Kaya Axelsson
Climate Change Expert
Ms. Kaya Axelsson is the Policy Engagement Fellow at Oxford Net Zero– an interdisciplinary climate change mitigation research programme at the University of Oxford. In this capacity, Ms. Axelsson leads a team of researchers to aggregate and clearly communicate resources for defining and achieving net zero on a new digital platform for engaging businesses and policy makers. Ms. Axelsson has worked for over 10 years in nonprofits and political campaigns for social and environmental progress and consults regularly for organizations and initiatives on their sustainability strategies.
At Oxford, Ms. Axelsson earned a distinction for her research on the success of politically unlikely renewable energy coalitions. She currently serves as an advisor to the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign and as a technical author on the International Standard Organization’s new Net Zero Guidelines.
To learn more about Oxford Net Zero, the Net Zero Guidelines and the Race to Zero, please click on the link below.
Dr. Robert F. Ichord, Jr.
International Energy and Sustainable Development Expert
Dr. Robert F. Ichord, Jr. is currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center where he is authoring a policy series on power sector transformation in developing countries and contributing to the Council’s work on the climate change, energy security, and the geopolitics of nuclear energy innovation.
Dr. Ichord enjoyed a distinguished forty-year career in the US government advancing US international energy interest. His roles included serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for energy transformation in the State Department’s Energy Resources Bureau, as Chief of Energy and Infrastructure for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in their Europe and Eurasia Bureau, and as the point person for energy and developing countries at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Peter A. Soyka
Environmental Policy and Management Expert
Peter A. Soyka is a prominent environmental management and strategy expert and founder and President of Soyka & Company, LLC, a business strategy and sustainability consultancy. With more than 30 years of environmental policy and management experience, he has worked with a wide variety of private- and public-sector organizations focusing on improved, cost-effective environmental, sustainability, and business performance. He brings a substantial track record of innovative thinking and success in translating new ideas into approaches, tools, and techniques that produce real results.
Mr. Soyka also is widely recognized as a thought leader and developer of significant and influential sustainability concepts, frameworks, tools, and research findings. He is the author of two critically acclaimed books on organizational sustainability, and of scores of published book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, original research studies, training and guidance documents, formal reports to the U.S. Congress, and other materials. Mr. Soyka has successfully designed and executed a number of other projects to drive sustainability thinking and practices into client organizations at a strategic level, and is particularly adept at devising innovative solutions to very challenging sustainability/business management problems.
Dr. Michael L. Unger
International Economic Development Expert
Professor Michael Unger is currently Executive-in-Residence and Associate Professor of Management and International Business in the Sellinger School of Business, Loyola College in Maryland. Dr. Unger is a senior economist with extensive experience in the areas of international trade, finance, investment, global competitiveness and macroeconomic reform. Dr. Unger’s skills and experience supports the analyses to develop a deeper understanding of the economic consequences of climate change on issues of trade, energy and agriculture.
As a USAID direct-hire, Dr. Unger was USAID’s representative to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), was the senior advisor to the Chairman of OPIC’s Board of Directors, was chief economist in the Bureau for Private Enterprise and was Director of Private Sector Development, Bureau for Africa. He has more than 25 years of professional experience working in more than 30 developing countries around the world.
Dr. Robert Wuertz
International Economic Development Expert
Dr. Robert Wuertz enjoyed a thirty-year career with the U.S. Government, working with developing countries on a wide variety of economic governance activities and leading USAID organizations.
Sustainable development has always been a focus for Dr. Wuertz. In USAID/Washington, he led the Office of Economic Policy, whose purpose was to increase the use of analysis throughout USAID, and extend the use of Cost Benefit Analysis and Cost Effectiveness Analysis to environmental activities. In his role as manager of USAID activities, he led teams that promoted sustainable agriculture and addressed climate change. He has worked in Ghana, Egypt, the Philippines, Pakistan, Iraq (where he was Deputy Mission Director), and Macedonia (as Mission Director). Prior to joining USAID, Dr. Wuertz developed energy expertise while working on the worldwide energy outlook at Exxon, and deepened his understanding during his work in Saudi Arabia while working for the U.S. Treasury.