Who we are
Joël Houdet (Ph.D.)
Managing Director
Joël Houdet is a leading expert in business and biodiversity, specializing in natural capital measurement, valuation, accounting, and disclosure.
He spearheaded the development of the Biological Diversity Protocol and contributed to the Natual Capital Protocol. Joël founded The Biodiversity Footprint Company (TBFC) in 2019 to provide biodiversity footprint accounting services.
His research focuses on refining double-entry bookkeeping conventions to account for changes in natural capital stocks. Over the past 13 years, he has collaborated with more than 50 multinationals, governments, and institutions.
Having lived and worked all over the world, Joël is currently based in Taipei, Taiwan.
Gabi Teren (Ph.D)
Director of Business Development
Gabi Teren is a terrestrial systems ecologist with a PhD focused on elephant impacts on biodiversity. With over 20 years of experience in field ecology, GIS, remote sensing, and research management, she brings both scientific depth and strategic insight to her work.
Gabi previously served as Head of the South African National Biodiversity and Business Network, Chair of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity, and was a lead author for the IPBES global assessment on Business and Biodiversity.
She has led biodiversity footprint assessments for multinational companies across the mining, forestry, retail, and energy sectors—helping bridge the gap between science, policy, and corporate action. She revels in out-of-the-box thinking on complex environmental challenges and for translating science into practical, decision-ready insights.
She lives in Cape Town with a lively collection of dogs and cats and is currently learning the art of winemaking.
Aileen van der Mescht (Ph.D)
Biodiversity Footprint Analyst
While her parents may have expected a career in winemaking, Aileen van der Mescht has spent 15 years in an academic setting delving into the world of conservation ecology. From learning to speak to insects to understand how different components of production landscapes fit together, to investigating large-scale macroecological questions, Aileen’s work has focused on understanding what is plotting in a landscape (pun intended) through the questions of where and why.
She joined TBFC as a junior GIS Specialist but soon defined the role of Biodiversity Footprint Analyst. She draws extensively on her ecological expertise and GIS/data wrangling skills. When not working, she can be found exploring back roads slowly with her husband and dog, escaping through sewing or cuddled on a couch with a cup of hot tea and a book.
Liaam Davids (Ph.D)
Biodiversity Footprint Analyst
Liaam Davids is a landscape ecologist who specializes in geospatial analysis and ecological modelling. His work has revolved around assessing changes in species distributions across time and space, using a variety of remote sensing and machine-learning techniques. Using these techniques in combination with more traditional ecological principles, he is able to provide much-needed information in way that is not only clear and meaningful but can solve complicated environmental questions.
Liaam has recently joined The Biodiversity Footprint Company as a Biodiversity Footprint Analyst. However, when not looking at environmental data on a screen, he can be found behind a chess board or photographing beetles, birds and butterflies.