Speakers

Justin Adams

Justin Adams is co-founder of Ostara, a social enterprise curating imaginal spaces to reimagine an economy in service of life, and the inaugural Reimagining Nature Finance Fellow with the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance. He also serves as Chair of Embercombe, a centre in the wilds of the UK dedicated to restoring relationship with land and community, and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. With over 30 years in sustainability, including two decades in nature and climate finance, Justin has held senior leadership roles at Generation Investment Management, the World Economic Forum, and The Nature Conservancy, and was awarded an OBE for contributions to the UK Government’s forest and climate agenda at COP26.

Dr. Tara Atleo

Dr. Tara Atleo, haḥuuła, is a stewardship economics researcher and sustainable development practitioner from the Ahousaht First Nation, house of ƛaqišpiił. Tara has dedicated her work to exploring innovative approaches to upholding and empowering Indigenous law and governance through the creation of opportunities that advance efforts towards intergenerational equity, interconnectivity, and balance between life and land within Indigenous territories.

Priya Bala-Miller

Priya Bala-Miller leads the Nature Investment Hub, a solution space of Generate Canada. The Nature Investment Hub works in partnership with capital seekers, capital providers and intermediaries to stimulate a fivefold increase in investment (equivalent to $20 billion), directed toward the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of nature in Canada by 2030.

As a passionate advocate for sustainability for over twenty years, Priya has previously worked with UN Agencies, the trade union movement, academia and the federal government on issues related to corporate accountability and sustainable finance. She earned an MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and an MA in Conflict Analysis and Management from Royal Roads University. Priya also serves on the advisory boards of Diversity in Sustainability and the Academy for Sustainable Innovation.

Robin Barr

Robin Barr is Director for Funding Indigenous-Led Conservation at Nature For Justice, leading the First 30×30 Canada program. She supports Indigenous governments in securing long-term funding for stewardship through Nature-based Solutions and brings nearly two decades of international experience in community empowerment, environmental conservation, and advancing Indigenous-led partnerships.

Enei Begaye

Enei Begaye is of the Diné and Tohono O’odham Nations. She is the executive director of Native Movement, an Alaska based movement building organization. Enei is a member of Kataly Foundation’s Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective (EJRC) and a new board member of the funding group Grassroots International. Enei has spent over 25 years organizing and advocating for social and environmental justice, Indigenous rights and the rights of Mother Earth, and grassroots-led movement building. She has been instrumental in the development of numerous regional and national networks, coalitions, and organizations; including being the co-founder and former executive director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC) and a co-founder and leader of the Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition (FCAC). She is the producer of the award-winning documentary film “We Breathe Again”. Enei is a facilitator, a writer, a teacher, as well as a dirt loving, vegetable growing, fabric addicted, bookworm, and a fierce mother. She was educated on the land of her peoples and the halls of Stanford University. Enei lives nomadically between the lands of the lower Tanana Dena’ in the community of Fairbanks, Alaska and her homelands of Dinétah.

Alexis Bunten

Alexis Bunten, (Yup’ik/Unangax) is the Founder and CEO of WAQAA LLC, General Partner with JumpScape and Co-Directs the Bioneers Indigeneity Program. In addition to entrepreneurship, she has served as a consultant for Indigenous, social and environmental programming for over 20 years. Alexis’ areas of expertise include Indigenous economic development, organizational decolonization, and cross-cultural communications.

Drea Burbank

Biodiversity credits: Why, How, Now!

Drea lives in the Colombian Amazon. She is the CEO of Savimbo, a social enterprise made by, and for, Indigenous Peoples and local communities to access climate markets directly. Her international team of 300+ delinquent savants hacks climate markets to support jungle smallfarmers and Indigenous groups who conserve and reforest. She’s addicted to yoga, passionate about creation, and prone to profanity or poetry — sometimes both.

Lacey Calac Dunne

Lacey Calac Dunne is the founder of Acknowledge Capital LLC, a Native-owned and Native-led investment management firm dedicated to advancing financial sovereignty for all Tribal Nations through funds tailored to meet the long-term investment needs of Tribes.

Lacey has spent over 20 years in the investment industry. She started her career as an analyst for a long/short equity fund; most recently, she was the Managing Partner of a single family office where she invested in private companies, operating businesses, and real estate.

Currently, Lacey serves as the Chairwoman of First Nations Economic Development Corporation, an EDC (Section 17) investment arm of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians.

Lacey has a Masters from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Management Science from UC San Diego. She is an enrolled member of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians as well as a lineal descendant of the Chickasaw Nation and Pit River Tribe. With her family, Lacey divides her time between the traditional homelands of the Muwekma Ohlone (Palo Alto) and Payómkawichum/Luiseño (Pauma Valley/Rincon Indian Reservation).

Aaron Cantrell

Aaron Cantrell leads work on just transition at the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, supporting the banking and insurance industries to integrate social equity into climate action and advance just transition through finance. Before joining UNEP FI, Aaron founded Future Nexus, a consulting firm based in New York City. He advised the Asian Development Bank on the design of a Just Transition Finance Facility, advised on the design of a U.S. public climate bank, contributed to key provisions of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, and authored the UN Global Compact’s guide to just transition. Previously, Aaron was Chief Economist at Record Financial Group, where he developed the world’s first emerging market currency impact investment strategy.

Coreen Child (Yakawilas)

Coreen Child (Yakawilas) is a Kwakiutl (Kwagu’ł) leader with ancestral ties to the ʼNa̱mg̱is, Ma’amtagila, and Mama̱liliḵa̱la peoples. A former Chief Councillor, she has advanced Indigenous Rights and Title, matriarch leadership, cultural revitalization, and community-driven policy work across multiple governance and non-profit contexts. Her leadership has focused on strengthening Indigenous decision-making, enhancing language and cultural continuity, and advancing frameworks that uphold Indigenous legal orders. She is also a traditional singer, dancer, and educator recognized for her advocacy at regional and national levels. Coreen currently serves as Executive Director of the Awi’nakola Foundation, advancing Indigenous-led pathways for land, culture, policy, wellbeing, and transformation.

Pete Corke

Pete is part of the founding team at Kwaxala, an Indigenous-led, majority-owned regenerative forestry network and investment fund. Through Living Forest Shares, Kwaxala enables funders to invest in revenue-generating, Indigenous-owned forest projects—while ensuring that Indigenous stewards retain the bulk of revenues and asset value, safeguarding sovereignty and building multi-generational wealth.

Kwaxala’s model transforms the colonial right to extract into an Indigenous right to regenerate, and is designed for scalable, global application. Its pilot in British Columbia has already delivered an 18,500-acre first phase. Pete has helped launch ventures across sectors in both the corporate and startup worlds. He’s a systems thinker, environmentalist, and believer in re-orienting economic models toward life.

Stuart Cowan

Dr. Stuart Cowan brings 25 years of experience in regenerative design, finance, and systems and is a skilled systems thinker, transition designer, researcher, and leader of transdisciplinary initiatives. He is the Co-Founder of Autopoiesis LLC, which works to regenerate communities, ecosystems, and organizations. He was the founding convener of the Regenerative Communities Network from 2018-20, supporting 15 bioregions on their journeys of regeneration. He brings a diverse range of experiences including Chief Scientist at the Smart Cities Council, Transaction Manager for the sustainable investment fund Portland Family of Funds, and Conservation Economy Research Director at the non-profit Ecotrust. He is the co-author with Sim Van der Ryn of Ecological Design (Island Press, 1996/2007), and received his doctorate in Applied Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on Complex Systems and Ecological Economics. He has taught and facilitated internationally for academic institutions, cities, companies, indigenous groups, government agencies, and NGOs. He is also an advisor to several international regeneration initiatives including Common Earth.

PennElys Droz

Dr. PennElys Droz, Anishinaabe, Wyandot, and mixed European descendent, is a mother of five, Partner in Rematriation and Governance at Salmon Returns, and culturally based biomimicry design facilitator and consultant. She applies this design approach with a healing justice lens to infrastructure and economic development, as well as governance and organizational transformation. She has worked in Indigenous-centered engineering and regenerative development for over twenty years, with the vision of the re-development of thriving ecologically, culturally and economically sustainable Indigenous Nations. She is a natural builder and lover of all things dirt, moss, lichen, and fungi.

Phil Two Eagle

Philimon Two Eagle is Executive Director of the Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council in Rosebud, South Dakota. Mr. Two Eagle was born and raised on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Central, South Dakota.

Mr. Two Eagle has served in the US Army from 1982 to 1986 and has been working for the Rosebud Sioux tribe in various capacities. He has been working on preserving the inherent rights and treaty rights of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (Rosebud Sioux Tribe).

Mr. Two Eagle believes in preserving his Lakota language as he recognizes Language as the source of Inherent Sovereignty and a connection to the ancestors. Mr. Two Eagle works with the elders and Spiritual leaders, Traditional knowledge, treaty rights, Lakota language, Climate Crisis and the Environment with the Oceti Sakowin Oyate (the Seven Council Fires) of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people to have the US Federal Government to honor the Fort Laramie treaties that they signed with the Lakota people. He believes the Tiwahe (the family unit) as the very first form of Lakota traditional government and that life teachings begins in the Tiwahe. The Tiwahe is the also the very first line of education for the children. Mr. Two Eagle wants the Oyate to return to Tiwahe and to begin the process of healing, his work lead’s him to build an indigenous economy together return to the circle.

Manuwuri Forester

Manuwuri is a member of two Traditional Owner groups in Northern Queensland. On her mother’s side she is from the Lama Lama Clan of Princess Charlotte Bay, Cape York and on her father’s side, she is from the Nywaigi Clan, located near Ingham.

She currently works as the Indigenous Partnerships Coordinator for AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science). Manuwuri has worked with and represented the Lama Lama People, especially in regard to their sea country aspirations and planning through her previous position as the Traditional Use of Marine Resource Agreement (TUMRA) Coordinator. She grew Lama Lama’s TUMRA program from its inception to a strong program that has a holistic approach to all aspects of looking after sea country.

Manuwuri is a consortium member of the Reef 2050 Traditional Owners Aspirations Project and the Queensland representative on the Indigenous Reference Group of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC). She is also a member of the Traditional Owner Advisory Group with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which provides strategic advice on the Reef Trust Partnership.

Manuwuri is passionate about assisting Traditional Owners to share their knowledge, experience and wisdom of our natural environment with others.

Duane Fraser

A Wulgurukaba and Bidjara Traditional Owner, Duane Fraser has dedicated his career to the advancement of Traditional Owner-led governance and cultural authority across a vast array of sectors. As the CEO of the Council of First Nations, he spearheads the creation of a unified national body, amplifying the voices of First Nations organisations across Australia. His journey has included pivotal roles in government, research, tourism, and conservation, where he consistently champions Indigenous rights and environmental stewardship, blending policy expertise with cultural insight.

In addition to his current roles as Co-Chair of the Reef Traditional Owner Taskforce (ReefTO), Board Director at the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia, Deputy Chair of the National Environmental Science Program and a Leadership Group Member at the National Indigenous Environmental Research Network, Duane has previously held Board Member Positions on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Tourism & Events Queensland. He was elected as a AIATSIS Council member in 2021 and served as Chairperson of the Indigenous Advisory Committee EPBC Act, serving four Ministers over eight years.

Duane is a passionate advocate for the empowerment of Indigenous peoples globally, striving to protect their biocultural landscapes and ensure they have full and effective participation in all facets of public life. His life’s work is driven by a dedication to creating lasting, positive impact for Indigenous communities. As a father of a young daughter, he remains committed to a future where First Nations peoples hold full control over their own futures.

Tyronne Garstone

I am a Bardi man, Born in Broome on Yawuru Country, Western Australia. My country and people are extremely important to me.

My role as an advocate and leader within the community is something that I am both grateful for and passionate about.

I believe Indigenous knowledge and leadership are crucial to address globally acknowledged environmental challenges and I am committed to creating best practise models built through the foundation of free prior and informed consent.

This can be evidenced in projects like the Aboriginal Clean Energy partnership which will be the first 100% green energy, hydrogen, and ammonia export project in Australia to date and the development of the Tropical Savanna Emissions Prediction Tool.

I have spent most of my working life within the indigenous sector in areas such as employment and training, social and economic development, native title, indigenous leadership, and capacity building.

I am committed to supporting and speaking out on issues of importance for indigenous people and for developing frameworks that support and protect both our people and country.

As an example, we continue to work with both the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, The Western Australian Government, and the broader community on the protection of the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River. Water Catchment and Management is integral to both our communities and environment.

Ariadne Gorring

As Co-CEO of Pollination Foundation, Ariadne starts where change takes root: with community. She bridges local knowledge with global expertise to spark practical, early-stage nature solutions. Her approach draws on decades of experience in multi-partner collaboration, Indigenous-led conservation, nature enterprise, Australia’s carbon industry and emerging nature credit markets.

Ariadne serves on the Board of the Aboriginal Clean Energy Partnership, was appointed to the 2022 Expert Panel reviewing Australia’s Carbon Credit Framework, helped convene the 2014 World Indigenous Network Conference in Darwin, and received The Nature Conservancy’s Barbara Thomas Fellowship in Conservation Financing finance fellowship. She is a Global Atlantic Fellow at Oxford University and holds a BA in Sustainable Development & Entrepreneurship and a Master’s in Social Change Leadership.

Pearl Gottschalk

Pearl Gottschalk (Lujan) is a dedicated activist and frontline funder with over 20 years of experience in international development, philanthropy, and grassroots Indigenous organizing. She currently serves as the Storyteller for the Tate Topa Indigenous Women’s Flow Fund at the Kindle Project and as a Community Wealth Fund Researcher with the Fireweed Institute.

Her previous roles include Charitable Giving Manager for Lush Cosmetics’ Charity Pot program, Refugee and Immigrant Funder for the Province of Manitoba, Evaluator for the Indigenous-led Mino Niibi Fund at The Cultural Conservancy, and Healing Justice Consultant with Indigenous Climate Action.

Pearl holds a Master’s degree in International Dispute Resolution and a Bachelor’s degree in International Development.

Deborah Halberstadt

Deborah Halberstadt is the Special Advisor on Biodiversity and Inclusive insurance at the California Department of Insurance. In this role, she advises the Commissioner on the development and implementation of strategic initiatives associated with protecting and restoring biodiversity and promoting social and environmental justice in the context of insurance regulation. Deborah guides innovation in insurance in order to mainstream biodiversity and ecosystem services into decision-making, while at the same time redressing social inequities.

Deborah is a visionary and persuasive leader and an accomplished attorney. She has worked at the forefront of climate law and policy in California in her roles as Senior Climate Policy Advisor with the Department of Insurance, Deputy Secretary for Coastal and Ocean Policy with the California Natural Resources Agency, Executive Director of the California Ocean Protection Council, Deputy Attorney General with the Environment and Land Law sections of the California Department of Justice, and Federal Legislative Liaison in the Office of the Governor. She clerked for the Alaska Supreme Court and was cross-designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney.

Deborah loves exploring the wonders of nature with her family – the wilder, the better – and concluding with a decadent cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Deborah received her B.A. from Stanford and her J.D. from Berkeley Law.

Saraya Hamidi

Saraya Hamidi is a Cherokee Nation citizen and an Indigenous Partnerships Manager at Blue Forest, a conservation finance non-profit bringing people, science, and finance together to restore ecosystems. In her role, she works to expand Tribal access to financing and funding for land stewardship. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Financial Economics at Columbia University and a Master of Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Natasha Hanisi

Natasha Hanisi is co-Director of Te Moana nui a Kea Limited (TMAK) alongside Bronwyn Hokianga-Wilson and Board Member of leading Australian Indigenous technology company Alliance Community Group. She has Tongan heritage from the Tongilava, Lea’aetoa and Lokotui clans. She is a Yindindji First Nations member and Yidindji Ambassador to the Pacific and has worked extensively with First Nations communities across Australia, New Zealand, North America, and the Pacific.

Natasha has lived and worked internationally in Sydney, London and Tonga for the last 30 years, building expertise across education, law, cultural strategy, governance, technology, data privacy and data sovereignty. She has contributed to international projects in digital infrastructure and sovereign identity, advancing frameworks that embed Indigenous sovereignty and legal principles in investment and economic development.

Natasha is currently developing scholarship and practice that positions Indigenous law as a foundation for cultural revitalisation, rule of law, legal enforcement, arbitration, digital sovereignty, and future-focused economic systems. With a passion for traditional Polynesian dance, she lives with her family and children on Cabrogal land in Sydney, Australia.

Jane Hutchinson

Co-CEO of Pollination Foundation, Jane is passionate about achieving nature conservation at scale by flowing finance to the people best placed to do the work. Over more than two decades, she has led and governed across Australia’s conservation landscape, previously serving as CEO of the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, a founding member of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, and Executive Director for Strategy & Innovation at The Nature Conservancy Australia.

Jane currently serves on Australia’s Nature Finance Council, she is an alumni of The Nature Conservancy’s Barbara Thomas Fellowship in Conservation Financing and the Harvard Club of Australia Fellowship. In 2016 she was Tasmanian Australian of the Year for her contribution to nature. Jane holds a combined Science/Law (Hons) degree from the University of Tasmania.

Jane (Carter) Ingram

Carter has over 15 years of experience at the forefront of integrating nature into sustainable development across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States.

She currently serves as Managing Director of Pollination, a specialist climate change investment and advisory firm. She previously was a Senior Manager in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice where she advised food/agriculture, real estate, infrastructure and tourism businesses in designing and implementing ESG goals and strategies, programs and impact measurement, with a focus on natural capital.

Carter’s previous experiences include launching and leading the Ecosystem Services program and the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) for the Wildlife Conservation Society, where she worked with governments, multi-lateral institutions, NGOs and businesses to conduct scientific analyses, develop new collaborations and implement initiatives to advance conservation and sustainable development globally. Carter completed a Post-doctoral fellowship at the Earth Institute of Columbia University and has a M.Sc. and D.Phil. from the School of Geography and the Environment of Oxford University. She has co-edited two books and written over 60 articles, reports and publications on biodiversity and ecosystem services, climate change, poverty reduction and economic development. Carter is currently an Adjunct Associated Professor in the School for Foreign Service at Georgetown University and serves on the SNAPP Science Advisory Council, the Technical Advisory Council for the UNDP Equator Initiative, the International Working Group for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and has been co-leading a USG working group on Natural Capital Accounting in the United States.

Navjot Jassar

Navjot Jassar (she/her/hers) is a Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law working in the Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land Air and Water (RELAW) program. She supports First Nations in standing up their laws and declaring, implementing and enforcing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. She has worked most closely with the Indigenous legal orders of coastal peoples and serves community partners in protecting both marine and terrestrial territories for the benefit of current and future generations. She studied common law and Indigenous legal orders in the world’s first degree program in Indigenous law.

Navjot is Punjabi, with roots in farming villages from the land of the five rivers that flow from the western Himalayas. Creative movement, plant medicine and the healing power of water are some of the life-affirming forces Navjot cherishes most. She is grateful for and honoured by the privilege to learn the first laws of the lands occupied by Canada and to work alongside Indigenous peoples in revitalizing their legal orders.

Megan Kelleher

Megan Kelleher belongs to the Barada and Kapalbara peoples of Central Queensland and the branch of the Kelleher clan living in regional Victoria. She is currently undertaking her PhD at RMIT University in the School of Media and Communication and was honoured to be awarded one of RMIT’s Vice Chancellor’s Indigenous Pre‑Doctoral Fellowships in 2018.

Megan is investigating whether the affordances of blockchain technology are culturally appropriate for Indigenous governance, and is undertaking this research as a core member of the Digital Ethnography Research Centre (DERC) and as a PhD Candidate within The ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S).

Vania Komegi

Born and raised in Papua, Vania Komegi holds a Master’s degree in Urban Design and brings both academic expertise and deep local insight to her work. As Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at the EcoNusa Foundation, she leads and contributes to initiatives that promote environmental protection and safeguard the rights of Indigenous communities in Eastern Indonesia. Her passion lies in ensuring that development processes are inclusive, sustainable, and rooted in the lived experiences of local people. With a strong commitment to justice and ecological integrity, Vania works to connect grassroots realities with broader policy and advocacy efforts.

Katlia Lafferty

Katłıà’s (she/her/hers) interest in environmental justice first began when she was an elected council member for her First Nation, the Yellowknives Dene in the Northwest Territories, where she worked towards demanding that the government compensate the Yellowknives for the mess that was left when the infamous Giant Mine was abandoned leaving behind 237,000 tonnes of inorganic arsenic on the lands of the Akaitcho Treaty 8 in Chief Drygeese Territory.

After receiving a Bachelor of Justice Studies and finishing year of a Master’s Program in Environmental Management at Royal Roads, Katłıà returned to the north and was on the NWT Negotiations Team for the groundbreaking Mackenzie Valley Transboundary Water Management Agreement between the NWT, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. She also worked as the Director of Indigenous Education and Community Development at the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, a land-based post-secondary curriculum program partnered with UBC.

Realizing she could generate further change as a lawyer, Katłıà enrolled in the Joint Degree Program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders (JID) at the University of Victoria and graduated in 2023.

Katłıà served as the inaugural Climate Writer in Residence at West Vancouver Memorial Library in 2022. She is an accomplished author and is working on her next book which is about global warming from a northern Dene perspective called “Mother Earth is Our Elder.”

In her spare time, she enjoys reading to her grandson and writing stories about life growing up in the north.

Vilta Lefaan

Vilta graduated from Pelita Harapan University in Surabaya with a Bachelor of Psychology and from Atma Jaya Catholic University in Yogyakarta with a Master of Administrative Law.

Her book, Psychology of Law Review’s on Child Rights was published in 2018.

Vilta has 7 years experience actively involved in community development for Papuan indigenous people with various NGOs throughout Raja Ampat, South Sorong, Timika, and Asmat. Vilta is Econusa’s Regional Coordinator of the Papua Bird Head area, also known as the crown jewel of Papua. Her role includes education, gender equality, community-based conservancy, and advocacy.

Vilta loves to reading and photography. Vilta founded Kambik Abhirama Semesta, an active youth community to contribute in children’s health and education at Alor NTT, Sorong, and Raja Ampa.

Vilta’s message for all Papuan’s is: we are the keepers of Papua, our motherland, for all life in Papua.

Georgia Lloyd-Smith

Georgia Lloyd-Smith (she/they) is a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law working with both the Marine Program and the RELAW Program (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air, and Water). Born and raised on Coast Salish territories, she has a deep love for the coast and focuses on supporting the ocean to revive itself by advocating for stronger legal protections at the local, national, and international levels. She works supporting Indigenous nations in their efforts to revitalize their laws and governance and conserve their territories.  More specifically, she focuses on Indigenous-led conservation including Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and Guardians programs. 

Georgia is a co-author of Protecting the Coast and Ocean: A Guide to Marine Conservation Law in British Columbia, the first marine conservation law textbook in Canada.  Prior to working at West Coast, she worked at the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria and with the Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU). She also spent a summer in Fort McMurray, Alberta working as a legal intern with a First Nation in the heart of the tar sands. She is grateful to spend her time supporting and learning from the Indigenous laws of these lands, is a proud auntie and can spend all day revelling in the wonder of a tide pool.

Donna Morton

Donna Morton is primarily Northern European with Anishinaabe heritage; she is a lifelong climate, justice and finance innovator working across Turtle Island. She co-founded numerous organizations including Edge Finance, Change Finance and Salmon Returns. Donna has developed economic policy at the Federal, Provincial and municipal levels including the BC carbon tax. She has worked with finance companies building investment, portfolio and donor advised fund strategies. She has worked with and for First Nations advancing clean energy and social entrepreneurship in the context of culture. As co-founder of Salmon Returns, she co-leads strategy, financial instruments and partnerships that support Indigenous Nations and grow ethical access to capital, partnerships, and bioregional economies. She has given many talks, been featured in media projects globally and holds fellowships with Ashoka, Ogunte, Unreasonable, Positive Deviants and the Guild of Future Architects and BioFi Cultivator.

Eamon Nathan

Eamon joined Reconnecting Northland in 2016 as the Pou Manatū (General Manager). Weaving a passion for indigeneity, Eamon is motivated by the potency of indigenous principles to inspire action that grounds activity in the unique identity of land and water. A behind the scenes action-man, Eamon is a creative thinker of Te Roroa, Ngāti Torehina, Ngāti Arera, Crete, Scottish and Irish whakapapa, Eamon is passionate about leadership that shifts from assuming the sovereignty of humans to acknowledging the mana of nature.

Kim Neale

Kim Neale is a regenerative economies futurist, environmental engineer, and economist who braids Indigenous knowledge with 20 years of experience in natural capital, conservation finance, insurance, and environmental risk management. With ancestral roots that are mixed—settler (French/English) and Anishinaabe from Nipissing First Nation—her pathway of re-connection with Anishinaabe cultural teachings and Indigenomics has been shaped by her relationship with the knowledge-sharers, lands, and waters of Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island).

Kim is the founder of Manitoulin Climate Collaborative (Mc²), serves on the boards of Braiding Knowledges Canada and the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy, and advises the First Nations National Guardians Network (NGN) Indigenous-led Natural Climate Solutions fund. She co-designed the first Two-Eyed Seeing Natural Asset Inventory framework and is leading initiatives to transform Canadian land trust standards and practices. As as regenerative economies futurist, her work is focused on advancing Indigenous-led regenerative economies, co-governance models, and evaluation frameworks that restore balance with Mother Earth.

Melissa Nelson

Melissa K. Nelson, Ph.D. is a professor of Indigenous Sustainability in the School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures. Dr. Nelson is an Indigenous ecologist, writer, editor, media-maker and award-winning scholar-activist.

Before joining the School of Sustainability, ASU in 2020, she served as a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University (2002 – 2020), specializing in Indigenous Environmental and Native California Indian Studies.

Dr. Nelson also served as founding executive director and CEO of The Cultural Conservancy, an Indigenous-led nonprofit organization from 1993 – 2021. Dr. Nelson is a transdisciplinary and community-based scholar dedicated to Indigenous rights and sustainability, biocultural heritage and environmental justice, intercultural solidarity, and the renewal and celebration of community health and cultural arts. She actively advocates for Indigenous Peoples rights and sustainable lifeways in higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy, and is particularly passionate about elevating Indigenous sciences and Indigenous food sovereignty at local, regional and global levels. Dr. Nelson has led numerous community-based projects through her work at The Cultural Conservancy. She is Anishinaabe, Cree, Métis, and Norwegian (an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians).

Craig North

A proud Bidjara man, Craig North has worked in Indigenous economic development and impact for 17+ years. He is currently an Executive Director at the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation, an Indigenous-led enterprise dedicated to supporting a growing national network of Indigenous communities and practitioners in restoring and maintaining the health and well-being of Country and Community through traditional knowledge systems and land management practices.

Prior to this role, Craig founded Indigenous Impact to promote and support Indigenous impact investment opportunities for culture-based enterprises. He held various senior executive positions at the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, where he was responsible for national programs aimed at purchasing and returning land to Indigenous organisations across Australia and served as the CEO of the ILSC’s commercial agribusiness subsidiary from 2016 to 2020.

Craig has held non-executive director positions in the areas of native title and native foods and botanicals. He is currently a non-executive director of Resilience Canopy, First Australians Capital and a First Nations advisor with Mannifera.

Sarah Parriman

Sarah, a proud Yawuru and Jabirr Jabirr woman from the Kimberley, is a passionate advocate for Aboriginal advancement, self-determination and decision-making.  As the Deputy CEO of the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) – a peak Aboriginal representative body for Traditional Owners across the Kimberley – she plays a pivotal role in supporting the KLC’s corporate and cultural governance, strategic operations and their broader advocacy work.

Sarah brings nearly two decades of experience with the KLC, having grown into her current leadership role on the foundation of deep commitment to Aboriginal advancement, self-determination and decision making. Sarah has built a strong reputation as a leader who deeply understands the challenges and strengths of her community. Sarah believes that Aboriginal people and communities must self-determine how best to govern and enrich their own lives and knows great things can be achieved when our people and communities are involved in leading change.

In addition to her role at the KLC, Sarah serves as a Director on the Board of the Indigenous Carbon Industry Network (ICIN).  In this capacity, she advocates for Indigenous rights in emerging carbon markets and emphasises the importance of positioning Traditional Owners as rights holders and leaders of these initiatives.  Sarah also serves as a Director on the Board of KRED Enterprises, a specialised provider of Aboriginal Engagement and Corporate Support Services, helping to realise KREDs vision in positioning Aboriginal people in the Kimberley to be part of the benefits of economic development as active participants. Supporting her People to be strong on country and to help them walk in two worlds.

Sarah is also a passionate advocate for women and young people.  In 2024 she helped launch the Kimberley Indigenous Women’s Ranger Strategy – a plan shaped by over 50 women rangers to support stronger, more sustainable roles for women in caring for country.  She believes deeply in making space for Aboriginal women in leadership and decision-making and works hard to open doors for the next generation.

Sarah’s dedication and leadership is shaped by her connection to Family and Country, a commitment to community and Aboriginal empowerment and self-determination.  She’s someone who listens deeply, leads with her values, and grounds herself in authenticity.

She is committed to forging genuine partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, focusing on mutual respect, understanding and knowledge sharing.  Working to foster meaningful opportunities for future generations, ensuring Aboriginal people’s rights for country, protection of country and culture and our vision for self-determination are sustained and enhanced.

Isabel Ransom

Isabel is the relationship lead for Nature For Justice’s First 30×30 Canada program, an accelerator for Indigenous-led Nature-based Solutions work that helps bridge gaps between Indigenous governments and sources of investment for their stewardship of their lands and waters.

Isabel holds a BA (Hon) in political science and global development studies from the University of Victoria. She is Canadian, living gratefully on the lands of the W̱SÁNEĆ and Quw’utsun Peoples.

Rodger Redman

Chief Rodger Redman of the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation is a leading advocate for Indigenous sovereignty and economic innovation. As architect of the Economic Corridor Initiative, he champions trade, governance, and infrastructure strategies that empower Indigenous Nations across North America to reclaim prosperity, assert rights, and shape global futures.

Darcy Riddell

Dr. Darcy Riddell has worked to change systems as a strategist, campaigner, facilitator and movement capacity-builder, and played leadership roles in North American and global philanthropy in systems change, transformative learning and scaling innovation.

As Director of Strategy and Partnerships with RAD Network (Restore, Assert, Defend), Darcy works to build just, regenerative economies through Indigenous-led nature and climate solutions.

She is an author on the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment. Previous roles include BC Program Director at Makeway and Director of Strategic Learning with McConnell Foundation. She has co-designed and taught dozens of social change cohort programs including Rockefeller’s Global Fellowship in Social Innovation and Resilience and a Learning Community on systems change for funders. Her work is inspired by early involvement in ground-breaking campaigns and multi-stakeholder Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, which enshrined First Nations governance, protected areas and ecosystem-based management in 6.4 million hectares of the Pacific coast. She holds an MA in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness (CIIS) and a PhD in Social-Ecological Systems, focused on the scaling impact and transformative dynamics in the Great Bear Rainforest model (University of Waterloo). Darcy lives in Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam and Squamish territories (Vancouver) with her two children.

Lena Russ

Lena Russ is a proud Haida woman from the Maaman Gitanee clan of Old Masset and a devoted mother of two. With over 18 years of experience in hospitality, governance, and community development, she has led projects that strengthen Indigenous families, cultures, and Nations.

Lena is a member of the Four Pillars Society, an initiative created from a $2.8 billion class action settlement that works with over 325 Nations across Canada to revitalize Indigenous languages, cultures, heritage, and community wellness. She has also worked with Indigenous fisheries for many years — a passion that continues to guide her work as Special Projects Manager with Authentic Indigenous Seafood, where she supports the growth of Indigenous-led fisheries and helps bring their products to premium markets.

Known for leading by example, Lena remains committed to Indigenous resurgence and the power of collective growth.

Arnold Sahanna

Chairperson of Wilinggin Aboriginal Corporation and Wurlujaru Traditional Owner, committed to promoting the interests of his people, their Country, and cultural heritage.

Andry Sculthorpe

Andry is manager of the Country and Culture division of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. A division that works across multiple Land and Sea Indigenous Protected Areas, Aboriginal Ranger teams and includes the Palawa Kani Language program and pursuing repatriation of ancestral remains and cultural materials back to the Aboriginal community. Central to work of the TAC is the progression of self determination and strengthening community structures that assist in Nation building through increased land return and culturally sound economic development. Andry is also a founding Co Chair- of the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous corporation , an Aboriginal led organisation that works nationally to promote and restore Aboriginal cultural fire practice through working directly to support Aboriginal community leadership in communities.

Tony Skrelunas

Tony Skrelunas is a visionary leader of Diné and Lithuanian descent, dedicated to bridging ancestral wisdom and modern economic systems. Raised by his Navajo great-grandparents in the ancient traditions of Black Mesa, his work is rooted in the principles of reciprocity and intergenerational equity. Tony has served three terms as an executive for the Navajo Nation, where he co-authored the landmark Local Governance Act to restore traditional, community-led governance models. His entrepreneurial drive is demonstrated through co-founding a utility-scale solar company and leading a nationally recognized conservation program for 14 years.

Currently, as a PhD candidate in Sustainable Development Education, Tony is formalizing Indigenous economic worldviews into actionable frameworks for a regenerative future. He is the Founding President of Red Road Journey, an initiative launched in 2022 to decolonize wellness and economic models. Through his work convening intertribal gatherings, Tony has fostered a powerful network of Indigenous leaders focused on sharing strategies for sovereignty and self-determination. He brings this deep, practical experience to the critical conversation on how philanthropy can effectively catalyze Indigenous-led economic visions.

Dani Warren

Dani Warren is a Cree woman from Montreal Lake Cree Nation, located in Treaty 6 Territory, Saskatchewan on her maternal side and Scottish, English and Danish on her paternal side. She is the Senior Manager, Sales for the Great Bear Carbon Credit Limited Partnership. An entity owned by 7 First Nations on BC’s North and Central-Mid Coast and Haida Gwaii. The First Nations partners work together through the not for profit Coastal First Nations – Great Bear Initiative whose mission is to protect and conserve the environment and work in partnership with all levels of Government, NGO’s and others to create a new conservation-based economy within the respective Traditional Territories.

Dani leads carbon credit sales and partnerships working with First Nations leadership in decision making and policy matters related to the two Great Bear Forest Carbon Projects. Dani has a background in project management, private security and holds a certificate in Forest Carbon Management from the University of British Columbia.

In August 2024 Dani welcomed her son Carson to her family. Outside of her professional life, Dani has been playing bagpipes for 21 years, currently on hiatus from the competition circuit.

Shawn Watts

A citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and Supreme Court Justice for the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Shawn primarily serves as the Executive Director of the Tribal Stewardship and Sovereignty Network. He also directs the Tribal Law & Government Center at the University of Kansas School of Law.

Bronwyn Wilson-Hokianga

Bronwyn Wilson-Hokianga, CEO of Te Mātaioho Limited, is a distinguished Māori leader with 25 years of experience in Indigenous-led finance, housing, and governance. She affiliates with Tainui/Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Muriwhenua, and Tapuika iwi, and combines deep academic expertise with a sharp sense of humour. She was the first Māori to represent Aotearoa/New Zealand at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, in Tae Kwon Do. Bronwyn has lived and worked abroad for 15 years across seven countries and ten years in Aotearoa, gaining international recognition and serving under three different Prime Ministers in three nations, honing her leadership, policy, and governance skills. She blends executive leadership, cultural knowledge, and applied research to deliver sustainable social, economic, and intergenerational outcomes. In partnership with a prominent university, she co-created the AIO Ecosystem, including AIOEx Digital Bank, AIODc Data Centre, AIOLb Lease-Back Bonds, and AIOEc E-Commerce. Bronwyn mentors Indigenous youth and women, supports iwi and hapū governance, and engages nationally and internationally to advance Indigenous economic empowerment, digital sovereignty, and cultural revitalisation. Her work weaves Māori values with modern finance, housing, and technology to strengthen whānau, hapū, and iwi for generations to come. Guided by her ancestors and her wairua, she consistently prioritises the wellbeing of others above her own.