Nigel currently serves as CEO of the Good Food Institute, a 250-person global science-based think tank. He is the former President of Rainforest Alliance and co-founder of groundbreaking partnerships including Global Forest Watch, the Global Restoration Initiative, Preventing Pandemics at the Source, The Forests Dialogue, and the Asia Forests Partnership.
Nigel has advised many major companies on sustainability. He served as Global Director of the Forests Program with World Resources Institute and was vice president for Asia-Pacific with Rare. In 2008, he became lead advisor on climate change and energy issues in Asia to former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative. He also worked with the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi and established The Nature Conservancy’s Asia-Pacific Forest Program.
Nigel holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees in natural sciences and tropical forest ecology from the University of Cambridge and has lived and worked in Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia. He served on various boards and advisory groups and has received numerous awards including the Henry Arnold Conservation Fellowship from the Mulago Foundation and the United Nations Secretary General’s Big Data Challenge prize. He is a frequent commentator on environment, development, and public health issues, including for the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Economist, The Guardian and The New York Times.
