Leadership
Jay Koh, Founder and Chair of GARI
- Jay Koh founded GARI in 2015 in collaboration with key partners at the Paris COP21 climate talks. Jay is currently Co-Founder & Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group and has over 20 years of experience in investing and public policy in the public and private sectors.
- Prior to co-founding Lightsmith in 2016, Jay was a Managing Director and Partner of Siguler Guff, a global alternative investment firm with over $10 billion under management and Head of Investment Funds and Chief Investment Strategist at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). At OPIC Jay led the agency’s $2.6 billion active emerging markets private equity program. From 2007 to 2009, Jay led private equity and illiquid investing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at R3 Capital, formerly the Global Principal Strategies Division of Lehman Brothers. Previously, Jay focused on direct growth equity investing as a Principal at The Carlyle Group, where he worked from 2000 to 2007 and from 1993 to 1995. From 1998 to 2000, he served as a law clerk to Justice David H. Souter, United States Supreme Court, and to Judge Michael Boudin, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
- Jay serves on the Board of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and the advisory committee to the NY Green Bank. He serves as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard College, a master’s degree in Management from Oxford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Lori Collins, GARI Strategic Advisor
- Lori Collins serves as Strategic Advisor to GARI, helping the organization pursue strategic objectives to broaden and deepen the GARI stakeholder network; expand and deepen thought leadership and information dissemination; broaden engagement with regional and global fora; and focus on identification and development of new climate resilience investment instruments.
- Prior to forming Collins Climate Consulting in 2016, Lori served as executive director of Joules Accelerator and president of Abundant Power, an energy financing venture. Her earlier career included executive roles at LendingTree, Bank of America, Fidelity Investments and American Express.
- In 2022 Lori was appointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Financial Advisory Board for a three-year term. Lori holds a BS in Business from UNC-Chapel Hill, Master of Science in Carbon Management from the University of Edinburgh and MBA from Kellogg.
Sara Shoff, GARI Program Manager
- Sara Shoff is the Program Manager leading GARI’s efforts in the Climate Adaptation Innovation Learning (CAIL) initiative and growing GARI’s global network and impact. Prior to GARI Sara led operations and impact at Provenance Capital Group, a start-up investment advisor focused on regenerative food and agriculture. Earlier she led Oikocredit US’ efforts to re-enter the US retail impact investing market.
- Sara started her career as an agro-forestry extension agent with the US Peace Corps in Senegal then support the US’s international development finance institution by implementing environmental and social safeguards.
- Sara holds a BS in Environmental Management from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Press Release
GARI Group Expands Team to Globalize Climate Resilience Investment Activity
Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment (GARI) Group announced that Sara Shoff and Lori Collins have been appointed to build a global community of practice for investment in climate adaptation and resilience.
New York, New York. September 23, 2024 – Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment (GARI) Group, a global non-profit focused on investment in climate resilience and adaptation, announced that Sara Shoff has been appointed as Program Manager and that Lori Collins has been re-appointed as Strategic Advisor at the start of New York Climate Week. Ms. Shoff will lead development of a global community of practice for investors in climate resilience and adaptation and work with Ms. Collins in supporting GARI’s mission to scale up climate resilience investment knowledge.
GARI will lead development of a new Investment Funds Community of Practice under the Climate Adaptation Innovation Learning (CAIL) project, which has multi-million dollar funding from UNIDO and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). GARI will build on its global network of investors and other stakeholders to identify, analyze, and share best practices and lessons learned with investment fund managers and others interested in adaptation and climate resilience, particularly in developing countries. Ms. Shoff will lead GARI’s role in the CAIL program and grow GARI’s network globally through a series of virtual and in-person convenings, webinars and blog posts, culminating in the publication of a white paper.
Ms. Shoff has ten years’ experience in international development, development finance, ESG impact metrics and monitoring, and nonprofit management. She previously held roles at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, now known as DFC) and Oikocredit US, and started her career as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. Ms. Shoff holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Environmental Management from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo. “I'm so excited to kick off my work at GARI at New York Climate Week by engaging with global investors in adaptation and climate resilience,” Ms. Shoff stated. “GARI can bring its expertise, network, and history to expand the community of investors to developing countries and around the world to address the impacts of climate change.”
GARI has re-appointed Ms. Collins as Strategic Advisor to guide continued growth and impact. Ms. Collins has served as a working group member and advisor to GARI since 2017, and most recently as lead-author of GARI-produced paper “The Unavoidable Opportunity: Investing in the Growing Market for Climate Resilience Solutions.” Ms. Collins brings deep experience through senior roles at LendingTree, Bank of America and Fidelity Investments as well as over 15 years in the energy sector. Ms. Collins holds a Master of Science in Carbon Management from the University of Edinburgh, an MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University, and a BS in Business Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill. “Capital markets have a critical role to play in furthering innovation and investment in climate resilience,” Ms. Collins stated. “GARI is well-positioned to reach these private sector actors with a compelling message for engagement.”
“Climate resilience investment is an ‘unavoidable opportunity’ for investors around the world. GARI’s mission is to build a community of practice for climate resilience investment and to help transform it into a community of action,” stated Jay Koh, founder and Chair of GARI. “We are delighted to welcome Sara Shoff to the GARI team to advance our progress on engaging private investors, particularly in developing countries.”
About GARI
The Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI) is a private sector, private investor-led initiative that was announced in 2015 at Paris COP21 in conjunction with the UN Secretary General’s Climate Resilience Initiative. The working group brings together private and public sector investors, bankers, lenders and other stakeholders to discuss critical issues at the intersection of climate adaptation and resilience and investment with the objective of helping to assess, mobilize and catalyze action and investment. Since 2016, GARI has convened over 50 convenings in New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, and London, bringing together over 400 private sector investors and other stakeholders from pension funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies, banks and investment managers to corporations, start-ups, think tanks, advisory firms and development finance institutions. For more information on GARI, please see: garigroup.com
About Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, and supporting land and ocean health. Its financing enables developing countries to address complex challenges and work towards international environmental goals. The partnership includes 186 member governments as well as civil society, Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth, with a focus on integration and inclusivity. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $25 billion in financing and mobilized $145 billion for country-driven priority projects.
About UNIDO
UNIDO is a specialized agency of the United Nations with a unique mandate to promote, dynamize and accelerate sustainable economic and industrial development. Our mandate is reflected in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”, but UNIDO’s activities contribute to all the SDGs. UNIDO’s vision is a world without poverty and hunger, where industry drives low-emission economies, improves living standards, and preserves the livable environment for present and future generations, leaving no one behind.
UNIDO provides support to its Member States through four mandated functions: technical cooperation; action-oriented research and policy-advisory services; normative standards-related activities; and fostering partnerships for knowledge and technology transfer. UNIDO’s work is concentrated on three focus areas: ending hunger by supporting sustainable food systems with modern agri-tech and agribusinesses; tackling climate change by using renewable energy and energy efficiency to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions; and supporting sustainable supply chains so that developing country producers get a fair deal and scarce resources are preserved.
Contacts
Jay Koh
+1-646-678-8777
Lori Collins
+1-704-562-3775
Sara Shoff
+1-530-417-3788
