Industry Experts in Carbon - C-Quest Capital

Ken Newcombe

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Ken is the Founder and CEO of C-Quest Capital, the culmination of his lifelong dedication to providing sustainable and clean energy solutions to help those most vulnerable to climate change. Ken spent his early career as the CEO of the Papua New Guinea Power Utility company and Head of Energy Planning for PNG before spending over two decades at the World Bank where he pioneered the global carbon trade. He designed and raised funding for the world’s first carbon fund (Prototype Carbon Fund), which led the way in creating high integrity greenhouse gas emission reductions as a commodity for global trade. He then oversaw the design and management of seven additional carbon fund with US$2B under management. Ken subsequently joined Climate Change Capital as a Co-Head of Carbon Markets, and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in the Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodities Division in New York, and then finally founding C-Quest Capital in 2008. He has a doctorate in Energy and Natural Resource Management and Health from the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, and Business Management training from Harvard Business School.

Mark Woodall

Chief Investment Officer

Mark leads all capital raising and investment activities for CQC. As an entrepreneur, investor, adviser, and board member, Mark has been a leader in the development and financing of renewable energy, carbon, and clean technologies for more than 25 years. He has founded and led two specialist investment banking firms focused on the low carbon economy: Impax Capital (1994) and Climate Change Capital (2002), where he raised the world’s largest private-sector carbon fund (over $1 billion) in 2005 and served as the Chair of the Investment Committee. He has been the adviser, investor, or principal in c.100 cleantech transactions with total capital deployed of over US$5 billion. Mark has also acted as a non-executive board member of a dozen companies and has been a member of half a dozen investment committees for clean energy infrastructure and technology funds.

Guy Mansfield

Chief Financial Officer

Guy has 25 years of experience as a CFO and financial executive in the energy industry with extensive post-acquisition integration experience leading finance teams across different countries and cultures, including delivering transversal organisational solutions across high-risk, complex and multidisciplinary environments. He is an expert advisor of both boards and management teams, and was a CFO of a major energy company’s trading division with over 600 employees and a net income of c.$1bn.

Chen Yang

Chief Commercial Officer

Chen oversees CQC's downstream sales and marketing activities, as well as strategic and commercial development with partners and distributors. Chen has a decade of experience working across technology and agriculture sectors in strategy, international expansion, and business development roles. Before joining CQC, she led demand-side activities for Indigo Carbon, a leading ag soil carbon business based in the US. Chen holds a BCom from the University of Melbourne and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Jason Steele

Chief Operations Officer

Jason manages all of the operations for CQC, including deployments, monitoring and issuance. Jason is a clean energy program manager with more than 15 years of experience. Before re-joining CQC where he worked as an Operations Manager on the Cleaner Cookstoves Platform in 2012-2013, Jason worked at SNV as the Sector Leader of Renewable Energy for Cambodia, with a key responsibility of managing SNV Cambodia’s renewable energy portfolio and expanding their operations. Before CQC, Jason was a Manager at International Resources Group (IRG) and staff and consultant for 10 years at the World Bank working on carbon finance and decentralized rural energy projects in Southeast Asia.

Mialeeka Williams-Bibbs

General Counsel

Mialeeka is C-Quest General Counsel, in her role she leads all legal aspects of CQC and its subsidiaries. Mialeeka has served as the General Counsel for Kit Check. Prior to that she spent two years in a temporary contract role at Engage Partners where she assisted with government and commercial contracts, identifying and mitigating risk, and acquisitions. Prior to that she was at McKesson for four years as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Pharmaceutical, Technology, and Professional Services Line, where she managed six attorneys and paralegals. Mialeeka also spent time in her earlier career at Addivant as their General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Compliance Officer, and The Coca-Cola Company as the Director and Legal Counsel, Innovation IP. A chemical engineer by training, Mialeeka has a strong technical understanding of environmental engineering, law, and manufacturing combined with international corporate legal experience.

Richard Cobbs

Managing Director, Special Situations

Richard has ten years of experience as a finance executive, working with companies as both an advisor and an investor. Before joining CQC, Richard served as the Chief Financial Officer for Revolution Energy Solutions, a company focused on the production of renewable energy and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through projects that operate on agricultural platforms throughout the U.S. He was primarily responsible for raising capital to construct and operate these projects and led the company’s project development efforts with government agencies and electric utilities.

Matt Siller

Director of Business Development

Matt is responsible for strategic planning and business development initiatives at C-Quest, and is currently focusing on company expansion activities in Africa. Matt has 20 years of operational, management, and business development experience in emerging markets. He has managed projects in public and private sectors providing access to energy, expeditionary construction and logistics, training and capacity building, rule of law, peacekeeping, global security, and infrastructure development across the African continent and Latin America. Matt received a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School and Bachelor in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Brent Moser

Director of Operations, Africa Region

Brent oversees field operations and partner relationships for Sub-Saharan Africa. He has eleven years of experience working in both the engineering and energy sectors. He served as a Food Security and Environmental Extension Agent in Peace Corps Zambia focused on reducing deforestation, food insecurity, and mitigating vulnerability to climate change. Brent has a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from University of Florida.

Siddhartha Pakrashi

Chief Operations Officer India

Siddhartha Pakrashi is the Head of CQC’s Indian operations. He is an Innovation/Transformation Specialist with nearly 18 years of experience in large engagements including Complex Program Management, Delivery Management and People Management across Carbon Finance, Banking and Automotive Industries. He has extensive exposure to Cleaner Cooking, Efficient Lighting and Sustainable Development projects across India & Africa. He attained recognition by designing and customising new carbon financed biomass cook-stove project for NE India aimed at sustainable usage of firewood and improved livelihood of the rural poor. He is also a turnaround specialist, and has worked on low performing, loss making INR 50 Cr project in India which dealt with distribution of CFL Lamps under UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program.

Tridip Goswami

Head of Carbon & Sustainability Accounting Team

Tridip Goswami is Head of the Carbon and Sustainability Accounting Team based in India. He is responsible for all listing, registration and verification processes for all projects listed with CDM, Verra, Gold Standard or other registry. Tridip Goswami has worked for CQC for over 10 years and is a former lead auditor for the top Carbon Audit firms accredited to the UN Carbon Standard (CDM). He is supported by 23 experienced former carbon auditors with extensive experience in the carbon auditing and accounting field.

Geoff Grimm

Head of Information Technology

Geoffrey Grimm manages IT systems for CQC including data management systems. Geoff is an IT professional with eight years of experience in data systems, analytics, and infrastructure. At Booz Allen Hamilton, he led a team of data scientists, engineers, and developers on an enterprise-wide Department of Defense data and analytics platform, ADVANA, delivering and maintaining application solutions for DoD leadership to track real-time information integrating over 20 DoD data systems on a secure cloud platform. Geoffrey holds a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago where he studied public policy and statistics and a Bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Margot Clarvis, PhD

Head of Nature-based Solutions

Margot Clarvis leads the development and management of CQC’s programmes on nature-based solutions. Margot has more than 15 years’ experience working in research, partnership development, and programme management at the intersection of climate adaptation, resilience, nature conservation, and finance. Prior to joining CQC, she was Director of Programmes at Earth Security, a boutique advisor on natural assets to investors, companies and governments, where she led client engagements and projects on private sector engagement and partnership development on the SDGs and nature-based solutions in the Horn of Africa, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. She has also worked with UNEP - Finance Initiative and ESG information provider Asset 4 (now Refinitiv). As an independent consultant, she has worked with NGOs and financial institutions to develop programmes and products for nature-based solutions and climate resilience, including the International Organization for Migration, the Clean Cooking Alliance, Conservation International, AXA Climate, WWF, and IUCN. She holds a PhD in Environmental Policy from the University of Geneva, an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London, and BA Hons in Classics from the University of Cambridge.

Alice Ferretti

Head of People & Culture

Alice is leading the Human Resources strategy and operations at CQC. Alice leads a global team of HR professionals that supports CQC teams on the ground and in office. With a background in Clinical Psychology and a Master’s in Human Resource Management, Alice plays a key role in promoting the healthy and engaging work environment that sets CQC apart from other employers. She moved to Washington DC from Italy to complete her studies in Human Resources at Georgetown University. Prior to CQC, Alice has led Human Resources operations for start-up and non-profit organizations in the DC area.

Antonia Peart

Investment Director

Antonia has a decade of experience working in project development focused on renewable energy and low carbon technology solutions. Before joining CQC, she was the Commercial and Legal Director for a large Australian renewable energy developer, focused on capital raising activities for renewable energy projects including utility scale solar and long duration storage projects. Antonia has extensive M&A and project finance transactional experience, starting her career as a lawyer in the Global Energy and Infrastructure team at Linklaters in London and Allens in Sydney, before moving into project development and investment. She has a BA from King's College, London and an LLB from the College of Law.

Daelus Lu

Director of Government Affairs and Business Development

With more than 11 years in account management and business development, Daelus leads CQC's engagements with governments around the world. He is also responsible for deepening relationships with corporates keen to invest in carbon projects or offtake carbon offsets. Before CQC, Daelus served as the Assistant Vice President for Singapore Economic Development Board, where he was instrumental in uncovering opportunities and securing foreign direct investments worth more than SGD$2.5B. He also spent four years based in Tokyo as the Regional Director engaging Fortune 500 Japanese companies in the Energy & Chemicals, Renewables, Agri-food, Equipment & Machinery industries. Finally, Daelus worked two years in Barclays Investment Bank following his graduation from the National University of Singapore. He holds a BBA (Honours), with specialization in Finance, and currently resides in Singapore.

Kenneth Chew

Group Financial Controller

Kenneth is based in Singapore and leads a team of finance professionals across the C-Quest Capital group responsible for the financial accounting and reporting. He also has experience in corporate secretarial and taxation matters for the Asia Pacific region. Kenneth joined C-Quest Capital from the engineering and manufacturing industries, and from mid-sized domestic to large multinational enterprises.

Ryan Andre

Deputy General Counsel

Before joining CQC as Deputy General Counsel, Ryan was an associate attorney at a boutique Washington, D.C.-based law firm specializing in environmental markets, renewable energy, advanced recycling, and clean tech, where he advised on regulatory and commercial aspects of international and U.S.-based project development. He received a master’s degree from Cambridge University in environmental policy and his J.D. magna cum laude from Vermont Law School.

Our Team

Industry experts in carbon.

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