STAGE OF IMPACT
Doconomy's Stage of Impact, hosted by 7Ridge, and in partnership with The Banker (Financial Times), Adapteo, ClimateView, Business Sweden, Exponential Roadmap Initiative, RethinkAction and IMAGINE, is bringing together an incredible lineup of speakers at the iconic Chrysler Building on September 23, 2025. Stay tuned for additional speakers!
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Moderator
Anita Hawser
Europe Editor, The Banker (Financial Times)
Anita Hawser is Europe Editor at The Banker with a focus on sustainability and climate change and how it impacts banks and their financing. Before joining The Banker, Anita was Europe Editor at Classi Editori's Global Finance magazine. She has written extensively for a number of corporate brands and editorial titles on topics ranging from cryptocurrencies and financial inclusion, to sanctions and money laundering.
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SPEAKER
Eric Usher
Head of UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFi)
Eric Usher heads the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, UNEP FI, a global partnership bringing together the UN with a global group of banks, insurers and asset managers working to develop the sustainable finance and responsible investment agendas. Eric oversees governance, strategy and day-to-day management of UNEP FI’s work programme and global network development. Over the years UNEP FI has established some of the most important sustainability oriented frameworks within the finance industry, including the Principles for Responsible Investment (2006), the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (2012) and the Principles for Responsible Banking (2019). Since joining in 2015, Mr. Usher has focused on accelerating the deep integration of sustainability risks into financial practice, including addressing climate change, natural capital loss and human rights abuses, as well as building out the frameworks for positive impact finance needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Eric sits on several industry bodies including as UN representative on the Board of the Principles for Responsible Investment, and as a member of the governing boards of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, the Investor Agenda and the impact fund REPP Africa.
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Speaker
Johanna Persson
President & CEO, Adapteo Group
Johanna Persson is the CEO and President of Adapteo Group, Northern Europe’s leading provider of adaptable, modular social infrastructure. With over 20 years of international leadership experience, she has driven transformational growth across industries, combining strategic business acumen with a deep commitment to sustainability. Since joining Adapteo in 2022, Johanna has led the company to top ESG rankings, including a 5-star GRESB rating, while expanding its role as a partner to public and private clients. Recognized as one of Sweden’s most influential leaders, she was a finalist for Sweden’s Most Sustainable Leader in both 2020 and 2024.
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SPEAKER
Helena Leurent
Director General, Consumers International
Helena Leurent is Director General of Consumers International, the membership organisation for 200+ consumer advocacy groups around the world in more than 100 countries. Consumers International works with members and partners to empower consumers, to ensure consumers are treated safely, fairly and honestly worldwide, and to drive change in the marketplace on global consumer issues including digital access and rights, product safety and sustainability.
Prior to joining Consumers International, Helena worked for the World Economic Forum developing global partnerships and programmes with government, business, civil society and academia on issues such as advanced manufacturing, sustainable agriculture and humanitarian assistance. Helena has also worked for Tesco Stores Plc, Unilever, McKinsey & Co and The LEK Partnership. Helena holds an MA from the University of Oxford and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.
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Speaker
Payal Dalal
Executive Vice President, Global Programs, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
Payal currently serves as the Executive Vice President, Global Programs at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. She joined the Center in April 2018 and her remit includes overseeing the Center’s philanthropic investments around the globe, managing the Center’s global programmatic team, directing the Center’s Thought Leadership team which includes research, insights and learning and running the Center’s inclusive innovation team.
She brings extensive financial services, international philanthropy and political experience to her role. Prior to joining Mastercard, Payal was Global Head of Community Programs for Standard Chartered Bank. In this capacity, Payal designed the Bank’s new community investment strategy and oversaw all programs related to education, girls’ empowerment, global health, emergency response, and disaster relief. She was also the the Head of Public Affairs for the Americas. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, she worked on the launch of the AT&T Universal Savings and Reward Card for Citi.
Payal has also worked for a wide range of public sector organizations including the World Affairs Council, the Global Philanthropy Forum and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. In 2020, she was appointed to the Advisory Group for the WE EMPOWER G-7 program of UN Women and the Working Group on Financial Health of the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. She’s held official positions during the G20 Indonesia and India presidencies and currently serves on two taskforces for the G20 Brazil presidency in 2024. She also served as a program advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative between 2014-2016. A notable career highlight was working on foreign policy for the Office of President William J. Clinton between 2005-2006.
Payal currently serves as a trustee for Women Win, Steering Board member for RISE and a member of the Programs and Strategy Committee for CAREUSA. A Texas native, Payal has a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MBA and an MPA from New York University.
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Speaker
Valerie Keller
Co-Founder and CEO, IMAGINE
Valerie is a visionary entrepreneur and recognized expert in accelerating leaders to use their power for good. She is co-founder and CEO of IMAGINE, a global leadership community for impact. She was an architect of The Fashion Pact launched at the G7 and cofounded The Food Collective of CEOs across the food and agriculture value chain. Now with MAGINE’s curated community of corporate executives, disruptive innovators, investors & policy makers, she is taking the “team up to scale up” model to even greater impact. The growing community of IMAGINE Leaders, convening biannually at Oxford, is a marketplace for system transformation, accelerating solutions in food, fashion, health & beauty and packaging & materials.
Valerie is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (YGL) , an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), the White Oak Impact Fund Advisory Committee, and has been a long serving member on the Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Leadership Board, and Associate Fellow of the University of Oxford Saïd Business School where she obtained her MBA. She served as EY’s Global Markets Executive Director, Global Strategy Business Development Leader and Global Leader of the Beacon Institute. Valerie cofounded IMAGINE’s consultancy working with CEOs and top leadership teams to move sustainability from the sidelines to the heart of strategy and business models, solving key problems for corporates (e.g. eliminating sachets in a CPG company) before successfully selling the consultancy in 2022.
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Speaker
Andreas Follér
Chief Sustainability Officer, Traton | Scania
Andreas is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Scania, a leading global provider of transport solutions. With a background in sustainability strategy, innovation, and corporate responsibility, he has been central in aligning Scania’s transformation with the shift to sustainable mobility. His work spans electrification, renewable fuels, and circular business models, ensuring climate targets are integrated into core operations and value chains. Previously at Scania and in consultancy roles, Andreas has shaped cross-sector initiatives to advance decarbonisation and resilience in transport systems.
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Speaker
Helen Mets
President & CEO, Ahlstrom
Helen Mets is an international business leader with over 30 years’ experience. Before becoming the CEO of Ahlstrom, she held a range of senior executive leadership roles at Avery Dennison, the family company Pon, and at Royal DSM. Helen has a master's degree from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle and an Executive MBA from CEDEP, Fontainebleau in Paris. She is also a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Executive Leadership Program.
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Speaker
Mira Ness
CEO, New York University Federal Credit Union
Mira has been guiding the institution through transformative growth and innovation. With over 25 years of experience in lending and operations, she has elevated NYUFCU to national prominence, earning recognition in Newsweek’s America’s Best Regional Banks and Credit Unions lists in both 2024 and 2025. A champion of sustainability, she has embedded green finance and inclusive financial services into the credit union’s strategic framework—expanding services while empowering members and supporting environmental resilience.
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Speaker
Yma Gordon
First Vice President of Global Impact and Inclusion, United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU)
Yma is FVP at UNFCU - the credit union that serves the people who serve the world. She also serves as Executive Director of the UNFCU Foundation. In her role, Yma leads UNFCU’s global giving, sustainability, ESG, diversity, and volunteering efforts, helping to align business strategy with impact. With more than two decades of experience in social impact and philanthropy, she has built and led initiatives that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, supporting women and youth across 28 countries. Prior to UNFCU, Yma held leadership roles at Citi, Broadridge Financial, the Ms. Foundation for Women, and several United Nations agencies. She holds degrees from Spelman College and Columbia University.
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Speaker
TOMER SHALIT
Co-Founder and Chief Architect Officer, ClimateView
Tomer Shalit is the Co-founder and Chief Architect Officer of ClimateView, a Swedish climate tech company that provides governments with tools to plan, finance, and execute systemic climate transitions. A mathematician and expert in agile transformation, Tomer formerly helped large organizations manage complexity before shifting his focus to the climate transition. Inspired by Sweden’s Climate Act, he co-created Panorama, the country’s national framework for monitoring its transition, alongside leading Swedish authorities. This work laid the foundation for ClimateView’s platform and its open-source Transition Elements Framework (TEF), which is now used by over 250 cities, regions, and countries across Europe and North America to turn climate ambitions into measurable, finance-ready pathways. Tomer’s mission: turn complexity into clarity and ambition into action.
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Speaker
Pourya Salehi
Head of Urban Research, Innovation, and Development, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
Pourya Salehi is Head of Urban Research, Innovation, and Development at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and serves as Global Coordinator of ICLEI’s Research & Innovation portfolio across all offices. With over a decade of experience in sustainable development and climate change, his work spans digitalization, smart solutions, innovative finance, climate adaptation, urban planning, and land administration. He is a founding member and Co-Chair of the Global Covenant of Mayors’ R&I Technical Working Group. In addition, he contributes to several international initiatives, including the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub, the European Space Agency’s Smart and Green Cities Task Force, the UNCCD’s Global Land Outlook 2.0 steering committee, and the Expanded Climate and Innovation Agenda for Cities, among others. He was selected by the IPCC to serve on the Committee that developed the outline of the Special Report on Cities and Climate Change. An accomplished author and editor, his publications focus on sustainable development, innovation, finance, and climate action.
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Speaker
Annachiara Torciano
ERI Business Transformation Fellow & Head of Sustainability and Communication, Slättö
Annachiara is a commercially minded sustainability and communications expert, and a change maker with experience in industrial companies, consumer goods, real estate and private equity. Her passion is to change business for the better. She is also Executive in Residence at the Stockholm School of Economics ExEd, developing executive programs to help accelerate sustainable business.
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Speaker
Dr. Tommaso Brazzini
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Valladolid
Dr. Tommaso Brazzini, with a background in applied physics, is currently Senior Researcher in the Group of Energy, Economy and System Dynamics (GEEDS) at the University of Valladolid. His work focuses on sustainability science, socio-ecological transitions, and systems thinking, applying system dynamics and integrated assessment models in several EU-funded projects on climate change adaptation and mitigation. Past experience includes research in applied physics and materials science, Transition Town projects, and the creation of a database of tools for resilience and ecological transformation. He teaches permaculture and sustainability in university courses, has coauthored 20+ scientific articles, and presented at 25+ international conferences.
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Speaker
Lisa Neuberger
IMAGINE Leader and Director of Partnerships
Lisa is a purpose-driven strategist, innovator, and thought leader. She unlocks people's power and potential, delivers 'innovation as a service' to sustainably grow scale-ups, teaches strategy at European business schools, and coaches executives to accelerate their impact.
As Managing Director at Accenture, where she worked for 25 years, she led global strategy and innovation teams to advance the company's sustainability agenda and serve high tech, telecom, government and financial services clients. She is an IMAGINE leader, co-founder of the Next Chapter Accelerator, and co-author of Rebalance: How Women Lead, Parent, Partner and Thrive. With an MBA from Wharton and Master's from the Fletcher School, she lives in Madrid with her family and can be found walking and talking in beautiful places like the Camino de Santiago.
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Speaker
Dr. Emma Heikensten
Senior Advisor, Doconomy
Emma Heikensten is a leading voice on sustainability and financial inclusion and a senior advisor at Doconomy. With over a decade of experience from top academic institutions including Harvard, NYU, the Stockholm School of Economics, and the London School of Economics, she brings deep expertise in sustainability and economics. At SEB Asset Management, Emma shaped the firm’s sustainability framework, led ESG data integration and regulatory implementation, and developed investment products promoting gender equality, climate solutions, and health. Emma is also a founding member of the Swedish think tank Ownershift, with the purpose of increasing knowledge and influencing legislation related to women’s financial autonomy. Today, Emma works with responsible investment and thematic research at Voya Investment Management in New York.
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Speaker
Liz Cormack
Officer of Urban Research, Innovation, and Development, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
Liz Cormack is a Berlin-based Project Officer for Urban Research, Innovation, and Development at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. As an urban planner and user experience designer, Liz specializes in bridging innovative climate adaptation and mitigation practices with the real-world needs of cities and local governments. Prior to joining ICLEI, Liz was a senior urban planner at Agency Landscape + Planning, where she led community-driven and data-informed planning efforts at the intersection of nature and cities. Liz has an MA in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
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Speaker
Ilana Judah
Associate Principal, Americas Climate and Sustainability Leader at ARUP
With over 25 years of experience in the built environment, Ilana began her career as an architect before specializing in sustainability and resilience. Based in New York, she has led global initiatives for commercial property owners, investors, and public sector agencies, and has advised governments and chaired sustainability groups. Drawing on a multidisciplinary team across the Americas, Ilana delivers innovative yet practical strategies in adaptation, resilience, sustainable design, and decarbonization, helping clients meet ambitious climate goals with tailored solutions.
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Speaker
Dr. Iván Ramoz Diez
Project Coordinator, CARTIF
Iván holds a PhD in Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Systems. He developed his doctoral thesis in the field of remote sensing and its environmental applications in forest and hydrological planning. He is currently working as a Researcher in the Energy Division at the CARTIF Technological Center, participating in projects related to energy and environmental modeling, as well as territorial planning based on sustainability criteria. Previously, he worked as a Consulting Engineer on projects related to the environment and the management of electrical assets. He has several publications in indexed scientific journals and has participated in both national and international conferences on topics related to modeling and the application of remote sensing.
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Speaker
David Corbett
Strategic Partner Manager, ClimateView
David Corbett is Strategic Partner Manager and Country Director for Canada at ClimateView, a mission-driven climate technology company that turns data into actionable insights for cities, regions, and nations advancing their sustainability goals. He holds a PhD in Urban Informatics with a focus on co-creation and systemic change. Before joining ClimateView, David worked at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability as an Urban Research, Innovation, and Development Officer, where he focused on international projects on digitalization, multilevel governance, and knowledge exchange.
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Speaker
Mathias Wikström
Yale World Fellow and Co-Founder of Doconomy
Mathias Wikström born 329 ppm is a Sweden based renowned global sustainability business leader and creative strategist who aims to innovate as well as making the complex communicate. As the co-founder of A3, RBK and Doconomy he has spearheaded globally recognized forefront projects in Innovation, Finance, Sustainability and Human Rights.
He has received an MBA with honors at Stockholm School of Economics with focus on Leading Innovation. He is selected as a 2025 Yale World Fellow and a 2024 IMAGINE Leader as well as a member of the Explorers Club. Mathias has been awarded several Grand Prix at Cannes Lions and has served as President for the Innovation jury in Eurobest amongst others. He is a high scoring speaker at industry summits in Europe, USA, Asia and Latin America as well as with the UN and UNFCCC. Mathias ability to build bridges for progress and shape unorthodox alliances of the willing to accelerate a just and fair transition is well established and recognized within the financial services industry and beyond.
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” — Bruce Lee