AI Meets Climate Project Finance Expertise

About Us

SPONSOR’s team of project finance experts, AI engineers, and data scientists, are committed to streamline climate deal structuring to enable the industry to scale.

Mobilizing capital to meet the climate funding gap at the pace needed requires expert knowledge combined with the latest technology. SPONSOR offers a collaborative, scalable solution.

Meet Our Co-Founders

Our team experience includes past involvement often as financial advisor, lender or deal lead in dozens of deals.

Involvement in Climate Mitigation Projects

Meet the Team

  • Dana MacKinnon

    Head of Financial Institutions & Lending

    •20 years in Banking

    •10 years in Project Finance and Aviation

    •Group Head and Team Leader

    •Relationship Management and Originations

    •Project finance lender for various asset  types: Renewable Energy | Critical Infrastructure| Data Centers

    •Thunderbird, MBA | Saint Michael’s College, MA | UMASS, Amherst, BA.

  • Seun Oloruntimehin

    Chief Legal Officer

    •16+ years Global Experience in Legal, Finance and Compliance

    •14+ years as Legal Executive, Corporate Secretary and Arbitrator

    •Board Member and Strategic Advisor to SMEs

    •MIPAD Top 100 in support of the United Nations

    •Chair, UN Working Group on SGDs and Sustainability, UNGCN

    •Advisory Board Member, Axiom Law

    •Faculty Member and Fellow, Chartered institute of Arbitrators

    •University College London | New York Bar

  • Ugochukwu Ihejirika

    Ugochukwu Ihejirika

    Chief Risk Officer

    •17-years in banking;  audit, compliance and risk 

    •Climate finance

    •KYC / EDD expert

    •CFT / AML investigation

    • 5 years on NGO advisory boards

    •Fraud investigation | Sanctions screening | Regulatory reporting

    •Compliance risk assessment and monitoring

    •Project monitoring and evaluation

    •Imo State University (B.S., Economics); Benue State University M.S., International Relations and Strategic Studies; M.S., Development Studies); Dong-A University PhD, (ABD) Philosophy in Public Policy

  • Goran Mickovski

    Chief Advisor

    •20 years in finance and law

    •5 years with fintech/banking/tech start-ups as director 

    •4 years in government as minister for FDI

    •Expertise in sourcing finance/fundraising

    •Policy development

    •Business development

    •Risk and regulatory compliance management

    •University of Melbourne

  • Mahfuzur Rahman

    Head of Bangladesh

    •15 years in Urban Planning & Architecture

    •Business development, marketing, advertising for corporations, innovative startups, and global brands

    •Investment structuring and financial planning

    •Investment advisor on trade finance, project funding, and corporate investment solutions 

  • Tantra Wardhana SPONSOR Project Finance

    Tantra Wardhana 

    Project Finance Team

    15 years in Green Development

    Project Finance Origination

    Carbon Avoidance in Green Project Development

    ESG, Environmental and Social Safeguard, Biomass Project Development, environmental Preservation, indigenous People Plan

  • Shinta Romadewanti SPONSOR Project Finance Team

    Shinta Romadewanti

    Project Finance Team

    4+ years in Commercial Banking (Credit Risk, Portfolio, and Relationship Management) & Investment Banking

    Consulting Project with the United Nations Environment Programme-Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) on Climate Mitigation Strategy

    Experienced in Equity Research & Financial Modelling

    Investment Services AI Domain Expert

    Masters in finance, University of Cambridge

  • Ashwini Jaiswal

    Project Finance Associate

    Advanced financial modelling for energy and infrastructure projects

    Expertise in debt structuring, DSCR/LLCR analysis, and project valuation

    Experience with PPP frameworks, ECA financing structures, and investment analysis

    Strong Excel modelling, scenario analysis, and financial forecasting capabilities

    Master in Finance – IE Business School

    Strong interest in global infrastructure investments and energy transition

  • Armando Sultan

    Armando Sultan

    Senior Graphic Designer

    •15+ years in Graphic Design

    •5+ years in Finance Design

    •3+ years in Energy

    •4+ years in Commercial Real Estate

    •JLL | Bank of America | UBS | PSE&G

    •BA in Design from New Jersey City University

  • Farnoosh Khodakami

    Farnoosh Khodakami

    Senior AI Engineer

    •15+ years in Software Engineering

    •8+ years in Machine Learning & AI

    •Generative AI, MLOps, Graph Analytics, Biotech & Enterprise AI applications

    •Computer Vision, NLP, and Multimodal AI, Scalable AI infrastructure and high-performance computing

    •Ph.D. in Computer Science , Amir Kabir University

  • Hamish Anderson Software Engineer

    Hamish Anderson

    Software Engineer

    •10 years in Software Engineering

    •2 years Engineering Manager

    •0-1 Specialist

    •Cloud Architect

    •University of Sydney

  • Jaleel McDowell

    Software Engineer

    •12 years in Game & Software Engineering

    •5 years in multiple start-up environments

    •2 years as Lead Software Engineering Manager

    •Expert in full-stack development

    •Experienced in mobile development

    •Experienced in developing 0-1 scalable software.

    •Experienced in DevOps and server architecture

  • Nipunika Kabadi

    Product Manager

    •12 years in financial technology global product management

    •10 years in technology development

    •5 year Entrepreneur

    •MBA certification, Rutgers University

    •BA Computer Science, Rutgers University

  • Kelechi Uzoma

    Kelechi Uzoma

    Product Manager


    18+ years in Financial Services, FinTech & SaaS

    15+ years in Digital Product & Program Management

    Product Strategy & Delivery | Digital Experience & Transformation | Product-Led Growth

    Regulatory Technology | Data Governance | Developer Experience

    Business Architecture | GTM Strategy | UX Research 

    Smith MSc (Queen’s University), Digital Product Management

    MBA, University of Leicester

  • Lateef Yang GQ Engineer

    Lateef Yang

    QA Engineer

    •5+ years in QA Engineering

    •15+ years in Software Engineering

    •Test automation specialist

    •BS Math in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo

  • Nick Jang

    Nick Jang

    Software Engineer

    •10+ years in SaaS Engineering & Development

    •5+ years in Healthcare & Fintech Enterprise Solutions

    •5+ years in Geospatial & Cloud Innovation Development

    •3+ years in Technology & Engineering Leadership

    •BS in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University

  • Haylemicheal Mekonnen

    Software Engineer

    •5 years in Software Engineering

    •Expert in coding and developing AI applications

    •Completed 10 Academy’s Data Engineering, Machine Learning, and Web 3 program.

    •BA Computer Engineering, Addis Ababa Science & Technology University

  • Misganaw Mekennen

    Software Engineer

    •3 years in Software Engineering

    •Good at both front-end and back-end development.

    •Completed 10 Academy's Data Enginering,

    •Machine learning and Generative AI program.

    •BA in Electrical and computer engineering

Organization Chart

Organization Chart for Committees

Meet Our Advisors

  • Mike Barrow

    Senior Advisor

    38+ years in project finance, corporate finance, development finance

    18 years at the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

    PF advisory, PF sponsor, capital markets, & restructuring

    Infrastructure, energy, financial institutions, & climate finance

    Regional expertise in Asia-Pacific, Europe, MENA

    Morgan Grenfell | Deutsche Bank | Asian Development Bank| Itochu Corporation | SMBC 

    Asia Climate Partners Fund – Board member

    InfraBlocks Capital – Advisory Board member

    Seraya Partners – Senior Advisor

  • Takamitsu Ito

    Senior Advisor, Japan

    20 years in Information Technology

    14 years as C-level executive – COO, CFO, Country Manager both in the US and Japan

    7 years in Corporate Finance – in Start-ups and Public Companies.

    Ex-Investment Banker – M&A

    MBA from Thunderbirds, Global School of Management

    BS in Finance and Information System from New York University

  • Ryan Galloway

    VC Advisor

    17 years in Financial Services

    Country Director Funding Societies Vietnam

    Serial start-up veteran

    CFO, Board Member, or Advisor to many start-ups

    Multiple successful IPOs and exits

    MBA & JD Law & Finance

  • Peter Attanasio

    KYC Advisor

    49 years of experience in the banking industry

    10 years AML | KYC | Regulatory Operations | Client Onboarding

    25 years sales middle market relationship management, 8 years domestic & international correspondent banking, U.S. regulatory consent JPMorgan Chase | Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. | Apple Bank | Ridgewood Savings Bank

    St. John's University MBA & BS

    Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist 

  • Cristina Palade

    Senior Advisor

    15+ years in project finance, structured finance, and infrastructure advisory

    Origination, underwriting, and execution of complex cross-border transactions

    PF advisory, capital expenditure programs, & public procurement

    Power, utilities, renewables, transport, & social infrastructure

    Regional expertise in Europe, UK, and cross-border deals into Africa, Asia & MENA

    Swiss Export Credit Risk Insurance | Credit Suisse | European Investment Bank | Mizuho Bank | KPMG

    MBA from Warwick Business School

SPONSOR is being built by experts in finance, renewable energy, machine learning and technology.

Discover opportunities to join our team