The SDG Impact Team and Global Experts

Fabienne Michaux

Director

Fab is the Director of SDG Impact, a flagship initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) focused on mobilizing private sector capital in support of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG Impact emphasizes experimentation, innovation, and partnerships as it focuses on developing prototype products that are being tested, refined and brought to market. These products include: Standards for how investors and enterprises integrate impact management and contributing positively to the SDGs in their internal practices and decision-making, an assurance framework and SDG Impact Seal for enterprises and investors to have their impact management practices assured against the Standards by independent accredited assurers, and SDG Investor Maps that translate relevant country level SDG gaps and priorities into private sector investment opportunities.

Fab joined the SDG Impact team 2019 and is the lead developer of the SDG Impact Standards. She is the co-chair of the Australian Advisory Board on Impact Investing and recently co-chaired the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative’s working group on making better decisions (standards, data, frameworks and tools) and was a contributing author of the final report: Australian Sustainable Finance Roadmap: A plan for aligning Australia's financial system with a sustainable, resilient and prosperous future for all Australians (2020).

Fab previously enjoyed a 30 year executive career, including 22 years with S&P Global (one of the largest data, information and analytics companies in the world) in the Global Ratings division where in her final role she was the Australian Country Head and Head of Developed Markets Asia-Pacific. She is also an experienced non-executive director who holds, and has held, numerous board positions in the housing, education, financial and arts sectors and is a part-time Professor of Practice (Finance) at Deakin Business School.

Sebnem Sener

Senior Specialist

Sebnem is the Senior SDG Finance Specialist for UNDP SDG Impact. Sebnem has more than 14 years of sustainability, financial sector and strategy development experience in international organizations. In her current role at SDG Impact, she works with private sector players to catalyze private investment towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Previously she worked as a Policy Advisor to Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in her capacity as the UN SG’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance to support her role in advancing financial inclusion.

Prior to that role, she worked for Finance and Markets Group at the World Bank Group where, over the last three years, she worked in the Financial Inclusion Group and was responsible for providing technical, strategic and operational support/services in financial inclusion and advisory services with international experience in strategy and financial sector development. At the World Bank Group, she also worked on a variety of financial sector development projects, assisted emerging economies and developing markets in preparing prioritized action plans addressing financial sector development and the sequencing of reforms, and advised clients, especially in low income countries, on the implementation of financial sector development programs.

Before joining the World Bank, Sebnem worked for an NGO and conducted several development projects, including many micro finance and SME finance projects.

Sara Lisa Ørstavik

SDG Impact Specialist

Sara Lisa is the SDG Impact Specialist for UNDP SDG Impact in New York HQ. Sara Lisa brings over nine years of systems change, strategy development, and programme management experience from international humanitarian, development, and private sector organizations. In her current role at SDG Impact, Sara Lisa works with a global team of experts on SDG Impact Standards and SDG Investor Maps to catalyze more sustainable decision-making – with the aim of directing investments authentically towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to her assignment at UNDP, Sara Lisa worked as food systems and gender specialist at the World Food Programme supporting country offices conduct Systems Analysis for Nutrition (previously Fill the Nutrient Gap) processes. She was responsible for providing strategic policy advice, technical analysis, and for facilitating multi-stakeholder engagements to inform social protection, food systems, and health policies and programmes in Bangladesh (national and Cox’s Bazar refugee operation), Burundi (national and refugee operation), Ecuador, Mauritania and Rwanda.

Between 2015 and 2018, Sara Lisa founded a thriving start-up focused on grassroots peacebuilding through sustainable food production and consumption in Bogota, Colombia. Previously, she held a variety of programme management and advisory roles focused rural agricultural development and human rights at WFP in Colombia; UNDP in Cuba; the regional government in Medellin, Colombia; the Norwegian Embassy in Bangladesh; Yara International in Ghana, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome.

Sara Lisa is a Fulbright Fellow, holds a MPA in Political and Economic Development specialized in Gender Policy from Columbia University, a MA in Sustainable Food Culture and Communications from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy, and a BA in Economics and Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Norwegian and Italian.

Violeta Maximova

Programme Specialist

Violeta joins SDG Impact having completed eight years with the Office of the UN SG’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development where she served as Programme Analyst.

Violeta started her UNDP career in 1997 working in the Directorate, Bureau of Management, where she provided operations and programme support to the Chief of Staff. In 2005, Violeta worked with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery where she provided overall operations support to the Office as well as substantive analytical support to the Deputy Special Envoy. In 2007, having completed ten years with UNDP, Violeta joined the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York, as the Human Resources Officer for East Africa and the Great Lakes Region. In this capacity she partnered with Country Directors and field staff on recruitment and retention efforts and provided guidance on employee administration matters, performance issues and employee relations. Returning to UNDP in 2008, Violeta worked with the Advisory Committee on Procurement where she analyzed procurement cases to ensure compliance with UNDP procurement policies and procedures and advised on ways to mitigate procurement risks. Following this assignment, she served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti in the Office of the UN SG’s Special Envoy for Haiti. Violeta holds a Master in Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in Psychology and Early Childhood Education from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Belissa Rojas

IMM Advisor

Belissa has over 15 years of experience in the international development sector, advising private sector organizations, impact investors, development banks, and foundations on how to professionalize their management and measurement practices. Belissa is the CEO and founder of Impacto-consulting and focuses primarily on strategic planning, general management, sustainability, and impact measurement and management. She advises investors on how to measure and manage their environmental and social impacts. Her projects included working with IDB Lab on the design of an ESG & impact measurement and management (IMM) tool for early-stage ventures with the potential to generate impact on a large scale, assessing ES Risk reporting best practices for DFIs, co-leading an initiative to support venture capital funds in the development of their IMM practices with IMP Impact Frontiers initiative, among others. She is also leading an initiative with On Think Tanks (OTT) and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to bring cross-sector knowledge, policy, and economic expertise from local think tanks to the impact investing industry in Latin America and Africa.

Previously, Belissa was a Strategy & Monitoring Senior Specialist at IDB Invest, where she led the design and implementation of IDB Invest’s Impact Management Framework post due diligence and was responsible for the impact oversight of its operations—investments and loans. She was responsible for overseeing and leading the reporting of a portfolio of +250 operations valued at approx. US$11 billion. While at IDB Invest, she also led the design and launch of the Impact Lessons Learned site, which included an evaluation of IDB Invest’s entire portfolio, independent verification of all final evaluations, and identification of best practices. She won two corporate awards for her contributions in strengthening IDB Invest’s Impact Management Framework.

Prior to this work, Belissa was the Counselor for Peru and Chile at the Board of Executive Directors of the IDB Group. As a former consultant for Emerging Markets Group (formerly Deloitte Emerging Markets) and the World Bank, Belissa also acquired extensive experience in evaluating public sector operations and corporate projects. Belissa started her career working in the Ministry of Finance of Peru and the Peruvian Regulatory Agency for Banks, Insurance and Pensions.

Belissa holds an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics, an MSc in Finance, and a BA in Economics, both from Universidad del Pacifico. She is fluent in English, Spanish, and French.

David Mueller

SDG Investor Map Specialist: Africa

David Mueller is an economic development specialist with programme management and technical experience with the UN, NGOs, the private sector and government at the field, regional and headquarters level. At SDG Impact, he acts as the SDG Investor Maps Specialist, where he works with country teams across Sub-Saharan Africa to develop and implement SDG Investor Maps that translate development needs into tangible investment opportunities.

Through a decade of living and working in Sub-Saharan Africa, David Mueller has developed an appreciation for the diverse economic, social and political contexts across the continent. He started his career of 10+ years in diplomacy, humanitarian aid as well as peacebuilding and governance in Eastern and Central Africa. Since focusing on the economic dimension of sustainable development in 2016, David Mueller has advised policy makers and supported UNDP Country Offices on SDG financing and private sector work as part of the organization’s Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA), and led project teams and delivered impact for businesses, investors and development partners at Open Capital, a management consulting and financial advisory firm that drives growth, enables investments and builds markets across Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2018, he has also been the Head of Secretariat of Impact@Africa, the pan-African impact investment ecosystem development network. 

As a native German speaker, David Mueller is fluent in English and has advanced knowledge of French and Swahili as well as limited proficiency in Italian. He possesses a Master’s degree in African Studies from SOAS, University of London and a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Zurich. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, where he also follows his passion for long-distance running and endurance cycling.

David R. Sanchez

SDG Investor Map Specialist: Latin America

David has more than 10 years of experience in investing and operation strategy consulting. He is a founding partner at AMPLO (www.amplo.com.co), an impact investment management firm that promotes inclusive and sustainable development in LatAm by catalyzing private and public capital to projects that are solving pressing social or environmental challenges.

At AMPLO, David works with organizations in structuring their business plans, development projects, and accompanies them in raising blended capital to achieve their financial and impact goals. Similarly, David supports organizations and investors that want to align their investments with their values by structuring investment vehicles and finding profitable opportunities that contribute to advance the SDG goals. 

Prior to Amplo, he was Fund Manager at IKON, structuring investment vehicles for early-stage investing in LatAm. He also worked at Brook Venture Partners, investing in health-tech start-ups, and worked as an operational strategy consultant at Accenture.

David holds an MBA from MIT, an M.Sc. in Operations Research, and a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes.

Devahuti Choudhury

SDG Impact Specialist for Asia Pacific and ASEAN

Devahuti is the SDG Impact Specialist for the Asia-Pacific region. She brings with her over 14 years of experience in operations, management consulting, research, and M&E across development themes such as digital inclusive finance, education, healthcare, agri-finance, and others. She has been working independently since 2018 and has worked on projects like the development of the first SDG Investor Map for UNDP India in 2020 and as the lead evaluator for UNCDF’s Pacific Financial Inclusion Program in 2019. Her priors include Grameen Foundation where she founded and led their research and M&E advisory in Asia-Pacific and the International Finance Corporation [IFC, World Bank Group] where she managed projects related to responsible finance. Early in her career, Devahuti has also worked with incubator programs to set up microfinance institutions, many of whom have grown to become small banks, serving BoP populations in India. Her most recent roles have seen her in thought leadership positions, especially to nudge the adoption of lean data frameworks for cost-effective measurement and reporting of impact to help social enterprises and other stakeholders in data-driven decision making.

Currently based in India, Devahuti will soon be shifting to Singapore for her new role. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Department of Social Work at the University of Delhi.

Haw-Yan Man

Communications Specialist

Haw-Yan is the Strategic Communications Specialist for SDG Impact and brings over ten years' experience in corporate communications across sectors including sustainability, energy, climate change, infrastructure and asset management. She was head of EMEA & India Communications for S&P Dow Jones Indices where she reinforced its brand as the leading index provider in the region, through thought leadership, relationship building and strategic corporate messaging. She has also held positions at award-winning London communications agencies working with wealth managers, institutional investors with a focus on renewables and sustainability.

Based in Copenhagen, Haw-Yan holds a Law degree from Cardiff University and a Masters in Law from Queen Mary University of London specialising in Commercial and Financial Law

Jeremy Nicholls

Assurance Framework lead for the UNDP SDG Impact Standards

Jeremy Nicholls is the Assurance Framework lead for the UNDP SDG Impact Standards. He is an ambassador for the Capitals Coalition (a global collaboration to integrate sustainability into business decision making), a member of Accounting for Sustainability’s Expert Panel and chairs the project team for ISO 37005, selecting, creating and using indicators for governing bodies.

He originally qualified as a chartered accountant, including time as the Finance Director for Tanzania Railways.

Susan De Witt

Advisor - Innovative Finance & Engagement Lead Africa

Dr Susan de Witt is the Innovative Finance Senior Advisor at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town. As such she provides leadership for the secretariat of the GSG-affiliated “Impact Investing South Africa” which is responsible for market building across the capital spectrum in South Africa. In addition she works closely with all levels of government to implement outcomes-based contracts and outcomes funds across sectors and is a recent fellow of the Oxford University Go-Lab Programme. Prior to this she worked with the Social Investment and Finance Team in the UK Cabinet Office engaging with Social Impact Bonds specifically and social investment policy more broadly. She holds an MBA from the UCT Graduate School of Business and a BVSc from the University of Pretoria.

Dr. Hubertus H. Theissen

He is an Affiliated Researcher at the Chair of Family Business (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group) at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany. Hubertus is also a Visiting Fellow in the Institute for Endowment Management and Entrepreneurial Finance (IFEE) at European School of Management and Technology (ESMT Berlin) in Germany.

In 2019 Hubertus obtained the academic degree of Doctor of Business and Economics (Dr. rer. pol.) from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. His research focuses on leader traits (hubris, narcissism, and humility), self-transcendence as a cognitive orientation, and corporate cash holdings. His work has been published in Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Ethics, and Academy of Management Discoveries.

In 2016, Hubertus was a Recognised Student at Saïd Business School (University of Oxford), a member of St Benet's Hall (University of Oxford), and a Visiting Student Researcher with SCANCOR (Stanford University). Hubertus holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Hubertus and his brother, Maximilian H. Theissen, M.Phil., are the two Founding Managers of the “Family Wealth Impact Summit” (FamWIS) in 2021 at ESMT Berlin.

Hubertus grew up in an entrepreneurial family.

Maximilian H. Theissen, M.Phil.

He is an Affiliated Researcher at the Chair of Family Business (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group) at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany. Maximilian is also a Visiting Fellow in the Institute for Endowment Management and Entrepreneurial Finance (IFEE) at European School of Management and Technology (ESMT Berlin) in Germany.

In 2016 Maximilian received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and in 2018 he received his Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Real Estate Finance from the University of Cambridge, England. In his M.Phil. Dissertation that he submitted to the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge he studied the investment behavior of Single Family Offices in the real estate asset class. Prof. Colin Lizieri supervised his M.Phil. Dissertation. During his studies he was a scholarship holder of the Catholic scholarship foundation Cusanuswerk and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.

His research focuses on leader traits (hubris, narcissism, and humility), self-transcendence as a cognitive orientation, and corporate cash holdings. His work has been published in Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Ethics, and Academy of Management Discoveries.

Maximilian and his brother, Dr. Hubertus H. Theissen, are the two Founding Managers of the “Family Wealth Impact Summit” (FamWIS) in 2021 at ESMT Berlin.

Maximillian grew up in an entrepreneurial family.