2024 Speakers

Elodie Broad.

Head of Impact & Sustainable Future Goals (SFGs), Balderton Capital

Elodie joined Balderton as Head of Impact and Sustainable Future Goals (SFGs) in 2022. She is responsible for driving forward Balderton’s impact strategy and sharing best practices while working closely with Balderton’s portfolio on the ESG goals.

Elodie previously worked for Deloitte’s Strategy Consulting Practice, focusing on policy design, strategic transformation and impact-led innovation projects. As part of Deloitte’s Sustainable Finance team, Elodie oversaw ESG strategy and regulatory readiness in the investment management and private equity sectors.

Elodie also spent time in Australia, setting up Deloitte’s Australia Climate Action programme, where she saw the devastating effects of climate change first-hand during the bushfire crisis.

Elodie holds a BA in Education and MML (French) from Cambridge University and an MSc in International and Comparative Education from Oxford University. 

Kresse Wesling CBE.

Co-founder, Elvis & Kresse

Co-farmer, New Barns Farm

Kresse is a multi-award-winning environmental entrepreneur.

After first meeting the London Fire Brigade in 2005, Kresse launched Elvis & Kresse, which rescues and transforms decommissioned fire hose into innovative lifestyle products and returns 50% of profits to the Fire Fighters Charity. The company now collects 12 different waste streams and has several charitable partnerships and collaborations across industries.

In 2021 Elvis & Kresse also took on a farm in order to establish a regenerative agriculture project, generate their own renewables and implement a host of environmental initiatives.

Chloe Zhang.

Investor Relationships Manager, CPI Enterprises

Chloe is the Investor Relationships Manager of CPI Enterprises, based in London to expand the deep tech investor community, and to engage with academia and SMEs to explore potential investment and partnership opportunities.

Prior to joining CPI, Chloe has 9 years significant experience of the early-stage investment ecosystem. She was partner at China's first and largest Entrepreneurship educational platform and incubator before co-founding a US-China-based micro-VC and accelerator, which she later exited successfully. She then launched the UK entity of a family office and CVC, G5 Capital before joining CPI in 2022.

Chloe started her career in media and consulting. She holds an MBA from Imperial College Business School and a MSc in Financial Journalism from City University London.

Oliver Bolton.

CEO & Co-founder, Earthly

“If we reach net zero without solving the biodiversity crisis, we’re toast.” 

Olly’s passion, and Earthly’s mission, is to help companies invest in nature in a way that meets business goals. The corporate world can feel far-removed from nature, and carbon removal can feel like an abstract concept. For this reason, Oliver has guided Earthly to leverage technology including AI, animation and APIs to bring about a new way for companies to show their action on climate.

As a climate-tech entrepreneur, Oliver is passionate about reversing climate breakdown, restoring our planet, and leaving a better Earth for future generations. He previously launched Europe’s first B Corp drinks company Waterbomb and co-founded the UK’s leading subscription nutrition platform VITL.com. In 2017 he was the recipient of the Virgin VOOM award from Sir Richard Branson. He is an active B Corp Ambassador and enjoys mentoring school children through The Prince’s Trust.

Mehrnaz Ghojeh.

Founder, Okhtapus

Mehrnaz is the Founder of Okhtapus, the first global platform providing the missing blueprint to replicate and scale solutions that work in our ocean, islands, and coasts.

She is a globally recognised urbanist and climate justice leader bringing over a decade of expertise in scaling and financing solutions at nexus of climate, society and economy and advising mayors and governments across cities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Europe.

Mehrnaz has most recently been leading a UNFCCC award winning global programme at C40 Cities, working with a network of over 100 mayors and mega cities and leading efforts on scaling and financing a just transition and helping mobilise over $ 2.5 billion in climate finance.

Trained as an architect, Mehrnaz has been working across the public, private and third sectors as a multidisciplinary designer, futurist and international development specialist, focusing particularly on some of the most pressing matters of our time including the future of our cities, our planet, our economy, our health and our society. Mehrnaz, holds several advisory positions with WHO, WRI, Google, Wellcome Trust to name a few.

She has been a regular lecturer at universities in the UK and internationally helping design and deliver a number of executive and higher education courses.

Hermione Dace.

Policy Advisor, Climate & Energy, Tony Blair Institute

Hermione is a Policy Advisor in the Climate and Energy team at the Tony Blair Institute. She specialises in food and agriculture policy, focussing on the tech solutions needed to address the environmental impacts of food systems and boost food security. She also supports the team’s work on broader climate and energy policy.

Carmel Rafaeli.

Founding Partner, The Table

I support early stage climate ventures as an advisor, mentor and Angel Investor. I work with and invest in climate tech startups across sectors - from SaaS, through materials to hardware and robotics. 

I have been an entrepreneur for most of my career: 15+ years bringing innovations to life in a variety of products and platforms in tech and non tech sectors ranging from brick and mortar fashion to hospitality tech and IP tech. Focusing on climate and sustainability for the past 5 years.

My passion is to help accelerate sustainable innovation by creating better connections between innovators, corporates and investors.