Meet the team

Spawned out of Oxford University in 2018, natcap’s team is drawn from a diverse range of industries and specialisms: academia, technology, consulting and more.

We are mission-driven, and committed to using the best available scientific expertise and standards to address our most pressing environmental and social challenges.

We're hiring!

Our Leadership

Sebastian Leape

CEO

Sebastian leads the natcap team on their mission to accelerate the nature positive transition by integrating nature intelligence into business decision making. Over the last 10 years, his career has been focused on trying to make our economic system more sustainable. Sebastian worked as an Associate Partner at McKinsey, helping businesses and governments define and embed climate and nature strategies into their operations. He has also been a policy advisor, teacher, and researcher.

Dr Beccy Wilebore

Chief Science Officer

Beccy sets the science vision, leads the science team, and overseeing model development. She is a quantitative ecologist with 10+ years of experience of natural capital modelling, including mapping of vegetation and landcover in both the tropics and temperate regions. Beccy holds a PhD in forest ecology and REDD+ from the University of Cambridge.

Tom Ashworth

Chief Technology Officer

Tom leads product and technology at natcap. A leader with experience over decade across big tech (Twitter), renewable energy (Bulb), and biotech (LabGenius), Tom has led teams across customer products, internal & scientific tooling, mobile app development, data management, machine learning, wet-lab automation, project management & delivery, payments, security and more.

Siobhan Stewart

Head of Science Delivery

Siobhan leads the delivery of nature intelligence to end users, bridging the gap between our science and corporate application. Her experience speaks to both specialisms. First at the Capitals Coalition she led multidisciplinary teams to develop technical guidance on natural capital assessments, before spending the next three years at Sillion, a sustainability consultancy advising FTSE 350 companies on all aspects of sustainability strategy.

Charles Shingles

Head of Sales & Partnerships

Charles leads the commercial team at natcap, helping organisations better understand how to embed nature intelligence into a range of business workflows. He was formerly Head of Partnerships at Cervest, where he enabled their clients and partners leverage best-in-class climate and biodiversity intelligence to support their sustainability ambitions. He is an alumni from the University of Cambridge's Institute for Sustainability Leadership, where he studied Business and Climate Change.

Technical advisors

Professor Baroness Kathy Willis

Co-Founder & Non-Executive Director

Kathy is Professor of Biodiversity in the department of Biology, University of Oxford. Her previous roles include Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee. She was also a Lead Author for the UN’s Global Assessment report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Professor Wouter Buytaert

Scientific Advisor (Hydrology)

Wouter is Professor in Hydrology and Water Resources at Imperial College London. His research focuses on global development challenges at the interface between hydrological process understanding, water management, and sustainable development. He works extensively with policymakers and end-users, including international organisations such as UNESCO, national and regional governments, as well as NGOs and local communities.

Professor Marc Macias Fauria

Scientific Advisor (Biodiversity)

Marc is a Professor of Biogeosciences at the University of Oxford. His research employs ecological records and modelling to understand ecological and biogeographic processes as they are constrained by the physical environment, with a strong emphasis on spatial, process-oriented approaches. He has worked extensively in the Arctic region on a range of environmental research topics, from local to regional.

Judith Batchelar OBE

Strategic Advisory (Food & Beverage)

Judith has spent over 35 years in the food and drink industry, amassing a wealth of expertise, most recently as the Director of Sainsbury’s Brand and Food Matters. She is a Biochemist, nutritionist, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, and the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacturers. She was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to Farming and the Food Industry, and is a Commissioner on the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.

Dr Florian Zellweger

Head of Vegetation Carbon

Florian is an environmental scientist whose research uses high-resolution remote sensing and large field databases to understand how forests and natural capital are responding to global change drivers such as climate and land management change. His work furthers the understanding of how the structure, composition and functioning of ecosystems are changing in an increasingly human-dominated world.

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