Speakers

Mara is an Economist and Decision Analyst and holds degrees from Bocconi University in Milan and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research is motivated by a desire to improve decision making in government, with a special interest and extensive expertise in the field of healthcare. Mara is one of the lead developers of the STAR toolkit, a socio-technical approach sponsored by the Health Foundation to improve resource allocation in healthcare organisations.

Mara has worked extensively with managers of the English and the Italian National Health Systems. She has also consulted for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in Ontario (Canada), the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and the (then) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England, NATO and the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

James is Director at Ecorys UK and mainly works in the social enterprise and social investment thematic areas. In these areas he has provided support and analysis to social enterprises, NGOs and governments, both in the UK and internationally.

James leads on Ecorys’ social impact bond work, including overseeing three SIB evaluations (Commissioning Better Outcomes Evaluation for Big Lottery Fund, Youth Engagement Fund Evaluation for DCMS and Turning the Tide Evaluation for North Somerset Council), and Ecorys’ consultancy work in helping organisations understand the evidence base and potential savings linked to SIB interventions (for example for Family Lives and Catch22).

James holds a BA and MA in Geography from the University of Cambridge. In his spare time he is a Governor at Barkston Ash Catholic Primary School.

María Laura Tinelli is the Director and Founder of Acrux Partners, an impact investment intermediary and market developer focused in South America. She founded and heads the Impact Investment National Advisory Board for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. She is an Investment Committee Member for NXTP Impact Investment Fund in Latin America. Together with Social Finance UK, Acrux and the IADB has structured the first Social Impact Bond for Argentina in 2018, and is currently working on the second one. She currently serves as Impact Investment advisor to the UNPRI.

Zachary is a global expert on social innovation, environmental finance, and impact investing, and has advised government, business and civil society leaders across the globe. Before joining Levoca, Zach led the team that launched the first social impact bonds in the world in emerging markets. Zach has held positions in the Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, and in management consulting.

Federico is the Programme Manager at the Public Policy Division at the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation. Currently, he is leading the design and articulation of different solutions to solve complex public problems. He is the former Social Impact Bonds Programme Manager, where he led the design of the first Social Impact Bonds at the Chilean Government. He also has experience working with the private sector, municipalities and local committees developing social impact projects.

Federico Holds a Bsc in Business and Economics from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and an MPA in Public and Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Christine is the Lead Specialist at the Innovation Lab of the Inter-American Development Bank Group - IDB Lab - in Colombia. She works on topics of Innovation for Inclusion, leveraging technologies to generate exponential impact through non-reimbursable financing of projects and startups, generating and disseminating knowledge and building networks.

Christine leads IDB Lab’s Social Impact Bond (SIB) and Outcome Fund (OF) Program in Colombia focussing on employment for difficult-to-place populations. Contributed to the inclusion of SIBs and OF into the National Development Plan of the current government and to Colombia becoming the first emerging country in the world to launch a SIB. Also leads IDB Lab’s SIB Facility to gather and disseminate new learning on pay for success initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean from where she commissioned and supervised the study Social Impact Bonds in Latin America: IDB Lab’s Pioneering Work in the Region. Lessons Learnt. Has participated as a panelist in the International Bond Working Group, as well as being appointed a 2020 Fellow of Practice at The GO Lab at the University of Oxford.

Christine has co-led the Extraordinary Value Entrepreneurship program, to identify starts ups with growth potential in low income populations to offer business tools and advisory services focusing on strategy and growth. She also co-created the National Business Formalization Program for Regional Competitiveness together with the leading Chambers of Commerce in Colombia. Both served as input to the National Governments policies on business formalisation and growth.

Alma is a Senior Research Manager at Ecorys UK and works in the international development practice specialising in research and evaluation. Alma works across many evaluations related to impact investment and development finance. Alma has been involved in evaluating social impact bonds and development impact bonds for FCDO, the Fred Hollows Foundation and IDB Lab. Alma leads the case study of the Cameroon Cataract Bond as a part of the FCDO DIBs evaluation. Most recently, Alma managed the lessons learnt study on developing SIBs in Latin America for IDB Lab. Alma holds a BA in Political Science from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and an Msc in Political Economy and Political Science from the London School of Economics.

Daniel is the Managing Director of Fundación Corona, the third most admired civil society org. in Colombia, guided by the mission of contributing to capacity building to enhance social development, quality of life and equity in Colombia. Fundación Corona is the execution agency of the Social Impact Bond program SIBS.co in Colombia.

He earned a Bachelor of Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes and has experience in social investment banking and high impact entrepreneurship.