Mission Statement
Collaboration has historically been humanity’s superpower. I’m passionate about orchestrating stakeholders and resources to create innovative future-economy business models, unlocking opportunity.
Biography
James is a leading sustainability strategist and systems thinker with 25+ years’ experience in sustainable finance and business model innovation.
As CEO of RePattern, James supports organisations in ecosystem innovation and sustainability transformation strategy. He led the WWF Nature-based Solutions Accelerator and as former Group Director of Strategy at Triodos Bank, played a key role in developing new mission-led investment models. James is now Strategy Director of Regeneration Wealth Management.
James was a founding developer of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, a member of the UK Government’s Transition Plan Taskforce, Executive Director of Climate Safe Lending Network and Finance Innovation Lab Chair. He now sits on the advisory group of the Horizon Europe landscape restoration project NATURESCAPES, and the UKRI project, JUST Systems. He is a UK Design Council Expert and a Senior Associate at Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership. James is a Director of Regen, and Trustee of the democracy charity Involve. He’s an advisor and investor in climate venture-builder Carbon-13, and a senior Club of Rome advisor. James is a regular keynote speaker on the regenerative future economy and positive-impact finance
Questionnaire
Where do you want to foster change and why?
In my experience, it’s guiding innovation in the patterns of relationships between key actors that drives change. When relationships solidify into contracts, finance and real-world impact can flow.
What or who influenced you during your professional career?
Working with leading social and environmental entrepreneurs who scaled enterprises from scratch. Entrepreneurial energy is a driving force which has the power to make transformative change.
We all have those significant moments or situations (success or failure); which one was yours, and what did you learn from it?
My decision to reject a traditional corporate role after graduating felt like a risk. But I soon realised that the alternative ethical bank I chose was driven by values and it enabled creativity. Rather than being a cog in the wheel of allocation, I had the opportunity to explore, discover, experiment and shape new ventures, which in small ways, started to shape the economy of the future.