A CURATED BENCH, BACKED BY A WIDER NETWORK

Jacqueline Connolly is an Advisor for Real Estate Asset Management. A senior real estate investment and asset management strategist with over two decades leading institutional-grade portfolios across the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa, she has held senior roles at Emaar, Majid Al Futtaim, The Abraaj Group, Msheireb Properties, Qiddiya, Al-Futtaim Real Estate and JLL Asia. At The Abraaj Group she integrated ESG and the UN SDGs into the firm's global real estate strategy; at Msheireb Properties she led the transition to institutional owner-operator; and at Qiddiya she built the city's Investment and Asset Management model. Jacqueline holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Quantity Surveying from Queensland University of Technology and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Rachel Cardone is Veritant Advisory's Director and Strategic Advisor for Water and Climate Resilience. A water security and climate finance strategist with over 25 years across the private, philanthropic, and public sectors, she is known for establishing, through research and practice, where private capital can flow to climate adaptation and water, and identifying drivers and solutions to barriers in order to accelerate investment in EMDE contexts. She is a Senior Fellow at the Centre of Excellence in Financial Services (COEFS), where she is part of the team behind the Water Finance Lab. Earlier, she built financial models of revenues and returns for World Bank Group Task Teams, led the research behind an African Development Bank strategy for increasing sub-sovereign lending for water infrastructure, and created shadow credit ratings for utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. She also co-created the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, served as Strategic Advisor to the World Economic Forum's Water Initiative, and was Deputy Director of Stanford University's Program on Water, Health & Development. She holds an MPA in Environmental and Energy Finance from Columbia University and a BA from the University of Michigan.

Krzysztof Jaros is an Advisor for Corporate Governance. A German-qualified lawyer with 25 years in international economic law, competition, and private-sector development, he has worked since 2016 as a Corporate Governance Consultant within IFC's teams across MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa, advising banks, family-owned and state-owned enterprises, listed companies, and investment promotion agencies. His mandates centre on governance roadmaps that prepare businesses for succession or outside capital, spanning family-owned groups and export-oriented agribusinesses across North, West and Southern Africa. He has advised the Palestine Investment Fund, Pakistan's State Life Insurance Company, and Morocco's CNGE and Competition Council, and delivers governance and ESG training, including for the Tunisian Institute of Directors. He holds his State Examinations in Law from Germany and is admitted to the Berlin Bar.

Erin Sullivan Ansell is an Advisor for Energy Transition and Infrastructure. A senior infrastructure and energy-transition strategist with 30 years of experience across Africa, the Middle East and North America, she has led the development, due diligence and implementation of more than $1 billion in complex infrastructure investments across energy and water. Her delivery experience spans IPPs, PPPs and BOTs, utility-scale and off-grid energy, transmission and distribution, energy access, and climate-resilient infrastructure. At the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a development finance institution of the US Government, she led a portfolio of major energy investments in West Africa, including a $400 million investment in undersea cable and MCC’s first utility-scale solar investment, while helping establish frameworks to enable private-sector participation in power markets. Most recently, as UNOPS’ Africa Regional Energy Transition Advisor and Technical Lead for its Energy Transition Mission Hub, she developed regional energy-transition strategy and advised governments, development institutions and private-sector stakeholders on project development and investment opportunities. Erin holds MSc and BSc degrees in Civil Engineering and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Hella Bennani is an Advisor for E&S Risk Management and Capacity Building. An E&S risk and sustainable finance specialist with 11 years across global institutions, investment firms, and operating companies in Africa, she built the sustainability function from the ground up at Apollo Agriculture, a SoftBank and BII-backed agri-fintech, as Chief of Staff to the CFO, structuring sustainability-linked financing and overseeing E&S compliance across the company's debt facilities. She has led E&S risk management and advisory at IFC for financial institutions and agribusiness clients across East, West, and North Africa, and previously worked on the investment side of Africa's off-grid energy sector at Lion's Head Global Partners and as an independent consultant. She began her career at the World Bank working on operations and climate projects. Hella holds an MSc in International Economics and a BSc in Economics from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a CFA Institute Sustainable Investing Certificate.