About Us
Our Goals
Mangroves are crucial ecosystems for addressing climate change. To support these incredible natural systems, Global Mangrove Trust works with local impact partners and leading teams around the world to ensure families and businesses are empowered and engaged in community-based mangrove forestry, no matter where they are on the planet, or within the value chain. We’ve closely aligned our mission and goals with twelve of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Our Values
Humility
Humility means knowing that everyone has something to teach, and something to learn, that might does not make right, and that the greatest insights appear in the least impressive places.
Equality
Equality means balance in inputs and out- comes. Equality means seeking to avoid favoritism on a systemic level to give every person an equal chance at achieving success; such that equality means an equal shake. Equality also means balance in outcomes, recognizing that all processes are idiosyncratic, and luck and fairness are rare partners in a world of uncertainty. Equality thus also means an attention to outcomes, and a commitment to ensure systems are fair in the way they manage risks and extremes.
Respect
Respect means self-awareness and self-control, in communication and in action, both in regard to how one manages one’s own affairs and how one engages the affairs of others.
Justice
Justice is the recognition of injustice in the world – that the most vulnerable members of society suffer disproportionate burdens irrespective of their personal merits of actions – and the commitment of a person and a society to individual and collective efforts to redress that disproportionality through the favoring of outcomes that benefit the weakest and most disadvantaged persons.
Kindness
Kindness means empathy, a commitment to attend to the emotional state of others and to provide sympathy and consideration for the difficulties, and the successes of others. Kindness is also generosity, a willingness to go above and beyond, to give a little bit of heart along with the required service, and when time and/or energy do not permit that gift, to politely beg the other’s pardon.
Our Team
Ryan Merrill
Co-Founder and Executive Secretary
Ryan is a Doctoral Research Fellow in Sustainability, Strategy and Innovation and an Adjunct Professor at Singapore Management University. Ryan has spent 10 years in higher management in institutional finance, energy research, education, and consulting, and holds a PhD in Environmental Policy from the University of Southern California. Ryan is passionate about the promise of mangrove forestry to lead the fight against climate change.
Simon Schillebeeckx
Co-Founder and Director (Innovation & Technology)
Simon is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Innovation at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business of Singapore Management University. He holds a PhD in Management from Imperial College London alongside advanced degrees in Corporate Social Responsibility and Commercial Engineering. Simon founded Global Mangrove Trust in partial inspiration from his ongoing academic study in Digital Sustainability and Sustainable Resource Management.
Mohamed Els. Abdelwareth
Lead Impact Analyst
Mohamed is an Electrical Engineer specializing in optimization theory and Artificial Intelligence with applications in remote sensing for renewable energy grids. He is serving as GMT’s Lead Impact Analyst and the Project Coordinator of the Mangrove Conservation Project (OBC-01) in North Sumatra, Indonesia. He is also an Assistant Researcher at KMITL University, Bangkok, Thailand. An Egyptian national, Mohamed also boasts deep roots in Indonesia, where he supports several communities in developing off-grid energy solutions for sustainable development.
Elsa Lillford
Advisor
Elsa is the Chief Development Officer for the Global Mangrove Trust. She has a bachelors of Environmental Science and Laws double degree from the Univerisity of New England, serves as Mangrove Coordinator for International Coastal Cleanup for the Sunget Buloh Wetlands in NW Singapore and is an Officer at Mastermark. From this experience, Elsa brings a keen appreciation for balancing stakeholder interests in restorative land use.
Richard Cohen
Advisor
Richard Cohen: After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UCSB, Rich worked as a fund manager in the US financial markets. He then earned a Master’s degree in International Relations at UCSD and returned to working in the financial markets, this time in Asia where he worked as an institutional stockbroker and fund manager at tier-one local and international banks. After more than twenty years as a top-ranked institutional equities broker, Richard took his customer service and analytical skillset to the world of Asian start-ups where he developed two core areas of interest, both of which are applicable to GMT: digital currencies and sustainability.
Daniel Swid
Advisor
Daniel is a software engineer with a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Engineering and Mathematics from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Daniel is an accomplished product design and engineering leader dedicated to accelerating social and technical capacity for ecological regeneration. Daniel is a co-founder of Generation Blue, contributor at Regen Network, and coordinator of Earth Pulse—an innovation lab that seeks to reward protectors and stewards of Mother Earth by embedding the mission and purpose of non-profits into the heart of our economy. He has contributed to the foundational success of 5 startups in Silicon Valley and Asia Pacific, and developed education programs including the prototyping practice at VMware, R&D User Experience; the technical fellowship program for the Climate Foundation in Wood Hole, Massachusetts; and for youth, the Software & Climate curriculum at Credo High School. He also serves as president of the Sebastopol Entrepreneur Project.
Linzi Hawkin
Advisor
Linzi is a brand strategist. She’s experienced the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. From teaching kids to surf, to running music festivals and working as a freelance brand & marketing consultant. For the last three years her focus has been on teaching start ups, entrepreneurs & non-profits how to build brands with purpose and guiding companies through the B Corp Certification process. Her latest project, SUPKids, is an educational program for kids, teaching sustainability, water safety & stand up paddleboarding. SUPKids is now partnered with Starboard, 5 Gyres, Parley for the Oceans & Sustainable Surf and has 38 SUPKids Schools teaching the curriculum in 18 countries.
