The Team

CARL BENNETT - DIRECTOR

An investment professional with over 30 years of experience in UK and Global Real Estate Investment, both sitting on and advising boards and investment committees. Prior to Ortum IM, he started his career at Jones Lang Wootton before being headhunted to Hermes Investment Management where he was a Director and Head of Investment Strategy. Carl brings considerable knowledge of all forms of real estate investment including direct, collective investment vehicles, listed, derivatives, debt and CMBS.

He has an exceptionally strong strategic bias having written and presided over the implementation of investment strategies for some of the largest UK Pension Funds, including British Telecom and Royal Mail, which in aggregate totaled some £11bn of global real estate assets. Carl brings a deep understanding of the drivers of real estate investment and how changes in wider economies, locally and globally, can affect performance and risk. Carl has extensive cross collaboration with other investment sector teams working within Equities, Bonds and Private Equity which enables him to adopt an holistic approach to investment and the structuring of his clients’ portfolios.

He was heavily involved in the initial phase of raising awareness in the Industry of sustainable real estate and the potential investment and risk benefits of pursuing this approach. Carl also has substantive experience in evaluating and designing sophisticated financial models to enable structured and successful deal underwriting. He led on a variety of significant investment opportunities including the underwriting of a major UK developer and investor with assets in excess of £4bn, and advising on the opportunity to acquire and manage a number of substantial going concerns including a major leisure fund business.

A significant driver of change in the analysis and management of clients’ funds risk /reward trade-offs and objectives, using a range of innovative strategies including such instruments as property derivatives, inflation linked assets and real estate income strips.

Passionate about working with individuals on personal career development, travel and culture, cooking, wine, entertaining, sport and popular science.

MAX JOHNSON - DIRECTOR

A ‘people- oriented’ RICS qualified real estate investment management professional with over 30 years experience in the industry in a range of roles including investment, portfolio and asset management, development and institutional client service. He started his career at Jones Lang Wootton, and has worked client side at a major UK pension investor, as well as at well-regarded property investment management companies (including ING Real Estate and CBRE Global Investors) on a broad spread of property types, assets and transactions. He has drawn on his experience enabling him to help clients develop and implement their strategies; his strong people and client service focus prioritises close working with investors, investment consultants and independent trustees in pursuit of better outcomes – often exploring new products and innovation.

He has a range of relationships and links across his contacts network, including Impact Investment organisations and investors from a range of jurisdictions, along with investment consultants and non-executive advisers, real estate investment management professionals, and real estate developers and investors.

Outdoors and being active is important to Max, including sport, travel and wildlife, as well as wine, gardening and music. Max is a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Life member of the National Trust, RSPB and Woodland Trust, and a member of WWF and the Royal Horticultural Society

DEBORAH VORHIES - NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Deborah is an accomplished global sustainability policy and investment strategist, with extensive experience in international trade and investment policy and management within the sustainability sector. Deborah has experience across the private sector, the United Nations, the World Bank group and the non-profit sector. She established and grew the UNEP Financial Institutions Initiative to a global membership of 160 and contributed to setting an agenda for the development of Impact Investment, and then joined the IFC to develop and manage a portfolio of environmental investment, forging innovative partnerships with the private sector and IFIs.

As COO of the ICTSD – a global research thinktank based in Geneva – she contributed to the development of innovative and effective policies to promote sustainability within the international trade and investment policy arenas. Deborah is a Fellow of AWEI (the Africa Wildlife Economy Institute) and chairs the European board of Dreams Indeed, a social entrepreneurship investor. She currently serves as CEO of the FairWild Foundation, a voluntary standards body for the wild-harvested plant sector, and as interim COO to AWEI (the African Wildlife Economy Institute), a research and engagement thinktank aimed at supporting the development of wildlife economies.

FIACHRA KEARNEY - INDEPENDENT ADVISER

Fiachra is a former scientist for the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, and also worked in executive business positions for over 10 years. His research focus as a scientist was population ecology and balancing economics, societal and ecological processes. He worked in a multidisciplinary team of agricultural and social scientists and economists.

He moved to the private sector in 2011 as Head of Africa for a strategic development and risk management firm, and in 2013 he founded and ran a successful global initiative for over a decade providing detailed analysis of business and personnel risk, political risk and analysis and in-country support for conservation and human rights projects. His clients included the US and UK Governments, multinationals and NGOs.

In 2018 Fiachra founded Forever Wild, a large-scale social and ecological enterprise driven by blended investment and philanthropy. Forever Wild is deeply ambitious and has set out to create scalable solutions to some of the planet’s most pressing problems – the rapid loss of large, intact ecosystems, human cultures and economic potential for future generations. He has spent over half his life living and working across Africa, and has professional experience in South America and South East Asia. He lives in Northern Australia with his family and enjoys exploring wild places, fishing, good food and martial arts.

Advisers and Preferred Providers

Carbon project development, advice and monitoring

Ortum IM has a preferred provider, who will cover the following scope of works in relation to carbon projects and the generation of carbon credits:

Assessment and due diligence phase

Creating the initial project assessment and drafting a “Project Description Document” for submission to the relevant carbon standard for the purpose of project registration. In addition, our provider will cover stakeholder consultations, any actions required in relation to auditor feedback to achieve a final validation report, and any further steps required in support of the project registration process.

Implementation phase

Periodic verification of carbon credits and any necessary data collection on the ground, which informs the development and production of the monitoring report. Additionally, it includes any actions required by the auditor to achieve the final verification report, and the request for issuance of carbon credits. This may include acting as authorised representative in relation to delivery and retirement of carbon credits.

Periodic monitoring and advisory services

Carrying out, as necessary, any additional advisory work and periodic project monitoring.

FOREVER WILD - Landscape biodiversity and environmental conservation (Australia)

Forever Wild is an innovative sustainable landscape organisation that specialises in the protection and conservation of large, intact landscapes. They specialise in blending decisions around biodiversity conservation and social outcomes with economic activity to ensure a large scale, financially viable approach to protecting landscapes over time. They have extensive experience in low-impact agriculture in rural and remote areas.

Their team’s experience, sound academic and technical approaches, and the specialist service providers they work with, are focused to achieve long term, positive, landscape outcomes.

Forever Wild’s current focus is in Australian environmental conservation and sustainable management and they operate a long term, self-sustaining organisational model.

Forever Wild is a preferred service provider to Ortum IM.