A Passionate Team
An innovative team with BIG ideas.
Meet the brains behind Connect Earth.
“Working at Connect Earth means leading a dynamic team that’s committed to driving real change. We combine innovation with purpose, empowering our clients to make sustainable choices that shape a better future for our planet.”– Clare-Louise Cotter, Head of Sales
“I love collaborating with such talented and passionate people. As an engineer, building solutions that challenge us technically while driving real impact toward a sustainable future is incredibly fulfilling.”– Alicia Ortiz Serrano, Head of Engineering
“Our goal is to make the calculation of your emissions as easy as possible, by leveraging powerful data models and cutting edge technologies to do the majority of the heavy lifting. That’s where our strength lies at Connect Earth.”– Josh Couchman, Head of Data
Meet The Team
Alex Lempka, Co-Founder and CEO
Alex has extensive experience in the FinTech space. He started his career in Business Development in the first FinTech that IPO-ed on SGX. His first venture was a localisation agency focused specifically on FinTechs. He spent several years consulting a range of startups, and found a love for the impact space. In 2021, he co-founded Connect Earth by combining his experience in FinTech with his passion for sustainability.
Josh Couchman, Head of Data
Josh, with a background in Engineering and a strong passion for Data Science, joined Connect Earth as its second employee in 2021. He has since advanced to Head of Data, where he leads the company's carbon data modeling and data science initiatives. His sharp focus on the commercial application of technologies has also positioned him as a key figure in shaping Connect Earth's commercial data strategy.
Alicia Ortiz Serrano, Head of Engineering
Alicia has more than 5 years of experience in software development. After finishing her studies at Politécnica de Madrid, she worked for a startup in the renewable energy sector, developing an application to monitor wind farms and analyse the performance of wind turbines. With her passion for programming and sustainability, she joined Connect Earth where she leads the engineering team.
David Higginson, Head of Product
David Higginson studied as a Product Designer and gained experience as a designer and developer before progressing through Product Management leadership roles at Unibuddy. At Connect Earth, he tackles our product vision and strategy with experience, energy and enthusiasm. Day-to-day, he solves problems for customers by unlocking the right solutions, processes and skills to target and scale our offerings.
Will Sault, Solutions Lead
Will has nearly a decade of experience in the technology industry, working across a range of sectors from football to fraud. For 6 years, he has focused on enterprise sales, selling to large corporations and Tier 1/2 banks to help startups thrive. Most recently Will has contributed to the success of Ravelin and PassFort. Today, Will is the Solutions Lead at Connect Earth.
Oliver Malmed, EMEA Lead
For the past decade, Oliver has been helping SaaS-based Seed and Series A-funded businesses scale their commercial operations to predictable revenue via expert qualification and sales processes. Previously, Oli helped companies like PassFort (now a Moody’s Analytics company) scale from inception to exit. The huge rise in demand for sustainability-related products has led him to make the decision to go ‘all-in’ on helping financial institutions execute more effectively when it comes to sustainability initiatives.
Andrea Clopatofsky, LATAM Lead
Andrea is based in Bogotá, Colombia. She leads the charge in the LATAM region, bringing more than 12 years of professional experience in a range of roles both in banking and SaaS. In her role as LATAM Lead at Connect Earth, she builds strong relationships, drives the sales strategy for the region and joins us on our mission to deliver a more sustainable future for all. When she’s not closing deals, she can be found doing yoga or playing one of her 25 musical instruments.
Sindi Pepaj, Sales Development Representative
Sindi is a skilled sales professional with valuable experience in debt collection and tech sales. With a Business Management degree in hand, she brings her growing expertise to Connect Earth, where she’s committed to driving growth, forging strong client relationships, and guiding financial institutions in embracing sustainable practices. Known for her empathetic nature, Sindi builds trust and nurtures leads, delivering a sales approach that truly resonates with clients and their goals.
Ian Crowe-Wright, NLP Data Scientist
After completing his undergraduate and Master's degrees in Mathematics at the University of Birmingham, Ian furthered his studies in Albuquerque, New Mexico launching his career in data science. Ian has accumulated a wealth of experience across several industries, including telecommunications and real estate, specialising in machine learning and natural language processing. Now leading the NLP/LLM Data Science efforts at Connect Earth, Ian is instrumental in advancing the Climate Enrichment Engine product.
Yentl Staelens, Carbon Modelling Specialist
Yentl gained his MSc degree in Environmental Sciences and pursued a minor in object-oriented programming. During the work on his Master thesis, he specialised in environmentally-extended input-output analysis using Python, bringing together both his interests in sustainability and coding. Today, Yentl works on iteratively improving the accuracy and coverage of Connect Earth’s carbon emission modelling.
Ali Kemal Yıldırım, Full Stack Engineer
Ali holds an engineering degree and has over two years of professional experience, during which he has successfully completed numerous production-level projects. After gaining a mechanical engineering degree, he started to work for a startup that provides a green building management system. Despite his engineering background, his true passion lies in software development, where he contributed to different types of projects mainly around sustainability.
Carlos Fuentes Sánchez, Full Stack Developer
Carlos has over 5 years of experience in software development. After finishing his studies at Politécnica de Madrid, he worked at different tech companies, where he gained experience in different fields. With his passion for tech and sustainability, Carlos joined Connect Earth with the intention of building innovative solutions that can help reduce carbon emissions globally.
Will Tiller, Data Associate
Will gained his Master’s degree in Climate Studies, where he explored the negative externalities of our society on the Planet and potential adaptation and mitigation strategies to incorporate in the face of climate change. With his knowledge of policy and deep understanding of climate change, he joined Connect Earth where he focuses on developing the company’s core database.
Caroline Tulloch, Board Member
Caroline is a Portfolio Consultant at Gresham House Ventures and a Board Member at Connect Earth. Caroline has twenty years' experience building high-impact, high growth businesses as an investor, Board director and CFO. At Bridges Fund Management, Caroline backed businesses solving some of society's toughest challenges, helping them to scale both their business and their social & environmental impact. And as CFO at Taster, Europe's leading digital restaurant business, Caroline helped to scale the company to 90 cities across 4 countries.
Stewart Holness, Chairman
Stewart joined Connect Earth in 2023 as Chairman. With his engineering and marketing background, he has led and exited multiple businesses in Europe and the US, and helped two startups float onto the NASDAQ. Currently, he works with a number of businesses on their growth, funding and exit strategy.