First quarter growth for BVRio

The global organisation has seen growth in Brazil and the UK. To oversee the much expanded operation, Claudia Jeunon was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in April working from Brazil, and will focus on communication, information technology, legal and finance. Claudia has over 20 year’s experience managing third sector organisations, and has held positions as head of communication, marketing and sustainability within large organisations.

Claudia is joined by Daniela Pires e Albuquerque as legal manager, contributing years of public sector experience in environmental management, in addition she has worked as a legal manager of a non governmental institution, dealing with a variety of legal aspects, specially public rights, cultural and environmental issues. She is responsible for the legal analysis for implementing the environmental laws, producing legal opinions and contracts and supporting the legal aspects of its projects and initiatives.

An increase of funding for projects related to responsible forest management, land use and solid waste management has seen operations expand. In Brazil, Pedro Succar, joined as a Senior Analyst to map the plastic production chain and identify opportunities to increase the circularity of plastic in Brazil. Pedro has an MSC in Innovative Governance of Cities where his research focussed on circular credits in Brazil, and more than 15 years working with project management. In the UK, Iulia Pojum, joined as Plastics and Solid Waste Project Manager. Iulia has a masters degree in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London where her research focussed on exploring policy measures for the UK’s plastic waste management.

To support the increase in project activities, the communications team has expanded with the appointment of a Director of International Communications based in the UK. Lucy Cox, a chartered Public Relations professional with 20 years experience, including most recently within environmental science, will work with Communications Manager, Flavia Riberio based in Brazil. Flavia, is a trained journalist, with 25 years experience, including sustainability consultancy for private sector and NGOs. She has a MBE in Social Responsibility within the Third Sector, postgraduate in Marketing and is an MSC student in Social Ecology at UFRJ. BVRio’s previous communications manager, Cristina Tavares de Bastos, has returned as special communications project manager, to add capacity and assist with the transition. The team will also be joined by a UK based communications officer to be appointed in the second quarter.

To manage relationships with the growing number of trusts, foundations, businesses and governments which support the work of BVRio, the company’s first Head of Fundraising, Liza Clothier, joined the UK office in February from leading sustainability charity WRAP.

BVRio Chairman and founder, Pedro Moura Costa, commented “2021 is the 10th year of operation for BVRio, and will see some big organisational changes. Strengthening our team to create more capacity and equip us with different skills will take us forward into our next decade, seen by many as a crucial one for the planet in terms of tackling environmental challenges.”