Who we are
Bank.Green was founded by a group of volunteers – Albert Carter, Ilias Ism, Neil Simpson, and Zak Gottlieb – in late 2020. Each of us had been working on ways to raise awareness about the climate crisis, without paying much attention to our money. We became united by one, almost ridiculous question:
Are we working to help the environment, while our own money is simultaneously destroying it?
We asked our banks this question, but it was difficult to get a full answer. Unfortunately, the biggest retail banks in the world are indeed supporting environmentally-destructive projects.
Why is this still happening? Why is it not being talked about enough? We believe there are many answers to these questions. We also believe that if a bank was facing significant challenges from a large number of its own customers, it would divest from projects that are harming us. When we concluded this, Bank.Green was born.
There are many environmentally-harmful activities that banks enable, but Bank.Green has decided to focus its efforts on fossil fuel extraction. This is both to streamline our mission and to tackle one of the biggest drivers of global heating.
Time is running out. If you feel the same, join us, because having your support will make all the difference.
Our Directors
Zak Gottlieb 🇸🇪 🇺🇸 🇬🇧
Zak joined the climate movement in 2019 after feeling the world was sleep-walking towards catastrophe and wanting to use his knowledge of digital marketing to do something about it. At Bank.Green, he is responsible for our growth and partnerships, while liaising with banks about how we represent them. When he is not working towards systemic change, he enjoy climbing and is an avid movie goer.
Albert R Carter 🇺🇸 🇻🇳 Driven by the disastrous impacts of the 2010 BP oil spill on the Vietnamese fishers and shrimpers in his Gulf Coast childhood community, Albert is always looking for high-leverage ways to fight climate change. Trained as a software engineer, and scrum master, he is the Director of Research and of Product & Engineering at Bank.Green. Outside of environmental activism, he enjoys bike touring, climbing, and hiking.
Meet the Team
Content
Nicole Gustas 🇺🇸
Nicole has spent her career creating and optimising tourism content and marketing campaigns. She put her skills to work for climate activism when she realised that the climate crisis was destroying all of the beautiful places she promoted. She is currently Director of Content for Bank.Green.
Rory Joy 🇮🇪
Rory has three years of experience as a freelancer content and creative writer. He turned to volunteering while looking to do something more meaningful in his life and and take real action against the climate crisis. In his free time he enjoys hitting the ski slopes!
Development
Andrew Selzer-Wong 🇺🇸Andrew has been active in the startup and impact investing space in numerous roles including venture capitalist at MDC Ventures, CFO at ImpactAlpha and Banger Games, founder at Fundie Ventures impact consulting, entrepreneurship professor at Geneva Business School, and a startup advisor at EIT Food Accelerator Network. Andrew holds a Masters in Advanced Finance from IE Busines School, an MBA from Vienna's Walker School of Business, and was twice named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Europe and Spain.
Product & Engineering
Michael DarossPrincipal Software Engineer; UX Design and Design System Lead. Responsible for re-architecting the bank.green website, porting it over from Vue/Nuxt to React/Astro, as well as redesigning and implementing many aspects of the user experience. Michael has far too many hobbies. He co-wrote The Wild Was, a subversive art project about biodiversity loss posing as a children's book. He's also a novelist, musician, gardener, and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Moshood Liasu 🇳🇬
Embarking on environmental awareness journey during his undergraduate years, Moshood has been a dedicated advocate for climate initiatives. Now, part of the Bank Green team, he leverages his expertise in managing cloud solutions, including Microsoft 365 and Azure, to contribute meaningfully to combating the urgent climate crisis.
Aaron Hoffer 🇺🇸Aaron is a Software Engineer and Data Scientist from San Francisco specialising in building SaaS platforms that use data to help improve the decision-making capabilities at scale. He's passionate about applying these skills to climate solutions in finance and transportation. Recently, his free time has been taken up by hobbies that were most relevant before cellphones, including photography and watch repair.
Shruti Chhajed 🇮🇳 🇺🇸 Shruti is a UX Designer working at the intersection of Design, Engineering, and Research. She joined Bank.Green driven by her passion for climate technology and the need to raise awareness around ethical banking. Outside of work, you would find her nurturing her houseplants like a proud plant mom and exploring nature trails with friends.
Nikita Pardeshi 🇮🇳 🇺🇸Nikita is an experienced Software Automation Tester, who is now transitioning her career into software development. She is volunteering as a Software Developer on a project aimed at preserving the environment and making a positive impact on the planet. In her free time, she likes staying active, cooking.
Research
Katherine Markova 🇬🇧 🇺🇸Katherine is a climate consultant and a sustainability educator. She pivoted into climate work in 2022 after a 20-year career in finance and currently heads up Bank.Green's Research Team. In her spare time, Katherine is an environmental activist and a green banking champion.
Fionán Fitzpatrick 🇮🇪 🇨🇦
Fionán has a background in climate policy research. Having worked and travelled in different parts of the world for the past few years, the pervasive nature of climate change in all aspects of life provided the motivation to take a more active role in the fight to create positive change. In his spare time he likes running and reading (often about climate!)
Viviana Vargas Nocua 🇨🇴
Viviana is a multidisciplinary professional focused on socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability. With a background in economics and a master’s in project management, she’s committed to transformative change that uplifts quality of life for all sentient beings. In her spare time, she enjoys meditation, Tai Chi and inline skating.
Valentin Tenorth 🇩🇪
Valentin uses his background in physics and business consulting to lead our impact team, which collects and analyses data to quantify the impact bank.green has made on the banking industry. He enjoys doing Karate, supporting environmental groups and cycling in his free time.
Other
Steve Goslyn
Retired Charity CEO and housing professional. Using experience of strategic leadership and business growth to support Bank Green’s fundraising activities. Dad to Toronto-based David Goslyn on the fundraising team. Based in Manchester UK but got involved in Bank Green during a family stay in Australia. Keen organic gardener and runner. Committed to a range of environmental issues and delighted to have found this opportunity to contribute to Bank Green