Thought Leaders
We invite leading experts, innovators, and change-makers to share their experience and insights to help you stay ahead of emerging trends and opportunities in the transition to a low-carbon future.
Michael O’Hara
Co-Founder - Techies Go Green
Michael O’Hara is the co-founder of Techies Go Green and a qualified accountant with a strong background in leadership and sustainability. He previously served as Managing Director of DataSolutions Limited, a highly successful IT distribution company operating across the UK and Ireland, which he led through significant growth before its successful sale in 2023.
Michael is deeply passionate about sustainability and works to support organisations in reducing their environmental impact. Outside of his professional pursuits, he is an avid trekker, regular gym enthusiast, and enjoys travelling to explore diverse cultures.
Duncan Stewart
TV Producer, Architect, & Environmental Advocate
Award-winning architect and media producer, Duncan Stewart is Ireland’s most well-known and respected environmentalist. His activism stretches back to 1969 and, as an architect, he pioneered, lectured and specialised in his practice in ‘ecological building design’. He became a TV producer and presenter and is best known for the highly acclaimed TV show "Eco Eye", broadcast onIreland’s RTE channel, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and also available on Prime Video. For 21 seasons, this hugely popular weekly show focused on environmental issues including climate change, biodiversity loss, sustainable agriculture, eco-grassroots initiatives, green technologies and Climate Change.
Duncan is a passionate advocate for climate action and frequently speaks at sustainability conferences and campaigns for policies that address carbon emissions, pollution, and renewable energy adoption. He has been vocal about the Irish government's response to climate change, often calling for more urgent and ambitious action. One of his main concerns at present is the urgent need to introduce environmental studies across all levels of the educational system. For that reason Duncan became a founder and course content developer for EcoEd4All, a conservation and sustainability set of modules for secondary schools along with his involvement in 2022 in the launch of a new resource for teaching climate change to children aged 3–13.
Raquel Noboa
Founder & CEO - Fifty Shades Greener
Raquel Noboa is a sustainability & ESG professional, keynote speaker & Green Skills Expert. She is the founder and CEO of Fifty Shades Greener, an educational company for Sustainable Development through Green Skills application.
Fifty Shades Greener mission is to empower People through Education for Sustainable Development, so they can support the planet and other people in society, through their everyday actions and decisions.
Mike Townsend
Founder & CEO - Earthshine Group
Mike is an influential business and economic transformation leader, board member, speaker, teacher, and writer – with thirty-five years of experience in business, supply chain, consultancy, education & training, and engineering.
Mike is passionate about sharing knowledge and skills in support of the transition towards a sustainable economy. He has worked with a wide range of organisations, large and small, in all sectors in UK, Europe, North America and Japan, including: Aviva plc, BAA, Barclays Bank plc, Birmingham Business School, British Airways, Copenhagen Business School, DIS-Copenhagen, eBay, Environment Agency, EY, Home Office, IKEA, Life Technologies, LoyaltyOne, Mace Group, Lund University, Norsk Ombruk, Northeastern University, Severn Trent Water, Thames Water plc, Triodos Bank, and many others, including Paul Polman at Unilever.
In addition to running Earthshine Group, Mike serves on an advisory board with University of Oslo, teaches courses on Sustainable Development, Sustainable Business Strategy, and The Business of Change. He also delivers inspirational keynote speeches.
Mike is author of The Quiet Revolution (Routledge, forthcoming), Editor of Reframing the Game (2015), Lead author of A Journey in Search of Capitalism 2.0 (2013). He is a regular contributor for Huffington Post, 2-Degrees, Edie.net, The Guardian, Medium, Sustainable Brands, and others. He has also published extensively in the field of strategic procurement and supply chain management.
Mike holds an MBA from the University of Birmingham Business School (UK), a bachelor degree in Civil Engineering Management from the University of Wolverhampton (UK). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK), and Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (UK).
Gabriela de Paula
Managing Director & Co-Founder, Canopy Creative
Gabriela de Paula is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Canopy Creative, a Dublin-based creative agency specialising in sustainability communications and storytelling.
She works with businesses, non-profits, social enterprises, and public bodies to help them communicate their sustainability impact with clarity, authenticity, and creativity. Through strategic campaigns, content, and visual storytelling, Gabriela supports organisations in translating complex sustainability goals into messages that engage, inspire, and drive real-world change.
Before founding Canopy Creative, Gabriela led marketing strategies across a range of industries in Ireland, developing a deep understanding of how purposeful communication can strengthen both brand trust and social impact. She believes that people, planet, and profit can thrive together — and that the ripple effects of strong sustainability storytelling can inspire entire industries and communities to do better.
Dr. Ing Stefano Mainero
Founder, CEO, EPN - Consulting Research and Innovation Ltd.
Stefano has got a full degree in Electronic Engineering awarded by the Turin Polytechnic University in the last century and has 30-year experience in Sustainability, Intelligent Mobility, Climate Change and European Projects.
Since early 2000s it collaborates with the European Commission as Expert Evaluator and Project Reviewer.
In 2009 he established EPN Consulting Ltd. In London taking care of Intelligent & Sustainable Mobility, technology projects, and Business Management & Growth.
In 2022 he established EPN Consulting Research and Innovation Ltd. in Dublin, fully dedicated to Sustainability, Climate Change resilience and adaptation, EU-funded projects, and Research and Innovation.
Stefano contributed to set up the GEC Sustainability Cluster in 2023 and is part of the Cluster Steering Committee.
Every month Stefano writes the Editorial on the EPN Consulting Newsletters and produces the Video-Editorial on the EPN Consulting Research and Innovation Newsletters.
Stefano teaches Sustainability and Digital Transition at the Ravensbourne University London and has collaborated with the University of the West of England (Bristol, UK), Politecnico di Torino (Turin, Italy), Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Italy), Free University of Bolzano (Bolzano/Bozen, Italy), Northeastern University and Boston University (Boston, USA).
Stefano is a recognised Business Mentor of the “Mentoring for International Growth” project, managed by the Turin Chamber of Commerce (Turin, Italy) (2018-ongoing), and was one of the Experienced Mentors of the "Early Warning Europe Mentor Academy", an European Union initiative (2022-2023).
He is member of several professional associations in the UK (IET, ITS UK, PIARC UK, The Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), and USA (IEEE).
Stefano can be contacted on:
John Barcroft
Founder & Sustainability Consultant, The Environmental Edge
In 2019 John founded his sustainability consultancy and advisory business – The Environmental Edge. He works closely with clients to develop pragmatic sustainable business strategies and practical actions aligned to their strategy, business model, stakeholder expectations, risk management, reporting and future ambitions. John supports executive teams to identify the material sustainability issues in their value chains and then focus on strategies to create business value. With a particular climate change expertise, he provides organisations with the tools and capacity to navigate the challenges of climate governance, strategy, risk and greenhouse gas measurement, metrics and targets. With a collaborative and engaging approach, John guides clients through the often confusing sustainability arena, finding the signals within the noise that lead to more a sustainable and successful organisation over the longer term.
Prior to setting up his own business, John was Head of Group Sustainability at DCC plc, an Irish FTSE100 company. Over his 20 year career with DCC, he led the development and implementation of corporate programmes to address DCC’s material sustainability issues, focused on climate change and health and safety. In his role, John engaged with boards and management teams across multiple geographies and divisions (including energy, environmental services, technology distribution, healthcare and food) on both strategy development and execution. Responsibilities included the implementation of GHG accounting processes, a Group wide EHS audit programme, compliance with regulatory reporting, regular reporting to the executive management team and the DCC Board, environmental due diligence for acquisitions, development of best practice guidance and standards and the completion of external corporate sustainability reporting in line with, for example, CDP and GRI voluntary reporting frameworks.
John’s primary degree is in Natural Sciences (Trinity College, University of Dublin). He has also completed a Diploma in Business Studies at the Michael Smurfit School of Business and has a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University. John has successfully combined his scientific knowledge and business experience to support organisations at varying stages on their sustainability journey. He recently received a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors.
John is currently a non-executive director of The Nature Trust - a not-for-profit with a vision for the future of Ireland in which nature thrives. It’s mission is to plant native woodlands at scale across the country and manage them on a non-commercial basis for the benefit of the climate, nature, local communities and wider society.