EMEA

Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu leads business engagement in climate action at UN Climate Change, mobilizing companies and industry leaders to deliver ambitious climate action. She has developed landmark initiatives such as the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action and Sports for Climate Action, and brings extensive experience in international diplomacy, stakeholder engagement, and climate policy. Lindita’s academic background combines electrical engineering, international relations, and energy and climate policy.

Matt Bailey is Head of Strategy at The Desert Vipers, the Avram Glazer owned cricket franchise playing in the DP World International League T20 in the UAE. Matt began his career at IMG, where he was involved with the creation of the Indian Premier League, and has since worked with various businesses in sport and technology, including a stint as Head of UK & Europe at Cameo. Matt oversees the commercial and sustainability functions at Desert Vipers, embedding social and environmental considerations at the heart of business operations.  

Laura Lahiff is Sustainability Lead at Munster Rugby, where she has spent five years working alongside leadership to embed sustainability into the culture, decisions and the story of one of European rugby’s most storied clubs.

In 2025, Munster’s Sustainability Report won the Sport Positive Award for Report of the Year, travelling from pitch to classrooms to international climate forums – cited in the updated UN Sport for Climate Action Framework. It still ripples because it was honest, took people on the journey, and borrowed the emotional arc of a sport season – the highs, lows, setbacks and comebacks – to make sustainability feel like something they already knew.

With a background spanning engineering, construction project management, and post-disaster recovery across New Zealand and England – alongside an MSc in Environmental Sustainability – Laura brings a technical and practical eye to sustainability. The balance she navigates: being honest about where things stand, while staying clear-eyed about where they could go.

Driven by curiosity and creativity, she is passionate about sport’s ability to drive change at scale, and believes this isn’t a stretch from sport’s identity, but a return to it. The work is translation: bringing sustainability into the language sport already speaks – resilience, performance, legacy, connection – and trusting that when those conversations come alive, something shifts.

Ann developed Golf Ireland’s Sustainability Action Plan for 2024-2027 and this was formally launched at Golf Ireland’s National AGM in March 2024.

Since then Ann, together with the Board, Senior managmenet the National Sustainability Committee at Golf Ireland have been leading, supporting and assisting both the organisation and its 379 affiliated clubs on their sustainability journeys.

Ann has over 30 years business experience and is a business and finalnce speicalist from Killarney, who brings a wealth of business and sustainability experience with her and was part of the first cohort of executives to complete a Masters in Sustainability Business Development at Trinity College. She has also qualified as a non-executive director with the Institute of Coporate Governances and gained a distinction in a diploma in Sustainable Finance from UCD/IOB.

Dr Jan Breitsohl is Associate Professor in Digital Marketing at the University of Glasgow, with 13+ years’ experience researching social media conflict, online harms, digital wellbeing, brand purpose, and values-led communication. He helps sport organisations understand how sustainability and social value messages are received online, why they sometimes trigger fan criticism or Fan-to-Fan conflict, and how to respond in ways that protect wellbeing, credibility, reputation, and commercial outcomes. Jan works with brands, charities, football clubs, and governing bodies to develop science-based tools for campaign pre-testing and backlash response. Using social media analysis and experimental methods, he measures real effects beyond likes and sentiment, helping organisations communicate their values with confidence and harmonise rather than polarise.

Ioannis is currently an FNS researcher at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and has worked in research roles at the University of Innsbruck and ETH Zurich. He is, also, a sustainability advisor at Sportad, Founder of The Sports Footprint, a sustainability consultancy that has been awarded the Prince’s Trust Global Sustainability Award for Europe, having a notable and diverse list of clients from the sports industry. Ioannis is a Board Member at the European Association for Sport Management (EASM) responsible for safeguarding and sustainability and has also, developed several educational courses in sport and sustainability for organisations such as the Football Business Academy, the International Olympic Academy and the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has taught across sport management degrees in various universities and institutions across Europe.

Raphaella Gordon-Saker is Senior Sustainability & Social Impact Manager at Formula E – the world’s first B-Corp-certified global sport – where she works at the intersection of sustainability, social impact and major-event delivery across the championship’s global host-city portfolio.

Named to the edie 100 list of leading UK sustainability professionals in 2026, Raphaella established Formula E’s global Theory of Change and developed the Better Futures Fund, evolving the championship’s approach to charitable giving into a locally focused grant programme. The Fund supports organisations in Formula E host cities, connecting global impact ambitions with locally identified priorities and creating a more structured approach to community investment and impact.

Her work focuses on how global sport can move beyond standalone initiatives to embed social impact into how events are planned, partnerships are built, and host-city relationships are developed. She also leads major STEM education partnerships and helps shape Formula E’s approach to gender equity, including FIA Girls on Track and the All-Women’s Test.

Raphaella is now focused on developing more participatory, community-led approaches to major-event delivery – exploring how sport can use its platforms, partnerships and convening power to create lasting opportunities for people and communities beyond just event weeks.

James is responsible for driving forward the club’s environmental sustainability and the community strategies, making positive impact across the organisation and advancing action across our staff, players, fans and in our wider community.