Meet the Team

Martin is a visionary founder with over 35 years experience, including forming and leading two Sunday Times Tech 100 companies. His career has included innovation across sustainability, data centres, national security and networking.

Kathleen Draper is an Emeritus board member of IBI and has been in the biochar industry for more than a decade. She has co-authored two books about biochar (BURN: Using Fire to Cool the Earth and Terra Preta: How the World’s Most Fertile Soil Can Help Reverse Climate Change and Reduce World Hunger) and written and spoken about biochar to audiences around the globe. She is the US Director for the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence, a non-profit, open source organization focused on the use of biochar in climate farming, agroforestry as well as other industrial uses of biochar. She is also a co-founder of C-interest, a materials company working to commercialize biochar based composites. She has a Master’s degree in Managing for Sustainability. Prior to becoming involved with the biochar world, she worked for an international consulting firm working on various internal and external areas including project and knowledge management, human resources, and more.

After nearly three decades in the internet and communications world, I’ve brought my experience into the resilience space --> leading communications for the U.S. Biochar Initiative for the past three years, advising partners across the regenerative landscape, and now amplifying a personal passion as a national voice for place-based biochar through the Biochar On Site program.

George has six years of professional IT experience and a lifelong passion for technology. He manages everything from backend infrastructure and custom software development, including our in-house system kilnOS, to day-to-day technical operations. His role also includes providing technical support across the company and training our clients on how to use the software. He focuses on building reliable, scalable systems and ensuring the entire organisation has the tools and stability it needs to operate efficiently.

Oksana Davis is a sustainability and climate-risk specialist with more than 15 years of international experience working at the intersection of climate science, finance, and policy. She has led programmers across the UN system, academia, and the private sector, with expertise spanning carbon markets, ESG investment, climate mitigation and adaptation, bioeconomy, and renewable energy. Oksana’s work includes developing carbon credit portfolios, designing MRV frameworks, building net-zero and climate governance strategies, and delivering techno-economic analysis for carbon removal and bioenergy projects with a strong focus on sustainable land management, climate-smart agriculture, and community resilience. Oksana holds a PhD in Agricultural Commodity Finance and is certified in Sustainability Reporting, ESG Investment, and CO₂ Accounting.

Sustainability and climate finance professional with 10+ years of international experience designing and delivering donor-funded programmes, blended finance structures, and carbon/climate initiatives across NGOs, UN agencies, development banks, and the private sector.

Raised on her family’s beef cattle and sheep farm in Western New York, she grew up with a deep appreciation for responsible land stewardship, sustainable practices, and the rhythms of agricultural life. Those early experiences shaped her values and continue to influence her work today. She remains actively involved in agriculture, still raising and showing cattle and sheep. After graduating from Boston College, Emilyn spent eight years in the U.S. Army, leading diverse teams across intelligence, logistics, and program management. From overseeing 24/7 drone intelligence operations, to managing international logistics, to partnering with agencies and NGOs to support global operations, she brings a unique blend of hands-on leadership, structured problem-solving, and ability to bring clarity to complex missions to every role. Emilyn earned her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then transitioned into the private sector, where she led operational improvements, integrated project lifecycle systems, and optimized cross-functional processes at an experiential marketing firm supporting live events for Fortune 500 clients. Today, Emilyn brings together her agricultural roots, global operational experience, and service-driven purpose to Biochar Club Inc.

Raised on her family’s beef cattle and sheep farm in Western New York, she grew up with a deep appreciation for responsible land stewardship, sustainable practices, and the rhythms of agricultural life. Those early experiences shaped her values and continue to influence her work today. She remains actively involved in agriculture, still raising and showing cattle and sheep. After graduating from Boston College, Emilyn spent eight years in the U.S. Army, leading diverse teams across intelligence, logistics, and program management. From overseeing 24/7 drone intelligence operations, to managing international logistics, to partnering with agencies and NGOs to support global operations, she brings a unique blend of hands-on leadership, structured problem-solving, and ability to bring clarity to complex missions to every role. Emilyn earned her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then transitioned into the private sector, where she led operational improvements, integrated project lifecycle systems, and optimized cross-functional processes at an experiential marketing firm supporting live events for Fortune 500 clients. Today, Emilyn brings together her agricultural roots, global operational experience, and service-driven purpose to Biochar Club Inc.