The Nature Conservancy Expands NatureVest Team to Accelerate Rapid Growth

As demand grows for market-based solutions that address climate change, biodiversity loss and growing fiscal pressures facing many countries, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is expanding its impact investing and nature finance team, NatureVest. This expansion reflects TNC’s commitment to advancing innovative financing solutions that deliver conservation, climate, community, economic, and fiscal benefits while maximizing emerging opportunities to scale impact. 

Since its launch in 2014, NatureVest has built a portfolio representing more than $4 billion in committed capital across more than 25 countries, demonstrating how well-structured investments can support ecosystems, strengthen community resilience and generate competitive financial returns. To support this momentum, NatureVest has appointed Jennifer (Jen) Louie as Managing Director of Nature Finance, alongside two new senior roles supporting its innovative sovereign debt and climate-finance projects. Together, these additions strengthen NatureVest's existing ability to source, structure and close transactions across its strategic areas.

Jen brings more than two decades of experience spanning investment management, private credit, debt capital markets and impact investing, including leadership roles at Closed Loop Partners and across emerging markets in Africa and Asia. As Managing Director of Nature Finance, Jen leads the teams responsible for sourcing and advancing new opportunities across private impact investing and sovereign debt solutions and emerging climate-finance initiatives.

A key component of this work is supporting the pipeline for TNC's Nature Bonds Program, which pioneered the debt conversion model that helps countries unlock sustainable long-term financing for nationally aligned conservation and climate priorities while advancing their financial, economic, and development goals. To date, TNC has successfully closed six Nature Bonds projects now in implementation in Seychelles, Barbados, Belize, Gabon, The Bahamas and Ecuador. Over the past decade, TNC has built an interdisciplinary team of dedicated finance, legal, conservation and climate science, trust fund and safeguards experts to advance this growing asset class. As interest in debt-for-nature and related sovereign debt transactions grows globally, TNC continues to advance a pipeline of potential debt conversion opportunities around the world, drawing on TNC’s deep expertise in originating, structuring, negotiating and executing these debt conversions.

To support this growing body of work, NatureVest has also recruited Matthew Newman as a Director, Sustainable Debt, where he will lead large-scale sovereign debt transactions across emerging markets to mobilize capital for climate and nature at scale. Matthew brings nearly a decade of experience in impact investing, development finance and transaction advisory within emerging markets, including roles at ISF Advisors and Impact Investment Exchange, where he designed and structured blended finance solutions across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

In addition, Heather Bateman recently joined NatureVest as a Director, Impact Investments, Green Climate Fund, where she will lead efforts to develop, structure, and advance investment opportunities that leverage Green Climate Fund resources in support of climate resilience. Heather brings more than 15 years of experience in global finance, impact investing, and international development advisory, including from her most recent role as Investment Director at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, where she led debt and credit guarantee transactions with financial institutions across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

"For more than a decade, NatureVest has helped demonstrate that conservation outcomes and investment outcomes can go hand in hand," said Cat Burns, Managing Director of NatureVest. "We're expanding our team to build on that foundation and scale the next generation of finance solutions that meet the moment.”

“The challenges facing our world today require solutions that bring together diverse stakeholders, expertise and sources of capital,” said Melissa Weigel Benn, Managing Director, Strategy & Capital Raising at TNC. “Working with fund managers, sovereign nations, capital providers, credit enhancers, trust funds, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, TNC designs innovative approaches that align financial and conservation objectives. From private impact investment strategies to sovereign debt solutions, we see tremendous opportunity to help mobilize capital and build on our track record to meet the growing demand for practical, scalable nature finance solutions.”

Looking ahead, this new leadership will help scale TNC’s impact, deepen strategic collaborations, and pursue emerging opportunities.