
Bodie Cabiyo, PhD
Senior Science Analyst
Environmental Science & Policy + Forest Management
Our scientists will guide your organization to achieve its climate goals with the right carbon management program.
Bodie Cabiyo, PhD
Senior Science Analyst
Environmental Science & Policy + Forest Management
Christian Braneon, PhD
Head of Climate Justice
Environmental Science & Policy + Geospatial Analysis
Lauren Gifford, PhD
Science Advisor
Environmental Science & Policy + Forest Management
Sam Evans, PhD
Science Advisor
Environmental Science & Policy
Sanna O'Connor-Morberg
Senior Client Manager
Environmental Science & Policy
Sarah Braverman
Policy Associate
Environmental Science & Policy
Tim Bushman
Senior Science Analyst
Environmental Science & Policy
Wilfried Maas, PhD
Chief Carbon Technology Strategist
Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) + Environmental Science & Policy
Zara Ahmed, PhD
Senior Policy & Strategy Manager
Environmental Science & Policy
He also leads multiple internal efforts focused on principles and guidance to push the market towards high-quality carbon projects.
Dr. Cabiyo uses interdisciplinary approaches to investigate nature-based solutions to climate change. He has recently completed his PhD in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, where he studied how policy and innovative technology can enable carbon-beneficial forest management. This work bridges industrial ecology, forest economics, and forest ecology.
Dr. Cabiyo's modeling work has focused on the role of innovative wood use in reducing carbon emissions, both in California and East Africa. His applied policy work focuses on improving forest carbon offset protocols. The intent of this work is to promote the more credible translation of carbon dioxide removals to a market context.
Education
PhD, Energy and Resources Group
UC Berkeley
MS, Energy and Resources Group
UC Berkeley
BS
Western Washington University
Awards
Achievement Award
Secretary of Energy
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Presidential Scholar
Huxley School of the Environment
Dr. Braneon leads the integration of climate justice into Carbon Direct’s culture, operations, and services across the carbon management industry.
Dr. Braneon brings a broad range of experience in climate science and civil engineering as well as environmental and climate justice to Carbon Direct. He co-leads the Environmental Justice and Climate Just Cities Network at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, serves as Co-Chair of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, and sits on the newly formed Center for Climate Solutions’ Advisory Committee, which was established to further New York City’s efforts to respond to the climate crisis.
Prior to joining Carbon Direct, Dr. Braneon served as a climate scientist in the Climate Impacts Group of NASA GISS and as Co-Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inaugural Environmental Justice Academy for community leaders.
Education
PhD, Civil Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
MS, Civil Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
BS, Civil Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
BS, Applied Physics
Morehouse College
Awards
Quantification of Historic and Future Changes in Atlantic Coastal Marshes and Implications for Global Modeling
NASA
Robert H. Goddard Award
AXA Award for Climate Science
Climate Action Plan Award
White House
She works with various teams across the company, advising on forestry and natural climate solutions, advancements in climate tech, and the evolution of voluntary and compliance carbon markets.
Dr. Gifford is a human-environment geographer whose work looks at intersections of climate policy, conservation, markets and justice, with particular focus on carbon markets and offsets, climate finance, and climate tech. Her dissertation research connected UNFCCC policy-making with forest carbon offset development, with a critical focus on carbon accounting and climate justice concerns.
Dr. Gifford is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at University of Arizona’s School of Geography, Development & Environment working on earth system transformation with the global Earth Commission. She has conducted field research in the Peruvian Amazon, in Maine’s forests, on Cuban organic farms, at the UNFCCC, and at civil society meetings around the globe.
Before studying for her doctorate, she was manager of Dartmouth College’s Climate Justice Research Project, examining the justice implications of carbon markets. Dr. Gifford is regularly consulted as a subject matter expert on NPR, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, and more.
Education
PhD
University of Colorado, Boulder
MA, Environmental Studies
Dartmouth University
BA, Communications
American University
Dr. Sam Evans is an environmental and natural resource economist who specializes in the economics of climate change and the design of climate policy. He is an expert in computable general equilibrium modeling of climate and energy policies, and has worked extensively on evaluating the impacts of California’s and China’s long term decarbonization strategies.
Dr. Evans is currently a postdoc in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) Department at UC, Berkeley and an adjunct professor in the Lokey School of Business and Public Policy at Mills College in Oakland. Before going to Berkeley, Dr. Evans received his Ph.D in agricultural and resource economics from Colorado State University where he was a NSF IGERT fellow in multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable bioenergy.
Education
PhD, Agricultural and Resource Economics
Colorado State University
BA, Economics
Grinnell College
Sanna works with clients to advise them on high-quality carbon reduction and removal solutions, bridging science and impact-focused outcomes.
Sanna draws on her professional experience in environmental engineering and strategic advisory with expertise in climate earth systems, land use change and climate adaptation.
Prior to Carbon Direct, Sanna worked as the Carbon Dioxide Removal Lead for the Energy Transitions Commission in 2022, for the publication of Mind the Gap: How Carbon Dioxide Removals Must Complement Deep Decarbonisation to Keep 1.5°C Alive, which outlined the essential role of Carbon Dioxide Removals in meeting global climate objectives. While at SYSTEMIQ, a sustainability-focused systems change company, Sanna was research manager for the Food and Land Use Coalition during the publication of Growing Better: 10 Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use (a landmark publication laying out one of the first roadmaps for the global food systems transition). She also provided strategic advisory services to the UNEP International Resource Panel.
Sanna has worked in New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Education
MEM
Yale School of the Environment
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
University of Auckland
Bachelor of Arts
University of Auckland
Awards
Fulbright Scholar, Science and Innovation Graduate Award
Fulbright
Scholarship
New Zealand Resource and Management Law Association
She worked for several years in the environmental nonprofit sector, both domestically and internationally, in a variety of capacities, including project management and external partnership development. During this time, she visited 40 US states and 26 countries.
She recently completed a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. While completing her graduate degree, she worked as a Student Research Officer for the Carbon Management Research Initiative at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. For her capstone with the Natural Resources Defense Council, she managed a team of graduate consultants in their endeavor to develop policy recommendations for managing HFC emissions.
Education
Master of Public Administration
Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs
Tim’s background and expertise is in climate science and policy. His professional experience spans over 10 years in research and analysis roles where he acquired extensive knowledge of the full spectrum of the research process.
Tim has spent the last seven years working in the climate and energy space. Most recently he worked as a Senior Analyst at the Energy Futures Initiative where he conducted research on large-scale carbon management and mitigation strategies for the difficult-to-abate sectors, including carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and oceans.
Tim is committed to applying his passion, knowledge, and skills toward the advancement of innovative climate and clean energy solutions.
Education
MA, Climate and Society
Columbia University
MS, Clinical Exercise Physiology
University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
BS, Kinesiology
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
Dr. Wilfried Maas leads Carbon Direct's engagements with the EU Carbon Dioxide Removal initiatives and certifications. He also leads the workgroup on carbon markets.
Dr. Maas brings expertise to inform investment decisions and provide strategic advisory services to clients. He brings experience from his 32-year energy career at Shell and from his Joint Industry Collaborations on CCS and Climate (IEAGHG, OGCI, ZEP, IOGP, TCM). He has developed decarbonization pathways for “Net Zero Carbon” production and products for different industrial supply chains based on CCS, electrification, and (blue or green) hydrogen and biomass.
Prior to that, Dr. Maas coordinated the technical development of the global portfolio of commercial scale CCS demonstration projects and the organizational CCS capability. He also contributed to external collaborations for the new business development of CCS as one of the decarbonization solutions for a climate-constrained future. In other roles, he led consultancy teams that developed corporate-wide GHG and energy management governance at capital projects; and he was a front-end development manager for CCS projects.
Dr. Maas is the Director of the CCS Knowledge Centre. He holds a PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry from the University of Amsterdam. He is a Chartered Project Professional (ChPP), a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and an IChemE Fellow (FIChemE).
Education
PhD, Physical Organic Chemistry
University of Amsterdam
MSc, Public Administration (Environment)
University of Amsterdam
Dr. Ahmed's primary focus is strategic planning, program development, and U.S. policy analysis.
Prior to working at Carbon Direct, Dr. Ahmed was the Government Affairs and PolicyLead for the COVID-19 Response at the CDC. She rejoined CDC in August 2021 after two years at the Guttmacher Institute as the Associate Director for Federal Issues. Before her time at the Guttmacher Institute, Dr. Ahmed spent 10 years with CDC, including seven years based overseas in Rwanda, Namibia and Haiti as a senior technical advisor, and three years as the Associate Division Director for Policy and Communications in the Division of Global Health Protection at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.
Prior to her time with CDC, Dr. Ahmed worked as a sexual health counselor at an alternative high school in Michigan and as a consultant in Bangladesh on the labor rights of migrant women. Dr. Ahmed has also conducted field research on sex worker rights in Cambodia, health financing in rural Cameroon, and donor coordination of malaria programs in Senegal. She holds a BA in political science from Brown University, MPP and MPH degrees from the University of Michigan, and a DrPH from the University of North Carolina, where she is also an adjunct instructor.
Awards
PhD, Health Leadership and Management
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MPP, MPH
University of Michigan
BA, Political Science
Brown University
Certificate of Appreciation for Extraordinary Effort and Impact
US Embassy, Port-au-Prince (2016)
Center for Global Health Director’s Award for Partnership
CDC (2015)
Certificate of Appreciation for Exceptional Technical Support
US Embassy, Port-au-Prince (2015)