Our people

Over the span of more than 30 years in East, Central, and West Africa, Paul Siegel has contributed to the management of marine, freshwater, and forest ecosystems, community empowerment and development, wildlife conservation and management, conservation finance and international environmental policy.

Following his Peace Corps service, teaching in DR Congo in the early 70’s, Paul completed his Ph.D. in marine biology at the University of California and returned to Africa teach at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. In 1988, he became Field Director of the School for Wildlife Conservation and Management in Kenya, and in 1990, he joined WWF where he spent 20 years supporting and catalyzing links among African natural resource professionals.

Over the years, Paul has been awarded a Fullbright Biodiversity Award, was an Environmental Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was decorated by the Malagasy Government as a Chevalier de l’Ordre National. He currently serves on Boards of Directors of the BioGuinea Foundation, the Western Indian Ocean Marine Sciences Association (WIOMSA).

Paulo Gomes is the founder of Constelor Investment Holdings, an advisory firm that has facilitated over $500 million in investment into West Africa.

He has a deep expertise in African politics and economic policy with over 25 years of public and private sector experience. He is a co-founder of New African Capital Partners, chairman of the Africa-South East Asia Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Board of the Green Climate Fund.

Formerly, Paulo served as the Executive Director at the World Bank Group leading strategy for over 20 African countries. He served previously as a principal advisor in Guinea-Bissau’s Ministry of Finance.

A passionate advocate of the environment, Paulo works to ensure that Africa’s sustainable development is at the heart of policy discussion.

Paulo holds an MA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Sylvie Goyet is Director, Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability at SPC –Pacific Community, based in Noumea, New Caledonia.

She has 20 years of experience in directing and managing environmental programmes, special expertise in coastal and marine issues, conservation finance and conservation trust funds, and a general background in organizational management and strategic planning.

From 2006 until end of 2014, she was the Director General of FIBA – Fondation Internationale du Banc d’Arguin, a private Swiss foundation working in West Africa on coastal and marine issues. In her previous assignments, she was Regional Coordinator of the UNOPS/UNDP/GEF MedWetCoast project, Programme Manager at WWF International and programme officer at UNDP Black Sea Programme, UNEP Caspian Sea Programme, and UNDP Fiji.

Sylvie is a French and Swiss citizen, holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the University of London, an MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master in International Business from the Business Management School of Lyon.

Sylvie presently serves on the Board of the BioGuinea Foundation (Guinee Bissau) and on the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation; she is President of the Wild Touch Association (France) and an Executive Committee member of the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA).

sylvieg@spc.int

Camila has 17 years’ experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating sustainable finance mechanisms for conservation in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

She has led the development of a number of national and regional funding programmes, mobilizing international resources towards biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Her work focused on supporting conservation trust funds (CTFs) to design instruments and adopt practices to leverage finance for their portfolios. Camila spent a decade at Funbio, the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund, one of the largest CTFs globally. During this time she led international projects through RedLAC, the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds, and the Conservation Finance Alliance, focused on knowledge and innovation in financial mechanisms for conservation. Currently, she is a Manager at a UK-based consultancy called Terranomics, focused on private finance for conservation.

Camila is passionate about multicultural exchanges as a way of learning. She is particularly interested in integrating gender equality and women’s economic empowerment into conservation and sustainable development efforts.

Miles has over 35 years’ experience in finance, most as an investment manager in Europe and Asia. At JP Morgan Chase & Co he served as Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Global Multi-Asset Group. He was Head of Strategy, Multi-Asset and Fixed Income at Jupiter Asset Management, and is currently a Non-Executive Director at Brunel Pension Partnership. He is also a committed conservationist, having served as CEO of the Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation and a Trustee for Save the Elephants. He has lived and worked in Botswana and Kenya, where he flew in support of wildlife conservation.

Ibrahima Thiam has lead Wetlands International programs in Africa since 2008- having previously managed Oxfam America programs in West Africa. In addition to his conservation and development expertise, he brings to FBG in-depth experience in economics, microenterprise development, and government relations.

Ibrahima is particularly interested in technology, entrepreneurship and innovation and is passionate about generating new conservation ideas and mechanisms in and for Africa. He a rural economist by training having graduated from the MIT Sloan School.

Charlotte has been working on protected areas, biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management in Africa for more than three decades. She led on several initiatives aiming at supporting the establishment, management and governance of marine protected areas and she supervised among other the establishment of the first regional network of marine protected areas in West Africa.

In the last eight years Charlotte acted as head of strategic alliances and director of the MAVA foundation for West Africa. As such she was responsible for implementing MAVA’s funding strategy for West Africa and for overseeing all biodiversity conservation projects in the region. Her work focused on supporting the establishment of strategic conservation partnerships and on engaging fellow donors as well.

Charlotte has been involved in several international conservation experts‘ groups, including the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, where she acted as Regional Vice-Chair for West & Central Africa between 2009 and 2022. Her other areas of interest include conservation funding, sustainability and multi-stakeholders conservation partnerships. A doctor of veterinary medicine, Charlotte also holds a Master’s degree and a PhD in conservation biology from the University of Göttingen.

Jadério Adriano Correia Fonseca, born in Guinea-Bissau, holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and post-graduate in Business Administration. An experienced Bank Treasurer and Business Development professional with over 17 years of experience in strategic bank management across West and Southern Africa, with Ecobank Guinea-Bissa, United Bank for Africa and African Export Import Bank (Afreximban). With proven expertise in Treasury Management, Relationship Management, and Development Financing. Adept at leading multicultural teams, driving business growth, and implementing strategic financial solutions.

Helena Maria José Nosolini Embalo is a professional with extensive experience and an outstanding career in international government and financial institutions. With a degree in Law from the Classical University of Lisbon, Helena began her professional career at the Central Bank of Guinea-Bissau (BCGB) in 1989, where she held several positions of responsibility, including Director of the Governor’s Office and Director of Legal Services and actively participated in crucial processes for the country’s economic development, such as financial liberalization and accession to the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) in 1997.
In 1997, she joined the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), where for 25 years she held several functions and positions, including Director of Career and Skills Management and National Director for Guinea-Bissau, a role that she combined with that of Alternate Governor of the FMI.
She was twice part fo the government of Guinea-Bissau, first as Minister of Fisheries and then as Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Integration. In 2022, after ceasing his relationship with BCEAO, she founded 3-E Consulting, SARL, a consulting company, where she acts as Managing Partner.
Currently, Helena performs several prominent functions, namely:
– **President of the Regional Consular Chamber of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (CCR-UEMOA)**
– **Member of the Board of the BioGuiné Foundation**
– **Adviser Board of the Africa Center of Porto Business School**
– **Independent Director of ECOBANK-Guinea-Bissau**
In addition, Helena has a history of involvement in community and associative life, being a founding member of several associations, such as the Guinea-Bissau Bar Association, the Association of Women Lawyers of Guinea-Bissau and Newfaces and Newvoices, a platform for women’s empowerment. She was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in Portuguese-speaking Africa in 2021 and received distinctions from the Government for her contribution to the visibility of Guinean women in political, economic and social life.
Helena continues to actively contribute to the economic and social development of Guinea-Bissau and the West African region, combining her expertise in consulting, management, and public policy with a strong commitment to inclusion and women’s empowerment.

Rhys Petheram, CFA, has 25 years of financial market investment experience, with a key focus on sustainable investments. He is currently Chief Investment Officer of Tabula Investment Management (Janus Henderson Group), building on 17 years working for Jupiter Asset Management as Portfolio Manager and Head of Environmental Investments, as well as roles with Moody’s Investor Services and Russel Investments.

He has dedicated most of his career to fostering the development of sustainable investments within the public markets context, through playing an active role in key industry initiatives such as the Green Bond Principles and the IIGCC Net Zero Investment Framework and as an author of the CFA Certificate in Climate and Investing syllabus.
Rhys holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, a degree in Commerce from the University of Melbourne, and is currently undertaking a MSc in Climate Change and Development.

Justino Biai is an expert in biodiversity conservation and environmental governance, with more than 30 years of experience in public institutions, international organizations and scientific research in West Africa.

He currently chairs the Board of Directors of the Regional Partnership for the Conservation of the Coastal and Marine Zone (PRCM), a sub-regional reference platform for environmental cooperation. Between 2017 and 2023, he was Director-General of the Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP) of Guinea-Bissau, after more than a decade as Program Manager at the same institution. At the same time, he served as National Focal Point of the Convention on Biological Diversity, representing the country in international negotiation processes.

Justino has coordinated several conservation projects funded by entities such as the GEF, the European Union, the World Bank and the MAVA Foundation, mobilizing more than 10 million euros in investments for the climate resilience, sustainable tourism, marine ecosystems and environmental governance in protected areas.

He is an associate researcher at UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MaB) programme and author or co-author of dozens of studies and publications on biodiversity, environmental economics and sustainable development.

With a degree in Agricultural Economics, he holds a PhD in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Leipzig, where he also completed postgraduate studies in tropical and subtropical agronomy.

He speaks fluent Portuguese, German and French.