Mark is presently Chairman and Non-Executive Director of two private equity backed companies located in the U.S.A. and the Middle East, and has extensive experience of managing operating and investment portfolios.

Prior to founding Natural, Mark led the growth and development of a Middle Eastern family conglomerate; as well as undertaking a number of international technology investments for its family investment office. In the course of Mark’s tenure as Board Director and ultimately CEO, he led the investment, growth and exit of over 30 businesses resulting in a 6x cash on cash shareholder return.

Prior to moving to the Middle East, Mark was Executive Vice President of Corporate Development for Atos Origin and previously Origin, from 1999 to 2002, leading the merger of Atos and Origin (€5 billion) as well as the outsourcing of KPN’s IT, desk-top and consulting services (€1.5 billion); amongst other strategic initiatives for the group. Mark also served as an Executive VP of Corporate M&A for Philips, where he supported Corporate Venturing and Corporate Redesign. Prior to this he led corporate development activities for Philips’ cutting-edge new media activities such as the CD-interactive platform and in-car navigation systems business NavTech (digital mapping).

Before joining Philips, Mark qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the UK with Price Waterhouse, and helped to establish their highly successful corporate finance practice. Mark is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, and has a B.A. (Hons) in Accounting from the University of Kent, in the UK.

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Prior to founding Natural, Maarten was a Junior Partner and Investment Director at PureTerra Ventures, a water-focused VC firm which he helped build from the ground up. His responsibilities there included deal structuring, deal sourcing, portfolio management and fundraising, working out of their Shanghai office.

During his time at PureTerra he led the legal establishment of the fund in The Netherlands, including the negotiation of the first Advanced Tax Ruling with the Dutch tax authorities under new regulations in 2019. He led financing rounds into Ellona (smart pollution identification technology, co-investors including Airbus Ventures and Groupe ADP), SIGA (critical infrastructure cybersecurity, co-investors including Phoenix Contact Innovation Ventures and AWZ Ventures), and Transcend (automated water treatment engineering design, co-investors including HG Ventures and Aspen Capital).

Prior to joining PureTerra he worked as a Management Consultant assisting foreign SMEs in the water technology sector on market entry strategy in China.

Next to his work at Natural, Maarten serves as a Resident Mentor for global VC and accelerator firm 500 Global, where he advises start-ups in various sectors on topics including value proposition, growth strategy and fundraising. He holds an MSc in Economics from Tilburg University and has completed executive education at London Business School.

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John is a seasoned executive coach and business transformation expert who has been operating in private equity and venture capital backed companies for the last three decades. He is an expert in Management Due Diligence, with an accuracy record of over 90% across more than 250 assignments, throughout multiple sectors including energy, renewables, finance, technology, social-impact, manufacturing and health across 25 countries worldwide.

Prior to venturing into leadership development and due diligence, John spent ten years at the UK NHS in various roles, including Senior and Principal Clinical Psychologist and an honorary lecturer in Psychology at Leicester University.

John is a regular contributor to European Business Review on senior team work, leadership development and business transformation and serves as an Operating Partner at Frog Capital.

John holds a BA in Psychology from Bangor University, an M.Psych in Psychotherapy from Liverpool University, and a Msc. In Clinical Psychology from Warwick University

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Next to his work at Natural, Ben serves as the CEO of Isle Utilities, recognised as water consultancy of the year 2021, with over 130 experts in countries across the globe. He is also the Director for the Institute of Water and the UK Chair for the International Water Association.

Ben has a background in science and innovation, which started out with a PhD in Biochemistry. Since then, Ben has worked in the water industry fulfilling a variety of scientific and managerial roles. Ben is particularly interested in scientific problem solving and managing the complexities and challenges of implementing new technologies, strategies and ideas. He managed a wide portfolio of innovation projects at Anglian Water, which enabled him to develop his expertise and scientific knowledge of water quality, water and wastewater treatment processes. In addition, Ben has experience in data management, multimedia customer engagement and smart water networks.

He is passionate about innovation in the water sector and enjoys collaborative working to deliver successful projects. Ben holds a BSc in Physiology and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Liverpool.

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Next to his work at Natural, Stephen is Accumont’s Chief Executive Officer and head of the company’s Advisory Team. Accumont is a leading global Agtech scouting and advisory company with deep technical sector knowledge. Stephen leads Accumont’s Investment and M&A practice across the Accumont global client base and its global network.

Accumont Advisors specialises in the food and non-food agricultural sectors helping identify, qualify and accelerate the adoption of sustainable technology innovations across biotechnology, life science, genetics, and digital tech sectors.

Stephen’s career span’s 35 years across Agricultural technologies , Life science , Biotech and Pharma in senior technical , commercial and company leadership and operation roles for globally recognised public and private companies , such as Sygen, Novartis and Arysta Life sciences.

Stephen has significant experience in manufacturing and supply chain , M&A , Investment strategy and integration and scaling strategy.
The past 10 years have been spent founding and building specialist consultancy and investment advisory practices and investment fund creation and management.

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His work spans digital agriculture platforms, precision robotics, biological inputs, novel farming systems, and emerging upstream technologies shaping the future of agri-food systems.

Nicholas has a background in engineering, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Before joining Natural, he worked within a family business where he gained first-hand experience in commercial operations, strategic planning, and scaling a growing enterprise, ultimately leading the company to its successful exit. Since then, he has dedicated his career to analysing, evaluating, and supporting breakthrough technologies that aim to transform global food production.

Nicholas has expertise in market segmentation, competitive landscaping, valuation modelling, and commercial assessment, contributing to multiple transactions, CIMs, and investor due-diligence processes across Europe and North America.

He has led a broad range of advisory and diligence engagements for investors, corporates, and emerging AgTech companies, including technology mapping, financial modelling, market access analysis, and operational reviews.

Nicholas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronic Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch.

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Milena is an accomplished finance leader with over 15 years of experience across financial services, fintech, corporate banking, and B2B sectors in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East. She specialises in steering regulated, investor-backed companies through periods of strategic growth, leading fundraising efforts, building high-performing finance teams, and implementing robust financial systems that support scalable expansion.

Before joining Natural, Milena held senior leadership positions at multiple UK-based and international organisations, including serving as Chief Financial Officer for Cognisos Group, Accumont, and Netcrate Ltd. In these roles, she led finance operations end-to-end, driving cash-flow optimisation, implementing financial planning frameworks, managing investor relations, and guiding companies through complex financial and operational transitions.

Before moving into CFO roles, Milena built a strong foundation in corporate and commercial banking. As Corporate Relationship Manager at First Investment Bank and Business Loan Officer at Raiffeisen Bank International, she managed key corporate portfolios, structured financing solutions, and strengthened banking relationships across diverse industries. These early roles provided her with deep insight into credit risk, lending, and corporate financial behaviour, expertise she continues to leverage in her advisory and strategic work today.

Milena holds an MBA from Cardiff Metropolitan University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the International Business School in Bulgaria.

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René Savelsberg is Co-Founder and Partner of SET Ventures since 2007. He has 25+ years of experience in technology investing both in deeptech and in the energy transition with a background in corporate venturing and venture capital. René is an open and honest business leader and supports portfolio companies by focusing on the strategic issues and leveraging a great network.

René started his career in both small and large companies as part of sales and marketing teams. After moving to California in 1990 he became engaged in the start-up and venture capital community when shaping Philip Electronics’ external innovations in Silicon Valley and beyond.

René holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Management from the Technical University Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and has successfully led multiple exits and serves on the Supervisory Board of several leading European companies.

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With more than 20 years in the water sector, Eric is an accomplished inventor and entrepreneur having co-founded a number of water (and other) technology companies such as NanoH2O, Water Planet, PolyCera Membranes, IntelliFlux Controls, MembranePRO Services, Hydrophilix, Pacifica Water Solutions, Active Membranes and SpecifX. In addition, he advises a number of other technology companies and investment funds.

Eric’s day job is as a professor in UCLA’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering where he teaches and directs the Nanomaterials & Membrane Technology Research Lab. His research explores the union of membrane technology, nanomaterials and electrochemistry for water, energy, resource recovery and environmental applications – all keys to a more sustainable future. Eric has published over 117 scientific journal articles and filed over 70 patents filed globally. He has written books on Sustainable Desalination & Water Reuse, Oil & Gas Produced Water Management and is editor-in-chief of npj Clean Water.

Dr. Hoek has a Ph.D. from Yale University, M.S. from UCLA, B.S. from Penn State and Certificates in Executive Management and Board of Directors Education from UCLA Anderson.

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Rami serves as the CEO of Metito Utilities, a globally recognised developer, investor, owner and operator specialising in desalination, wastewater treatment, water reuse, and industrial solutions with a strong portfolio of projects across its key emerging geographies.  Rami is also the co-CEO of the Metito group, which operates across the entire water treatment value chain with 4500 employees, experience in over 50 countries and over 20 offices globally.  Notable projects include engineering and delivering the world’s largest agricultural wastewater reuse plant, in Egypt, and the world’s largest sea water reverse osmosis plant, in Saudi Arabia.

Rami has led the development of the first PPP projects in the sector in markets as diverse as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Rwanda, Serbia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, and oversaw the creation of the largest non-Chinese wastewater platform in China. He also leads Metito’s endeavours into strategic partnerships, mergers, acquisitions, and equity investments. Rami spearheaded Metito’s industry-leading corporate social responsibility efforts.

Before joining Metito, Rami was a process engineer and project manager at Bechtel in London, and a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in New York. Rami has an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School and an MEng, MA, and BA in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

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