BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sampsa Auvinen

Sampsa Auvinen, Executive Chairman
Sampsa has been working in the forest industry for 27 years. Sampsa is a Board Professional serving on the Board of numerous forest industry and related companies in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Prior to becoming a Board Professional, Sampsa was Group CEO of Norvik Timber Industries for 9 years and before that he worked at Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting. He has been the President of the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industries since 2015 and a Board Member of the European Confederation of the Woodworking Industries since 2016. Sampsa has a Bachelor’s degree Business Administration from European University and he is a guest lecturer at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.

Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins, Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Collins has extensive experience in structuring and completing emerging market investments and has been responsible for managing and driving the expansion of Miro Forestry since inception. Prior to Miro, Andrew spent three years developing and financing biomass energy projects in Europe; which continue to be expanded by the assembled management teams. After business school, Andrew was a corporate finance investment banker with Panmure Gordon & Co. completing IPOs, secondary offerings, mergers and acquisitions in a broad range of sectors. Andrew holds a Masters in Engineering from the University of Bristol and a Masters in Finance from the Cranfield School of Management.

Ross Barlow

Ross Barlow, Non-executive Director
Ross has been performing senior General, Operations and Project Management roles for a number of Australasian companies within the forest products industry for over 20 years. Ross has led the commissioning and subsequent operation of MDF and particleboard plants, a biomass pellet plant and has led the design, construction and commissioning of a high-volume automated softwood sawmill. In his most recent role Ross was responsible for the commissioning and subsequent operation and optimisation of a new plywood plant, Australia’s largest. Ross holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Massey University (NZ).

Robert Dovlo

Robert Dovlo, Non-executive Director
Robert Dovlo has led major strategic initiatives and operations in Agribusiness as well as in the Oil & Gas industry in Africa, USA, Latin America and South Asia working for multinational companies. Robert was previously CEO, Louis Dreyfus Commodities West Africa, where he led successful initiations and development of various agribusiness investments in seven countries. He has 20 plus years of experience in general management, developing and implementing corporate and business unit strategies, transformations and turnarounds. He has managed value chain investments in Agribusiness and had P &L roles in challenging environments and emerging economies.

Ilkka Norjamäki

Ilkka Norjamäki, Non-executive Director
Ilkka has more than 15 years of experience in forestry and forest industry sectors in emerging markets and particularly Africa. In his previous position, he was the Head of Forestry Consulting at Indufor, one of the leading global forestry consulting companies. Currently he is Investment Manager at the Finnish Fund for Economic Cooperation Ltd (Finnfund), where he is responsible for forestry and forest industry investments, including origination and structuring.

Ben Johnston

Ben Johnston, Non-executive Director
Ben is Chief Executive Officer of AGWA Partners Limited, a UK based family office specialising in alternative investments. Ben oversees various private equity, venture capital and structured fund investments, including investments in digital infrastructure, commercial real estate and sustainable delivery of liquid ethanol cooking fuel in East Africa and India. Ben is Chartered Accountant and holds a degree in economics from the London School of Economics.

Florence

Florence Laloe, Non-executive Director
Florence is a senior leader with experience as a legal advisor and 15 years in sustainability, climate change and business management within corporate, international organisations and NGO’s, including as a CEO. She was Director of ONF International in Paris providing services on sustainable forest and landscape management, sustainable development of territories, land-use carbon projects and timber and non-timber forest supply chains. She has also served as the coordinator of the technical assistance from ONFI to the Moringa Fund, an impact investment fund on agroforestry businesses in Africa and LatAm. She now advises businesses and organisations on sustainability, impact investing and nature based solutions through YBYRA Solutions which she founded. Florence holds a J.D in Law from PUC/SP in São Paulo, Brazil and a Masters in Political Science at Sciences Po Paris. 

Jon Kirby

Jon Kirby, Non-executive Director
Jon served as the CFO of SABMiller and ABInbev Africa and South Africa for 20 years. Jon, a qualified Chartered Accountant, has worked across multiple African countries and is an experienced leader, having managed a large team across the continent. Jon’s expertise is consumer goods, finance, mergers and acquisitions, strategy development and managing people. Jon is currently a non-executive director on 6 boards across Africa, including Miro.