October 2026

Simon McEvoy combines a background in real estate financial analysis with an academic focus on energy and infrastructure policy. He is currently a Research and Policy Analyst at Paradigm Capital and was part of the 2025-26 cohort of the GCFA Accelerator In-Residence Fellowship, where he co-authored “From Proof-of-Concept to Proof-of-Profit: Bridging the Risk-Expectation Gap in Climate Tech Scaling.

Simon began his career in real estate finance, spending three years as an Analyst both in Project Accounting and Development Capital, before moving into an Investment Analyst role. In these roles, he built financial models and ran scenario analyses for complex development projects across multiple asset classes. He also provided strategic advice to support investment decisions on those projects.

Simon is pursuing his Master of Public Policy at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. He applies a quantitative, evidence-based approach to policy and investment strategy, with a focus on critical infrastructure and Canada’s long-term economic growth. He holds an Honours BA in Political Science, with a focus on political economy, from Western University. He has completed the Canadian Securities Course and Level 1 of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst program.

Ashna Jain is pursuing a Master of Applied Science at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Global Engineering, where her research focuses on sustainable irrigation technology adoption and scalability in low-resource settings. As a University of Toronto National Scholar, she completed her Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Engineering Business and a certificate in Global Engineering.

Ashna has worked on a range of global development projects spanning sustainable agriculture, healthcare, and climate resilience across Canada, Mexico, Africa, and East Asia, bringing expertise in bridging technology adoption with policy and finance frameworks.

As an Engineering for Change fellow, she worked with Synapses, an Indian climate technology venture capital firm, to develop an investment thesis on scaling biochar in the Global South, providing strategic recommendations in response to market risks and barriers to scale. She brings an understanding of cleantech start-up challenges, including raising capital in evolving policy environments, through her work with GET Corp., a renewable energy start-up, and Gro-gel, a social venture.

Ashna currently leads advocacy on Canada-Africa relations and sustainable energy investment through Engineers Without Borders Canada. She hopes to build a career at the intersection of climate technology, policy, and finance.

Willa Dunk-Gifford is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and a Consultant with The Purposeful Group, a social-impact consulting firm working across Atlantic Canada. Her work focuses on community economic development, social finance, stakeholder engagement, and applied research, with experience spanning affordable housing, rural development, sustainable food systems, and impact investing.

Willa holds degrees in Business Administration and Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences from Western University, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges. Most recently, she has supported the development of the Atlantic Community Investment Fund, a proposed regional investment fund aimed at addressing financing gaps for social purpose organizations. Through this work, she has engaged with investors, financial institutions, and community organizations to explore innovative financing models that mobilize private capital and support community-led development.

Willa is particularly interested in the role of public policy and innovative financing mechanisms in accelerating climate solutions, with a focus on climate adaptation, blended finance, and community wealth building. As part of the GCFA Accelerator In-Residence Fellowship, she hopes to deepen her understanding of how public and private capital can work together to overcome financing barriers, advance climate technologies, and ensure that communities share in the economic benefits of the climate transition.

Isabel Duchesne is a former UK Civil Servant who spent six years as a climate and renewable energy policymaker. She most recently served as Head of Commercial Negotiations for Large-Scale Renewable Energy at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. In that role, she led commercial policy for a multi-billion-pound contract for difference with the UK’s largest renewable energy generator, and the negotiation cut the cost of that subsidy in half. She also negotiated a tax exemption for new renewable energy projects, which industry widely praised for bolstering investor confidence. Earlier in her Civil Service career, she led investor policy for the UK renewables sector and helped develop the country’s post-Brexit green trade policy.

Before joining the Civil Service, Isabel worked in international development. She focused on reproductive health supply chains and women’s rights across Africa and Europe.

Isabel is now completing a mid-career Full-Time MBA at the Rotman School of Management on a Dean’s Scholarship. At Rotman, she is President of Net Impact, a Student Fellow with the Institute for Gender and the Economy, and a Creative Destruction Lab Advanced student. In her first year, she served as an RBC x Rotman Sustainable Finance Fellow. She spent the past summer with an energy-sector consultancy, where she focused on data centres and regulatory strategy. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and a BA from the University of Toronto. She also holds the Certified Expert in Climate and Renewable Energy Finance designation from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Isabel is passionate about cleantech and blended finance solutions.

Svetlana D’costa is a Master of Science in Sustainability Management candidate at the University of Toronto. She holds a BSc in Life Sciences, Ecology & Sustainable Development, as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Entrepreneurship.

She brings eight years of experience mobilizing capital for climate and circular economy startups across more than 10 countries, where she helped scale solutions from the ground up. Most recently, she led Strategic Partnerships and Sustainability in the Founder’s Office at rePurpose Global, where she helped pioneer a plastic credit financing mechanism, co-led a World Bank study on outcomes-based financing that informed future Reuse Outcome Bonds, and co-founded the Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty, a coalition of 150+ innovators she grew and funded to advance fit-for-purpose climate finance at the UN negotiations.

Earlier, she worked on results-based and Pay-As-You-Go financing for off-grid solar across Asia-Pacific with partners including GOGLA and the IFC, and built zero-waste programs that cut emissions through landfill diversion. Her work has taken her from waste-recovery facilities and off-grid communities in India, Kenya, and Indonesia to UN treaty rooms and the World Economic Forum. She was also selected as one of 16 global fellows by The Sustainability Laboratory NY & UNESCO to co-design a sustainable development blueprint for La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands.

Svetlana is passionate about scaling innovations for climate action and is drawn to work at the intersection of sustainability science, finance, and policy. She works to turn complex climate challenges into financeable, investment-ready solutions.

Rohan Dayal is an MBA candidate at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management with experience in project management, technology commercialization, strategy, and early-stage venture development. Before Rotman, he spent five years at Altec Integrated Solutions managing industrial automation and precision-machinery projects across Canada, the United States, and China, including first-of-a-kind product introductions moving from testing through commercial implementation.

He is currently working with QV Studio, supporting ZaviQ, an early-stage deep-tech venture, on customer discovery, market strategy, pricing, fundraising preparation, and commercialization. At Rotman, Rohan serves as Vice President of Finance for the Net Impact Club and has competed in sustainability-focused case competitions, including developing a blended finance strategy for a first-of-a-kind carbon capture retrofit.

Rohan holds a degree in Environmental Economics from the University of British Columbia. Through the GCFA Accelerator In-Residence Fellowship, he hopes to deepen his understanding of climate finance and innovative financing structures that can help emerging technologies move from technical validation to commercial scale.