Our team
Our strategy is driven by our skilled people
Meet our diverse team of passionate professionals working towards a collective vision of a just and regenerative economy.
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Deusa Tavares
Grant Operations Analyst
Deusa is a Grant Operations Analyst within the Effective Philanthropy team and loves enabling people to process grants at every stage throughout the year. She is new to the philanthropy sector, having spent the majority of her career in the education sector, gaining experience in areas such as language acquisition. While grant operations is her primary job function by day, Deusa also enjoys travelling the world, learning new languages and experiencing different cultures.
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Faiza Farah Tuba
Programme Manager, Labour Rights
Tuba is working to improve the labour rights of apparel workers in Asia, with a focus on just transition. She is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and works closely with partners on the ground to amplify their work both nationally and globally. Tuba has previously worked with farmers, apparel workers and small businesses at BRAC, the largest NGO in the world. In her spare time, she is often found speaking to her plants at home.
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Frauke Gorosabel
Senior Grant Operations Manager
Frauke is a Senior Grant Operations Manager based in Zug. She and her team manage the processes, systems and data that support the efficient deployment of Laudes’ many initiatives. By always having her "ducks in a row", she ensures that our talented front-line colleagues can single-mindedly focus on furthering just and regenerative economies across the globe. Having lived across Europe and the Americas, Frauke now finds enjoyment in running and hiking amid the Swiss countryside.
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Ilan Vuddamalay
Senior Programme Manager, Labour Rights
Ilan is a Senior Programme Manager in our Labour Rights team, leading the creation of grant portfolio on corporate accountability for labour rights and systems change initiatives. She is driven by her curiosity and collaborative spirit to achieve long-lasting and sustainable impact with partners. Ilan has over 10 years’ experience leading philanthropic programmes across Laudes Foundation, C&A Foundation, Argidius Foundation and COFRA Foundation, and has experience in consulting in civil society and leading projects at the Cooperative Group.
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Ili Adeye-Gindroz
Programme Officer, Narratives
Ili is a Programme Officer working to strengthen and amplify narratives to inspire the mindset and behaviour shifts needed to accelerate a just, green and inclusive transition. Her background in the non-profit sector includes project management, fundraising and communications. While Ili’s personal history and work encompasses Europe, Asia and Africa, she is proud to call Amsterdam home. When not working, Ili enjoys being a mom, and spending time at art exhibitions and with her family and friends.
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Ilishio Lovejoy
Programme Manager, Labour Rights
Ilishio is a Programme Manager specialising in labour-centred industry transitions. With a rich background spanning NGOs, academia, brands, and suppliers, Ilishio brings a wealth of experience to her role. From serving as the ESG General Manager at Simple Approach and the Manager of Research and Policy at Fashion Revolution, she brings a wealth of experience working with NGOs, academia, brands and suppliers. When not at work or studying, you can find Ilishio outside, preferably by the sea, but a tennis court will do.
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James Drinkwater
Head of Built Environment Programme
James is Head of the Built Environment programme based in Amsterdam, supporting the transformation towards an inclusive, climate and nature-positive industry and collaborating with global funders. He co-founded Built by Nature and chairs its investment committee, and was previously Director of WorldGBC Europe, co-founding the first ‘Buildings Day’ at COP21, the EU’s Level(s) policy and the Energy Efficient Mortgages initiative. He is a climate and environment lawyer with an MA from Cambridge University.
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Janet Ho
Programme Officer
Janet is a Programme Officer within the Labour Rights team. She is driven by a deep passion for safeguarding both people and the planet through identifying and addressing the challenges faced by frontline workers amid climate change and industry transitions. Outside of work, Janet finds solace in nature, indulging in hiking adventures and exploring heritage sites.
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Lucila Fialla
Grant Operations Analyst
Lucila is part of the Grant Operations team and her experience as a contract lawyer brings a keen eye for detail to help Laudes’ programme teams and partners navigate the grant-making process. Born and raised in Brazil, Lucila lived all over the world before choosing Amsterdam as her permanent home. To keep her creativity flowing, she likes to read, cook and take advantage of the numerous cultural opportunities her adopted city offers – often with her two children in tow.
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Megan McGill
Senior Programme Manager, Narratives
Megan is a Senior Programme Manager leading Laudes’ Narratives grant programme to shift how decision-makers think and feel about their responsibility in delivering a green, fair and inclusive transition. She started her career with environmental NGOs and financial institutions, exposing the disconnect between finance and sustainability. Based in Switzerland, she is also on the board of a local NGO focused on refugee integration through local textile production, as well as being a busy mom.
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Mel Beeston
Programme Officer, Built Environment
Mel is a Programme Officer in the Built Environment team. Based in Amsterdam, they support partners through the grantmaking process and the Built Environment team's work on gender equity and social inclusion. They have spent the majority of their career in non-profits and, in their last role, were focused on shifting foundations towards systems change philanthropy. Outside of the office, Mel enjoys trying to find balance through kickboxing and yoga.
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Mirjam Beeler
Senior Manager Grant Operations
Mirjam co-leads Laudes’ Grant Operations in our Zug office. She has nearly ten years of experience in administering grants, developing grant-making processes and managing programmes and projects, having previously worked in the areas of international cooperation and development, humanitarian assistance and corporate social responsibility. Outside of the office, she is on duty raising two children and enjoys spending time outdoors – mostly hiking and biking the Swiss Alps.
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Nando van Kleeff
Senior Programme Manager, Finance and Capital Markets
Nando is a seasoned Senior Programme Manager and is passionate about advancing the role of institutional investors in financing the energy transition and improving the relationship between shareholders and corporates. He has worked in the financial industry for 18 years, gaining experience in responsible investments, investment policy design and sustainability. Based in Amsterdam, Nando also enjoys playing guitar, walking in nature and spending time in his garden.
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Naureen Chowdury
Head of Labour Rights Programme
Naureen is the Head of the Labour Rights Programme and is passionate about championing the lived experience of those at the forefront of climate action. She has worked in the apparel industry for 20 years, gaining experience in labour rights, climate action and building alliances. Driven by a mission to climate proof industry, Naureen is best known for inspiring change that is locally informed and globally transformative. Beyond work, Naureen enjoys running, studying and keeping up with her two boys in Dhaka.
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Nazakat Azimli
Programme Manager, Built Environment
Nazakat is a Programme Manager within the Built Environment team and brings together policy change and industry transformation to facilitate the just decarbonisation of the built environment at a necessary pace. She started as a political risk consultant in London, working in international development, urban planning and establishing a hub for grassroots movements. Now based in Amsterdam, Nazakat engages in artistic research and independent curation outside of work.
Laudes India team
Laudes India LLP is a service organisation, providing support services for Laudes Foundation.
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Anita Chester
Head of Fashion
Anita is the Head of Fashion and Materials. With many years of experience in the apparel supply chain behind her, she believes in harnessing the power of markets to drive inclusive, climate and nature-positive growth for the industry. She is passionate about accelerating a shift to next-gen fibres and the system-wide scaling of regenerative agricultural practices. Anita is also on the board of the Organic Cotton Accelerator and the Investor Advisory Board of the Good Fashion Fund. Based in India, she likes to visit wildlife sanctuaries or experiment in the kitchen.
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Anuradha Balaji
Administrative Support
Anuradha provides administrative support for Laudes’ programme heads and is located in India. As a seasoned administrative and operations professional, she excels in office administration, orchestrating successful business meetings and events, fostering collaboration with colleagues and partners worldwide, and crafting refined business communications. Beyond work, Anuradha enjoys experimenting with new vegan recipes, indulging in reading and enriching her mind with articles on mindfulness.
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Lakshmi Poti
Senior Programme Manager, Fashion
Lakshmi is a Senior Programme Manager in the Fashion programme and is working to accelerate the industry’s transition to become inclusive, climate and nature-positive. She leads the programme’s efforts in legislation and scaling next-generation and circular materials. Lakshmi has previously worked with consulting firms Intellecap, Deloitte and EY, and brings expertise in strategy and development consulting, impact investing and social entrepreneurship.
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Karan Kumar
Programme Manager, Fashion
Karan is a Programme Manager at Laudes and focuses on advancing and enabling a circular economy in fashion to mitigate the industry’s impacts on people and planet. He strongly believes in the power of youth to drive tangible change and has co-founded an initiative to advance climate action through queer liberation. Karan is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community, an UNLEASH Innovation Lab talent, and has been selected to represent the voice of young people at #WEF23.
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Sameer Taware
Programme Manager, Labour Rights
Sameer is a Programme Manager and works to strengthen Labour Rights across industry transformation. As a seasoned human rights advocate, he is passionate about movement building, advancing the rights of climate-vulnerable communities, and trust-based philanthropy. Sameer specialises in the areas of climate finance, corporate accountability and the Just Transition Framework. Outside the office, Sameer enjoys Sufi music, walking in the mountains and spending time with family.
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Varun Joseph
Programme Manager, Fashion
Varun is a Programme Manager within the Fashion team, supporting the industry’s just and equitable transition. He focuses on testing systematic-level approaches and building tools to support impact and enable contributions to climate, people and nature. He has over 12 years of experience in climate action and corporate sustainability working with organisations across the world. Varun can often be found cycling around Delhi or in a bouldering gym attempting to solve a climbing "problem".
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Litul Baruah
Senior Programme Manager, Fashion
Litul is a Senior Programme Manager working to help the fashion industry set ambitious climate, nature and people goals through innovative business models. Based in New Delhi, he leads Laudes’ efforts to promote regenerative agriculture production landscapes. Previously, Litul held public policy research and consulting roles and his expertise lies in data, economics and sustainability strategies. He finds solace in spending time on his farm in Assam.
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Puneet Chugh
Grant Operations Analyst
Puneet serves as a Grant Operations Analyst in the Effective Philanthropy team, ensuring that the processes, systems and data required for efficiently managing grant-making are in place. Based in India, Puneet is eager to assist her skilled and dedicated colleagues in their efforts to achieve a fair and sustainable economy.
Vacancies
Our work is our passion. To join our ambitious, collaborative global team, explore available vacancies.
Head of Food Programme
- Amsterdam
- Full-time
- Philanthropy
Job Description
Location: Amsterdam or London
Travel Expectations: Up to 30%
Budget Responsibility: Accountable for Food Programme budget (~5M EUR / annum)
Direct Reports: 1 (Senior Programme Manager)
The Head of Food Programme is a newly created role within Industry Programmes responsible for the delivery of the food programme strategy and grant-making, as well as creating effective coalitions for change with organisations in the field and other funders and philanthropies. The role will report directly to the Director of Industry Programmes.
Key responsibilities
Vision. Developing a vision for how to inspire and challenge the food industry to be a force for good in addressing the climate crisis, as well as the ensuing transition to a more sustainable food system and its impact on people and nature.
Strategy. Refine and implement the strategic plan for the Food programme, deepening grant making and learning in the programme’s priority intervention areas, working closely with the Director of Industry Programmes in both programme implementation against approved strategy and further programmatic development.
Programme Development. Oversee the team and play an active role in sourcing and identifying potential grant partners working to inspire and challenge the food industry to transition to a more sustainable and fairer future. Act as a subject matter expert to ensure that the Food team is designing partnerships that form a grant portfolio of mutually reinforcing and complementary grants that achieve the programme’s five-year goals towards systems change. Work with Effective Philanthropy colleagues to develop and champion rubrics to guide measurement of impact.
Programme Delivery. Oversee the team that is implementing grants, working with them to effectively deliver the programme strategy, including maintaining programme credibility and capturing/disseminating learnings to improve programme impact.
Collaboration. Working as a leader of the Foundation to build a culture of collaboration, including close relationships with other Heads to drive an integrated systems change approach.
Representation. Act as an ambassador and thought leader internally and externally to build the credibility and leadership of the foundation in the field of food systems transformation and food industry transition with a range of stakeholders.
Advocacy. Identify partners the foundation can work with to affect broader change in food systems transformation and food industry transition, building a strong network to grow the foundation’s pipeline by having a deep understanding of the levers that can be utilised to promote change.
Results. Achieve programme targets, as contained in the strategy objectives, and oversee monitoring and reporting of results in the required formats, in partnership with Effective Philanthropy.
Financial management. Manage the annual budget (both programmatic and administrative) of the Food programme, reporting results to the Director of Industry Programmes.
People management. Inspire, lead and support the Food team to deliver on their individual and team objectives and the overall success of the programme as a whole. Team members may be geographically spread between Laudes Foundation offices in Amsterdam and/or London.