Secretariat

Carsten joined SBP on 1 May 2016 as its new, full time Chief Executive Officer.

Carsten has a wealth of experience and a detailed understanding of forest management and chain of custody certification schemes. With insights into the biomass sector, he understands the debate, recognises the hurdles that need to be overcome as well the requirements of potential solutions.

Prior to joining SBP, Carsten was the Managing Director of GFA Certification, part of the GFA Consulting Group (GFA), which in 2000 became the first German company to be accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Joining GFA in 2002 as a Director, Carsten built a certification business for sustainable forestry from scratch. He built strong working relationships with the many and varied stakeholders involved in the certification process. He understands well the views of stakeholders and is experienced in addressing their concerns.

Carsten holds a Master’s degree in International Forestry from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Prior to joining GFA, Carsten spent a short period at Ligna Con as a research analyst and before that some time at GIZ (Argentina), a federal enterprise supporting the German Government in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development.

Lauri joined SBP in March 2017 as Data Manager and Analyst. Before joining the team at SBP, Lauri worked for the Certification Body, NEPCon, as a Chain of Custody and Forest Management lead auditor.

Lauri has extensive experience of FSC and PEFC schemes, as well as hands-on experience with the SBP certification system as an SBP-approved auditor. Lauri was also responsible for organisational data management during his time at NEPCon, which included day-to-day management and development of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, training of staff and reporting.

Lauri holds Master’s degree in Industrial Ecology from Tallinn University of Technology.

Lauri is based in Estonia.

Antigoni joined SBP in April 2023 as Stakeholder Engagement Manager. Before joining the team at SBP, Antigoni worked at global organisations in the nuclear and coal industries as the lead in communications and engagement. Prior to that, she has experience from the euro-bubble in Brussels where she worked in a healthcare think-tank and in a PR consultancy. Her early career started in politics having worked in national political campaigns in Greece and in the UK.

Antigoni has a professional background in all aspects of communications in global environments and specialises in helping organisations build engagement strategies and tactics to meet their organisational goals. Her varied experience in communications from different industries is a strong asset to draw on when developing tactics for different organisational goals.

Antigoni studied politics and international relations for her first degree and holds a Master’s degree in Political Communication from the University of Leeds, UK.

Antigoni is based in the Greece.

Agita joined SBP in March 2017 as its Office Manager. In her role as Office Manager, Agita will provide full support to the SBP Secretariat. Agita can communicate in English, Latvian, Russian and conversational Spanish.

Previously, Agita spent seven years as the Executive Assistant to the senior management team at NewFuels, the largest single pellet producer facility in the Baltic States. Joining the company at an early stage in the construction of the pellet plant, Agita gained broad experience of the production process and procedures. She was also involved in the company’s successful application for SBP certification.

Agita holds a Bachelors degree in English Language and Literature and a Master’s degree in Educational Sciences.

Agita is based in Latvia.

Chris joined SBP in April 2024 as Carbon Project Manager. A sustainability professional since 2007, Chris began his career in the steel industry before working for an environmental regulatory body, and then in consulting.

Chris has specialised in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting since 2012, while working in the steel industry, where he was responsible for compiling carbon emissions inventories for UK statutory schemes, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), and sector specific methodologies.

He then joined the statutory environmental regulator, Natural Resources Wales, where he oversaw compliance with the EU ETS, as well as assessing environmental permit applications.

As a sustainability consultant in the mining sector, Chris specialised in GHG accounting to international standards, impact assessment and due diligence. He then moved back into manufacturing, leading the sustainability and carbon strategy for a battery company before joining SBP.

Chris is a Lead Auditor for the international standard for environmental management systems, ISO 14001 as well a Lead Verifier for the standard on GHG inventories, ISO 14064.

Chris has a Bachelor’s degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology and a Master’s degree in Climate Change. He is a Chartered Environmentalist and a Full Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

Chris lives in Wales, UK.

Alex joined SBP in May 2024 as Standards Manager. Before joining the team at SBP, Alex worked for 10 years at the Certification Body, Preferred by Nature, as a Country manager, Auditor and Program manager of forestry systems.

Alex is a forestry professional with international experience within the forestry and timber sector, and has more than 20 years of experience in quality, legality, and sustainability systems. As manager and auditor, Alex has gained experience working with multicultural global teams to implement and maintain sustainable forest management systems.

Alex is a trained forest management and chain of custody auditor for FSC, PEFC, and DDS schemes, as well as ISO 9001/14001/45001, and was a trainer in Preferred by Nature’s FSC Forest Management and Controlled Wood Expert program.

Alex holds Bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from Babes-Bolyai University and Forestry from Stefan cel Mare University, and a Master’s in Eco-management from the Technical University of Cluj and University of Minnesota.

Alex is based in Romania.

Roman joined SBP in April 2020 as Assurance Manager to oversee and manage SBP’s global operating assurance system. Before joining the team at SBP, Roman worked for 12 years at the Certification Body, NEPCon, as a Supply Chain Integrity Program Manager.

Roman is forestry professional with international experience within the forestry and timber sector, environmental auditing, assurance systems, and training delivery. As an auditor and manager, Roman has worked with many different wood processing, biomass, and paper companies in different parts of the world. Other experiences include leading projects, developing training programmes, organising workshops, writing technical handbooks, building assurance procedures, supporting quality management, and supervising a team of technical specialists and auditors.

Roman is a trained FSC, PEFC, RSPO Chain of Custody auditor, and was also a lead trainer in NEPCon’s FSC Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood Expert programme.

Roman holds a Master’s degree in Forest Industry from the Estonian University of Life Sciences. He has also participated in the Euroforester programme at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Roman is based in Estonia.

Lukas joined SBP in September 2024 as Operations Manager, having worked with SBP as a freelance consultant for three years. Thanks to his experience in managing international projects involving a broad variety of stakeholders, Lukas is a versatile professional and will support SBP operations as the organisation expands its scope.

Prior to joining SBP, Lukas worked for the Private Sector Development Department of GFA Consulting Group. In this function he was responsible for managing international development cooperation projects focusing on sustainability standards and value chain development.

His first foray into the world of certification schemes was a project supporting the Bangladeshi textile industry with developing a sustainability reporting structure. Having worked as a Team Leader for the GIZ-led project PSES II (promoting Social and Environmental Standards in the industry) in Dhaka, Lukas understands the positive impact that sustainability standards can have on commercial and non-commercial stakeholders, as well as workers and communities.

Lukas has spent five years of his working life in Asia where he managed teams across India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.

He holds a Master’s in Political Science from the University of Rostock, Germany.

Lukas is based Germany.

Nicolas joined SBP in January 2022. A senior sustainability professional with extensive agriculture and international supply chain experience, Nicolas has proven technical and strategic competencies in advancing sustainability agendas.

Prior to joining SBP, Nicolas spent ten years at Bonsucro, a global membership organisation promoting sustainable sugarcane production, processing and trade, where he played an instrumental role in the growth of the organisation to become the leading certification scheme in the sector.

Nicolas joined Bonsucro as its Head of Sustainability and after five years was promoted to the role of Director, Standards and Innovation. Key amongst his responsibilities were overseeing the maintenance of Bonsucro’s three standards, recognition of the standards by the European Commission and the Netherlands’ regulatory body, strengthening the certification and accreditation systems, and developing the impact evaluation and reporting system, in particular in relation to carbon accounting.

Nicolas started his career in the dairy industry, with a focus on quality management, technical specification and compliance audits, before moving on to the seafood industry, including two years at the Marine Stewardship Council, a leading global certification scheme for sustainable seafood.

Nicolas holds a Master’s in Quality Management in the Food Value Chain from the National School of Agricultural Engineering in Bordeaux, France, and an Advanced Master’s in Strategy and Management of International Business from the ESSEC Business School in Cergy, France.

Nicolas is based in the UK.

Melanie Wedgbury founded GE Public Relations in 2015. Since that time, the company has been providing communications support to SBP. Melanie has over 20 years’ experience of media, government and community relations as well as policy analysis and development. Throughout her career Melanie has worked in a variety of senior roles in the UK electricity industry, including eight years at the Electricity Association as head of corporate policy, before moving to US-owned developer, Entergy Wholesale Operations, as director of regulatory affairs and then to Drax Group plc as its head of communications.

Melanie has directed a number of issues management campaigns, utilising the full range of communications skills, many dealing with complex environmental and sustainability issues. Also, she has experience of providing communications support for development projects.

Melanie holds a BSc in Materials Technology, a PhD in metallurgy and an MBA.