Our Team

Alexandre Schouler is the Managing Director of PUR. His role is to lead the global team with the aim to scale the operations and increase the overall impacts of our projects. Before PUR, he spent 15 years working in international companies with a strong focus on agricultural and environmental change. In his previous role, Alexandre was notably CFO of Cordier by InVivo — a sustainable wine and spirits company in France.

Rachel Birenbaum is the Chief People Officer of PUR. She is responsible for developing PUR’s people strategy and enabling company success through its people. Before PUR, Rachel spent 16 years driving growth at Sustainalytics, a leading global provider of ESG data and insights. She holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University and a BA from McGill University.

Yonas is the Chief Operating Officer at PUR and an expert in project design, management, and implementation. He is skilled in developing and executing complex and holistic multi-stakeholder sustainability projects — overseeing our global Projects team in on-the-ground implementation of more than 60 agroforestry projects across 40 countries. Before PUR, Yonas worked at Altai Consulting, where he researched and implemented projects in developing countries.

Andrew Nobrega is an industry leader in nature-based solutions. With 15 years experience, he has worked across six continents in the design and implementation of complex multi-stakeholder insetting initiatives across food, beverage, and textile supply chains. Since 2016, he has been the key leader behind program development and client solutions at PUR. With expertise in impact investments, ecosystem services, and environmental frameworks, Andrew leads PUR’s global team in building and scaling of PUR's technical offer.

Antoine is an entrepreneurial and mission-driven executive passionate about regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and land preservation. He was previously Head of Marketing, Sustainability & Innovation at Alter Eco, an organic and fair trade chocolate company. As global leaders in nature-based solutions, Antoine and PUR are transforming global commodity supply chains, evolving the ways we grow our food and interact with the environment and farming communities.

Madeleine Xavier, PUR's Asia Regional Manager, brings over 28 years of industry-spanning expertise. Leading and supporting projects, she maximizes operational synchronization, enhances strategic planning, and fosters network partnerships. Madeleine is results-oriented, with a proven track record in cross-functional team collaboration across 20+ countries. With an MBA in International Business & Strategic Management, Madeleine recognizes PUR's pivotal role in addressing climate change, protecting natural assets, and advancing forest conservation in the Asia region.

With over 10 years of experience, Arif Kurniawan leads analysis and sustainable solution implementation, maintaining client relationships and securing funding for sustainable projects in Indonesia. He identifies constraints at the community level, collaborates with stakeholders, and designs activity improvements, empowering local communities for long-term socio-environmental projects. Arif also advises on business models, strengthening supply chains through relevant sustainability initiatives.

Joel Baumgartner is PUR’s Country Manager for China. With 10 years of professional experience in forestry/agroforestry, rural development (in China) and carbon finance, Joel oversees operations in China including partner relationships, project development, implementation and monitoring. Joel has additional expertise in socio-environemental auditing, fundraising, negotiation and partnerships management (in China), monitoring and evaluation, training and team building and human resources management of a multicultural team.

Barbara Bonnet is PUR's Regional Director for Latin America. She joined PUR in 2015 overseeing marquee projects in Peru and developing reforestation and agroforestry projects in coffee and cocoa supply chains across Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras. Barbara holds a Double Major in International Relations and Political Sciences. She also holds a Masters in Risk Management in Southern Countries. Together with her team of experts, Barbara is transforming the way PUR does business in Latin America from streamlining day-to-day operations to strengthening relationships with local and sourcing communities.

Meike Willems joined PUR in 2022 as country manager for Peru. Together with her team, Meike manages operations of two of PUR's oldest projects Jubilación Segura and Biocorredor Martín Sagrado - REDD+. Prior to joining PUR, Meike developed and managed international projects focused on sustainable production and rural communities. Meike worked alongside local, national, and international bodies, including small coffee, cacao and banana producers in Peru and Ecuador, unions, and government departments.

Natalia Arce is a forestry engineer with more than 10 years of experience working in natural resource management, ecosystem services, agroforestry systems, community organizations and indigenous communities. As Country Manager for Central America, Natalia develops the strategy for new and existing projects in the region, identifies and pursues opportunities to scale projects and manages the coordination of client deliverables. Natalia is well versed in international cooperation, developing proposals and executing environmental and social projects.

Juan Felipe Montenegro is PUR’s Country Manager for Colombia, he holds an MBA and has a background in Industrial Engineering. Juan manages all operations in the country overseeing two offices in Bogotá and Popayán, seven field projects, seven partners and six nurseries. Together with his team, Juan is committed to improving and growing PUR’s operations in Colombia.

Romain Vandamme joined PUR in 2023 as Country Manager for Brazil. Together with his team, Romain is committed to establishing and optimizing operations in Brazil including establishing relationships with partners and clients and identifing new opportunities for development. Romain has over 15 years of experience in business development, marketing and sales at several multi-national corporations

Mario Romero is the Regional Manager for PUR's African projects. Currently living in Abidjan and with over a decade working on the continent, Mario's experience stretches across the sahel and multiple sectors, especially in community based solutions. At PUR, Mario works closley with local partners and suppliers to implement projects and identify opportunities to scale up existing and initiate new projects in the region.

Elodie Appia Soumahoro is PUR’s Country Manager for West Africa. She has 10 years of professional experience coordinating a total of 9 humanitarian and cooperation projects with international organizations. These projects targeted various areas and beneficiaries ranging from 500 to 6,000 direct beneficiaries in Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Ghana. Prior to joining PUR in 2021, Elodie worked for Rainforest Alliance where she managed a portfolio of 17 projects related to child protection, gender, climate change, farmer group strengthening, capacity building on advocacy and monitoring and evaluation.

Lydia is a seasoned professional in the Sustainability & Project Management arena, with over two decades of experience. She has successfully worked with organizations in the transformation of communities through the implementation of numerous projects aimed at improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Lydia joined PUR in 2020 as Country Manager for Uganda. With her visionary leadership, she spearheaded major rollout initiatives, optimizing the company's operations and expanding its projects from the Southwestern Rwenzori region into the Central region of Uganda. Under Lydia's guidance, PUR successfully implemented their first Agroforestry project outside the Rwenzori, which they had been implementing since 2015.

Daniel Munea, Country Manager for Ethiopia and Kenya, convenes multi-stakeholder platforms to implement projects that serve the community, restore landscapes, and sustain value chains. He has academic and professional background in regenerative agriculture, forestry, and environmental science. He is also a 2023 Kinship Conservation Fellow. With his team, Daniel is working to build on PUR’s remarkable progress promoting the resilience of coffee parcels and the livelihood of smallholder coffee farmers.

Emil Simondon is an agricultural engineer specializing in Regenerative Agriculture. At PUR, Emil serves as Regional Director, Europe, where he manages field operations. Emil leads a team of agricultural engineers and technicians who support carbon and biodiversity projects with strong social impact. His main objective is to support agro-ecological transition to regenerate biodiversity and support efforts to combat climate change.

Lorena Frier, Deputy Director of Operations, is an expert in project design, management and implementation. As a former PUR Regional Manager for the Asia-Pacific region, she has developed and executed complex and holistic multi-stakeholder sustainability projects. In her new role, Lorena uses her expertise in on-the-ground implementation and her change management skills to lead key initiatives at the global level, aiming at improving methodologies, processes and tools and reaching greater efficiency and impact on the ground.

Tristan Lecomte, founder and president of PUR, is a social entrepreneur and pioneer in supply chain sustainability and insetting. In 2020, he launched Second Life — a social enterprise focused on ocean plastics, waste recovery, and recycling projects. He is also the co-founder and active member of the International Platform for Insetting, a business-led organization advocating for climate action at the source of global value chains.

Alvar de Wolff is the Managing Partner of Bregal Sphere Nature. Joining in 2016, Alvar de Wolff was the Head of Bregal’s ESG & Responsible Investing team, leading all ESG activities. Previously, Alvar spent 10 years in private equity working for AAC Capital — where he built out their corporate social responsibility and ESG activities — and was also a member of the Responsible Investment Committee of the Dutch Venture Capital Association (NVP).

Dami Lalude is a Managing Director on the Bregal Sphere team. Before joining Bregal in 2024, Dami spent over a decade working in private equity and helped develop and launch a climate investment strategy in her previous role. Starting her career in European M&A and high-yield capital markets at Goldman Sachs, Dami is currently an independent member of the Ethical Investment Advisory Group of the Church of England.

Henri van Lennep is an Operating Partner with Bregal – Growth Factors supporting the European value creation agenda across the Bregal network. Henri has worked across 10+ industries with strong affinity towards transformation and growth topics in the US, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Prior to joining Bregal – Growth Factors, Henri was a management consultant at Delta Partners and the Boston Consulting Group, and helped lead the digital transformation efforts at Virgin Media O2.