The Judges

Regula Schegg 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.

Gabriella Kossmann is an economist and a Senior Adviser in the Section for Oceans in Norad. She has a broad experience and comprehensive knowledge on themes related to sustainable development cooperation. She has been working on development issues with partners from civil society, UN, MDBs, Academia, private sector, and government authorities in partner countries in many parts of the world.

During the last decade, Ms. Gabriella Kossmann has been focusing on development work related to ocean matters such as sustainable aquaculture/fish feed, fisheries management, IUU fishing, anti-corruption, sustainable blue economy, integrated oceans and coastal sone management, food security, climate change adaptation, blue forest and ecosystem services and the prevention of pollution from the maritime transport sector.

Ms. Gabriella Kossmann is also a member of the Norwegian UN Ocean Decade National Committee. The National Committee is tasked with ensuring that Norwegian efforts will achieve the Ocean Decades goals.

Alex Oprunenco advises country offices and the Bangkok regional hub on innovative approaches in development such as systemic and portfolio design. As part of the Regional Innovation Center, he leads work on public sector innovation in Asia and the Pacific region. He is also leading regional initiative on application of systemic and portfolio design to combating plastic waste and supporting transition to Circular economy. Previously, Alex worked with UNDP in Moldova as a policy specialist, helping set up and run MiLab (Moldovan Innovation Lab), a joint venture by UNDP and the State Chancellery of the Government of Moldova. He also spearheaded the first corporate project based on behavioural insights and RCT evaluation in 2014. During that time he also supported UNDP’s Istanbul regional hub on public sector innovation.

Aafreen Siddiqui Sherwani is Regional Engagement Lead – (Government Innovation) at the Regional Innovation Centre (RIC), UNDP Asia Pacific, closely working with UNDP Country Offices in Asia Pacific region, bureaucrats, senators, academia, NGOs/CSOs/Foundations and Private Sector on UNDP’s flagship programme- NextGenGov- Post Covid Future of Governance/ Policy Innovation on thematic sectors like Education, Skills, Future of Work, Food Insecurity using cross cutting approaches like Participatory/ Anticipatory Governance and Digital Transformation. She has played an instrumental role in RIC’s partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation on Data-Driven Policymaking. Prior to RIC, she has been a provincial civil servant with the Government of India and with UNDP India. She has been a mentor to 3 Incubation Centres, 5 start-ups, is a TedX Speaker, WebWonderWomen2019 (Awarded by Twitter and Govt. of India) and a BMW Foundation Global Leader.

Misuboan (Boan) Sagiji is the Staf Site for Operation and Maintenance at Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). He is responsible for waste management in Mandalika area and events conducted in there, including the recently-held World Superbike Mandalika.

Rofi Alhanif is the Deputy Assistant for Waste and Waste Management, in the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment of Indonesia. He oversees coordination and synchronization of the formulation, stipulation, and implementation as well as controlling the implementation of Ministries / Institutions policies related to issues in the field of environmental management, including marine plastic litter.

Atty. Rosemarie Buendia-Garde is the City Administrator of the Local Government Unit of the Island Garden City of Samal. She supervises the administrative and operational undertakings of the City Government, working hand in hand with all the 19 Departments and multi-faceted stakeholders towards the achievement of the City’s goal of becoming “A Liveable and Resilient Island Garden City”.

Atty. Rose is a licensed Environmental Planner and has been advocating developmental sustainability especially in the City’s environmental programs and projects wherein in 2019, she led the Plastic-Free Workplace program. She spearheaded the 2018 Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan bid, consequently recognizing Samal as the country’s top five – highlighting the ridge to reef approach in environmental protection.

Vizminda Osorio is the Assistant Director of Environment Management Bureau of the Deparment of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines. She is enginerr by professiona and has masters degree on environment management. She is also the government focal from the Bureau in the implementation of various Multilateal Environment Agreements and international commitments such as but not limited to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Coordinating Body on the Seas of Southeast Asia, Asean Agreement on Transboudnary Haze Pollution,  ASEAN Working Group (WG) on Chemicals and Waste, and Basel Convention on the Control and Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and Disposal.

Regula Schegg 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 Synnøve Johansen 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 Quaggiotto 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 Dilkes-Hoffman 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’.

Nguyen Le Tuan has ten years of experience at the Viet Nam Institute of Seas and Islands (VISI), 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.

Hoang Viet 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.