Blockchain for Climate Foundation Advisers
Dr. James Orbinski - Adviser
James Orbinski, OC OOnt MSC is a Canadianphysician, humanitarian activist, author and leading scholar in global health. Orbinski was the 2016-17 Fulbright Visiting Professor at the University of California, Irvine, and as of September 1, 2017, he is professor and inaugural director of the Dahdaleh Institute of Global Health Research at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was previously the CIGI Chair in Global Health Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Wilfrid Laurier University (2012-2017), Chair of Global Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (2010-2012) and full professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto (2003-2012), where he was the founding Saul Rae Fellow at Massey College. Orbinski’s current research interests focus on the health impacts of climate change, medical humanitarianism, intervention strategies around emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and global health governance.
After extensive fieldwork with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), in 1998 Orbinski was elected President of the International Council. He was MSF International Council president at the time the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. Orbinski is also co-founder and Chair of the Board of Directors of Dignitas International, a medical humanitarian organization researching and working with communities in the global south to increase access to life-saving treatment and prevention in areas overwhelmed by HIV/AIDS, and with Aboriginal communities in Canada to improve community based care for diseases such as diabetes. He is a strong advocate for increasing access to essential medicines for neglected diseases, particularly across vulnerable populations.
Katie Sullivan - Adviser
Katie is THE subject matter expert on all things carbon pricing in the Americas and the Pacific Rim, leading the charge to let the market determine the best ways to innovate to eliminate carbon pollution. She is the Managing Director of International Emissions Trading Association (IETA.) On behalf of IETA’s 150+ corporate members, Katie leads efforts to identify market solutions that address the climate challenge, building cross-border and cross-sector partnerships worldwide. Sharing expert testimony with state, provincial and national legislatures and senior government officials, she has helped shape effective job, investment and business-friendly climate plans, policies and financial structures, leading to billions of dollars in investment in the emerging low-carbon economy.
Chelsea Palmer - Adviser
Decentralization and technology users’ rights to dignity and autonomy are Chelsea’s areas of passion and knowledge. She has been actively, hands-on participating in exploring and expanding the possibilities of new technologies, diving into applications of such within the social as well as financial structures. She has been presenting on blockchain technologies and potential effects on society, applying decentralization as a community movement and political model, blockchain use cases for global humanitarian work.
Palmer has been a part of Decentralized Dance Party, showcasing the force behind new technology for social good. She understands the expansive reach of blockchain technologies and how such can be used as tools to work on climate solutions. Chelsea has been an Acting Executive Director for the Human Data Commons Foundation, working towards contributing to a world in which consensually contributed personal data can be stored in a fully anonymized format, and accessed for open research which will contribute to collective health and wellness.
Chelsea has MA Community Psychology from Adler University in Vancouver, completing Master's thesis on Analyzing Power In the Information Age and having her community development practicum focused on supporting sustainable consumer practices for the disposal of electronic waste. She also has a certification on Big Data Analytics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA Contemporary Critical Theory from Bard College at Simon’s Rock.
Tom Kineshanko - Adviser
Tom is co-founder and leads venture investing at Protos Asset Management and is Executive Director at Orbit - a consulting firm that helps large organizations create and manage crypto assets.
Tom got his first Bitcoin in 2012 as a gift while a student at Singularity University. He has been working to ensure the success of Bitcoin and a decentralized money/power system for the world since.
In 2013 Tom set up the first crypto “fund” like entity in Canada, a $500,000 experimental crypto investment company that was long BTC & invested in the ETH ICO. Between 2013 - 2017 Tom invested in >25 blockchain protocols, including the Ethereum ICO at .25 cents. In 2017, he founded the first licensed crypto asset manager in Canada, FirstBlock Capital.
In 2017 Tom co-created/completed a successful security token ICO for the first tokenized hedge fund (to democratize access to professional crypto management) under the Swiss asset management company Protos.
Before crypto, Tom was the founder/CEO of a UNFCCC/CDM carbon credit development company in Canada (Habitat Enterprises) that reduced carbon on three continents. He also launched the world’s first “roof auction” for solar gridbid.com.
Along with Blockchain for Climate Foundation, Tom advises several crypto organizations using blockchain for impact including Argo Blockchain, which raised CAD $42M and became the first blockchain company to go public on the London Stock Exchange
Catriona Power - Adviser
Catriona has worked across the intersection of sustainable business, energy technology and innovation for the last eight years on projects in UK, Europe and India.
As Head of Business Development for Energy Unlocked, Catriona manages relationships with stakeholders in the energy sector including large corporations, government departments, accelerators and incubators and start-ups to develop demonstration projects to analyse business models that meet demands of the future energy system, including blockchain use cases. Her most recent project, included supporting the set-up of Exergy with LO3 Energy, a tokenized approach to incentivising and rewarding localised energy marketplaces prioritising clean energy generation.
Previously, Catriona was at the sustainability group Forum for the Future, she led projects on smart cities, decentralised energy and embedding sustainability in corporate strategy with a range of clients. She was the entrepreneurship lead for Skype founder’s family foundation, Zennstrom Philanthropies, working with digital and hardware startups in energy to scale their businesses. Catriona has a MA Environment, Development and Policy from University of Sussex and BSc International Development from University College Cork, Ireland.