Dedicated to unlocking capital for nature-based solutions.
New Leaf was founded by three partners – Mike Kent, Harry Guinness, and Greg Levin – who had spent their careers watching the same pattern from different vantage points: growing momentum around renewable energy and industrial decarbonization, but almost no institutional attention to the role of nature itself as a climate solution.
No financial infrastructure existed to fund the rural businesses, landowners, and ecosystems that hold the key to restoration and resilience.
So they built one.
Nature-based solutions can deliver up to 1/3 of the climate mitigation we need.
They receive a fraction of the funding.
The capital that could fund restoration isn't missing — it's mismatched.
Different types of money have different risk tolerances, different return expectations, and different mandates. Without a financial structure that accounts for those differences, the capital sits on the sidelines while the climate problem accelerates.
New Leaf is building the infrastructure that makes nature-based climate work investable at scale.
And as a Public Benefit Company, we’re required to consider social and environmental impact alongside financial return. This is by choice – we structured ourselves so the mission can never be separated from how we operate.
Our approach:
We fund the full chain, not just one slice.
Restoration depends on a value chain that has to hold together — seedlings need nurseries, nurseries need landowners, landowners need contractors, contractors need buyers for what they produce. Funding one link in isolation tends to fail in practice. We invest across an entire ecoregion so the pieces actually work together.
We combine investment and advisory under one roof.
We don't just deploy capital and we don't just consult. We do both, and they reinforce each other. Our research identifies the gaps. Our advisory work designs solutions. Our funds deploy the capital. That cycle — research informing action, action informing research — is how we're built.
We build on rigorous, original research.
Every fund we manage is grounded in first-of-its-kind sector research we've conducted ourselves, funded by the US Endowment for Forestry & Communities, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the JM Kaplan Fund, among others.
We contribute to the development of the nature-based finance industry.
Through convenings, panels, and sector-building partnerships, we work alongside leading institutions to advance the field, not just our own practice.
Meet The Team
Our combined experience spans climate finance, conservation, philanthropy, federal policy, and on-the-ground land work — including roles at BlackRock Sustainable Investing, ClimateWorks, The Nature Conservancy, and DBL Partners.
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Harry focuses on fund design and investment activities, working to get flexible capital to strategies for land restoration and reforestation.
Before setting up New Leaf, Harry spent a decade at Lion’s Head Global Partners, creating impact investment products, primarily in climate finance, but also covering financial inclusion, education, health, real estate, and job creation.
He built teams in London, Lagos, Nairobi, and New York and was the fund manager for the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund, remaining on the fund’s Investment Committee today.
Before Lion’s Head, Harry combined entrepreneurship, impact investment and sustainable infrastructure.
Harry has a BA from Yale and an MA from Columbia. He lives in New York City but escapes upstate to brew cider every autumn.
Partner
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Mike is the Co-founder and Partner of New Leaf Climate Partners, where he focuses on the firm’s strategy, growth, and delivery of innovative financing and advisory engagements for nature-based climate solutions.
He also oversees New Leaf’s West Coast initiatives to channel more capital into high-impact conservation and restoration efforts across the region.
Prior to founding New Leaf, Mike was a founding director at BlackRock Sustainable Investing, where he led climate product development, analytics, and advisory services. He previously served as a program manager at ClimateWorks Foundation, supporting global grantmaking programs to accelerate the low-carbon transition and advance net-zero food systems.
Mike has authored papers on the low-carbon transition, climate policy and regulation, carbon pricing, and the integration of climate risk and opportunity into investment portfolios.
He holds a BA and an MPP from Stanford and lives in San Francisco with his family.
Partner
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Greg leads New Leaf’s investor engagement and strategic advisory.
Before founding NLC, Greg raised and leveraged blended finance models at Pursuit to unlock transformational employment opportunities for high-need and high-potential low-income adults.
At BlackRock, Greg was a founding Director of the Social Impact team, where he built the firm’s first philanthropic strategy.
At The Robin Hood Foundation, Greg served as Chief of Staff to the President of NYC's largest poverty fighting organization.
Greg’s early career included renewable energy enterprises in Haiti and India, and private sector work in South Africa and Germany.
Greg has an MPA from Columbia, a BS from the University of Oregon. He is a board member of The Hebrew Free Loan Society and Neta Foundation, advisory board member of Project Healthy Minds, and has served on Kiva’s Leadership Council.
Partner
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Erica helps our advisory clients deliver on complex research, strategy development, management, implementation and fundraising opportunities.
Before joining New Leaf, Erica co-founded and steered operations as COO at DEI analytics and communications software startup Pluto, and developed strategy and programs at genEquality, a nonprofit designing nudges to increase gender-inclusivity.
Erica previously advised on corporate transactions across a wide range of industries as an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
Erica started her career advising governments and nonprofits on economic development, community-based natural resource management, law and policy, and equity issues across Asia, Africa, and North America.
Erica holds a JD and an MPA in International Development from Harvard, and a BA from Princeton.
Advisory
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Jake works across New Leaf’s investment portfolio, thinking about the needs and opportunities for capital to catalyze sustainable land use.
Jake joined New Leaf from Better Place Forests (BPF), where he was Director of Land Trust Partnerships and Real Estate Acquisition, completing over $20M in land transactions, developing the conservation partnerships strategy and working with legislators and regulators in over 10 states on regulatory processes.
Before BPF, Jake evaluated transactions at DBL Partners, a $400M AUM impact VC firm in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jake was a research fellow at the Rocky Mountain Institute where his optimization and financial model was the basis for RMI’s “The Economics of Clean Energy Portfolios” and a primary tool for RMI’s Carbon Free Electricity team.
He also volunteers as a project manager for conservation projects in his home state of South Dakota. Jake holds an MS and a BS from Stanford.
Projects
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Frank is New Leaf’s project implementation pioneer, leading restoration and forest carbon projects across California. Frank was Head of Product at DailyDoctor where he worked on making healthcare accessible for our most vulnerable populations. He is a forever student and former athlete who believes ecological regeneration has to happen at every scale, from the individual parcel to the landscape. In tandem with his work at NLC, Frank runs a mushroom farm and winery. Frank serves as a Board Member for Literacy for Environmental Justice and Stanford Athletics. He holds a BS from Stanford.
Projects
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Kunsang is New Leaf’s secret weapon for research and data analysis - deploying across themes to inform how, where and why resources can be deployed for maximum impact.
Kunsang was previously a Strategy and Consulting Associate at The Ogilvy Group where he helped advise technology, sustainability, and philanthropic clients.
Prior to Ogilvy, he conducted Climate Science research at the Yale Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, specifically on the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
As a science journalist with American Public Media, Kunsang explored topics ranging from waste management to wildfires to musical neuroscience. Kunsang holds a BS from Yale in Physics and Philosophy.
Advisory
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Veenu is the jack-of-all-trades for New Leaf’s clients across advisory, research and business services.
Veenu brings direct sustainability leadership and enterprise experience to bear to this role - she co-founded two circular-economy start-ups, WovX (novel textile) and BuyBy (agriculture-tech), where she developed and launched zero-carbon, zero-waste innovative sustainable production processes and products, created data-centric industrial symbiosis impact models and materials for small corporations and governments, and built climate impact mitigation tools for global supply chains.
She was lead data science and machine learning engineer at Hitactics, applying IoT technology to improve operational flows and processes.
Veenu holds a BA in ORFE from Princeton and an MS from Yale School of the Environment.
Advisory
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Noveena supports the Forest Inputs Resilience (FIR) Fund as an Investment Associate, advancing a new approach to expanding the availability of native tree seeds and seedlings across the United States.
She is a Chartered Accountant with experience in risk assessments, financial due diligence, and forensic accounting across global M&A and investment transactions for multinational corporations.
Most recently, Noveena spent the summer at CapShift, where she evaluated an impact investment firm providing flexible debt capital to financial service providers and small and growing businesses in emerging markets, along with supporting portfolio monitoring efforts.
Earlier in her career, she worked at a boutique management consulting firm, specializing in business process management, taxation, business restructuring, and audit assurance services.
Noveena holds an MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia University.
Advisory
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Megan works across New Leaf’s Nature Development Finance Institution efforts, with a particular focus on strategy development and stakeholder engagement in Missouri.
Megan has 15+ years of experience in landscape conservation across academic, state government, and non-profit sectors.
Before New Leaf, Megan served as Director of Resilient Lands for The Nature Conservancy in Missouri, building programs on fire and stewardship, and land protection. She worked at the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), leading field- and model-based research projects across the state's forest, grassland, and bottomland ecosystems.
While at MDC, Megan led interdisciplinary teams that redesigned the Department's organizational model and aligned budgeting to meet the complex, adaptive needs of modern, collaborative conservation.
Megan holds a BS and MS in Geography from the University of Alabama and completed PhD coursework at the University of Minnesota.
She lives in the Arkansas Ozarks with her husband and two dogs.
Projects
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Elea a program strategy and partnerships expert, leading New Leaf’s implementation and engagement efforts to expand landowner access to emerging forestry markets.
Previously, she led public-sector outreach for the NYC Dept of Health and the $25M NY Rising Program, managed partnerships at GrowNYC and NY Restoration Project, and developed evaluation frameworks for programs like FARMroots.
More recently she managed partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits at Paradigm - a workforce equity platform - and Pursuit - an innovative economic empowerment non-profit.
Elea holds an MPH from the University of Arizona, a Certificate in GIS and Design from Pratt Institute, and a BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia.
Projects
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Zak brings over 15 years of public sector, government relations and policy experience to New Leaf.
He’s held public-facing roles for three Members of Congress, specializing in complex stakeholder engagement, constituent services, and community outreach.
Zak most recently served as Southern Arizona Director for U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego. Previously, Zak worked for Congressman Tom O’Halleran and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, where he focused on connecting rural communities to federal resources.
Before entering federal service, Zak worked in education in Tucson and Argentina and city government in New York City.
Zak holds a B.A. in Political Science and Latin American Studies from the University of Arizona.
Advisory
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Brinda supports the Main Street Initiative as an Associate Program Manager. She manages strategic program execution to drive small business growth, environmental sustainability, and localized community impact through research and advisory. Prior to New Leaf, Brinda researched AI governance, algorithmic stewardship, and system-level investing at the Sustainable Investing Research Initiative (SIRI). She also consulted for a global systems change organization, designing an inclusive, tech-enabled MRV framework to scale nature-based solutions and carbon market participation for farmers in Taiwan and India. Earlier in her career, she advanced educational equity with Teach For India and co-founded Svatah, a financial literacy nonprofit that fosters localized economic empowerment for women. Brinda holds an MPA from Columbia University. She recently relocated to Seattle, where she looks forward to exploring hiking trails and supporting local small businesses.
Advisory
How we work with you.
We work with foundations, government agencies, non-profits, corporations, and investors to:
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A family of funds investing in the nurseries, businesses, landowners and communities that nature-based climate restoration depends on.
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Deal-level financial expertise for nature-based transactions that need specialized evaluation, structuring, and blended capital design.
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Rigorous research and market intelligence to ground your capital deployment in evidence.
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Hands-on partnership to design, build, and run programs that turn funded intent into ground-level outcomes.
