Our team
We are a small team of experienced development and business professionals united in our aspirations to deliver sustainable positive impact, hand in hand with our clients
Director and Co-Founder
Nick Virr
Associates
Our team consists of highly qualified and motivated professionals, who are all experts in their field. With many years of experience in the industry, they have the expertise to provide comprehensive, first-rate services to our clients.
Sarah Johansen
Climate, environment and development specialist
Sarah is an international climate, environment and development specialist with 16+ years working with international agencies, the UK government, and developing countries' governments on high-priority sustainability issues. Sarah conducts international consultancy assignments.
Her strengths include results-based monitoring and evaluation, and climate change-related advisory services. Sarah strengthens our project strategy development, project management, coordination, development of M&E systems/tools, impact assessments and evaluations especially in the climate change arena to our portfolio of services.
Delivery of these services is underpinned by deep technical knowledge and a track record in project design, strategy and vision formulation in the climate and environment sector.
Sarah Mills
Gender and inclusion specialist
Sarah is an interdisciplinary, skilled professional with expertise on gender, equality and women’s economic empowerment across impact investing, clean energy and agriculture in emerging economies.
A questioner by nature, Sarah seeks to learn and empathise while maintaining a pragmatic focus on solutions - be it supporting businesses to improve gender inclusion in their operations, or applying my analytical skills to research intended to influence policy change. Motivated in fairly equal parts by hope and rage, Sarah is passionate about improving gender equality at both the micro and macro levels through my work and involvement with the Women's Equality Party
Sarah adds deep gender and inclusion expertise and experience to our portfolio of services, whilst her critical thinking provides value in respect to design, research and strategy for our clients
Matt Kinsella
Research, evidence and public policy specialist
With close to 20 years experience in research, monitoring and evaluation, programme management, and policy advisory, Matt brings expertise in sustainable development, humanitarian response, and public service delivery, particularly in low-middle-income settings and fragile or conflict-affected contexts.
He has supported a wide range of clients including the World Bank, UN, government, NGOs, and grassroots organisations across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. Matt’s focus includes economic development and livelihoods, human rights and governance, climate and environmental sustainability, and displacement.
Grounded in political science, public policy, and international development, and trained in leadership and organisational strategy, Matt is passionate about delivering evidence and insights that shape equitable, inclusive, and resilient systems.
Dr Corey O'Hara
Nutritionist, food and nutrition security.
Corey specialises in food and nutrition security via sustainable rural enterprise development. He holds a PhD and dual Master’s degrees from Tufts, and a BA in Linguistics from Harvard.
For two decades, he has led donor-funded projects in technical advisory and management roles. He worked at the U.S. Department of State and served as Associate Director of the Clinton Global Initiative, where he focused on poverty solutions through PPPs. From 2008 to 2010, he founded and led the Haiti Action Network, supporting long-term recovery efforts.
He is Editor-in-Chief of the Food and Nutrition Bulletin, a journal on global nutrition and human security.
Corey brings deep development experience and expertise in #enterprise, #climate change, and #nutrition to our clients.
More Associates
Dr Alwyn Chilver
Market-based & systems approaches and community driven development.
Alwyn is a seasoned international development practitioner and manager. With 30+ years in the sector he is a recognised leader in the field of systems change and market-based approaches to development. As a director at ChangeMaker International he is well placed to work, advise and innovate with our clients and partners to promote private sector led growth that ultimately benefits large numbers of people.
With a PhD in Developing Country Innovation Systems and a Masters in Agricultural Economics, and an impressive career with the likes of AusAID, DFID, Palladium and Aurecon
Alwyn adds exceptional value for our clients and mission. Alwyn has worked across Asia, Africa and The Indo-Pacific in private sector development, market-based approaches, community driven development, and with international and national research and extension systems.
Dr Luke Colavito
Agricultural Value Chain & Market Systems Specialist, and Agricultural Economist
Luke is a leader in designing innovative agricultural value chains that boost climate resilience, regenerative agriculture, and inclusive market systems. With a PhD in Agricultural and Applied Economics, he has delivered transformative solutions for smallholder farmers across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
As iDE Senior Economist, he integrated AI into program design, led economic and policy analysis for solar irrigation, greenhouse systems, and pest management, and shaped Cambodia’s 5-Year Plant Protection Strategy.
As iDE Nepal Country Director, Luke pioneered the Resilient Market Ecosystem model—recognised by UKAID for raising smallholder incomes by 40% and expanding value chains to reach over 600,000 farming households. He has mobilised $70M in donor funding and built partnerships linking last-mile producers to resilient, high-value markets.
Sophie Rigg
Climate governance, disaster risk reduction, and systemic reform
Sophie is a strategic and interdisciplinary leader with deep expertise in climate governance, disaster risk reduction, and systemic reform across the UN and multilateral system.
With 15+ years of experience, she brings a rare blend of policy depth, coalition-building skill, and political instinct—grounded in a commitment to justice, inclusion, and systems change.
Curious, collaborative, and politically attuned, Sophie thrives at the intersection of ideas and action—whether advising international organisations, shaping global agendas, or building smart coalitions to shift power and drive change.
Sophie has worked on climate across civil society, research institutes, the private sector and the UN system. She brings high-level governance experience, and a systems lens to our work with our clients and partners.