Souleymane Ba is a partner at LeapFrog Investments and Co-head of the firm’s Climate Investment Strategy. He joined LeapFrog in January 2024.

Souleymane has extensive experience investing in emerging and developed markets for nearly 20 years. He has experience investing across a range of investment stages and industries including industrials, financial services, telecom infrastructure and agribusiness.

Prior to joining LeapFrog, Souleymane was a Partner at Just Climate, an investment business established by Generation Investment Management, focused on decarbonising hard to abate sectors. At Just Climate, he co-led the Industrial Decarbonisation investment team, was a member of the Executive Committee and Investment Committee and, led the investment in ABB-Emobility, the global leader in the provision of charging solutions or for electric vehicles.

Prior to Just Climate, Souleymane spent a decade at Helios Investment Partners, a leading investment firm that invests exclusively in Africa. As a partner of the firm Mr. Ba spearheaded investments in diverse sectors such as food security and financial inclusion, contributing to positive socio-economic outcomes while generating attractive returns for investors. Notable investments include Solevo, Crown Agents Bank and Africa Speciality Risks.

Mr Ba started his career in investment banking Morgan Stanely in New York, before transitioning to principal investing notably at Warburg Pincus, a New York based private equity firm and the US buyout fund of the Carlyle Group, a global investment firm.

Mr. Ba has a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Mr Ba is a Senegalese and British national and speaks French and Wolof.

Connie Chan is Head, Financial Services at Temasek, responsible for investments and portfolio management globally in the financial services sector, including banking, insurance, payments and other financial technology.

She also leads Temasek’s Sustainable Finance initiatives, including the setup of Pentagreen Capital, a JV with HSBC focused on debt financing for marginally bankable sustainable infrastructure projects, and Temasek’s participation in the Green Investments Partnership under MAS’ Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (“FAST-P”), a Singapore blended finance initiative in collaboration with key public, private and philanthropic sector partners that aims to mobilise up to US$5 billion to de-risk and finance transition and marginally bankable green projects in Asia.

Connie graduated from the University of Chicago with honors in Economics and also studied Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge University in the U.K.

Vijay Chandrasekhar, is Co-founder and CEO of Cosmos Innovation, an AI-first company building next-generation solar and semiconductor technologies.

Vijay got his Ph.D. at Stanford, and BS & MS at Carnegie Mellon University.

Prior to Cosmos, he led AI at the Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR, Singapore, where he built and led a 150-person AI team and managed a portfolio of 50 AI projects across 10 domains, where semiconductors was a key focus area. His previous stints include Google Research, Nokia Research Center, and an adjunct faculty in the School of Computer Science at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Vijay has extensive experience in building large-scale engineering systems, and his technical expertise spans the areas of AI/deep learning algorithms, semiconductors, information retrieval, and computer vision, with over 120 publications in a range of top academic conferences and journals. 

Cindy is a Senior Partner and served on McKinsey’s Board (Shareholders Council) between 2021 – 2024. She is a counsellor and client service orchestrator to bank, asset manager, private equity and corporate CEOs and Chairs in the UK, USA, Germany, and Singapore.

Cindy brings 30 years of experience with particular involvement in strategy, transactions, organisational design and restructuring, risk and capital management, and climate agendas. Cindy is an expert in global financial services: 30 years of client work and knowledge leadership including capital markets, corporate and retail banking, asset management, central banks, private equity, and infrastructure investing; client work of global nature with institutions in UK/Europe, USA, and Asia. 

Thought leader, innovator and coalition builder on resilience and climate agendas: at the forefront of McKinsey’s thought leadership on governance and culture, links between resilience and valuation, climate finance; driver of the acquisitions and scaling of Risk Dynamics and Vivid Economics within McKinsey; initiator and leader of McKinsey’s support to the Task Force for Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), leader of McKinsey’s support to GFANZ; leader of McKinsey’s support to global initiatives on Transition Credits for coal retirement and Methane Abatement Finance; she has initiated and led other climate coalitions in transportation and on enterprise decarbonisation. 

Prior to joining McKinsey, Cindy worked for 2 years at Goldman Sachs & Co in New York in Corporate Finance. During this period, she analysed and executed several transactions including equity offerings, debt offerings and mergers. Cindy received an AB in Economics from Harvard University in 1988, and an MBA from Stanford. 

Dr Bertrand Piccard made history by accomplishing two aeronautical firsts, around the world non-stop in a balloon, and more recently in a solar plane without fuel. Pioneer in his way to consider ecology through the lens of profitability, he began working in the early 2000s to promote renewable energies and clean technologies. Solar Impulse was born to carry this message around the world.

His dual identity as a psychiatrist and explorer makes him an influential voice heard by the largest institutions which today consider him as a forward-thinking leader on the themes of innovation and sustainability. Founder and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, he has succeeded with his team to identify 1000 efficient solutions to protect the environment in a profitable way. In a third round-the-world tour, he will bring them to decision-makers to help them meet their environmental targets while ensuring clean economic growth.

Aware that sustainable development is not limited to the protection of the planet's resources, Bertrand is also actively involved in humanitarian causes, fighting for the eradication of Noma, a disease associated with extreme poverty, caused by malnutrition and lack of hygiene.

Whether it is to protect the environment or to reduce inequalities, Bertrand seeks to highlight solutions by developing synergies where others see only oppositions. To support his approach, he strives to unite the forces involved, raise public awareness and encourage political action. 

A true communicator at heart, Bertrand has become a prominent speaker, invited to express his vision of the pioneering spirit at public, private and institutional events. Bertrand also enjoys sharing his experiences and ideas through writing, as well as inspiring younger generations.

Bertrand is currently United Nations Ambassador for the Environment and Special Advisor to the European Commission.

Kelvin Tan is the Head of Sustainability and Government Affairs, ASEAN, for HSBC. Building on his previous role as the Head of Sustainable Finance & Investments, ASEAN, he now leads the bank's sustainability and engagement strategy in the region. This includes overseeing the provision of sustainable finance and investments, and the development of innovative climate solutions and a digital economy. Kelvin also works closely with HSBC CEOs in ASEAN to engage with external stakeholders and create an enabling environment to support the bank's ASEAN growth strategy.

Kelvin represents HSBC in industry bodies, working groups and official ASEAN forums dedicated to the wider finance ecosystem building efforts. He chairs the IBF Sustainable Finance Industry Workgroup, co-leads Singapore Sustainable Finance Association's Transition Finance Workstream, and is a Board Member of Pentagreen Capital, a debt financing platform dedicated to accelerating the development of sustainable infrastructure in Asia.

Mason Wallick is the Managing Director & CEO of Clime Capital, responsible for overall management and serving on the SEACEF Funds’ investment committees. He has over 25 years of experience in energy investment, primarily in Southeast Asia, supporting over USD 70 billion in successful transactions. Mason has led over 20 boards and teams of investment professionals, with a strong track record in managing greenfield energy and infrastructure portfolios, achieving numerous profitable exits.

He founded Infunde Development in 2016, leading the early-stage development of 1,400MW of renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia, resulting in a profitable exit within five years. Prior to this, Mason founded Infunde Capital in 2013, advising on USD 14 billion in energy sector transactions across APAC. His earlier roles include senior leadership at WestLB AG and D/A Capital, focusing on project financing, investment structuring, and sustainability guidelines in energy investments.

Mason also has a background in technical and financial consulting, supporting over USD 50 billion in debt and equity placements for global energy infrastructure investments. He holds a Master of Science in Mineral and Energy Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.

As Director General of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, Mr. Wicklein leads the planning and delivery of ADB’s goals, strategies and work plan in Southeast Asia. This involves ADB’s relationships and public sector work in ASEAN countries, as well as support for sub-regional cooperation initiatives in the region. ADB’s total portfolio in Southeast Asia is about $25 billion and annual commitments about $7 billion. The Southeast Asia Department has about 240 staff.

With ADB for over 23 years, Mr. Wicklein has wide-ranging experience across Asia and the Pacific in the areas of infrastructure finance, private sector mobilisation, sector strategies, and country strategy and program coordination. Prior ADB assignments include deputy director general for Southeast Asia, country director for Indonesia, and country director for Myanmar. He was previously also posted in various positions in Thailand, Australia, and the Philippines.

Prior to joining ADB, Mr. Wicklein worked in corporate finance and investment banking advisory (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and prior to that, for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

A national of Austria, Mr. Wicklein holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Münster, Germany.

Elizabeth Yee is the Executive Vice President of Programs. She oversees The Foundation’s portfolio of global programs, regional offices and learning and impact team, and leads the advancement of the Foundation’s strategic priorities. She is the former Chief of Staff and joined The Foundation in 2019 as the Managing Director of Climate and Resilience.

From 2015-2019, Liz held various executive leadership roles at 100 Resilient Cities, a sponsored project of The Foundation, where she led the development of strategic partnerships and collaborated with member cities and investors to develop and mobilise financial solutions. 

Before joining 100 Resilient Cities, Liz co-led the Public Power and Utilities practice at Barclays Capital. During her seventeen years in financial services at Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital, Liz originated, developed, structured and executed over $30 billion of infrastructure, energy, commodities and derivative transactions. She and her team were two time “Bond Buyer Deal of the Year” recipients for their innovative approaches to renewable energy finance.

She was appointed to SEforALL’s Board, which aims to accelerate and deliver the solutions needed to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 – access to affordable and clean energy by 2030, serves on the Investment Committee for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet as well as the Advisory Boards for Co-Impact’s Foundational Fund and Gender Advisory Boards. She co-chairs the Climate Coalition for Lower Manhattan and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Liz is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Franziska Zimmermann is Managing Director for Sustainability at Temasek. She leads the development of Temasek’s overarching sustainability strategy to advance net zero, nature positive and inclusive growth. She also spearheads external engagements with relevant international institutions, global investor alliances as well as think tanks and business networks.

Since joining the firm in 2015, Franziska has played a pioneering role in establishing and implementing the firm wide ESG programme, defining an ambitious climate change agenda, forming an external sustainability advisory group as well as an engagement platform for portfolio companies on sustainability.

Before joining Temasek, Franziska held senior positions in publicly listed multinational companies across Europe and Asia where she gained critical insight into different industries, including agriculture, healthcare, consumer and industrials. She joined the private sector after almost a decade working with the Swiss government where she focused on advancing international trade and economic development cooperation.

Franziska holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Bern, Switzerland. She serves as a member of the ESG Committee of the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), the Executive Committee of the Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA), the Management Advisory Board of the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute (SGFIN) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Expert Panel on ESG and Sustainable Investing at Singapore’s Wealth Management Institute (WMI), and as a Fellow of the Transition Investment Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi.