New Visionary Council to Guide Our Global Restoration Efforts
Our commitment to restoring and protecting planet Earth requires a range of expertise—from ecology to finance, to legal frameworks—some beyond the capacity of our lean team. Understanding the importance of bringing together many minds and skillsets, Global Forest Generation launched a Visionary Council, a growing, informal body of thought partners and co-dreamers to help envision our next phases.
While not a board, the Visionary Council is a trusted circle of individuals whose bold perspectives and lived experience help guide our mission: to restore ecosystems, strengthen local leadership, and advance community-based regeneration. Members will help us navigate the important and entrepreneurially challenging next chapter for GFG, including growing our Andean restoration initiative, Acción Andina, into a 100-year long endeavor; designing and launching our next initiative(s) around the world, and continuing to ignite and sustain the global restoration movement capable of reversing today’s ecological and human crises.
The 10 founding members represent leadership in building brands, storytelling, growing business ventures, fundraising for ecosystem restoration, and more. Members recently gathered for an introductory meeting to learn more about the Council’s purpose and hear some of the most important questions we at Global Forest Generation are seeking to answer. These include: How can we make a compelling emotional, economic, and business case for investing in the high Andes, for people or organizations who don’t yet know they depend on it (water dependent industries for example)? Or, what should GFG look like when it has its second (or fifth) major initiative? What systems or values must scale with us?
Global Forest Generation CEO Florent Kaiser said asking such questions from a trusted circle of advisors is essential to envision new possibilities. “Restoring nature across vast landscapes and timescales is, by its very nature, a collective endeavor. It calls for bold thinking, a wide range of expertise and philosophies, and diverse cultural perspectives. It is a shared journey, one that often requires more unlearning than learning and unfolds with many surprises along the way. We created this Visionary Council to broaden our sense of what is possible—together,” he says. “The Council will help us tap into the deep networks needed to revive the planet’s most endangered and sacred ecosystems. The name says it all: rather than managing progress, the Council will help us imagine what could be.”
Visionary Council member Angela Peterson, head of Sol de Janeiro Foundation, says that restoring nature at scale requires more than resources, but bold collaboration. “By bringing together Indigenous wisdom, scientific innovation, local leadership, and global support, we can nurture solutions that honor both people and planet,” she says. “For me, joining the Council is both an inspiration and a responsibility—an opportunity to stand alongside visionary leaders who are addressing some of the most urgent challenges of our time. Together, we can help shape pathways that not only meet the scale of the crisis but also celebrate the beauty, resilience, and abundance that nature offers when given the chance to thrive.”
For Derek Wallbank, council member and senior editor for Bloomberg News, joining the Visionary Council was an opportunity to contribute insight and assist Global Forest Generation in realizing its vision of scaling nature restoration solutions across the world. “No matter what decisions are made on future positionings, the idea that GFG is thinking about how to address big, bold challenges—it’s an aspiration I want to be a part of,” he said. “The word Global is in the name, after all.”
To learn more and meet the members of our Visionary Council, visit the Our Team page.
