RSB Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is responsible for the management of the RSB and represents the Association towards third parties. Details of the composition and the functioning of the Board can be found in the Articles of Association.The reports from Board of Directors Meetings and Teleconferences can be downloaded here.

Barbara Bramble, National Wildlife Federation (Chair)

Barbara J. Bramble heads the International Climate and Energy Program at the National Wildlife Federation. Over two decades at NWF, she has led strategic advocacy programs to improve U.S. policy regarding climate change, and to place sustainable development in the center of economic decision-making. She facilitated international civil society networks to promote environmental reforms at the World Bank and other multi-lateral development banks; and to build consensus with industry leaders on voluntary certification systems for sustainable forest products, biofuels and agricultural commodities.

Ms. Bramble was a key organizer of the International NGO Forum at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and the Rio + 5 Conference in 1997. More recently, she worked with Mexican NGOs to enhance their advocacy and environmental education skills.

She has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations in Mexico, Brazil and the U.S., and is a past chair of the board of the Forest Stewardship Council of the U.S. Before joining NWF, she served as legal advisor to the Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President of the US, and as an environmental lawyer in private practice. Her J.D. is from George Washington University, and B.A. is from George Mason University. Ms. Bramble has lived in Latin America for almost 5 years and speaks both Spanish and Portuguese.

Khoo Hock Aun, Cosmo Biofuels (Vice-Chair)

Mr Khoo Hock Aun leads the Cosmo Biofuels Group which is actively engaged in establishing jatropha curcas plantations, biodiesel downstream processing and trading activities in the Asia Pacific region. He is presently developing markets and partnerships for an oilseed-to-biodiesel supply chain based on the Group’s proprietary processing technology. He was Senior Advisor (Regional Strategy and Business Development) 2004-2006 for the South East Asia operations of D1 Oils plc and has developed a strategic interface with related Government agencies in South East Asia overseeing the policy for biofuels and renewable energy.

The Cosmo Biofuels Group supplies both the upstream and downstream technologies for its project partners on the ground and monitor the quality aspects so that they adhere to international standards. The Group approaches its plantation projects holistically with firm commitments to the sensitivity and welfare of local farmers and workers, the protection of local environment and the sustainability of the business in the country concerned. Cosmopolitan Synergies Sdn Bhd is the trading arm of the Group in transactions involving oilseeds, crude oil feedstock and refined methyl ester undertaking offtake agreements with farms and plantations.

Mr Khoo Hock Aun graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Agribusiness) from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang in 1978 and was a Nuffield Foundation Study Fellow in 1988 with the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, United Kingdom where he examined developments in biotechnology: the institutional basis for innovation, the role of government policy and the various approaches to commercialise and finance innovation in the field of life sciences. He has managed, in a period spanning over two decades, a number of trade associations both in Malaysia and South East Asia.

Willemijn van der Werf, Lanzatech

Willemijn van der Werf is the Global Sustainability Director at LanzaTech. She is based in the Netherlands and also responsible for the Government Relations in Europe. Willemijn has several years of experience in the sustainability field of e.g. biofuels. Prior to joining LanzaTech, she was responsible for the sustainability accomplishments of the Biofuels program at KLM and managed the partnership of KLM with the dutch wing of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WNF).

In her role at LanzaTech, she closely interacts with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), the global certification scheme for sustainability criteria for liquid fuels. Willemijn will also support in developing LanzaTech’s strategy for EU engagement, be the interface to the European Commission and lead participation in processes to qualify LanzaTech products for EU mandates and incentives.

Maarten van Dijk, SkyNRG

Maarten van Dijk is responsible for Business Development and Sustainability at SkyNRG. SkyNRG is a joint venture of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, North Sea Group and Spring Associates. SkyNRG’s mission is to help create a sustainable future for aviation through actively developing a sustainable production chain for alternative aviation fuels. Before SkyNRG’s founding, Maarten was involved in creating KLM’s sustainable jet fuel strategy, focusing on feedstock and technology. He studied Chemistry at Utrecht University and graduated with a Master’s degree in Science & Business, specializing in renewable energy.

Arturo Barrit, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Unions Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP)

Mr. Arturo R. Barrit, is chief of the Environmental Protection and Safety Office of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP). As such he is in charge of the trade union’s environmental and sustainable development programs. He conceptualized the trade union’s environmental program before the holding of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. He introduced the trade union’s involvement on reforestation program called, the Tree Farm Lease Agreement (TFLA). This is one of the tenurial rights of the government and the first of its kind wherein a union was awarded a 25-year lease reforestation program by the government. It has started in 1996 yet.

Likewise, Mr. Barrit has participated to a numerous UN sponsored conferences and meetings. He is also the SAICM Focal Person representing NGO – Trade Union in the country. He has already submitted a project proposal under the SAICM Quick Start Program on chemicals for the agricultural workers belonging to the ALU-TUCP. He is also a Board of Trustee of an NGO for farmers called “Mag-uugmad Foundation based in Cebu City, Philippines.

Leonardo Rosario, Trowel Foundation

Leonardo began his social development involvement as an agricultural extension worker for upland farmers after earning his degree in agricultural engineering from the University of the Philippines in 1984. He joined the Peasant Movement afterwards as a full-time staff for socio-economic projects and became one of the first advocates of sustainable agriculture practice in the Philippines. As an agrarian reform and rural development practitioner for more than 20 years, he became consultant to the Secretary of the Philippine Department of Agrarian Reform where he provided technical assistance and advice on project development and management including mobilization of agrarian reform communities.

Among his awards are a Plaque of Special Apostolic Blessing handed over by Pope John Paul II during His Papal Visit to the Philippines in 1981 including several other commendations from national government agencies and local government units. He is also a productive technical writer with his original project proposals being winners and or finalists in project competitions sponsored by New Zealand Aid, the World Bank, and Europe Aid in the Philippines.

Also a holder of a graduate Diploma in Community Development with extensive experience on community organizing, project development and management, and local governance, he is currently the Executive Director of Trowel Development Foundation, Inc. His NGO provides community development and management services to small-scale fishers, rural women, and rural youth and also works with small agricultural producers, particularly initiating and advocating for community-based sustainable biofuels production through intercropping of Moringa in coconut lands and monitoring of Jathropa demonstration project. He is also Chairperson of the Northern Samar Seaweed Industry Development Council, Point Person of Community of Practice for Mudcrab of the Philippine Social Enterprise Network, and Executive Consultant of Diego Turla Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Aquaculture Institute.

Helena Chum, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA

Helena Li Chum – Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, one of ten in this group, reaching the highest scientific leadership of the only national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office. The laboratory has 2200 staff in Golden, Colorado. Trained in physical and industrial chemistry at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, I have, for the past 33 years of my career, been at the Solar Energy Research Laboratory (SERI), now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), working in fields of biomass, bioenergy, biofuels, and sustainable development not only in the United States, but globally as well. I have developed and led groups of researchers in the development of technologies for the conversion of biomass and a variety of organic wastes into fuels, including hydrogen, chemicals, electricity, and high value materials. I have directed (1) analytical chemical research and the development of standards and reference materials for biomass, including sustainability aspects; (2) process research, including thermochemical processes of pyrolysis and gasification for many years; and (3) sustainability research of integrated agriculture, forestry and bioenergy.

Eleven years of research covered other aspects of chemical sciences and engineering. My experience has been tapped by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences/Engineering jointly with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Engineering, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to review the Bioenergy status, published last year, as a part of the Renewable Energy Resources and Climate Change. I am a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the American Chemical Society, and of the International Academy of Wood Science. I am a U.S. representative in the International Energy Agency Bioenergy Task 38 on GHG emissions of biomass and bioenergy systems, along with Alison Goss Eng, of the U.S.DOE. Part of my career addresses binational and multinational RD&D collaborations, principally with Brazil, but also with China, Canada, the U.K., and other countries.