As Senior Vice President, Economics at the Environmental Defense Fund - a global, economics and science based non-profit, non-governmental organisation - I use my academic training and experience combined with decades of experience working in NGOs and government and with businesses and a wonderful network of collaborators to support sound policy development and implementation. I have worked on a wide range of environmental issues over the years and currently focus on: effective and equity mechanisms to help developing countries get the funding they need for the climate transition; building in-country modeling capacity; large-scale efforts to avoid deforestation and encourage reforestation; design of emissions trading systems; and ways to reduce methane emissions from agricultural while supporting thriving rural communities and high quality diets. I have had the privilege to participate in climate change discussions in over twenty countries throughout the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Pacific including my own, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Education and Experience
Education
Ph.D., Harvard University, Economics, 1995
A.M., Harvard University, Economics, 1995
B.Sc. Honours’ (first class), University of Canterbury, Economics, 1987
Professional Positions
Senior Vice President, Economics, EDF – October 2024 - present
Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, EDF – August 2021 – September 2024
Chief Economist, Environmental Defense Fund – February 2019 to August 2021
Senior Fellow, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, New Zealand, 1998–2019
Principal Investigator, Te Punaha Matatini Centre of Research Excellence, 2015–2019
Committee member, New Zealand Interim Climate Change Committee, 2018–2019
Adjunct Professor of Public Policy, Victoria University of Wellington, 2015–2018
Visiting Professor, Economics, University of the Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, January – May 2014
Visiting Professor, Economics, Stanford University, June 2009 to June 2010
Senior Research Associate, Program in Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University, June 2009 to June 2010
Founding Director, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust, 2000–2009
Visiting Scholar, MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy and Research and Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, January to August 2001
Visiting Researcher, Resources for the Future, Washington DC, June to October 1998
Research consultant for Center for Clean Air Policy, Washington DC, Sept.1998 – Jan. 2000
Visiting Researcher, Victoria University of Wellington, January to May 1998
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, August 1995 to August 1998
Analyst on Housing and Social Policy, the New Zealand Treasury, 1988 – 1990
