Founder & Director of Operations

Azad is a career entrepreneur and social activist with two decades of experience in a diverse range of industries including: Real Estate, Software, Private Equity and Entertainment. As a social activist focused on refugees and food security, Azad regularly visits conflict zones to serve victims of war, IDP’s and refugees in places like Iraq, Ethiopia, Somalia, India, Haiti and Kurdistan. 

Azad was part of the founding team of a CRM SaaS Startup that was acquired after only 18 months of operation. Azad operates several class-B, downtown Toronto properties and several hundred acres of rural Canadian conservation land. Azad previously spent over a decade in the music industry producing and booking over 1000 concerts in 40+ countries for a diverse range of artists including The Weeknd and Wu-Tang Clan. Azad sold and distributed over 1,000,000 copies of artist-owned, independent music. 

In 2017, Azad was trained by former US Vice President, Al Gore and was certified as a Climate Reality Leader. Azad advises organizations, investment funds, and Family Offices on a diverse range of topics including CSR/Sustainability strategies, carbon finance, clean energy, fossil fuel divestment and stakeholder communications. Azad has traveled to over 70 countries and speaks English, French, and Farsi.ext. Double-click this text to edit it.

Forest Management Advisor

(RPF, OPFA, MSFC)

Javier brings over 12 years of forest management and planning experience to CarbonTrees. Throughout his career, Javier has managed reforestation projects on over 500,000 hectares of land. Javier oversees our forest management planning and species selection program. As a professional forester, Javier is regarded by his peers as a forest management, silviculture and forest ecology expert. Javier is a lecturer at Lakehead University’s reputed Natural Resource Management Department where he lectures on forest ecosystem dynamics. Javier has held senior Forestry related roles at various companies, municipalities and organizations including: the Municipality of York, City of Toronto, Canadian Forest Service, and Westwind Forest Stewardship. Javier received his Master of Sustainable Forest Management from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and his Honours BSc. in Environmental Biology from the University of Guelph. Javier is a licensed Registered Professional Forester with the OPFA (Ontario Professional Foresters Association) and certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. Javier is fluent in Spanish.

Silviculture & Planning Specialist

(RPF, OPFA, BScF)

Joel grew up on woodlots in New Brunswick bringing a lifetime of forest management experience to CarbonTrees. As our Silviculture and Planning Specialist, Joel is responsible for the planning and implementation of all of CarbonTrees’ tree planting and restoration initiatives. Joel oversees all of our GIS planning, species selections, quality assessments and ongoing maintenance schedule. He is heavily involved in planting site selection and due-diligence measures required to acquire planting sites. Joel has held several senior Forestry roles at various companies, municipalities and government organizations including: The City of Toronto (Urban Forestry). The Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario Crown Forests) and Domtar/EACOM. Joel has been responsible for the silviculture and planning on multiple million- hectare Crown Forest areas in Ontario. Joel has particular expertise in invasive species management and has personally planted over 250,000 trees and managed crews of 100+ tree- planters who planted millions more. Joel has spent a large portion of his career advising government agencies and working with Indigenous communities on sustainable forestry, silviculture and restoration. Joel graduated from of The University of New Brunswick’s Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management program in 2006 has been a Registered Professional Forester with the OPFA (Ontario Professional Foresters Association) since 2008.

Youth & Community Activator

Kevin brings over 20 years of community leadership experience to CarbonTrees. By using basketball as a tool for community engagement, Kevin has served the Don Mills community with two decades of youth leadership. As a brain injury survivor himself, Kevin spent several years work in the non-profit sector working with various brain injury organizations and charities. Kevin is a local playground basketball legend in Toronto having beaten several streetball legends in one-on-one games. Kevin is leading our community climate culture initiatives.

Comptroller

(CPA, CMA)

Asad is a Chartered Professional Account and Certified Management Accountant with 20 years of experience in the finance and accounting field. Asad has held senior roles with Fortune 500 companies including Pfizer, Kraft Foods, Sanofi-Pasteur and Loblaws Group. He is a financial literacy activist, providing pro-bono accounting services and financial literacy seminars to marginalized communities and non-profit organizations. 

Asad is the founder of The Silk Road Business Club, a member of the Toronto Board of Trade and the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. Asad has deep family roots in forestry dating back over 200 years in Scotland. Asad is passionate about nature-based climate change solutions and biodiversity. Asad is leading our financial planning, auditing and annual reporting efforts.