Lisa Sachs is the Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Since joining CCSI in 2008, she established and now oversees CCSI’s robust research portfolio in its cross-cutting areas of expertise, and has overseen advisory work in Chile, Guinea, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Paraguay, Tanzania and Timor-Leste, among other countries... more

Martin Dietrich Brauch conducts economic and legal research, training, and advisory work at CCSI. He focuses on extractive industry investments in the context of sustainable development and the low-carbon transition. His expertise also extends to investment law and policy, among other areas of international economic governance. He has worked extensively with developing countries, speaking English, French... more

Jesse Coleman is a senior legal researcher for the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, focusing on investment law and policy, natural resources, and the intersection between human rights and sustainable development. Prior to joining CCSI, she worked with a diverse network of non-profit and research-based organizations, including the END Fund (a non-profit fund dedicated to combatting neglected tropical... more

Kaitlin Y. Cordes developed and leads the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment’s work on investments in land and agriculture, as well as the Center's work on the intersection of human rights and international investment. At the Center, she conducts and supervises research; creates... more

Paulo Cunha is CCSI's Director of Operations. In this capacity, he oversees much of the Center's financial, administrative, and communications responsibilities, while contributing to research, strategic planning and project management. He is also an extractive industries transparency specialist. He joined the center from the Earth Institute, where... more

Brooke Guven is a senior legal researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Her work focuses on analyzing the contracts, domestic frameworks and international legal arrangements governing cross-border investments and the impacts that these frameworks have on sustainable development objectives. Prior to joining CCSI, she was a finance lawyer specializing in cross-border... more

Lise Johnson leads the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment's work on investment law and policy. Her work at CCSI centers on analyzing the contractual, legislative, and international legal frameworks governing international investment, and shaping the impacts that those investments have on sustainable development objectives. She focuses in... more

Solina Kennedy supports the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment's research and programmatic work on investments in land and agriculture and extractive industries. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University where she studied environmental sustainability and food systems through religious studies. While an undergraduate, she served as a sustainability consultant for the Smithsonian Institution... more

Nora Mardirossian leads the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment’s work on aligning the food sector with the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining CCSI, they conducted research on responsible business conduct and advised multinational companies on their approaches to meeting international human rights expectations through work at Shift and Triponel Consulting. At the Columbia Water Center, ... more

Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye is a senior legal researcher for the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Her work with the Center focuses on sustainable investment in extractive industries, and land and agriculture. Prior to joining CCSI, she worked with Namati as a legal consultant on cases relating to large scale mining and agricultural projects. As an Aryeh Neier fellow with the Open Society... more

Ladan Mehranvar is a legal researcher for the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment, with a focus on investment law and policy, and human rights and sustainable investment. In addition, she is a lecturer at Princeton University, where she teaches Environmental Law and Policy. Her previous experience includes work for a national law firm in Toronto, Canada, with a focus on environmental and expropriation law... more

Ella Merrill works with CCSI Director Lisa Sachs, supporting the Center’s research and programmatic work in investment policy. She studied Environmental Policy and Human Rights at Barnard College. As an undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant to a leading environmental journalist, and conducted her own research on the previously undetected persistence of herbicides in a Florida lagoon. She also worked... more

Nancy Siporin is the Executive Coordinator of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Prior to joining CCSI, she worked in television production, in areas ranging from broadcast operations to publicity, before becoming a casting director and owner of an independent casting company. Previously, she spent numerous years in the... more

Lisa Sweat joined CCSI in 2018 to help the Center refine its strategic direction and lead its fundraising efforts as Associate Director of Development and Strategy. Prior to that, she was at the International Senior Lawyers Project, where she established and managed their Myanmar Program from 2013 to 2015 before helping the organization undertake a strategic transition and eventually serving as Director of... more

Sam Szoke-Burke is a senior legal researcher for the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment’s focus areas of land and agriculture, human rights and investment, and extractive industries. At the Center he leads research projects and provides advice and support on legal and policy issues relating to land and human rights. He also advances practical resources, develops and leads trainings, and designs and... more

Perrine Toledano heads the Center’s focus on Mining and  Energy. She leads research, training and advisory projects on the governance of extractive industries including on fiscal regimes, financial modeling, leveraging extractive industry investments in rail, port, telecommunications, water and... more

Karl P. Sauvant is Resident Senior Fellow at CCSI. In addition to his research at the Center, he also serves as an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School; Fellow at the Academy of International Business; and Honorary Fellow at the European International Business Academy. He is also Guest Professor at Nankai University, China.

He was the Founding Executive Director of... more

Petros C. Mavroidis is the Edwin B. Parker Professor of Foreign and Comparative Law at Columbia Law School. He teaches the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He also co-teaches a course on corruption and sports, and a seminar on a trade issue. He is also Professor of Law at the University of Neuchâtel. His latest major publication is the book The Regulation of International Trade... more