Meet the team
Secretariat
The Secretariat team works together to find new projects, synthesize reports and monitor satellite forest data for the Grants Committee and Board to review and keep FCF functioning around the clock!
Rachel KenT
Executive Director
Rachel joined FCF in 2022 as Partnerships Manager, and was named Executive Director in July, 2023.
With over twenty years’ experience in global corporate strategic partnership roles, including working for Microsoft and Motorola, she joined the non-profit sector in 2011.
Over her ten years as Senior Relationships Manager at Earthworm Foundation, Rachel supported leading consumer goods and trading companies with their responsible sourcing of natural raw materials. Her work aims to drive social and environmental change on the ground, through development of long-term strategic and operational relationships through the supply chain and with civil society.
nita murjani
asia portfolio manager
Nita joined FCF as the Asia Portfolio Manager in August 2023 to strengthen the organization’s works and outreach in Asia region.
Nita has been working on various environmental issues, particularly REDD+, climate change, forest conservation, green economy and corporate sustainability transformation, for about 26 years, in various organizations such as The Royal Norwegian Embassy, Aidenvironment Asia, WWF-ID, CIFOR, British Council Indonesia, and NIRAS IP Consult Germany – GIZ SASCI’s Green Economy project in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan and the Leuser Development Programme in Aceh and North Sumatera.
As a Senior Communications at Aidenvironment Asia, Nita played a central role in engagement with stakeholders working on corporate sustainability transformation, particularly in the palm oil sector. As an Advisor for Forest and Climate Change at the Royal Norwegian Embassy, she supported the implementation of REDD+ project in Indonesia. As the Regional Communications for Asia Region at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), she acted as the Indonesian Liaison for scientists working primarily in Asia.
Board
The Board is a not-for-profit foundation registered under Swiss law and legally responsible for all FCF activities. The board officially appoints the Financial Administrator, Secretariat, and Grant Committee members and oversees general activities and direction of the Forest Conservation Fund.
Richard Mc Lellan
(chair)
Richard is a postgraduate research ecologist at the Institute for Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, Australia. His is currently researching the ecological functions and sustainability of Sandalwood exploitation in Australia.
An experienced senior-level ecologist, conservationist, and sustainable development program manager, Richard has enjoyed a rich and varied working career. He has a strong background in sustainable development, garnered through many years working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Australia, Cambodia and Switzerland, including a period as the Director of the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) and former Editor-in-Chief of The Living Planet Report. A champion for the environment, Richard is a long-time member of the World Commission on Protected Areas, and an IUCN assessor for natural World Heritage Areas.
Angel Niesje Manembu
Angel is the Executive Director of Global Concern Institute, where she has developed Oxfam Indonesia’s 2020-2024 strategy on land rights and sustainable livelihoods; strengthened programs on gender and marginal group empowerment for The Nature Conservancy, AusAID, and Save the Children; and monitored social protection in Indonesian ministries across 14 districts in Papua, West Papua, the Malukus, and eastern Java.
Prior to this, Angel worked on a wide range of development and conservation projects including mainstreaming and empowering marginalised groups such as indigenous people, leading social impact assessments, supporting community development and capacity building, and conducting monitoring and evaluation, for organisations such as the US Department of Interior-International Technical Assistance Program, the Nordic Consulting Group Company and USAID. Angel also has two masters degrees: in Peace and Conflict, and in Social Planning and Development.
Charlotte Opal
Charlotte is the founding Executive Director of the Forest Conservation Fund, and moved to the Board when she took up a position as the Director of Membership and Partnerships at Earthworm Foundation in Switzerland. Charlotte was the founding Head of the Secretariat for the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (now Biomaterials) and for six years served as Vice-Chair of the Fairtrade International Standards Committee. She is a Board member of the International Tropical Conservation Foundation in the US.
A specialist in helping companies improve their social and environmental impacts in supply chains, Charlotte earned her undergraduate degree in Economics at Wake Forest University, and her MBA and M.Phil in Development Studies while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.
Simon LorD
Simon is the former Chief Sustainability Officer for Sime Darby Plantations. He was previously the Director of Sustainability for New Britain Palm Oil and its Director of Research. He began his career with Unilever and has over 33 years’ experience in the agriculture commodities sector. He has held appointments on the Board of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and numerous NGO initiatives.
Grants Committee
The Grants Committee is made up of a group of independent experts on conservation science, field project management, land tenure, community-based conservation, and project management and monitoring. The GC meets quarterly to approve new projects and annually monitors and re-approves existing projects.
Liza Zogib, Chair
Liza Zogib is founder and co-creator of DiversEarth, an NGO working at the special interface of nature, culture and spirit. As well as working to support indigenous, spiritual and rural communities and their cultural practices that benefit nature, DiversEarth also focuses on the protection, management and restoration of sacred natural sites and facilitating interreligious dialogue.
She has extensive experience with social, cultural and rights issues in conservation and most recently has been helping WWF with their new Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework and developing ELearning courses for all staff on social safeguards and human rights in conservation.
Liza is Chair of the IUCN Specialist Group on Religions, Spirituality, Environmental Conservation and Climate Justice (ReSpECC) and member of the Religions and Conservation Biology working group of the Society for Conservation Biology.
Sam Moko
Sam, from Morobe Province in Papua New Guinea, has over 15 years of experience working in the forest, environment and conservation sectors. Sam currently works as the PNG Project Manager with the United Nations Development Programme’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility REDD+ Readiness Project.
Previously Sam worked for four years on PNG’s Palm Oil Platform as a Stakeholder Engagement Officer and more recently as the PNG National Coordinator. Sam started his career working for Greenpeace as their PNG Forests Campaigner for nine years.
Sam brings with him a wealth of experience working with community conservation groups and NGOs along with his strong network and relationships with conservation communities in PNG.
Rob McWilliam
As the Director of Technical Services at Earthworm Foundation, Rob McWilliam is responsible for delivering various programmes that support member companies to achieve their commitments to end deforestation in supply chains. One such programme is Starling, which is a partnership developed with Airbus D&S that integrates earth observation data, machine learning techniques and supply chain data to identify where action is needed to address deforestation. Rob was also a member of a team that piloted and developed the High Carbon Stock assessment methodology and continues to support the deployment of the methodology across the sub-tropical region.
Prior to joining Earthworm Foundation in 2009, Rob worked on community forest management projects in South-East Asia with WWF, led the 2nd National Forest Inventory across the Fiji Islands, and led forest and fire management operations at ACT Forests, Canberra, Australia.
Rob holds a BSc Forestry from the Australian National University and a MSc in Leadership for Sustainability from University of Cambridge.
Inza KoNé
Inza is a lecturer at the Faculty of Biosciences dept at Félix Houphouët-Boigny University and Director General of the Swiss Center for Scientific Research in Côte d'Ivoire. His current work focuses on natural resource management and the conservation of large mammal species, especially primates. His work makes the link between ecology, economy and culture for the empowerment of rural communities.
He is a member of the Regional Advisory Committee of the BIOPAMA program for West Africa, the Scientific Commission of the National Program for the Conservation of Natural Resources in Ivory Coast, the Scientific Commission of the REDD+ Program in Ivory Coast, IUCN’s Species Survival Commission and the Conservation Committee of the International Society of Primatology.
Inza Koné has won several international and national prizes, including the 2009 Future for Nature Prize, the 2012 Whitley Prize for Nature Conservation and the 2015 Côte d'Ivoire National Research Prize.