Lara Koritzke

Communications and Marketing Director

With UEBT since 2018, Lara brings 20 years of experience working to engage business to adopt sustainability standards. She is also an expert on credible sustainability claims. Her previous work includes serving as Director of Communications & Development for ISEAL Alliance and Global Director of Institutional Relations for Rainforest Alliance. Lara served as judge for the Unilever Sustainable Entrepreneur Awards and as guest faculty for the Kinship Conservation Fellows. She holds a BA from Yale University and is a graduate of the University of Cambridge Sustainability Leadership Programme.

Annette Piperidis

Head of Membership and Due Diligence

With UEBT since 2022, Annette leads membership and due diligence at UEBT. She supports companies to become UEBT members and provides specific advice on their commitments to due diligence on cultivation and wild collection practices. Prior to joining UEBT, Annette worked for 14 years at Weleda where she held various roles. In her last role at Weleda, she was manager sustainable sourcing. In this function she implemented the UEBT’s due diligence system at Weleda as well as the Ethical Sourcing System certification. She travelled extensively to meet with suppliers and support them to implement required actions. Annette is based in Germany.

Karène Volpato

Ethical Sourcing Expert, Verification Programme Coordinator

With UEBT since 2019, Karène is in charge of coordinating the UEBT verification programme, conducting assessments of UEBT members’ ethical sourcing practices, designing improvement programmes, training auditors and supporting the management of international projects on capacity development and assessment of sustainable practices in natural ingredient supply chains. She's also leading the Fair Prices approach in UEBT. Previously, she worked in a fair trade and social responsibility certification body in Chile and Argentina, and was an auditor for Ecocert and the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO). Karène holds a master’s degree in international trade and strategic information, with a special mention in fair trade. Read her interview here.

Solen Le Davadic

Ethical Sourcing Expert

With UEBT since 2022, Solen works with the Verification team on supply chain verification projects and on the UEBT Membership programme. Previously, she worked for 10 years with SILAB where she was in charge of sourcing natural raw materials for cosmetics applications. She holds an engineering degree in agronomy with special mention and a master's degree in sustainable agricultural and agri-food development applied to tropical and sub-tropical countries, from Montpellier SupAgro.

Cathrien de Liagre Böhl

Certification Team Lead, Herbs and Spices Programme Coordinator

Cathrien leads the overall management of the certification team, supports the roll out of the UEBT/Rainforest Alliance Herbs and Spices Programme, and facilitates linkages with UEBT member companies, especially UEBT and UEBT/RA certified suppliers. Before joining UEBT, Cathrien worked for more than 6 years with Rainforest Alliance and UTZ on herbs and spices. She held various positions working on responsible agricultural value chains and started her career as marketeer in the food industry. Cathrien holds a master’s degree at Wageningen University in land and water management and nature conservation, as well as an executive economic master’s degree from the TIAS Business School.

Simona D'Amico

Head of Biodiversity and Impact

With UEBT since 2017, Simona manages UEBT’s monitoring and evaluation programme and supports UEBT members’ efforts on biodiversity conservation and restoration. Simona holds a PhD in rural sociology from Wageningen University. She has worked on European research projects on policies for organic farming and sustainable food systems, as well as the valorisation of agrobiodiversity through sustainable agrifood chains. 

Catarina W. Ferreira

Project Assistant - Biodiversity and Certification

With UEBT since March 2022, Catarina supports companies on biodiversity requirements and the development of Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs). She holds a master's degree in environmental management from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and a bachelor's degree in life sciences with specialisation in biology from the University of Luxembourg.

Gina Villarreal

Project Manager - Living Wage and Living Income

With UEBT since 2022, Gina works with members and partners on their efforts on living wage and living income. She also supports the team of regional and country representatives with project management and strategy development. Gina has a BA in marketing and holds a PhD in agri-food sociology from Wageningen University. 

Sarah Lucas

Project Officer

Sarah joined UEBT in April 2024 and works on monitoring and analyzing due diligence rules in policy and sector change. Sarah has 14 years' experience working in the field of biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods. She has developed extensive expertise in advising governments, regional organizations and multilateral environmental agreement secretariats, such as the Convention on Migratory Species, to ensure that national legislation is consistent with international law and global conservation objectives. She has also worked as a legal officer for the IUCN Environmental Law Centre, managing projects on protected areas, wildlife conservation and the green economy. Sarah grew up on the island of Réunion and holds a master’s degree in environmental law from the Robert Schuman University in France.

Deniz Austin

Human Rights Expert

With UEBT since September 2023, Deniz monitors and integrates evolving requirements on human rights due diligence into the UEBT systems, tools, and processes. She is developing strategies to address human rights risks and concerns in specific supply chains. Deniz has both hands-on, field level, and high-level corporate experience designing and implementing human rights due diligence programs in various geographies related to different sectors, such as food and beverage, agricultural supply chains with extreme to high level of human rights risks, transportation, packaging as well as the e-retailer and fashion industries. She worked for NGOs such as Transparency International, and companies like Nestlé. Deniz has a MA degree on applied human rights from the University of York in the UK.

Nelly Debril

Communications and Claims Manager

With UEBT since 2017, Nelly is responsible for communications and also leads the work with companies on claims and labelling. Previously, she worked as a media monitoring specialist for the French Ministry of Environment and for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Nelly holds a master's degree in international relations from the Institute of the Oriental Languages and Civilisations (INALCO) in Paris.

Oriane Brunet

Claims and Membership Officer

With UEBT since 2023, Oriane is in charge of organising the annual UEBT conference and supporting UEBT members and certificate holders in communicating commitments and actions through credible claims. Oriane has a degree in geography and spanish from the University of Glasgow and lives in France.

Jennifer Suti

Product Manager Information Systems

With UEBT since 2019, Jennifer develops and manages the UEBT data strategy and its information systems. She comes with experience in environmental services and telecommunications industries working with logistics for internal audits, event planning and business intelligence particularly in the field of product development.

Ronaldo Santos de Freitas

Latin America Representative

With UEBT since 2018 and based in Brazil, Ronaldo previously worked for 11 years for Natura Cosmetics on the development of supply chain biodiversity, access and benefit sharing, traceability, and territorial development in the Brazilian Amazon. He was also responsible for developing the strategy of education on sustainability in Natura Mexico. Ronaldo has a degree in agronomic engineering and a post-graduate degree in cooperativism and environmental analysis.

Lien Hanh

South-East Asia Representative

With UEBT since 2022 and based in Vietnam, Lien is the representative for Vietnam and South-East Asia. She has spent over 20 years working in projects on development (Helvetas, Childfund), business and Permaculture. She developed training materials for the Farmer Field School - a learning platform designed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and trained agriculture extensionists in Hoa Binh. She also created an online Permaculture Design Course in Vietnamese. She holds a master’s degree in english language from Vietnam National University.  

Seher Gumus

Türkiye Representative

With UEBT since 2023 and based in Izmir, Seher is the representative for Turkey. She has been working as consultant and auditor in the field of sustainable agriculture since 2015. She has also worked as proposal writer and project coordinator with CSOs. Seher holds a BSc and MSc on Food Engineering from Hacettepe University (Turkey). She also completed her MSc with double degree on sustainable development in agriculture from UCC (Ireland) and Montpellier SupAgro (France).

Rina Razanakolona

Director of UEBT Madagascar

With UEBT since 2016, Rina oversees the UEBT local team and its activities in Madagascar. She previously worked as a consultant for GIZ, UEBT, and Label CBD on value chain development, access and benefit sharing, bio-cultural community protocols, and certification. She holds an Engineer's degree in Agronomy from the Higher School of Agronomic Sciences, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar and a Master's degree in Food Sciences and Technologies from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of Gembloux and Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.

Leva Ramanantsoa

Ethical Sourcing Expert

With UEBT since August 2023, Leva works on vanilla supply chains and supports UEBT's members’ efforts on setting up and implementing UEBT's standard in their sourcing systems. He previously worked for a export company for 8 years where he worked with certified vanilla supply chains, from plantation to export. With the NGO NCBA-CLUSA, he set up and implemented a Rainforest-Alliance certified vanilla sourcing system in different regions of Madagascar. He holds an Engineer's degree in Agriculture from the Antananarivo University's School of Agronomic Sciences.

Rindra Nirina Razafimahatratra

Accountant

With UEBT since October 2023, Rindra is in charge of accounting, finance and administrative support for UEBT office in Madagascar. Previously, she worked for an accounting firm. She holds an accounting and finance diploma from the Center for Distance Learning in Madagascar (CNTEMAD).

Advisors

Gabriela Salinas Lanao

Knowledge Sharing Advisor

Gabriela supports UEBT in building and implementing its knowledge sharing strategy. She is a facilitator and trainer of trainers specialised in participatory methodology and active learning. Gabriela has, since 2011, supported UEBT in designing and carrying out training processes, as well as in developing resources and material. She holds a master’s degree in development studies from the International Institute of Development Studies (ISS) in The Hague.

Tom Divney

Senior Technical Advisor

Tom is a senior technical advisor to UEBT’s certification and verification teams, bringing over 20 years of experience in supply chain verification and management, and certification and assurance systems design and implementation. Tom previously worked for Rainforest Alliance, the Sustainable Agriculture Network, as well as a commercial tropical fruit and trader. He has over 30 years of international experience in the environmental field. Tom has a master’s degree in forestry from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from the University of Costa Rica.