With 20 years of experience in international organizations and NGOs, Dr Şebnem Şener leads UNDP’s work to mobilize, scale, and align private sector investments to help achieve the SDGs by 2030. 

Prior to taking on this role, she worked for Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, with a focus on digital financial inclusion for the SDGs. Previously, she worked for the World Bank Group’s Finance and Markets Group, where she provided support in financial sector development, financial inclusion and emerging markets. 

She holds a PhD in Engineering Management from the George Washington University in Washington DC, a Master of Arts in Finance from Middle East Technical University in Turkey, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from Middle East Technical University.

Fab is the Director of SDG Impact, a flagship initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) focused on mobilizing private sector capital in support of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG Impact emphasizes experimentation, innovation, and partnerships as it focuses on developing prototype products that are being tested, refined and brought to market. These products include: Standards for how investors and enterprises integrate impact management and contributing positively to the SDGs in their internal practices and decision-making, an assurance framework and SDG Impact Seal for enterprises and investors to have their impact management practices assured against the Standards by independent accredited assurers, and SDG Investor Maps that translate relevant country level SDG gaps and priorities into private sector investment opportunities.

Fab joined the SDG Impact team 2019 and is the lead developer of the SDG Impact Standards. She is the co-chair of the Australian Advisory Board on Impact Investing and recently co-chaired the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative’s working group on making better decisions (standards, data, frameworks and tools) and was a contributing author of the final report: Australian Sustainable Finance Roadmap: A plan for aligning Australia's financial system with a sustainable, resilient and prosperous future for all Australians (2020).

Fab previously enjoyed a 30 year executive career, including 22 years with S&P Global (one of the largest data, information and analytics companies in the world) in the Global Ratings division where in her final role she was the Australian Country Head and Head of Developed Markets Asia-Pacific. She is also an experienced non-executive director who holds, and has held, numerous board positions in the housing, education, financial and arts sectors and is a part-time Professor of Practice (Finance) at Deakin Business School.

Luciana Aguiar is the Global Sustainable Finance Impact Manager in the Sustainable Finance Hub at the UNDP. She also coordinates the UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub efforts with the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. Luciana is an experienced specialist in helping the private sector contribute to development, impact management, business intelligence, innovation strategist, and a pioneer in implementing inclusive business solutions. Luciana holds a Ph.D. degree from Cornell University. As an entrepreneur, she co-founded a benefit company and was a partner in a business intelligence firm where she has held executive positions.

Sara Lisa is the SDG Impact Specialist for UNDP's Private Finance for the SDGs. Sara Lisa brings over 10 years of systems change, strategy development, and programme management experience from international humanitarian, development, and private sector organisations. In her current role, Sara Lisa works with a global team of experts on rolling out the SDG Impact Standards and SDG Investor Maps globally to catalyse more sustainable decision-making, with the aim of directing investments authentically towards the Sustainable Development Goals. She also leads the team’s work on catalysing private finance for sustainable food systems.

Prior to her assignment at UNDP, Sara Lisa worked as food systems and gender specialist at the World Food Programme (WFP), supporting country offices conduct Systems Analysis for Nutrition (previously Fill the Nutrient Gap) processes. She was responsible for providing strategic policy advice, technical analysis, and for facilitating multi-stakeholder engagements to inform social protection, food systems, and health policies and programmes in a range of countries and humanitarian contexts, such as Bangladesh (national and Cox’s Bazar refugee operation), Burundi (national and refugee operation), Ecuador, Mauritania and Rwanda.

Between 2015 and 2018, Sara Lisa founded a thriving start-up focused on grassroots peacebuilding through sustainable food production and consumption in Bogota, Colombia. Previously, she held a variety of programme management and advisory roles focused on rural agricultural development and human rights at WFP in Colombia; UNDP in Cuba; the regional government in Medellin, Colombia; the Norwegian Embassy in Bangladesh; Yara International in Ghana, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome.

Sara Lisa is a Fulbright Fellow, holds a MPA in Political and Economic Development specialised in Gender Policy from Columbia University, a MA in Sustainable Food Culture and Communications from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy, and a BA in Economics and Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Norwegian, and Italian.

David Mueller is an economic development specialist with programme management and technical experience with the UN, NGOs, the private sector and government at the field, regional and headquarters level. As Regional Specialist at UNDP's Private Finance for the SDGs, he works with country teams to identify and realise SDG investment opportunities through the SDG Investor Maps, and supports organisations in integrating sustainability into core decision-making with the SDG Impact Standards.

Through a decade of living and working in Sub-Saharan Africa, David Mueller has developed an appreciation for the diverse economic, social and political contexts across the continent. He started his career of 10+ years in diplomacy, humanitarian aid as well as peace building and governance in Eastern and Central Africa. Since focusing on the economic dimension of sustainable development in 2016, David Mueller has advised policy makers and supported UNDP Country Offices on SDG financing and private sector work as part of the organization’s Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA), and led project teams and delivered impact for businesses, investors and development partners at Open Capital, a management consulting and financial advisory firm that drives growth, enables investments and builds markets across Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2018, he has also been the Head of Secretariat of Impact@Africa, the pan-African impact investment ecosystem development network. 

As a native German speaker, David Mueller is fluent in English and has advanced knowledge of French and Swahili as well as limited proficiency in Italian. He possesses a Master’s degree in African Studies from SOAS, University of London and a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Zurich. He is based in Pretoria, South Africa, where he also follows his passion for long-distance running and endurance cycling.

Devahuti is UNDP's Senior Specialist, Private Finance for the SDGs for the Asia-Pacific region. She brings with her over 17 years of experience in operations, management consulting, research, and M&E across development themes such as digital inclusive finance, education, healthcare, agri-finance, and others. An advocate of using unified frameworks like the SDGs to create and communicate impact, Devahuti focuses her time on working with UNDP country office teams, government stakeholders and the private sector to build market intelligence to identify and activate flow of private capital for the SDGs. This work is scaffolded by her work to assist the governments and the private sector in adopting the SDG Impact Standards and impact management practices to help them authenticate their contribution to Agenda 2030. Her priors include the Grameen Foundation where she founded and led their research and M&E advisory in Asia-Pacific and the International Finance Corporation [IFC, World Bank Group] where she managed projects related to responsible finance. Early in her career, Devahuti has also worked with incubator programs to set up microfinance institutions, many of whom have grown to become small banks, serving BoP populations in India. 

Currently based in Singapore, Devahuti holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Department of Social Work at the University of Delhi.

Christopher is a Strategic Communications Specialist for UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub in New York. He brings 15 years of communications and media experience, with an extensive background on inclusive financial policy and corporate sustainability. In his current role, Christopher leads communications for UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub’s Private Finance for the SDGs. 

Prior to joining UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, Christopher served for over five years as Communications Advisor to H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). He directly advised Her Majesty on communications and media issues and led this portfolio for the Office of the UNSGSA. This encompassed all external communications efforts and media engagements, including securing and managing high-level interviews on Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, The Banker, and more. Christopher also traveled on multi-day country visits with Her Majesty in her UN role to manage on-the-ground communications activities, including to Brazil, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal, the Philippines, and Tanzania. 

Before joining the United Nations, Christopher was the Global Head of Sustainability Communications at Thai Union Group PCL while based in Bangkok, focusing on a range of environmental, oceans, labor rights, and human rights issues at a corporate level. He also managed communications for nearly five years at an international organization with over 100 central banks and finance ministries as members, called the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), while based out of Thailand and, later, Malaysia. Further, he has worked in communications at a grassroots NGO level while in Antigua, Guatemala and is a former journalist who lived and worked for approximately three years in South and Central America on international assignment, including in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala. 

Christopher holds a MA in Mass Communication from the University of Leicester, a BA in English Literature from the University of Cincinnati, and a Writing Certificate in Journalism from the University of Cincinnati. He is proficient in English (native) and Spanish.

Diego Pereira is an economist specializing in finance, impact, and development. His professional experience is rooted in the private financial sector in both his home country Uruguay, and the broader Latin American region. At UNDP, he serves as a consultant in sustainable finance for the Latin America and Caribbean region and as a regional specialist for Private Finance for the SDGs. In these roles, he collaborates with UNDP Country Offices to create favorable conditions for sustainable finance development, identify sustainable investment opportunities, and engage with financial institutions and government units within development finance markets. Throughout his career, Diego has gained expertise in sustainable finance, impact investment, performance and impact metrics, banking, corporate finance, project finance, risk and impact analysis, microfinance, financial management, administration, project management, entrepreneurship, and the teaching of economics, finance, and macroeconomics. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of the Republic of Uruguay, an MBA from the Catholic University, and postgraduate qualifications in public policy impact measurement from MIT. Based in Uruguay, Diego is fluent in both Spanish and English.

Jeremy Nicholls is the assurance framework lead for the UNDP Private Finance for the SDGs. He is an ambassador for the Capitals Coalition (a global collaboration to integrate sustainability into business decision making), a member of Accounting for Sustainability’s Expert Panel and chairs the project team for ISO 37005, selecting, creating and using indicators for governing bodies.

He originally qualified as a chartered accountant, including time as the Finance Director for Tanzania Railways.

Mariana Morais Sarmento is a Business Development & Impact Management Analyst at UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub with experience in business model innovation, impact management, and private sector engagement in development. Her role involves implementing capacity development programs and providing technical advisory services to entrepreneurs, MSMEs, listed companies, regulators, financial institutions, public sector entities and UN teams at global, regional, and country levels. Previously, Mariana worked as a Junior Innovation Analyst at Business Call to Action, focusing on designing and implementing inclusive innovation programs that seek to scale and replicate local business solutions to address local development challenges. She has also contributed to business model innovation research projects and facilitated business model and social innovation programs at various academic levels. Additionally, she supported the development of an award-winning AI-enabled tool for business development acceleration (Venturely) and formed part of the founding and executive teams of two ventures (Bizzmoo; Scoocs).

Mariana has a Bachelor's in International Management, a Research Masters in International Development Studies, and is a Social Value International Accredited Trainer for the SDG Impact Standards. Beyond her professional endeavours, Mariana is actively involved in social entrepreneurship and MSME financial inclusion initiatives. Fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, she fosters dialogue and collaboration across diverse stakeholders. Mariana’s expertise in impact management and stakeholder engagement allows her to effectively engage the private sector in sustainable development initiatives. Through her ability to bring together both public and private sectors to advance sustainable development priorities, needs, and opportunities, Mariana is committed to furthering UNDP's mission of promoting sustainable development and inclusive growth.

Violeta joined UNDP's Private Finance for the SDGs after completing eight years with the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) where she served as Programme Analyst.

Violeta started her UNDP career in 1997 working in the Directorate, Bureau of Management, where she provided operations and programme support to the Chief of Staff. In 2005, Violeta worked with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery where she provided overall operations support to the Office as well as substantive analytical support to the Deputy Special Envoy. In 2007, having completed ten years with UNDP, Violeta joined the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York, as the Human Resources Officer for East Africa and the Great Lakes Region. In this capacity she partnered with Country Directors and field staff on recruitment and retention efforts and provided guidance on employee administration matters, performance issues and employee relations. Returning to UNDP in 2008, Violeta worked with the Advisory Committee on Procurement where she analyzed procurement cases to ensure compliance with UNDP procurement policies and procedures and advised on ways to mitigate procurement risks. Following this assignment, she served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti in the Office of the UN SG’s Special Envoy for Haiti. Violeta holds a Master in Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in Psychology and Early Childhood Education from Baruch College, City University of New York.