Category: Team

Jean-Pierre has 20 years background in financing and investing in water and in clean energy infrastructure and in (impact) private equity and venture capital, worldwide. He has been Head Corporate Responsibility at Rabobank. Before he became active in the financial sector, he worked at Delft Hydraulics in the water sector in various managerial and consultancy positions. He has and has had supervisory board positions in a range of companies, infrastructure projects, public institutes, investment funds and foundations. He has an IEP from INSEAD and a PhD in Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Senior Advisor with Unplugged Capital, a syndicated loan fund. Work experience includes being an international finance consultant and senior advisor, an investment banker, and a high-ranking governmental official specializing in various areas of government and public finance, especially as it relates to water and wastewater infrastructure.  Formerly a Board Member on the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB).

Martin is an environmental lawyer based in New York.  He has a particular expertise in infrastructure development and finance.  He has participated in the evaluation, organization and management of pooled financing entities in more than a dozen countries.  This experience began with his service as Director on the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation,  which pool finances all municipal water and sanitation projects in New York State.

Caroline is a finance transactional lawyer who has been involved in lending and private equity transactions in emerging markets for over 15 years. She started her career in private practice with focus on capital market transactions, but subsequently worked in-house with the Dutch Development Bank FMO, the Investment Fund for Health in Africa, DOB Equity and BIX Capital. During a period of 4 years Caroline was located in Lagos, Nigeria.

Maarten Blokland is a civil engineer by training and worked in water supply and sanitation in more than 50 countries worldwide. His professional expertise includes the development of investment projects, performance assessment and capacity development of water utilities, services provision to the poor and the review of water and sanitation programmes and projects. He held various management functions including those of Vice-Rector Education, Deputy Director and Acting Director of IHE Delft. He was a Governor and Executive Board Member of the World Water Council, and was Member of the Board of UNDP’s Cap-Net, of Delft Cluster and of the Netherlands Water Partnership.

Hein Gietema has been working in the international finance and infrastructure domains for over 20 years. He has a strong background in developing and structuring infrastructure funds and projects. Hein advised the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs on several innovative funds (TCX, ORIO, DGGF, WASH Fund). Hein was also appointed by FMO as the member of the Board of the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF). He is Partner in a private equity water fund in Asia, he holds a Board position in Investeringsfonds Groningen BV (EUR 50 million) and is member of the Investment Committee of KIFFWA (Kenya Innovative Financing Facility for Water), a developer of commercially viable water projects in Kenya. Hein started his career as a banker at the Netherlands investment bank (NIBC) after he concluded his Masters (‘with merit’) in Business Economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Before joining WFF in October 2017, Dick van Ginhoven, a graduate civil engineer (MSc Delft University), was a diplomat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. From 2004 to 2017, he was responsible for the formulation and implementation of the DGIS development policy for drinking water and sanitation. In this period, Dick was member of the Governing Council of the WSP/World Bank, the WSSCC and SWA. He held various other positions within the Ministry: Head of Development Cooperation (Counsellor) at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa; Head of the Procurement Division of DGIS and Dep. Head of the Gulf Region and North Africa Division. Before he started his career with the Ministry in 1988, he was employed as Sr. Program Officer Water and Sanitation by UNICEF in India and Vietnam and worked for UN-Habitat in Tanzania and was lecturer at the University of Zambia. Upon his retirement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March 2017, he received the Royal Award ‘Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau’. Dick is Member (Secretary) of the Supervisory Board of the Water Integrity Network (WIN).

After finishing his MSc in Bio-pharmaceutical Science at the University of Leiden Joris joined an investment bank as an intern to gain experience and knowledge in business and finance. Following his long lasting wish to live and work abroad, Joris started his working life at a small consultancy firm advising businesses in emerging markets enabling him to live in Nigeria and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka he developed a keen interest in international development with a focus on the water sector and finance and this has remained the common thread of Joris’ work ever since. Within WFF Joris is in charge of operations, impact and country selection.

Amandeep joined Water Finance Facility in 2017 from TCX investment management company, where she worked as Operations Manager being responsible for Finance, IT and general operations. Before, joining TCX Amandeep worked in various finance – and risk control positions in ABN AMRO.