Meet Our Team

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Founder & CEO

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With over 25 years of experience in the Canadian capital markets, Lida is the founder and CEO of Cēlandaire Capital, facilitating capital introduction for corporate climate projects coupled with advisory on corporate investment readiness, global policy and carbon markets. She is also co-founder and managing partner of the Global Climate Finance Accelerator, a nonprofit that convenes partnerships across business, finance, government, and academia on strategies, policies, procedures, and tools to finance climate solutions.

Her previous experience includes delivering on strategic initiatives, which included co-leading for capital markets the integration of a multi-billion-dollar US bank acquisition for a major Canadian bank; transforming and aligning global policy for their capital markets AML programme; and developing and implementing a global AML risk management and site visit programme. She was also managing director of corporate citizenship at a multinational auto parts manufacturer and part of the management team that built Canada’s first alternative trading platform and stock exchange.

Since 2015, Lida has been a member of various B20 Taskforces, including anti-corruption, finance & infrastructure, and energy transition & climate, and the B20 Women in Business Action Council, providing policy recommendations to the G20 leaders. She regularly speaks at international government and business conferences on gender equality, women’s economic empowerment, and climate finance. Most recently, she spoke at COP28 in Dubai on climate finance, Chatham House’s CFC programme on the just transition and the News Forum’s EMPOWERED TV show on global women’s economic empowerment.

She holds an HBA from the University of Toronto with a specialist in international political economy, an MBA in international business from the University of Cumbria, where she wrote her dissertation on sustainable finance and completed the Women’s Leadership Program at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She currently serves as a member of the board of directors for Transparency International (Canada).

Specialist: Regulatory Compliance

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Zahra Bhutani is a compliance professional with over 25 years of experience related to Canadian and US securities regulatory environment across Institutional, Wealth Management and Direct Investing channels. She has extensive experience in Compliance Advisory and Surveillance functions; her areas of expertise include:

• Equity, Derivatives, Fixed Income & Commodities Surveillance
• CIRO / M-X Trade Desk & Business Conduct Audits
• Developing Compliance Policies & Procedures
• Developing & Facilitating Training Programs
• Anti-Money Laundering Regulation
• CIRO Registrations & CE Program
• Regulatory Change Implementation

She has held Compliance Director and Vice President roles at RBC Capital Markets, National Bank Financial, Fidelity Clearing Corp. and ITG Canada Corp. (now Virtu Financial).

Zahra was the Chairperson of IIAC Derivatives Committee (2016) and CIRO CCLS Education Sub-Committee (2007). She has been a member of the CIRO National Hearing Committee since 2014 and serves on Disciplinary Hearing Panels.

Zahra has an MBA from Dalhousie University and has successfully completed multiple Canadian and U.S. securities registration-related courses. She was the Founding President of TD Bank’s Supreme TD Toastmasters Club in 2005. Zahra Bhutani joined the Santa Comes to Bay Street Executive Committee in 2022 and is responsible for maintaining their Compliance Policies. She also volunteers on several committees at the Port Credit Yacht Club.

 Specialist: Energy, Accountability & Global Governance Policy

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Ella Kokotsis is the Director of Accountability for the G7 and G20 Research Groups at the
University of Toronto, and Director, External Public and External Affairs at the Global
Governance Project. An expert on summit accountability, Ella has attended most G7 and G20
summits since 1994 and has consulted broadly with national governments on various aspects of
summitry including energy, climate change, sustainability and the net-zero transition. More
recently, she has expanded her interest in global climate governance by attending the UNFCCC’s
COP meetings.
Ella has directed the research and publication of numerous peer-reviewed analytical documents
and has spoken extensively at summit-related conferences worldwide. Her scholarly
methodology for assessing summit monitoring and compliance continues to serve as the basis for
the annual accountability reports produced by the G7, G20 and BRICS Research Groups.
In July 2023, Ella retired following her 23-year career at Ontario’s Independent Electricity
System Operator (IESO). Her various roles at the IESO spanned from corporate communications
and stakeholder relations to reliability assurance and senior advisor to the corporation’s vice-
president of compliance.
Since then, Ella has expanded her consulting practice by supporting national governments on G7 /G20 policy development and has served as a knowledge partner to top consulting firms on sustainability, climate change, and the net zero transition.

Ella is the author of Keeping International Commitments: Compliance, Credibility and the G7
and co-author of The Global Governance of Climate Change and Reconfiguring the Global
Governance of Climate Change. Ella holds a PhD in international politics from the University of
Toronto. 

Specialist: Sustainable Forest Management and Investment

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 Forest Invest Podcast with Shauna Matkovich | The ForestLink 

Shauna Matkovich is a Forester and sustainability expert with 20 years working globally in sustainable forest management, forest investment management, business development and ESG and impact management. Shauna is the Founding Director of The ForestLink, where she advises investors, investment managers and the businesses they invest in to develop profitable and impactful forestry and land-use investments. She has supported institutional investors, private equity firms, corporations, forest companies and NGOs to develop nature-based solutions strategies and implement them to achieve their goals. Shauna’s strategic and commercial approach to sustainability allow her clients to tackle complex nature-based projects across multiple jurisdictions, stakeholders, and sectors for commercial, as well as climate, nature, and social outcomes.

Shauna has a double Master of Science in Tropical Forest Management and Agricultural Development from the University of Copenhagen, and a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of British Columbia.