Our people.

Michael Meehan

With over 20 years’ experience in impact and sustainable finance, Michael is an investor, thought leader, and senior advisor to public and private sector organizations around the world and serves on various boards for funds in the EU, UK, US, Canada and Asia. He is co-founder of the Forum for Impact and is the former Chairman of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association, a consortium of leading institutional investors with AUM of over £11 trillion. Michael is also the former CEO of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the largest sustainability standard in the world. As a pioneer in climate finance, he has also served on the board of trustees of Global Canopy, former CEO of Carbonetworks, vice-chair of the Natural Capital Coalition, and is the current CEO of Canoe Carbon, an asset manager in climate finance based in Canada. Michael is also an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, Canada where he serves as the faculty lead for Sustainable Finance.  Throughout his career, Michael has worked with the White House, the UN, the World Economic Forum, and many other organizations in his mission to improve the state of the world through impact.

Lara Leigh-Wood

Joining Forum For Impact in January 2025, Lara is leading from London the operational growth of FFI.
   As a key member of the executive leadership team, responsible for the overall operational management of FFI, Lara has a proven track record of scaling businesses, optimizing processes, and delivering exceptional results. She is providing strategic and operational leadership to all aspects of FFI’s operations, including sales, marketing, finance, and administration.
  It is important to Lara that her work is for purpose led organisations. She is an advocate for impact investment and participant in building a future where financial gain and positive impact are inextricably linked. Lara’s career has bridged impact finance and professional services’ business growth advisory for the last 15 years, in Europe, The Bahamas, Canada and US. Within this remit business operations, client growth and transformation have come with the territory.
   Envisioning and managing the wealth tech platform Miolo, in 2020 Lara transformed the model of Beacon Gainer Group wealth advisory. BGG was established by her in 2015 in London, which she has grown to be a global tech-based business to ease a labour intensive process of assembling suitable teams of advisors, to work on and meet the goals of complex multi-jurisdictional client aims.  
   Notably, Lara has held senior development roles, at the Charities Aid Foundation UK where she was Senior Development Manager leading the growth of Donor Advised Fund clients and in 2011 was Head of Corporate Fundraising at The National Autistic Society. Most recently, at Chapel & York International, she built a Donor Advised Fund operation in the United States completing the project in 2024.
   Her volunteer work is fully focused on the International Women’s Forum (UK) where she is a Board member and Chair of Programme. Previously Lara was a Trustee at Bowel Cancer Research and the Calne Foundation Trust.
   When free time presents itself, Lara likes to travel. Her preference for revitalising is to be in the mountains no matter which season, or continent, with her family, or on a remote tropical island with them and her dog.