Michael Di Russo leads the Clean Energy Finance Corporation's debt and equity investments that accelerate Australia’s transition to lower emissions within the built environment. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the property sector across a range of roles covering town planning, acquisitions, funds management and corporate finance. Michael has previously held roles with CBA, Westpac Group, Ashe Morgan and Spectrum Property Partners.
Martin Pauli works at Arup, an international consultancy and design firm, where he develops circular economy-based business and product strategies for leading companies in the construction industry in Europe and internationally.
Tseng Tse-Fong has held numerous roles in academia and city governance. His significant role as the CEO of the "IBA Kaohsiung 2030" Preparatory Team is central to transforming Kaohsiung from a traditional industrial city into a NetZero, circular and smart city by 2050. His leadership emphasises citizen co-innovation and experimentation, positioning the community at the heart of sustainable urban development. By fostering a participatory approach, Tseng is not just driving environmental sustainability but also ensuring social justice and community ownership in the transformation process. His work in Kaohsiung showcases a forward-thinking model for urban development that balances technological advancements with citizen engagement, offering a replicable blueprint for other cities aiming for a sustainable future.
Nick is an environmental civil engineer by profession, currently working as a senior expert with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, where he spearheads the circular built environment topic.
Read full bio
Davina Rooney
Chief Executive Officer
Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
Davina has led GBCA since June 2019. The GBCA’s role is to lead the sustainable transformation of the built environment and has achieved over 4,500 certifications with the rating tool Green Star. Davina is a property professional with a broad range of sustainability experience, from environmental projects, not-for profit boards and overseas community development work, spending 8 months working in the Indian Himalayas on the construction of a school which won multiple international awards. She is on Evolve Housing’s board and the World Green Building Council.
Read full bio
Ying-Chih Deng-Sommer
Senior Officer
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability World Secretariat
Ying-Chih Deng-Sommer is a motivated sustainability professional driven to create meaningful change. He is dedicated to managing environmental impacts and leading initiatives that advocate circular development and transform business models.
Read full bio
Elsa Lefevre
Programme Manager, Cities Unit
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Elsa works to support sustainable urban development with practitioners and experts at the international, regional and local levels. She focuses on the development of UNEP’s work in integrated and sustainable neighbourhood design and coordinates the advocacy component of UrbanShift, aiming to promote the importance of cities in the achievement of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and to raise awareness of the programme at the global and regional level.
Kristin has extensive experience and a multidisciplinary knowledge base in urban development. She previously worked in the public sector in Sweden as an environmental urban planner, guiding city development sustainably for people, planet and the environment. At Circle Economy, she is responsible for research and analysis behind circular city support, including creating strategies, road maps and guidance documents. Additionally, Kristin facilitates workshops, providing expertise and insights to promote sustainable urban planning practices, emphasising ecological and societal well-being. Her work focuses on innovative circular solutions for urban challenges, fostering environmentally friendly and socially inclusive urban spaces.
Read full bio
Jo Williams
Professor of Sustainable Development and Director of the Circular Cities Hub
University College London
Jo Williams is an academic, author, designer and founder of the Circular Cities Hub. She is an expert in regenerative, low carbon, resource looping, adaptive urban systems. She fuses systems-based and design approaches to generate implementable solutions. She has developed a circular development concept and has researched the territorialisation of circular systems. She has acted in an advisory capacity for international organisations (e.g. UN Habitat, UNEP, European Environment Agency, EIB and OECD), countries, consultants and cities. She is the author of over 100 publications, including “Circular Cities: a revolution in urban sustainability”.
Lieve van Espen joined the city’s department of sustainability in 2020. In her current role, she develops and implements Leuven’s circular strategy with regard to maximal and high-quality reuse of residual flows (building materials, plastics, electro, textiles) on the road to climate neutrality. Her focus is on scaling up successful pilots in close collaboration with Leuven’s circular hub and the circular platform of quadruple helix stakeholders to fulfil the ambitions laid down in the Climate City Contract.