BSR at UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC

Ameer leads BSR’s climate work in the US and works closely with BSR’s financial services practice. Ameer helps BSR members develop strategies to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and enhance business resilience through climate scenario analysis and planning. He also contributes to collaborative initiatives at BSR and currently supports the Business Alliance to Scale Climate Solutions.

Prior to joining BSR, Ameer was the chief financial economist at Climate Advisers Trust and Orbitas, where he conducted research on climate scenario analysis and financial research for the agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sector and engaged institutional investors on deforestation risks in investment portfolios. Ameer also brings over a decade of capital markets experience at financial institutions like ABN Amro, Citi, and Barclays Bank.

Ameer holds a MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a BA in Economics and Government from College of William and Mary.

Ouida leads BSR’s Energy and Extractives practice. She applies her experience in international development to her work at BSR, where she advises global corporations across industries, but particularly extractives companies, on human rights; sustainable communities; inclusive economy; diversity, equity and inclusion; and women’s empowerment.

She also previously supported BSR's HERproject.

Prior to joining BSR, Ouida worked with the United Nations Development Programme in Belize, where she developed and contributed to projects on water governance, gender equality, and disability rights. She also has worked at Community Partners International, a nonprofit dedicated to the well-being of the people of Myanmar. Ouida helped build New Global Citizens, an organization dedicated to engaging U.S. youth in global philanthropy and activism. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador, she worked closely with youth, women, and grassroots organizations. She is fluent in Spanish.

As a Rotary World Peace Fellow, Ouida obtained an M.A. in International Relations from the Universidad del Salvador. She also holds a B.A. in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College.

Laura leads BSR’s Nature team. Her focus is working with member companies to develop holistic and credible strategic approaches to address nature related impacts and dependencies. These engagements are conducted across industries, with an additional focus on understanding the linkages between nature and other areas of focus (e.g., human rights, climate, etc.).

Prior to joining BSR, Laura spent seven years on the markets transformation team at the Rainforest Alliance. Her role focused on engaging companies throughout agriculture supply chains in addressing risks and opportunities through incorporating nature-based solutions and interventions. This included working with companies from farm to market on their sustainability strategy utilizing the Rainforest Alliance program. Laura also has experience in the beauty industry, where she worked in brand management and marketing.

Laura holds a Master of Communication Management from the University of Southern California and a BS in Business Administration from Boston University.

Deb leads BSR’s climate work in the US. She works closely with BSR’s external partnership teams to accelerate decarbonization while engendering climate justice. She works with Transform to Net Zero (TONZ) collaborative initiative members to amplify leadership behaviors that promote a just and resilient future. Deb leads efforts to create a series of TONZ Transformation Guides on issues such as climate transition action plans (CTAPs), climate policy engagement, and climate justice.

Prior to joining BSR, Deb was a professor at Duke University, where she led the Business and Environment program. Her research focused on business leadership behaviors required to advance sustainability, including stakeholder relationship management, ESG data acquisition and use, public policy engagement, and design of strategic partnerships. Over the course of 20 years at Duke, she mentored over 200 sustainability leaders. Prior to Duke, she held environmental leadership positions in manufacturing and government.

Deb holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University

David partners with corporate boards, executives, and investors to develop high-impact sustainability strategies. As part of BSR’s Transformation team, he co-leads engagement with boards of directors to promote effective board governance and leadership ambition on sustainability. 

Having previously led BSR's Financial Services team, David continues to work closely with financial companies on sustainability, ESG integration, and impact investing. David has led engagements in nearly all of BSR’s focus areas and major industry groups. This includes leading climate scenarios workshops with boards, creating net-zero road maps for investment firms, designing and operationalizing a leading impact investing fund, conducting materiality assessments, undertaking human rights impact assessments, and co-authoring research on topics like ESG for emerging public companies and responsible investment policies for private equity firms.

Before joining BSR, David worked in strategy and management consulting at Bain & Company.

David holds a BA in History from Amherst College.

Paloma leads BSR’s work on Human Rights Standards, including standard-setting, knowledge management, and helping companies respond to emerging standards and regulation. She is also Senior Advisor to BSR’s Finance & Human Rights Practice.

Prior to joining BSR, Paloma was Advisor to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and Senior Consultant of the UN B-Tech Project, where she developed a vision for promoting the uptake of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights among investors and guidance on responsible investment in digital technologies. Prior to the UN, Paloma launched and led the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, where she developed thought leadership on the investor responsibility to respect human rights and supported stewardship engagements across industries. She also worked at the Danish Institute for Human Rights advising companies, governments, and civil society on business and human rights.

Paloma is a member of the US government’s Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct. She sits on the Editorial Board of Developments in the Field of the Business and Human Rights Journal of Cambridge University.

She holds a Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.) in Human Rights from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a B.A. in Political Science, also from Columbia University. 

Paloma is Chilean-American and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.