About STEPS

Mary Grady

President & CEO

Mary Grady is president and CEO of Environmental Resources Trust, a wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of Winrock. She has been active in environmental markets for over 30 years, including 18 years at Winrock. She is executive director of the Secretariat for the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), a jurisdictional REDD+ crediting program launched in 2018, as well as executive director of ACR, responsible for the strategic leadership and its respected team of technical and policy experts in compliance markets, including the California Cap-and-Trade market and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), as well as the voluntary carbon market.

At ACR she has overseen the issuance of nearly 375 million tons of carbon credits, including over 150 million tons from forestry projects. Grady led the application process and secured approval of both ART and ACR to supply credits to the ICAO’s Carbon Offsetting Scheme and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. She actively represents Winrock as the head of delegation as Observer NGO to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, serves as Vice-Chair of the Board  on the Council of the International Emissions Trading Association, and is on the Board of the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets. She is a member of the Task Force for Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets, and serves on the Steering Committee for the World Economic Forum’s Natural Climate Solutions Alliance. G

Mary worked for 16 years in the renewable energy industry including as the Operations Leader of Clipper Windpower for the development of a 10,000MW portfolio and in Brazil as the Director of Kyocera Solar’s pioneering rural electrification program. She holds a Masters in International Business and speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

Ben Feldman

Managing Director

Ben Feldman is an energy and environmental markets strategist with decades of experience developing and implementing and market-based programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ben served as JP Morgan Investment Bank’s public-facing strategist for global environmental markets. And served as Head of Origination for North American Environmental Markets. Prior to joining JP Morgan, Ben was Managing Director of Natource Advisory and Research Services, where he led a multi-disciplinary group of engineering, economics, and legal professionals responsible for the regulatory and economic evaluation of emission reduction project opportunities for the company’s business. Mr. Feldman also oversaw the operation and continuous development of Natsource’s Delivery Risk Model – a proprietary model used to systematically assess project risk and forecast the quantity of emissions reductions projects will deliver. Mr. Feldman has a B.A. degree in history from the University of Rochester and an M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University.

Zubair Zakir

Senior Technical Director

Zubair Zakir is the founder and principal of Anthropocene.io, a specialist carbon finance and policy advisory firm where he supports clients’ use of market-based mechanisms to achieve climate mitigation goals. Since 2007 he has designed and deployed over $100m in corporate offset programs in 50+ countries for companies including Microsoft, M&S, Bain & Co, Amazon and Delta Airlines. In 2017 he was nominated by the US Federal Aviation Administration to the Global Markets Based Task Force (GMTF) at ICAO, where he contributed to the rule set of the aviation sector offset scheme CORSIA. Previously he has held senior roles with industry pioneers Natural Capital Partners (now Climate Impact Partners) and CantorCO2e. Zubair is an external advisor to Bain & Co, carbon trader Numerco, and climate-tech startup incubator Carbon13. Previously as an advisor to The Higher Ground Foundation, he contributed to designing the first market-based standard for adaptation finance. Zubair is a fellow at the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society of Arts. He holds a BA in Geography from Kings College, University of London, a Masters in Business Management from ESCP-Europe, and post-graduate and executive training at Harvard Extension School and London Business School.

Katie Schluntz

Technical Officer

Katie Schluntz, is a technical officer at ERT, responsible for supporting the development of STEPS. Prior to joining ERT, she worked for several years as a business analyst and Princeton in Africa fellow for eleQtra, developing renewable energy projects and infrastructure in Mozambique. Schluntz was a Yenching Academy Scholar and holds a master’s degree in economics from Peking University. While pursuing her master’s, she worked as an investigative researcher with C4ADS on natural resource crime in Mozambique and as a freelance journalist with Zitamar News. Her undergraduate degree is in Economics with a secondary in Energy & Environment from Harvard.

Geoffrey Blanford

Advisor

Dr. Geoffrey J. Blanford is a Principal Technical Executive in EPRI’s Energy Systems and Climate Analysis group, where he has worked since 2006. He is an expert on energy-economy modeling and integrated assessment and leads development of energy systems modeling at EPRI. His current research activities include energy affordability, end-use electrification, and economy-wide decarbonization policy. He was a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report and serves as co-director of the International Energy Workshop (IEW). He holds a B.A. in mathematics from Yale University, a M.S. in operations research from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in management science and engineering from Stanford University.

William Bumpers

ERT Board of Directors & Advisor

William Bumpers practiced as an environmental lawyer in the Washington, D.C., for 34 years as the head of Baker Botts global Climate Change Practice. Mr. Bumpers was part of the team that undertook the feasibility study for the Prototype Carbon Fund established by The World Bank Group. He advised multiple companies regarding emissions trading under the Kyoto Protocol and related national action plans. He has been involved in GHG-related projects and transactions under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Malaysia, China, Liberia, Brazil and Equatorial Guinea. Mr. Bumpers has helped multiple companies in developing responsible climate and energy policies, including the development and use of GHG offsets through forestry practices, renewable energy projects and destruction of CFCs. He structured some of the first contracts for companies involved in the capture and storage of anthropogenic CO2. Mr. Bumpers currently serves as a Board member of Winrock International and ERT, an Advisor to the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) and as a Board member of Neighborhood Sun, a Maryland community solar company.

Adam Diamant

Advisor

Adam Diamant is a Technical Executive in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis group of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), where he leads EPRI’s research and technical support related to corporate greenhouse gas emissions accounting and emissions offsets and provides analysis supporting EPRI’s research on emissions trading and related energy and climate policy research. For the past five years, Mr. Diamant managed research Program 178 on Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems, which is focused on developing new, innovative methods and approaches to address emerging analytic challenges to long-term integrated energy system planning and improving understanding of the economic cost and technical performance of power generation and energy storage technologies. This includes electric company resource planning challenges related to supporting including the rapid deployment of renewable and distributed energy resources (DER). Prior to joining EPRI, Mr. Diamant was a career professional staff member in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President of the United States, where he was responsible for oversight of all regulatory programs of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. Mr. Diamant earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has received several professional awards recognizing his outstanding performance at OMB and EPRI; including being a past recipient of a Presidential Management Internship (PMIP) and EPRI’s Chauncey Award.

Hans Egler

Advisor

Hans Engler is a retired professor of mathematics and statistics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He also works as a consultant for government labs and private companies. His scientific expertise is in mathematics and statistics applied to areas related to sustainability, in particular climate science, and to problems from engineering and the physical sciences. Dr. Engler received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and also worked at the University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, and the University of Texas.

Peter Fraser

Advisor

Peter Fraser is an independent consultant with over 30 years of experience in energy policy and regulation. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Canada Energy Regulator. Peter was the Head of the Gas, Coal and Power Markets Division of the International Energy Agency from 2016-2022. This was his second sojourn with the IEA, having been a Senior Electricity Policy Advisor there from 1998-2004. In between, Peter worked at the Ontario Energy Board, most recently as Vice President, Consumer Protection and Industry Performance. Earlier in his career he was a policy advisor at the Ontario Ministry of Energy and began his career as a reactor safety analyst with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. Peter holds master’s degrees in physics from Queen’s University and in environmental studies from York University and a BSc in physics from the University of Toronto.

Matej Gasperic

Advisor

Matej Gasperic is a Program Director at the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI). In his role, he manages the Mitigation Program and projects within the Caribbean Cooperative Measurement, Reporting and Verification Hub (MRV Hub). Matej provides support for technical activities and management functions, including the development of tools for GHG Inventories and MRV systems. Before joining GHGMI, Matej was a counselor to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and an independent consultant, providing leadership and expertise in the process of the preparation of the Low Carbon Development Strategies and Air Quality Programmes in the Balkan area bringing together both climate and air pollution issues and was responsible for setting up MRV system for GHG/Air pollutants, preparing local and regional carbon pricing schemes and the EU directive specific implementation plans, providing technical support for the preparation of the transposition of the EU climate acquis and its implementing acts such as Monitoring Mechanism Regulation and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) under the EU Emission Trading Scheme and EU Effort Sharing Decision.As a UNFCCC reviewer for GHG inventories of Annex I countries and Lead reviewer for National Communications and Biennial Update Reports, he is actively engaged in the UNFCCC annual inventory review process.

Howard Gruenspecht

Advisor

Howard Gruenspecht recently joined MIT’s Energy Initiative as a senior energy economist. From 2003 through August 2017, he was Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). As the agency’s senior career official he was responsible for directing its energy data and analysis programs. From 1991 to 2000, Howard served in key leadership positions, including Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Environmental Policy, in DOE’s Office of Policy. His accomplishments at DOE were recognized with two Distinguished Presidential Rank Awards, the highest honor conferred on a career senior executive, first by President Clinton and later by President George W. Bush. He has also received Adelman[1]Frankel Award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Association for Energy Economics. Gruenspecht’s other professional experience includes positions as a Resident Scholar at Resources for the Future (2000-03), Senior Staff Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (1989-91), faculty member at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University (1981- 88), Economic Adviser to the Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission (1988-89), and Assistant Director, Economics and Business, White House Domestic Policy Staff (1978- 79). Gruenspecht received his B.A. from McGill University in 1975 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 1982.

Kelley Kizzier

Advisor

Kelley Kizzier is the director of corporate action and markets at the Bezos Earth Fund. In this role, she works to identify strategies and solutions for ambitious corporate action, environmental markets, and hard to abate sectors. She was most recently Vice President for Global Climate at the Environmental Defense Fund, where she promoted ambitious and effective global climate and company action. Her work included multilateral climate agreements and global cooperation through carbon markets. ‍Kelley is a former official at the European Commission’s Directorate for Climate Action, working on international carbon markets, GHG accounting and transparency, and EU climate commitments. She was a lead negotiator for the EU in the international climate negotiations for more than a decade and served as the co-chair of the Article 6 negotiations under the Paris Agreement. Kelley currently plays a leading role in several voluntary carbon market initiatives.

Maqsoda Maqsodi

ERT Board of Directors

John Nees

ERT Board of Directors

John Nees has a broad background encompassing finance, agriculture, infrastructure and energy. He has conducted business throughout the world, including Russia, Venezuela, India and Indonesia, where he managed complex energy projects, as well as eastern and southern Africa where Nees participated in one of the premier eco-tourism companies. Nees has been actively engaged in agriculture since 1995 as a co-founder of the Plump Jack Winery in the Napa Valley. He organized an investment fund to acquire and develop vineyard properties, where he has introduced best farming and viticulture practices. Nees is a founding partner of the Getty Land Company and is currently developing Kukio Golf & Beach Club, a residential resort community located on the Big Island of Hawaii. Nees earned his Bachelor of Science in geological engineering from Purdue University, his Master of Business Administration from Emory University, and his Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Stacy Swann

ERT Board of Directors

Stacy Swann is an investor and executive with more than 25 years of experience working with impact investors, financial institutions, corporations and policymakers on issues at the nexus of climate change and investment.

She is the managing director/division chief of blended finance at IDB-Invest, the Inter-American Development Bank’s private sector institution, and is founder of Resilient Earth Capital. Swann was previously the chief executive officer of Climate Finance Advisors and has held senior and executive positions with the International Finance Corporation, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Enron Corp. and other organizations. She is regularly engaged by investors and policymakers alike on climate-related financial risk and opportunities. In her personal capacity, Swann also currently serves on several boards, including the Montgomery County Green Bank, where she is vice chair of the board and chair of its investment committee; the Green Guarantee Company, a financial institution that deploys guarantees to credit-enhance climate-related investments in emerging markets; and Climate Policy Initiative. From 2021–24, she sat on the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ Climate Council, an advisory committee to its board, and was its chair from 2021-22. Swann holds an MBA in finance and development economics from American University, a master’s degree from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from CUNY – Hunter College.