Our team

Oliver Walker

Executive Director

Oliver leads Mode Economics and has more than 15 years’ experience as a professional economist, supporting clients across climate, public health, infrastructure, finance and natural resources. Before Mode, Oliver held leadership positions at McKinsey & Company and Vivid Economics, and worked as a researcher on climate risk at the LSE and Cambridge. Oliver holds a DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford and is co-author of the Rough Guide to Economics.

Morgan Border

Analyst

Morgan has experience as an economist across the public and private sector, working on climate adaptation, health and fiscal resilience. Before joining Mode, she was on the Government Economics Service Fast Stream, working in the Department for Transport and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. She holds an MSc in Economics from UCL and a BA in History and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Charlie Briggs

Senior Economist

Charlie has over seven years’ experience advising clients on nature, climate, land use and public health. He specialises in helping investors, corporates, policymakers and foundations understand the business value of sustainability action. Before joining Mode Economics, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Vivid Economics and the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN). He holds a BA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Environmental Economics from UCL.

Maddie Cole

Engagement Manager

Maddie has more than seven years’ experience as an economic consultant specialising in resilience, adaptation and nature. Prior to Mode, she worked at McKinsey & Company and Vivid Economics, where she advised clients on and built in-house tools for nature risk and climate resilience. She also spent a year as a World Economic Forum Fellow on the Biodiversity Credits Initiative. Much of her work involves technical quantitative analysis, drawing on datasets on climate scenarios, natural capital and socioeconomic projections. Maddie holds a BA and an MA in Economics from the University of Montana, an MSc in Environmental Economics from the London School of Economics, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Oxford.

Sophie FitzGerald

Senior Economist

Sophie is a climate strategy consultant with expertise in energy sector resilience, green standards, and systems decarbonisation. Before joining Mode Economics, she worked at the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and McKinsey & Company. She holds an MA in Energy Management and Sustainability from Università Bocconi and a BCom in International Commerce from University College Dublin.

Azhar Hussain

Economist

Azhar combines economics and data science to solve complex business problems and drive measurable impact. He specialises in economic and econometric modelling, with expertise in spatial analysis, structural modelling, causal inference and experimentation. He holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics, where his research focused on environmental and development economics, and applied econometrics.

Ilya Ilin

Analyst

Ilya is an economist working across health, adaptation finance and decarbonisation. He builds quantitative models to assess the impact of climate adaptation, from physical infrastructure to financial instruments such as parametric insurance. Before joining Mode Economics, he was a researcher at the London School of Economics (LSE), studying the impact of decarbonisation on labour markets. Ilya holds an MSc in Economics from LSE and a BA in Economics from Durham University.

Jack Owens

Engagement Manager

Jack has more than 10 years’ experience across strategy consulting and finance. Before joining Mode, Jack worked at McKinsey & Company, helping clients achieve their decarbonisation, adaptation and carbon removal objectives. Before that, Jack spent four years at the Bank of England, including a year on secondment to Mark Carney’s private finance team for COP26. He holds a BA in Classics from the University of Bristol, an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics and Finance from Warwick Business School.

Emma Unite

Senior Economist

Emma has five years’ experience across sustainability economics and strategy consulting. She works on climate and health, adaptation, urban development and sustainability strategy. Before Mode Economics, Emma worked at McKinsey & Company and Vivid Economics, where she assessed climate resilience in global health value chains, modelled urban transition for cities across several regions, and advised corporates on climate risks and opportunities. She holds an MCom in Economic Development and a BBusSci in Economics and Law from the University of Cape Town.

Alice Vandermosten

Senior Economist

Alice has six years’ experience in sustainability economics and strategy consulting. She works on climate and nature risk, supply chain resilience, adaptation and transition strategy. Before Mode, Alice worked at McKinsey & Company and Vivid Economics. There she built the economic models behind nature risk tools for financial institutions, and advised corporates and investors on decarbonisation and resilience in hard-to-abate sectors. She was also a World Economic Forum Fellow on critical minerals supply chains. She holds an MSc in Economics and Philosophy from the London School of Economics (Best Performance, Distinction) and a BA from Sciences Po Paris.

Nelli Vanninen

Engagement Manager

Nelli is a seasoned strategy consultant with a track record of successfully overseeing complex engagements. These range from developing spatially granular climate and health decision-support tools to strategy on carbon markets, energy efficiency and regenerative agriculture. Before Mode, Nelli worked at McKinsey & Company and Vivid Economics. She holds an MSc in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford and an MA (Hons) in Economics and Politics from the University of Glasgow.

Alessa Widmaier

Engagement Manager

Alessa has more than seven years’ experience as an economist, leading the development of data-rich modelling tools on biodiversity, supply-chain risk and climate impacts on health. Before Mode Economics, Alessa worked at Vivid Economics and McKinsey & Company in the sustainability practice. She is working towards a PhD in Economics at the University of Cambridge and holds an MPhil in Economic Research from the University of Cambridge.