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.

Virginie Gutkes is the Chief Legal Officer at PUR. She joined the company in 2021, bringing over two decades of experience in legal counsel and intellectual property management. Prior to PUR, Virginie spent 21 years at Danone, where she held multiple leadership roles, including Head of Legal for Sustainable Development and Head of Legal for the Evian Volvic Export Division.

Bianca Ximenes, Ph.D., is the Chief Data Officer at PUR, where she oversees the development and implementation of data strategies that improve operational efficiency, enhance data quality, and support business growth. Bianca is a Machine Learning Specialist with over a decade of experience in the technology industry. She holds a Ph.D. in Ethical Machine Learning.

Anna Kilpatrick is the Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at PUR. With 12+ years of experience across food value chains and sustainability, Anna oversees PUR's strategic direction and Brand Image, ensuring its goals are met and its impact on society remains positive.

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.

Stéphane Renard is an accomplished finance executive with extensive experience in operational and corporate finance in the energy and railway sectors. He brings expertise in infrastructure business, driving transformation, improving profitability, and leading diverse teams.
He holds an Executive MBA from HEC Paris, specializing in Digital Transformation, and is fluent in English, French, and German.
Previously, as Group CFO at Akuo Energy, he led the digital transformation of the finance function preparing for a second LBO. He also served as Managing Director and CFO at Siemens Energy France, managing complex integrations. Earlier roles at Siemens included leadership positions in Finance in Germany and USA.
Stéphane is committed to diversity, inclusion, and leveraging financial strategy and innovation to support business growth.

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.

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.

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.

Michelle Riley is Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel - Americas, at Bregal Investments. Prior to joining Bregal in 2007, Michelle was Vice President and Co-General Counsel of ICON Capital Corp., a global asset manager and specialty finance company based in New York. Before joining ICON, Michelle spent eight years as a mergers & acquisitions attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. She also spent a year serving as In-House Counsel to a 2004 U.S. Presidential Primary Campaign.

Curt Witte is an Operating Partner at Bregal Sagemount and leads the Growth Factors team, focusing on partnering with portfolio company management to drive high-yield operational enhancements. Prior to joining Bregal Sagemount, he was an Operating Partner at Symphony Technology Group, where he focused on enhancing portfolio company operations for various tech businesses in e-commerce, business services, healthcare IT, mobile apps, and advertising.

Prior to Symphony Technology Group, Curt founded and scaled Findly, a profitable $50 million on-demand software company, through its merger and successful spinoff from First Advantage, a Symphony Technology Group company.

Henry Weaver is part of the Growth Factors European value creation team, where he is focused on value creation for Bregal and COFRA assets in Europe. Henry’s background is in helping investor-backed disruptors in the Advanced Industries segment (Including Sustainability, Automotive, Luxury, Consumer) unlock their full growth potential through a structured set of growth levers.

Prior to joining Growth Factors, Henry spent 12 years in management consulting, including McKinsey & Company and Efficio Consulting, focused on growth for PE-backed businesses. Henry has an MBA from London Business School and Columbia Business School and is a chartered Mechanical Engineer with the iMechE (CEng MiMechE).

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.

Leslie has over 25 years of management experience across entrepreneurship, development, and philanthropy, including ten years developing and growing smallholder farmer businesses across Africa. As Laudes Foundation’s founding CEO, Leslie Johnston leads a team of 50 professionals to deliver – via its 300+ partners - on its mission to accelerate the transition to a green, fair and inclusive global economy. Previously, she headed C&A Foundation as its first Executive Director, repositioning it as a global catalyst to make fashion a force for good. She served as Executive Director of the Argidius Foundation, Deputy Director for TechnoServe in Africa and a management consultant for McKinsey & Company.

Leslie is also an accomplished board director, currently serving on the boards of Impact Europe (formerly the European Venture Philanthropy Association) as Chair, Fashion for Good BV, Built by Nature Stichting (as Vice Chair), Climate Resilience for All, EAT’s Advisory Board as well as University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose Advisory Board. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Jobs and Frontier Technologies (and previously served on the Global Future Council on the Future of Philanthropy for Climate and Nature.)