Founder and Executive Director

Fueled by his passion for diving deep into overlooked issues and his conviction that any problem can be overcome, Paul has built a career solving daunting challenges others miss or are unwilling to undertake—a pursuit that has taken him from the marbled halls of Washington, D.C., to salmon rivers in remote Alaska to the heart of the global financial system. Recognizing the need for an organization that could match his desire to blaze new trails, build audacious solutions, and forge transformative impact, Paul founded Topo Finance in 2017.

Paul has built a career replete with professional and academic accolades. However, the thing that brings him the most pride is Topo’s incredible team of like-minded, pioneering experts featured on this page.

Sustainable Finance Analytics

Rebecca is an international climate finance leader with more than two decades of industry experience. Her career includes stints as the chief financial officer of sustainable finance at HSBC Holdings PLC and as the director of sustainable finance at South Pole, where she put her world-leading climate finance expertise to work advising global businesses and nonprofits on all aspects of climate finance. In addition to leading Topo‘s climate finance data and products work, Rebecca also serves as the co-founder and managing director of Seawolf Sustainability Consulting, a boutique consulting shop that works with accountants, management teams, and finance professionals to provide sophisticated sustainability advice.

Corporate Climate Action

Patrick is a climate change expert who has spent his career at the intersection of business, technology, and sustainability. He spent the previous seven years as head of global sustainability for Salesforce, where he led countless innovative sustainability initiatives and was an early advocate for companies integrating their financial management into their core sustainability objectives. In addition to his work with Topo Finance, Patrick is also an advisor to Watershed Technology, Generation Investment Management, and Humanitas.AI. and serves on the board of the Ocean Foundation. Patrick holds an engineering degree from Stanford and a business degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Chief Product Officer

Rich helps conceptualize and implement climate data and framework integrations into the various technology platforms and services Topo offers to the financial space. His 15+ year career in the financial services industry includes time at State Street Advisors, Wellington Management, and Fidelity Investments. Rich’s award-winning product portfolio includes several multi-million ARR sustainability business lines, and his product designs powered over $2T in assets in ESG funds. In addition to Topo, he is a partner at Greenbridge Advisors, advising financial services firms, FinTech's, RegTech's, and climate/ESG service providers on product management and innovation. Rich is a CFA Charterholder and Chair of CFA Boston’s Sustainable Investment Taskforce, holds a MBA from the Questrom School of Business at Boston Univ. & a BSBA from Merrimack College.

Equitable Banking

Quinn is an international leader in the field of equitable banking and excels at finding strategic avenues for integrating equity objectives into financial management. Notably, Quinn championed the creation of Beneficial State Foundation’s Equitable Banking Standards, which provide a measurable, step-by-step pathway for all U.S. banks to foster transformational change within their communities by financing an equitable and regenerative future. Quinn is committed to increasing access to capital in Black communities, particularly in the South where he is from, and he is working on various initiatives to drive investment into these historically marginalized communities.

Sustainable Finance Initiatives

James is a strategist and systems thinker with 25 years of senior management experience in sustainable finance as well as a leading global voice for innovative, impact-focused finance. This experience includes serving as group director of strategy for Triodos Bank, where he managed its U.K. investment business as well as working for a broad range of environmental and social businesses. James served on the Global Steering Committee for the UNEP Finance Initiative, was one of the founding developers of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, and now sits on the advisory panel for the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero and the U.K.’s Transition Plan Taskforce.

Financial Reporting and Analysis

Joel is an experienced financial services professional with deep expertise in international financial control, reporting, and group accounting. During his time with Credit Suisse, Joel served in several senior positions, including as the chief operating officer of Credit Suisse’s global Financial and Management Reporting team. In addition to leading Topo‘s financial data reporting work, Joel also serves as the co-founder and managing director of Seawolf Sustainability Consulting, a boutique consulting shop that works with accountants, management teams, and finance professionals to provide sophisticated sustainability advice.

Development and Strategic Growth

Susanne has spent the last two decades helping transform organizations into dynamic, strategically focused communications and fundraising machines. Her expertise in strategic communications, fundraising, leadership, and organization growth, coupled with her dedication and passion for doing great good, have led to successful collaborations with a wide range of clients—companies, nonprofits, high net worth executives, and family foundations. Susanne is now putting this vast experience and knowledge to work helping guide Topo Finance’s strategic growth and development.

Financial Data Analyst

Charlie is an independent sustainable finance researcher. He succeeds at developing methodologies, processing and disseminating environmental data. He also lectures ESG at a business school. Before supporting Topo, he worked at an environmental consulting firm, helping development finance institutions, asset managers, insurers and other financial players set net zero targets aligned with United Nations and NGOs standards and improve their environmental performance overall. Charlie graduated from a Masters in Management at Grenoble EM.

Strategic Advisor

Blake is a strategist and designer who specializes in building solutions that benefit people and the planet. After beginning his career as a user experience and software designer, Blake cut his teeth at IBM Services, where he developed expertise in design and innovation practices, building platforms, tools, and services for several Fortune 100 companies. These experiences forged a simple and consistent approach that guides Blake’s work with clients: Focus on solving the needs of people first and great impact will follow.

Coordinator/Editor

Joy is an editor and project manager with more than 20 years of experience who has spent her career honing the written word to ensure the right messaging reaches the right audiences on deadline. Her portfolio of work encompasses most types of media and a broad range of subject matters, including multiple climate-related and financial publications, such as The Carbon Bankroll 1.0 and 2.0 reports. In addition to her work at Topo Finance, she also serves as the founder of STET Editing Services, supporting a variety of social justice communicators and organizations in their communication efforts.

Program Coordinator

Lyle is a writer and creative strategist, working at the intersection of brand development and environmentalism. Before joining Topo, he worked at a creative agency and climate messaging lab, helping craft more compelling, insight-driven messaging strategies surrounding the climate crisis. As a marketer, he’s a firm believer in the power that big organizations have in driving social and environmental progress. Now, he’s using that knowledge toward more impactful messaging around sustainable finance.