The Judges

Regula oversees Circulate Capital Ocean Fund’s investment portfolio in South and Southeast Asia. Regula manages asset allocations, as well as due diligence and portfolio management of fund investments. She also provides strategic advisory to the portfolio companies, focusing on strategy, business development, fundraising, key hiring decisions, financial management, and governance. She is an experienced professional with over 20 years of leadership, business development, project management, finance, and social enterprise/start-up expertise.

Kari is an advisor for Norad, where she works in the development programme on marine litter and microplastics. She has experience from projects and activities related to topics such as integrated ocean management, marine litter and microplastics, marine ecosystem services, and environmental crime.

Giulio is the Head of UNDP’s Regional Innovation Center for Asia Pacific, working with governments across the region to develop renewal capabilities and accelerate impact on complex development challenges. He is an MIT Research Associate with a focus on lead user innovation. His interests include portfolio approaches to innovation and incorporating grassroots innovations into national innovation systems.

Leela is a project manager in the plastics innovation team at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. She was the lead author on the recent report ‘Upstream Innovation – A guide to packaging solutions’ and now leads a workstream focusing on plastic sachets. Prior to joining the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Leela completed a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Supinya Srithongkul is an advisor to the Mayor of Koh Samui Municipality. She has been working with the municipality in the public health and environmental division for almost seven years, overseeing waste management in Koh Samui. She also possesses experience in the tourism business and was a committee member of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui. Supinya has been leading various campaigns to raise awareness and build capacity on waste management, such as ‘Green Hotels’ and ‘Samui Say No to Plastic’.

Mr. Tuan has ten years of experience at the Viet Nam Institute of Seas and Islands (VASI), which is the Research Institute for the Management Seas and Oceans under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. Deeply engaged in marine-related policy development, he led the drafting of Resolution on the issuance of the Master Plan and 5-year plan of the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Viet Nam’s marine economy until 2030.

Mr. Dung started working on environmental protection in the early 2000s. He held various positions in Quang Ninh province and currently is the Director of Sub-Department for Seas and Islands Quang Ninh. The Sub-Department is responsible for helping the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in supporting Quang Ninh PPC in performing state management on seas and islands in the province.