Management & Forest Advisors

Dr Petrus Gunarso currently serves as Chief Forester Tropenbos International Indonesia. Prior to this he worked for the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia; Senior Consultant, Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR); and the Coordinator Secretariat of the Asia Forest Partnership. He holds a PhD in Natural and Rural System Management from the University of Queensland and a Master of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University, East Lansing USA. Petrus has written extensively about managing forest resources in decentralized environments, reduced impact logging, and conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in tropical production forests.

Peter Hitchcock, former Director of the Wet Tropics Management Authority, Senior Consultant, ICUN, one of seven scientists worldwide approved to certify world heritage sites. Peter has written extensively about the tropical rainforests of Borneo.

Mr. Stratos was Global Head of Infrastructure in London investment bank Calyon for 18 years. Throughout this period he held several senior positions within the bank including the Global Head of Infrastructure & Specialised Industries from 2001 to 2007; member of Calyon’s Investment Committee, where Mr. Stratos participated in decisions relating to over 300 Advisory, Debt and Equity business opportunities each year; member of Calyon’s Credit Committee, where Mr. Stratos was responsible for establishing credit standards (risk assessments, syndication strategies, etc.) and approving all infrastructure loan transactions.

As Global Head, Mr. Stratos was also responsible for leading the client coverage and origination effort for Advisory and Debt Arranger mandates in the infrastructure arena, and leading the structuring and negotiation of key transactions. Under his leadership, Calyon enjoyed a two-fold increase in its equity and loan infrastructure related portfolio and became a global leader in the infrastructure finance sector.

As the Managing Director of Head of London’s Project Finance Team from 1995-2001 and Head of Oil & Gas for EMEA from 1999-2000, Mr. Stratos held responsibility over Oil & Gas, Energy, Transportation Infrastructure and Telecoms across the UK, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe & CIS, and Middle East & Africa. Under his leadership, the bank became a reference in the Project Finance market, multiplying its turnover in the sector by 15x over a five-year period.

Prior to 1995, Mr. Stratos was a Senior Manager in the Project Finance department of Banque Indosuez in Paris, with responsibility for origination and execution of Advisory and Debt Arranger mandates, risk analysis, and loan portfolio management. In 1989 he worked as a Shipping Finance Analyst in Greece.

Mr. Stratos is a true global project-financing specialist having worked on over 80 transactions during his career. Prior to joining Calyon, Mr. Stratos had two years of military training with the Hellenic Navy, and one year as a Project Engineer with a Greek IT company called LSI Information Technologies. Mr. Stratos holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and an MBA from INSEAD (France). He has a multicultural background having lived in Greece, the UK, the US and France, and is fluent in English, French and Greek.

Lawrence Smyth has joined the board of GER to provide additional support and begin the exercise of establishing the company as a prime mover in this emerging sector of the market. He brings with him a long and successful career in building companies in the Oil & Gas sector from the concept stage into blue chip performers. Most recently he was the Managing Director of Cairn Energy India Ltd leading that company through an incredible growth cycle before spinning-off Cairn India Ltd through a $2bn IPO. Prior to this assignment Laurie was President of Sidanco of Russia, guiding the company through an accelerated growth period and ultimately its merger with TNK/BP. Earlier in his career he served in various leadership roles within BP including as President of BP Exploration Company Ltd. in Colombia and Operations Director of the Miller / Brea Development in the North Sea. During his long career he has worked extensively in Europe, The Americas, Middle East, and Asia Pacific and has been involved in all aspects of project & operational development. Laurie has an engineering background and holds a number of post-grad qualifications in business management, economics and performance management. He is considered an industry leader in developing companies through the stages of start up, early positioning, and rapid scale up. His experience in scaling up oil companies in developing nations, securing and negotiating oil and gas leases, and managing natural resource assets is directly applicable to the business of forest protection and carbon trading in host countries.