to integrating sustainable practices within the financial sector.
Huzefah Umer
Research Assistant
Huzefah has two years of experience working in the international development space in the United States and Pakistan focusing on projects in financial inclusion, technology, and healthcare. His home country of Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate change due to the challenges of heatwaves, water scarcity and floods. Given the immense scale of the crisis, he decided to pivot his career to the climate space and is currently concluding his Master’s in Climate Change, Management, and Finance from the Imperial College Business School. His interests lie in climate finance, adaptation, and clean energy in emerging markets.
Rikkie Yeung
Project Manager
Rikkie specialises in research project management in higher education. For many years, she has also been a public policy consultant and project manager for a wide range of clients including corporations, non-profits and government agencies in Hong Kong. Rikkie taught managerial skills, communications and civic engagement in master degree and undergraduate programmes. Her research interest include corporate governance, civil society, new media, and public policies including sustainable transport. Rikkie received her PhD in public management, a master degree in journalism and a bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Hong Kong, and an MBA from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
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.
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.
Robert Ritz
Honorary Research Fellow
Robert Ritz is Assistant Director of the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) at the University of Cambridge and the Director of its Energy Policy Forum, Senior Research Associate in Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, and a Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Robert is an expert on competitive strategy, energy markets, and carbon pricing. He serves as a member of the Academic Panels at the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) and Office of Gas & Electricity Markets (Ofgem). His research has been published in leading international journals including the RAND Journal of Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and Journal of Financial Intermediation, and he has contributed to the Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization.
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.