Ilona Szabó is an entrepreneur, strategist, and board member with over 25 years of experience. She is co-founder and president of the Igarapé Institute and the Green Bridge Facility. She serves on several boards, including the WEF Global Future Council on Natural Capital, the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits and re.green. She has an MA in International Studies from the University of Uppsala in Sweden, and is an affiliate scholar at the Princeton University Brazil Lab.
Carolina Graça
chief operating officer
Dr. Carolina Graça has over 20 years of expertise in sustainability, agribusiness, responsible supply chains, land governance, and conservation. She has previously held key roles at Bayer Crop Science, Earthworm Foundation, and Stora Enso, focusing on sustainable production, ecosystem conservation, and human rights. Dr. Graça has a BA in agronomy and PhD in business administration.
Sofia Euthymiou
project manager
Sofia Euthymiou has experience in projects and risk management, sustainability, decarbonization, renewable energy, technology, finance, and strategy in global organizations such as Shell and the World Energy Council. A STEM woman, her background is in Mechanical & Energy Engineering (UFRJ and RWTH Aachen), Advanced Risk Management (Cranfield), Intelligent & Integrated Systems (TU Delft), and Business Management (USP).
Maria Eduarda Assis
institutional relations and legal coordinator
Maria Eduarda Assis is a lawyer with expertise in strategic advocacy, public policy, and litigation, with a focus on sustainable development and the nexus of climate, nature, and finance. She holds an LLM from NYU School of Law (Arthur T. Vanderbilt Scholarship), an MA in Human Rights and Public Policy from UFRJ, and degrees in Criminal Advocacy and Law from UERJ.
Peter Smith
analyst
Peter Smith has experience in monitoring and evaluating public interest programs and advising nonprofits on cloud technologies to track impact and streamline operations. At the Igarapé Institute, he has contributed to projects and digital platforms related to Brazilian Amazon municipalities, the bioeconomy, strategic minerals, and more. He holds a BA in Sociology from Princeton University and an MA in Sociology from the USP.
Robert Muggah
senior advisor
Dr. Robert Muggah has over 30 years experience in project management, monitoring and evaluation, product development, and strategic leadership. He has founded multiple think tanks and start-ups, including the Igarape Institute, SecDev, Bioverse and SuperNature. He has led large-scale diagnostics and evaluations across the Amazon region and has field-based experience in over 50 countries in the Americas, Africa and Asia. He is also a frequent TED and WEF speaker and advises multiple governments, companies, and international organizations. He has an MPhil from Sussex (IDS) and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.
Katherine Aguirre
analyst
Katherine Aguirre is a Colombian economist specializing in research on violence and development. She is a researcher at the Igarapé Institute and coordinates the Network of Women in Security and Defense in Latin America and the Caribbean (Amassuru). She holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the IHEID in Switzerland. Katherine has worked with leading think tanks in Colombia, such as CERAC and FIP, and in Switzerland with the Small Arms Survey. Her work focuses on the prevention and reduction of violence while integrating environmental and gender perspectives.
