About

Big Room Inc. is a Canadian company based in Vancouver, British Columbia with an office in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 2007 with the goal of making it easier for people to make green choices.

Anastasia, Jacob and Trevor, the Co-founders, are lifelong environmentalists with a history of working with organisations, governments and companies to bring about positive environmental and social change.

Anastasia is from Sydney, Australia and recently completed her PhD at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in New Haven, Connecticut.

Trevor and Jacob are Canadians from Vancouver and Vancouver Island. They are both alumni of the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Young Canadian Leaders for a Sustainable Future programme.

Board

Trevor Bowden, Co-founder
Nick Fitzpatrick, Retired, Former Head of Global Investment Consulting, Hewitt
David Levi, CEO, GrowthWorks Capital
Jacob Malthouse, Co-founder
Anastasia O’Rourke, Co-founder

David Levi

David Levi is President and CEO of GrowthWorks Capital, Canada’s leading national venture capital manager with over $800 million in assets under management. GrowthWorks was the first venture capital fund signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and applies environmental, social and governance (ESG) screens on all its investments.

Canada’s first ethically-screened mutual fund, the Ethical Growth Fund, was founded by David, as well as Canada’s first ethically-screened index fund. David is a founding director of the non-profit organization SHARE, which advocates for responsible investment and engages public companies on ESG issues. He is also the President of the Columbia Foundation and a founding director of the Columbia Institute, which operates the Centre for Civic Governance, working with civic politicians on sustainability issues.

David has provided strategic direction to many companies and currently serves on the boards of Avcorp Industries and until recently Xantrex, a leading supplier to solar and wind companies. He also chairs Verité, an independent, non-profit social auditing and research organization. David is a former chair of VanCity, a leader in ESG policies within the financial sector.

Nick Fitzpatrick

Nick was Head of Global Investment Consulting at Hewitt until his retirement in 2005. During his time at Hewitt and Bacon & Woodrow before it, he was involved in developing the investment consulting business internationally, as well as working with many major pension schemes.

Before becoming a consultant, Nick spent 10 years as the in-house investment manager for the British Rail Pension Fund, having previously worked for Abbey Life and Friends Provident. Outside work, Nick co-chaired a UN committee which developed and now promotes a set of global Principles for Responsible Investment.

He is also a governor and chair of the investment committee at Bristol Grammar School, a Trustee and treasurer of the Brigitte Trust, Chairman of Croydon and Wimbledon Relate, and a Trustee of three pension schemes.

Trevor Bowden

Trevor developed the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative Roundtable series and launched the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) at the New York Stock Exchange in 2006.

He has consulted extensively to the United Nations and international banks on environmental lending and investment practice. Trevor holds an M.Sc. from the University of London, a Diploma in Environmental Studies from McGill University and a B.A. (Hons.) in English and Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario.

Jacob Malthouse

Prior to Big Room, Jacob was Liaison to the Caribbean and Canada at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). He also developed ICANN’s Fellowships Programme.

Previous to ICANN, Jacob was Head of Investment at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). At UNEP FI he was responsible for the Principles for Responsible Investment, the Materiality Series, and the creation of a legal framework for the integration of environmental, social, and governance issues into institutional investment. Jacob holds a B.A. in Geography and Economics from the University of Victoria, Canada.

Anastasia O’Rourke

Anastasia is a leading author and researcher on cleantech, green business, and environmental metrics, having written over 20 reports, articles and whitepapers.

She has twelve years experience in environmental research and consulting having worked in Australia, Sweden, France and the U.S. – previously working at INSEAD Business School, Sydkraft Energy, The Institute for Sustainable Futures, and the EcoDesign Foundation. She has worked as a consultant with Yale University, The Cleantech Group, Silicon Valley Bank, The City of Sydney, UN Environment Program, and The Carbon Trust.

Anastasia completed a Ph.D. at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies on cleantech investments (May 2009). She holds an M.Sc. (Environmental Management & Policy) from the IIIEE at Lund University, Sweden; and B.A. Hons (1st Class and University Medal) from Sydney University, Australia.