Our Team
Get to know the Blockchain for Climate Foundation Team
Joseph Pallant - Founder & Executive Director
With a longitudinal focus on carbon markets & climate change, Joseph is working to foster collaboration and manifest the dream of the Paris Agreement by connecting the national carbon accounts of the world with Blockchain.
He has been active in the carbon market since 2004, providing project development expertise and strategic direction across private, public and NGO endeavour. He developed first-of projects in forestry, fuel switching and transportation, co-founded the Carbon Cocktails society, and founded Blockchain for Climate Foundation, “Putting the Paris Agreement on the Blockchain.” A 2019 “Canada’s Clean50” award winner, Joseph’s work, insight and advocacy continue to shape the growth of Canada’s low-carbon economy.
Joseph holds an MBA degree from INSEEC, Paris, France, a post graduate diploma in Latin American Management from the McRae Institute of International Management (Capilano College) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria. His contributions as a member of International Emissions Trading Association, and attendee at the Montreal, Copenhagen and Paris UN Climate conferences add both context and vision to his work for climate solutions.
Joseph loves to explore BC’s old-growth forests and paddle beautiful coastal inlets with his wife. A new father, the experience of living amidst the people, cultures and ideas of this fine province fosters insight and enthusiasm for his work.
Jessica Mulholland
Jessica has over a decade of experience in the fields of energy conservation, change management, behavior change marketing and research, outdoor education, corporate team-building, and sustainability program development. Jessica doesn’t simply follow the predicted future developments - she participates and co-creates such. Pre-Facebook she founded Arctic Youth Network, a network for youth in northern latitudes to connect and comment to northern governments regarding issues of sustainability and future planning.
Jessica is a master of taking complex multifaceted large-scale projects and engineering clear and accessible strategies that carry evident impact. She has been a manager of Energy Conservation at Yukon Energy focusing on inter-governmental relationship management, outreach campaigns, public consultation and all-around program development and execution. She has been a principal of EPOH Consulting focusing on Policy analysis, project management and strategic planning, having government departments, Societies, Educational Institutions and private organizations as her clients.
Jessica has graduated with honours in Northern Environmental Studies from Yukon College/University of Akureyri and also pursued BA in Human Geography: Urban Planning at University of Victoria.
Marco Schletz - UN Mechanisms
Marco is a Project Officer with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU.) He’s a Researcher, Problem Solver, Blockchain Enthusiast, Green Investor and Sports Fan.
Driven project manager with experience in engaging the private sector in mitigation and adaptation actions. Experience with climate finance, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system enhancement, and climate change research with the proven ability to develop and manage complex projects with external partners and across the broader international community.
Connie Kwan - Product Management
Connie is a 15-year Product Management veteran with experience spanning enterprise, SaaS, consumer apps, cryptocurrency, health tech, energy and semiconductor industries. She was Chief Product Officer at Carrot, and Head of Product at Atlassian's App Marketplace. Connie shipped consumer apps at Microsoft, founded 2 software startups, and consulted for ImpactIQ and Sourcemap.com. Prior to software, she managed solar and inverter (OEM) products at SunPower and semiconductor products at Cypress Semiconductor. Innovation happens at the intersection of domains. Connie bring a breath of domain experiences to your product challenges.
Matt Lockyer -Head of Blockchain Solutions
Matt is the Founder of Soloblock Solutions Inc. They believe in permissionless innovation. Creating experiences that enable individuals to create, own and exchange unique digital assets connected to your brand. Soloblock is a full service token engineering, smart contract and decentralized application consultancy. The future of commerce is code.
Matt proposed ERC-998 - Crypto Composables in Spring 2018, which has opened Blockchain for Climate's pathway to putting the Paris Agreement on the Blockchain. You can learn more about this innovation HERE.
Matt pursued PhD Interactive Arts and Technology from Simon Fraser University and has BA Computer Science from the University of British Columbia. He has previously developed software to create interactive art, games, tools, platforms, web + mobile applications and innovative course materials. His PhD research challenged him to build new more complex tools and measure emotional responses to motion graphics (affect). He now gets to combine his understanding of technology, his experience in academic settings, his passion for innovation, information and large-scale impact to co-create new solutions and practices focused on climate.
Matt is a Big Brother to Luca, who he has been matched with for over 4 years. They have attended lots of great events including: wakeboarding, sailing and snowtubing. Matt genuinely cares about the future of the planet and many generations of humans living here.
Hannah MacDonald - Energy Policy
Project manager with experience in environmental consulting, social enterprises and non-profits. Driven by effective, inclusive change-making. Passionate about adding value to companies and organizations through promoting clean energy implementation.
A University of British Columbia graduate student in the Masters of Engineering Leadership, Hannah’s work & research explores blockchain, climate and energy systems.
Shivani Chotalia - Project Finance
Shivani is an engineer and financial professional focused on the intersection of clean technologies and social impact. She works with NRStor Inc. to build, own and operate first-of-a-kind energy storage projects, including Canada’s first commercial flywheel energy storage facility and the first fuel-free compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility in the world. Shivani plays a lead role in working with remote, off-grid Indigenous communities to build partnerships and projects reducing dependence on diesel fuel while supporting local economic growth.
Aidan Hyman - Developer
Aidan is a co-founder and CEO of ChainSafe Systems an Ethereum R&D firm. Aidan taught himself web development and is a big advocate for open source projects and code. In addition, Aidan is a Certified Scrum Master and oversees all of ChainSafe’s work. Some of ChainSafe's projects include a Javascript implementation of the Beacon chain, a bridge that connects any Ethereum Virtual Machine-based blockchains using native fuel or any token, and a mechanism for incentivizing full nodes. For fun Aidan likes to read about economic theory while wearing homemade Linux hats. Learn more about his work at github.com/ChainSafe
Guaravi Saini - Climate Solutions
Guaravi is a sustainability enthusiast, with keen interest in climate data disclosure and corporate climate management for a 2 degree Celsius world. She has a Masters degree in Climate Science & Policy from TERI School of Advanced Studies (New Delhi, India), and close to four years of work experience in researching and analyzing sustainability and climate change solutions - with a emphasis on energy and natural resource utilization.