Staff

Focus

Sarah supports and leads work across all focus areas. She has experience with financial modeling and the design and development of business plans, conservation trust fund plans, and financing strategies for a number of protected areas and conservation projects in Southeast Asia. Utilizing her background and financial and analytical skills she brings a fact based, private sector approach to addressing conservation and community issues. She is also one of the architects behind the cost modeling and financial planning tools.

Sarah recently presented an MPA Financial Management Tool to the Ecosystem Based Management Network.

Previous Experience

Prior to joining Starling in early 2007, Sarah worked for Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) and Citigroup. She holds a BA in Economics with the Leadership Studies Sequence from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California.

Key projects

Sarah most recently led the Nantu Forest PA Network Finance Strategy project. Sarah managed the effort to develop a financial model and business plan for a conservation trust fund for the Nantu Forest in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The forest includes a wildlife reserve, production forest, and protection forest, so the report and model looked at the implication of conservation activities as well as the potential costs and revenues of implementing a reduced emission from deforestation and degradation (REDD) project through avoided deforestation (AD) or reduced impact logging (RIL).

Sarah co-led the Cardamom Mountains PA Network Conservation Trust Business Plan project. This involved a full analysis of management activities and costs for a network of protected areas in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia, as well as the design of a business plan for a conservation trust fund for the protected area network. Working with Conservation International and Fauna & Flora International and their government partners, Sarah facilitated data collection, developed models and conducted analyses, and ultimately contributed to a comprehensive business plan for a conservation trust fund for the network.