Niki Mardas is the Executive Director of Global Canopy and has led the organisation since 2016. He has spent over twenty years in the fight against deforestation and nature loss, collaborating with leaders in government, business and finance to create positive change. Under his leadership, Global Canopy has rapidly expanded and sharpened its strategic focus on the market forces destroying nature, with a special emphasis on the finance sector. It has developed and launched  major and market-defining data-driven initiatives – including Forest 500, Forest IQ, Trase, ENCORE and the rapidly-growing Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which he serves as a member of the governance council. In 2006, Niki jointly coordinated a water-borne international symposium that took over 200 politicians, scientists and faith leaders into the heart of the Amazon under the auspices of H.A.H. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Niki is a frequent international speaker and media contributor on tackling the growing nature crisis. He has lived and worked between the UK and Greece, and now lives in Oxford with his family.