Board and Team

Our Board

Jay Ritchlin

Jay Ritchlin

Chair

Jay is Director-General for Western Canada at the David Suzuki Foundation. He has more than 15 years’ experience working on solutions to environmental challenges including open net-pen aquaculture, offshore oil and gas, marine fisheries, toxins and seafood. He holds a Biology degree from Kenyon College, Ohio.

Joanna Eyquem

Joanna Eyquem

Vice President

Joanna is Managing Director of Climate-Resilient Infrastructure at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, University of Waterloo. Working with nature is at the heart of her career, having worked as a Professional Geoscientist for over 20 years in Canada and the UK, leading work on climate adaptation, flood and erosion management and habitat restoration. Joanna brings practical and international knowledge to help accelerate use of Nature-based Solutions in Canada.

Chris Chen

Chris Chen

Treasurer

Chris is Executive Director of Asset Management Ontario (AMONTario), a non-profit community of practice whose mission is to strengthen infrastructure asset management capacity across Ontario’s public sector. He trained as a CPA, earned a Master of Finance (MFin.) degree from the University of Toronto, and has worked in both provincial and municipal governments. Chris‘s work is focused on the integration of ’green‘ and ’grey’ infrastructure asset management to address climate change, community resilience, and sustainability issues.

Isabel Gordon

Isabel Gordon

Director

Isabel spent 27 years at the City of North Vancouver, 8 as Director of Finance. She is now the Director of Financial Services for the District of West Vancouver and has established an Asset Management accounting and funding system. She has also worked on getting Canadian accounting standards to recognize natural capital and as a fundable asset category.

Emanuel Machado

Emanuel Machado

Director

Emanuel is the Chief Administrative Officer of the Town of Gibsons. He worked with communities across Canada to promote renewable energy, net-zero buildings, water strategies, social plans and sustainability frameworks. He has been recognized with numerous awards including the Arbor Vitae Award from the Province of British Columbia and the Professional Award for Innovation in local government.

Bailey Church

Bailey Church

Director

Bailey leads the National Public Sector Accounting Advisory service line and the Public Sector ESG and Climate Reporting Centre of Expertise at KPMG. He is also the Leader of KPMG’s Global International Public Sector Accounting Standards working group. Bailey has worked with more than 200 municipalities on the implementation of asset retirement obligations and is advising municipalities across Canada on their roadmaps for ESG and natural assets reporting.

Meet the Team

Roy Brooke

Roy Brooke

Executive Director

Roy has worked in Canada, Europe and Africa in urban sustainability, national politics, international development and humanitarian affairs. He served as Director of Sustainability for the City of Victoria from 2011 to 2013 and between 2003 and 2011 he worked for the United Nations.

Nikita Bhalla

Nikita Bhalla

Project Manager

Nikita comes from a background in civil structural engineering. She has worked with crown corporations and municipalities locally and internationally in developing numerous asset management plans. Her specializations include development of asset management policy & strategy, level of service and risk analysis, with key focus on green infrastructure and natural assets.

Donna Chiarelli

Donna Chiarelli

Asset Management Advisor

With 25 years’ experience helping to build healthy, prosperous and resilient communities, Donna works to strengthen the integration of natural asset management into infrastructure management and decision making at NAI. Donna is also the owner/principal consulting of Planet A Consulting, and an associate of the Climate Risk Institute. Previously, she acted as a senior advisor and manager of capacity building programming for the Green Municipal Fund (GMF) with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Liese Coulter

Liese Coulter

Mitacs Accelerate Research Fellow

Liese’s work with NAI is to help better understand professional norms and educational competencies to support natural asset practices. She was a Mitacs Science Policy Fellow with the B.C. government and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Leeds. Liese holds a PhD from Griffith University and a MScCommunication from the Australian National University.

Stephan Jacob

Stephan Jacob

Design & Web Maintenance

Trained in Berlin and a CGD™ certified designer, Stephan brings polished, strategic design to NAl’s publications - in print and online. Stephan is president of iD2 Communications Inc., a Victoria-based firm specializing in sustainable design solutions.

Ellery Lamm

Ellery Lamm

Project and Operations Assistant

Ellery has a background in education, playwriting, filmmaking as well as experience in admin support. She is passionate about organization and efficiency, and supports the daily operations and timely completion of projects at NAI.

Karin Lengger

Karin Lengger

Financial Officer

Karin has over 20 years of experience using numbers and systems to build organizational resilience. She ensures NAI’s financial processes and records are accurate, valuable and useful.

Michelle Molnar

Michelle Molnar

Technical Director

Michelle has 15+ years’ experience in Ecological Economics and inter-disciplinary research, focusing on conservation of natural capital using valuation, policy analysis, and public outreach. She has created and managed cross-functional teams, authored natural capital valuation reports, is past President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics, and served on the B.C. government’s Climate Solutions and Clean Growth Advisory Council.

Kim Neale

Kim Neale

Project Manager and Indigenous Affairs Associate

Kim is a nature finance and cultural ecosystem services specialist with 15+ years’ experience co-designing community-based finance mechanisms. She holds a degree in environmental engineering and multiple finance, insurance, and sustainability professional designations. At NAI, Kim’s focus is on applying Two-Eyed Seeing in natural asset management and designing nature investment tools at NAI. She is also a Senior Advisor for Future Earth and a member of the Indigenous-led Restore, Assert, Defend Network leadership circle.

Emily Sharma

Emily Sharma

Communications & Outreach Advisor

Emily is a communications professional who supports environmental conservation initiatives by developing accessible and actionable content. She has experience in public relations and creative writing for tourism and non-profit organizations.

Sairah Tyler

Sairah Tyler

Operations Manager

Sairah is a community planner whose work addresses major socio-economic and environmental issues including water and watersheds, climate change impacts and adaptation, low impact development, urban forests and parks and open space systems. She helps deliver all aspects of NAI’s municipal natural asset projects.

Amy Taylor

Amy Taylor

Technical Support

Amy Taylor is an environmental economist with extensive project and management experience. Amy is the Chief Operations Officer with Green Analytics that provides technical support to NAI.

NAI aims to make natural asset management mainstream across Canada. Reach out to us today for more information.