Market-Based Climate Solutions

Shenna FORTNER

Chief Executive Officer

Shenna is an environmental solutions expert with over 15 years of experience, and a passionate climate and social activist. As a conservation officer in Belize, she served as liaison between co-management entities and the Ministry of Fisheries. In that role, she worked for the protection of the second largest coral reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. During this period she conducted research of marine protected areas in Curacao, Belize and Hawaii.

Shenna also petitioned the Public Utilities Commission on behalf of the Rosebud Lakota Tribe to reconsider the route of the Keystone XL pipeline, which was over the largest freshwater aquifer in the United States. Further, she assisted the Apache Tribe preserving Oak Flat and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their stance on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Shenna has a track record of crossing cultural and socio-economic barriers to resolve environmental problems. As an entrepreneur, in 2018 she created a vertically integrated hemp business, Equinox Solutions followed by Terpene Valley in 2020. Shenna is trained as an environmental lawyer and featured speaker on environmental issues. She has a J.D. from Vermont Law (2017), and BS in Biology & Chemistry from Tennessee State (2004). She is proficient in Spanish, Papiamentu, and Belizean Creole.

Ralph CARMICHAEL

General Counsel & Chief Financial Officer

Ralph has over 30 years of financial and management experience. He founded BŌNWRx Ltd which makes complex spine surgery implants and built the company to a market value of over $500 million.  He holds many patents across numerous industries. In 1992, he started Carmichael & Company LLC a merchant bank that managed over $6 billion in assets and advised on over $100 billion in transactions. He was a member of the investment committee of an international private equity fund that turned $384 million into over $1.8 billion in eight years. Prior to that, he was an executive at Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. and an Associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Ralph is a frequent speaker at financial industry events and is a recognized authority on exit strategies and liquidity alternatives for institutional investors. He also teaches finance courses at Michigan State University. Ralph has a B.A. and M.B.A. from Michigan State University (1985) and a J.D. from New York Law School (1989). He was a Law Review Editor and Clerk for the Hon. John E. Sprizzo, U.S. District Judge (SDNY)

Rose BIZOVA

Director of Strategy

Rose began her professional career with Xerox Corporation in 1986. She was promoted to Sales manager, and became a member of the President’s Club, which was limited to the top 10 salespeople at Xerox. While at Xerox, she received an MBA from NYU in International Finance and joined Siemens AG as the Executive Director of Strategic Planning & Internal Audit. She was responsible for coordinating over 11 acquisitions in the US States, Europe and Asia. In 1994, Rose founded ENB International, a technology related Investment Bank in Frankfurt, Germany that advised on the acquisitions of Hutchinson Telecom, and the formation of Orange Ltd. She also advised the Turkish and Bulgarian governments on wireless telecommunication strategies and Bosch GmbH on set-up of the mobile equipment manufacturing unit. In 1996, Rose joined Deloitte & Touche as a Managing Director of corporate finance where she advised numerous Fortune 500 companies on mergers & acquisitions and strategic planning. She has a BS in engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology and a BA in economics from the University of Rochester. Ms. Bizova is fluent in German, Turkish, French, and Arabic.

Michele FETTING

Director of Marketing

Michele has more than two decades of experience leading campaigns to protect clean air, drinking water, healthy soil and critical wildlife habitat. She is passionate about climate justice and collaborates with international partners to reduce fossil-fuel pollution and accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy. Michele brings the perspective of working with communities on the frontlines of industrial development in Appalachia, supporting outreach and policy initiatives to improve quality of life and public health. She worked to protect the Florida Everglades and Gulf Coast watersheds, including the challenges of nutrient water pollution and loss of habitat for the endangered Florida panther. As a writer and filmmaker, she produced many short films and is an executive producer on the HBO documentary A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting. Michele has a degree in Journalism from Ohio State University and a Master’s in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Climate Institute based in Washington D.C.

Anatol URSU

Graphic Designer

Oly, as we call call him internally, has been a freelancer graphic designer for over 10 years. Starting 2012 he built his reputation on various freelancer platforms while having the chance to work with some big names out there, including the Australian Open, Johnson & Johnson and Halliburton as just a few examples of high-end clients who contracted Oly’s services. In March 2021, Oly became a World Bank accredited graphic designer, putting him on a very short list of people who can be contracted by World Bank project teams to work on their studies and reports. Anatol joined our team in January 2022, and since then has been our ”visual communicator”.