The DEAL Team & DEAL's Advisory Team

Andrew leads DEAL's work on applied research, data analysis and iteratively improving our methodologies, especially for making the concepts of Doughnut Economics visible from a data-led perspective.

His research in ecological economics has been published in leading journals, such as Nature Sustainability and The Lancet Planetary Health. He led the development of a National Doughnuts Data Explorer where people can explore the results of a major study that quantifies the sustainability of national resource use associated with meeting human needs in more than 150 countries (URL: https://goodlife.leeds.ac.uk).

He is also a Visiting Research Fellow in the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of Leeds, and holds a Masters in Development Economics from Dalhousie University (Canada) and a PhD from the University of Cadiz (Spain). 

Carlota Sanz leads the development of DEAL's emerging strategy. She combines her corporate experience with her passion for regenerative economics to design DEAL in a way that is future-fit. She also leads the early days of DEAL's work with Business and Enterprise.
   
Carlota was co-director of Economy for the Common Good UK and continues to be a member of ECG's Knowledge Hub, which continually refines ECG's standards for business accreditation and transformation. For over 10 years, she worked as a management consultant in the financial sector in Spain , for KPMG, Deloitte, Santander and Metro Bank, based in Spain and the UK.
  
She studied Business and Economics at Carlos III University in Madrid and she has studied grass-roots business transformation, and narratives of new economics, at Schumacher College. 

Erinch leads DEAL’s work on business and enterprise. For over 10 years, he has focused on the transformation of the business world to make sure it is regenerative and distributive by design – exploring governance and ownership models that embed social and ecological priorities.

Erinch’s background spans business, government, social enterprise and NGOs. Most recently, he was the chief executive of the World Fair Trade Organization, a global network and verifier of social enterprises and cooperatives that practice Fair Trade. Previously, he spent 7 years at Oxfam leading campaign and advocacy initiatives, and founding Oxfam’s Future of Business Initiative. He has also worked at Procter & Gamble as a market strategy manager, established a furniture business and worked for Australia's aid programme.

Erinch speaks and writes regularly on cooperatives, social enterprises and other enterprise alternatives to profit primacy. He has lectured extensively on sustainable business and holds degrees in finance and law, and an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University. 

Karn leads the design, development and management of DEAL's website and Community Platform.
 
Their professional background is in game development as a programmer, collaborating across many different disciplines to help deliver projects at various scales. They're interested in using play to help people explore important and complex topics.
 
They're also a freelance writer covering the games industry, technology and climate change. They've been involved in the fossil fuel divestment movement as a campaigner, combining the need for climate action with tangible steps towards a more regenerative economic system.
 
Karn also helped found the game workers branch of the IWGB - the UK's first trade union dedicated to empowering and improving the rights of workers in the games industry.

Laura leads operations at DEAL, with a particular focus on our people and culture. She’s passionate about creating, experimenting and innovating on the question of how a growing, regenerative and distributive 21st century organisation could operate in a way which supports a thriving team.

Prior to this, she has had extensive experience within operations over the last 15 years including Head of Operations at 38 Degrees, and DataKind UK.

Rob leads DEAL's work with people and organisations working at the household, street and neighbourhood scale as well as networks working at the city, regional and national scale.

Rob is most interested in the ways in which everyone can contribute to reimagining the Economy, and works with others to create playful and accessible methods that invite new audiences to engage in the ideas and possibilities of Doughnut Economics.

Rob studied Economics for Transition at Schumacher College, and prior to this, worked for the Co-operative Group for 10 years in Strategy and Insight, exploring, amongst other things, the role of the Co-op in society in the 21st century. 

Xiaoting leads DEAL's work with national governments, policymakers and change makers who seek to make politics, policies, and governance more conducive for regenerative and distributive economies. 

Xiaoting has worked and travelled to 58 countries and has a deep appreciation of diverse cultures and ecosystems and their complex interconnectedness. A curious and keen learner, Xiaoting is especially interested in the practical application of systems thinking and complexity science in reshaping politics and policy decisions. She has applied her strong evidence synthesis, facilitation and project management skills over a diversity of sustainable development issues ranging from sustainable financing, sustainable forest management, agrobiodiversity, ecosystem-based adaptation, industry ecology and supply chain management to political economy and managing trade-offs in land-use decisions. 

A member of the Darwin Initiative Expert Committee, Xiaoting has double degrees in environmental engineering and accounting from Fudan University China. She holds a master's degree in Environment Management from the Yale School of Environment (previously known as the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies). 

Risalat is an activist and intrapreneur addressing the climate crisis, biodiversity collapse, and other existential challenges. He is a senior campaigner for the global civic movement Avaaz that helped spearhead the largest global climate marches before the Paris Agreement, spanning over 2,000 cities. Risalat also consults with mission-driven organizations on building effective and loving team cultures. 

Risalat has expressed his voice on sustainability issues by writing for Dhaka Tribune and the World Economic Forum's Agenda, and speaking on panels and interviews at Davos, CHOGM, and Columbia University. 

Immy is Co-Founder and Director at CIVIC SQUARE. She is passionate about building fairer, more equal and just cities. She is a bold and ambitious activist focused on creating large scale systemic change with citizens at the heart of the work, bridging the space between complex systems science and bold experimental practice in the heart of the city. Immy was Co-Founder of Impact Hub Birmingham, she is a member of Project 00, [zero zero] and of Dark Matter Laboratories. She was also licensee, curator and producer of TEDxBrum between 2012 - 2017.