THE WYSS ACADEMY'S
Advisory Committee
The Advisory Committee is an independent unit within the Wyss Academy for Nature. Reporting to the Board of the Wyss Academy, its task is to advise and challenge us: It provides outside views, innovative ideas and critical reflections in support of the Wyss Academy’s development, including its projects and incubators. The Advisory Committee plays an important role in ensuring that the Wyss Academy remains an impact-driven organization. Advisory Committee members are experts in a range of different areas relevant to our work, including science, nature conservation, land use, energy, indigenous knowledge and societal transformation.
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Melissa Leach is the Executive Director of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a collaboration between ten world-leading nature and biodiversity organizations and the University of Cambridge, where she is a Professor of Social Anthropology. Her international experience combines thirty years of ethnographic work in West Africa, along with engagements and networks across Africa, South Asia, China, and beyond. Melissa has led interdisciplinary, policy-engaged programs and consortia in the fields of sustainability transformations, forests and agriculture, global health, food systems, and social and gender equity — with a particular interest in the politics of knowledge and policy processes. From 2014 to 2024, she was Director of the Institute of Development Studies and previously co-founded and co-directed the ESRC STEPS Centre. Her international roles include co-leading the International Science Council’s Fellows network, leadership on UN reports, and membership of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems.
Shubash Lohani is a seasoned conservation professional with over two decades of experience in designing and implementing large-scale conservation projects globally. He is a strong advocate for a participatory approach to conservation, working closely with both local communities and national government leaders. Passionate about discovering innovative solutions for lasting conservation efforts, Lohani has led the development of initiatives such as Bhutan for Life — a conservation finance initiative aimed at permanently safeguarding and improving the management of Bhutan’s network of protected areas. Currently, he directs global conservation initiatives for The Pew Charitable Trusts, including Enduring Earth — a pioneering collaboration focused on amplifying ambition, mobilizing resources, and securing sustainable funding to address biodiversity loss, combat climate change, and enhance community well-being.
Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey is an environmental scientist and landscape planner. Since 2008, she has served as a professor at the Chair of Planning Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS), at the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development of ETH Zürich. Currently, her research focuses on understanding how human interactions and/or actions shape landscapes at various temporal and spatial scales, using various land-​use decision models in forecasting and backcasting modes. One of her recent research projects was awarded the Swiss National Science Foundation’s Transdisciplinary Award. In 2017, she received an ERC Starting Grant for the GLOBESCAPE project, linking design and land system science to foster place-​making in peri-​urban landscapes. In 2018, she was a finalist for the ETH ALEA Art of Leadership Award.
Isabelle Nüssli
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With extensive experience as a senior executive, board member and executive search professional, Isabelle Nüssli’s background spans international leadership, corporate governance, and succession planning. Isabelle was Chairperson of Nussli Group, Switzerland as well as co-founder and chairperson of the Responsible Leadership Institute. A long-time leadership coach for board & C-level and tech-based start-ups & scale-ups, Isabelle helps recruit the right talent, build a high-performance team, and navigate change and transformation.
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She is a two-time bestselling book author.
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Isabelle earned her master's degrees from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, the University of St. Gallen, and INSEAD. In late 2024, she successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Zurich, focusing on innovation and leadership competencies in challenging times.
Dr. Nathalie de Noblet was Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, published in August of 2019. Her research focuses on how land use affects the climate at local, regional and global scales, through disturbances of the energy balance and the hydrological cycle. She has more recently also worked on assessing the impacts of climate change on cereal crops, in an attempt to develop climate services for agriculture. Dr. de Noblet is a Research Director at the CEA in France (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives), working at the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE). She has co-coordinated the Laboratory of Excellence BASC (Biodiversity, Agroecosystems, Society and Climate) over the past 8 years, where they combine knowledge on climate, agronomy, forestry, ecology and economics to improve decisions about land use at the territorial level. Dr. de Noblet is a consultant professor at AgroParisTech and a member of the French Academy of Agriculture.
Prof. Cheikh Mbow is the Director General of the Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) in Senegal and an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University (USA). Currently a member of the National Academy of Science in Senegal, he previously served as the Director of the Future Africa Institute at the University of Pretoria, Executive Director of START-International in Washington, DC, and Senior Scientist at the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF). Prof. Mbow has been actively engaged in development-research and partnerships, and scientific networks, leading global science initiatives such as the World Atlas on Desertification, the IPCC's AR5 and AR6, and the Special Report on Food Security. He has also served on various scientific committees, including Future Earth (2013–2015) and the Agropolis Foundation-France. He works on various sustainability issues, particularly transdisciplinary research on food security, natural resource management, and climate change in Africa.
Dr. Roland Siegwart is a Professor of Autonomous Systems at ETH Zurich and Founding Co-​Director of Wyss Zurich. From January 2010 to December 2014, he served as Vice President, Research and Corporate Relations on the ETH Executive Board. He is a member of the boards of various companies, including Komax and NZZ. He received his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 1983 and his Doctoral Degree in 1989, from ETH Zurich. He developed a spin-​off company, spent ten years as professor at EPFL Lausanne, and has held visiting positions at Stanford University and NASA Ames.
Brian O’Donnell has been a leading land and wildlife conservationist for more than two decades. He is the Director of the Wyss Campaign for Nature. From 2007 through early 2017, Brian served as Executive Director of the Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF). Brian led the foundation’s efforts to protect, restore, and expand the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s National Conservation Lands. At CLF, Brian led a campaign that protected millions of acres of land as National Monuments. Prior to joining the CLF, Brian was the National Public Lands Director for Trout Unlimited. He also worked for The Wilderness Society, where he led campaigns resulting in the congressional designation of the Black Rock Desert and Sloan Canyon National Conservation Areas and dozens of new legislated Wilderness areas throughout Nevada.
Enrique Ortiz is the Senior Program Director of the Andes Amazon Fund. He is a leading expert on rainforest management and one of Peru's most respected conservationists. Trained as a tropical ecologist, he has conducted research on species and ecological systems in coastal areas, deserts, highlands, and tropical forests. Enrique is also known for his leadership throughout Peru and Latin America in biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, and for his editorial opinion pieces in international and domestic newspapers and journals. For over two decades, working for philanthropic organizations, he has facilitated funding to governments and organizations that support conservation in the Andes-Amazon, resulting in more than 20 million hectares of new protected areas throughout the region. He is also a founder, board member and / or advisor of several NGOs and environmental initiatives.
He holds degrees from San Marcos University (Peru) and Princeton University (USA). Although he resides in Washington DC, he is often seen in the halls of Latin American environmental agencies and at regional events, or returning from wild places in the region.