Futuris Consulting
Sustainability Consultants
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About Futuris Consulting
Environment, Health, Safety
Our Team of Sustainability Consultants
EMMA TRISTÁN
Emma is our Team Lead. She is always available for a chat about the group’s needs and development opportunities. In addition to supervising our projects, she is often thinking about business strategy, traveling or thinking about the next episode of La Telaraña podcast. She loves art, going to the gym and watching a good film.
Professional profile
Emma is an environmental, social, and health and safety consultant with more than 20 years of experience in mining, construction, infrastructure, financial sector and pharmaceutical industry. She speaks several languages and therefore has had the privilege of working in more than 40 countries. She has a PhD in environmental geochemistry and worked at ERM UK for seven years as a mergers and acquisitions project manager, contaminated land assessment lead, and environmental, health and safety management systems lead consultant.
For the past 16 years she has been the general director of Futuris Consulting. She has specialized in sustainable finance (Environmental and Social Management Systems, SARAS, climate finance and ESG strategy), environmental and social due diligence (ESDD), and compliance auditing, implementation and certification of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, soil and groundwater investigation and remediation, and safety leadership through coaching and training. Emma is producer of the podcast La Telaraña, about conversations between scientists and artists and has participated in the production of three short fiction films.
MARIELA SÁENZ
Mariela is a health and safety engineer with a mild obsession for keeping up with the news. She is the founder of Futuris’ Reading Club and usually enjoys reading a book with a cup of good coffee early in the office. She is known for her taste for teaching, as well as her teamwork and project management skills.
Professional profile
Mariela is an engineer in Occupational Safety and Environmental Hygiene and holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering. She is Director of Operations at Futuris Consulting and has 17 years of experience executing sustainability projects in Latin America. She has conducted more than 100 EHS audits, occupational health and safety risk assessments (baseline, task-based, HAZOP) and has led teams that have developed tools that facilitate the identification of regulation for different countries in Latin America.
In recent years, Mariela has worked with special emphasis with financial institutions in the design and monitoring of environmental and social risk management systems (ESMS) and in the design and execution of trainings on the implementation of EHS and ESMS, as well as the criteria of the IFC performance standards. For more than eight years, Mariela has combined consulting with teaching for several engineering programs in different universities in Costa Rica.
KAREN LEITÓN
When you call Futuris you will most likely be greeted by Karen, our team administrator. Karen keeps things around the office tidy, with a good sense of humor and her free and joyful spirit. She is always happy to share a cup of coffee and a piece of cake, go shopping or talk about her children.
Professional profile
Karen has been the administrator of Futuris for 14 years, being part of each of the projects we have developed since then. She is in charge of logistics, office management and team events. Karen is a fundamental ally for each of the consultants, providing administrative and field support.
JURGEN UREÑA
Jurgen talks with his hands, as if he were Italian, sings in the shower and hums as he writes. His German name is a false clue to his place of birth: Jurgen was born in a cinema in the southern neighborhoods of San José. Or so it seems. He does not like the sun but he does like photography, he directs films from time to time and is our communication director.
Professional profile
Jurgen has a degree in Film and TV, a Master’s Degree in Creative Documentary from the Autonomous University of Barcelona with an emphasis in Directing, and is the Communications Director of Futuris Consulting. He has more than 20 years of experience in the Costa Rican cultural environment. Some of his films have participated in the film festivals of Cannes, Havana, Washington, Clermont Ferrand, Trieste, Biarritz and Cartagena, among others. His feature films, Muñecas rusas (2014) and Abrázame como antes (2016) received the Best Director Award at the Icaro Central American Festival, in Guatemala, among other recognitions.
He has taught workshops on audiovisual theory and practice in several countries, writes articles on film in various magazines and cultural supplements and teaches at the Film and Television School of Veritas University. His work as an editor includes the CD-Rom dedicated to the Magón Awards, which he produced for the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture and Youth (2003), the weekly magazine La Cuarentena, which published 40 issues between March and December 2020, and more than a hundred texts in various sections of the newspaper La Nación, such as the cultural supplement Áncora, the magazine Viva and the opinion section Página Quince.
Jurgen directed the preventive campaign “Volvamos a cuidarnos” for the National Emergency Commission and coordinated the project for the elaboration of the “Antología sobre una Costa Rica descarbonizada al 2050” in conjunction with the IDB and the Dirección de Cambio Climático (DCC) of Costa Rica. Jurgen is the host of the podcast La Telaraña.
NATALIA BENAVIDES
Natalia is an environmental management engineer. She is passionate about sustainable finance, environmental and social risk management and climate change. Additionally, she has always been attracted to social sciences, critical thinking and community engagement, so she seeks to integrate this approach into our projects. She enjoys a good book or a hike in the mountains. She is a helpful person, willing to collaborate in whatever is needed.
Professional profile
Natalia is an environmental management engineer with eight years of experience in environmental, health, and safety consulting. She has worked on various regional projects in countries such as Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. Her experience crosses multiple sectors including the medical device industry, construction, administrative offices, retail, tourism, and financial institutions. Natalia is fluent in both Spanish and English.
Her primary areas of expertise include environmental, health, and safety compliance audits, Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) assessments, development, and audit of environmental, health, and safety management systems, environmental impact assessments (EIA), environmental and social due diligence (ESDD), environmental and social risk management systems (ESMS) for financial institutions, risk assessments, and wastewater management.
CARLOS BARQUERO
Carlos has a bachelor’s degree in environmental health and a master’s degree in occupational health. He enjoys working with his teammates and is always ready to help out in any project. He likes outdoor activities and discovering new places. He loves animals, especially dogs.
Professional profile
Carlos has a bachelor’s degree in environmental health with a master’s degree in occupational safety and environmental hygiene and is a principal consultant with Futuris Consulting. He has more than 10 years of experience and has worked as a consultant on projects in different countries such as Costa Rica, Guatemala, México, Perú, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. Carlos is fluent in Spanish and English.
Carlos has extensive experience conducting several environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) and monitoring across various sectors in the region. His expertise includes diverse industries including agribusiness, fish and poultry processing facilities and construction projects. Also, he has actively contributed to the implementation of robust environmental and social risk management systems (ESMS) for financial institutions and has conducted comprehensive environmental and social audits to ensure legal compliance. Furthermore, his proficiency extends to developing and implementation of Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) management systems aligned with internationally recognized standards such as ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. Carlos is proficient in IFC Performance Standards.
PABLO FERNÁNDEZ
Pablo really enjoys being at home, but what he is most passionate about is traveling the world. By getting to know new cultures, he has been able to open his mind and understand that we are all the same; appreciate the architecture, art, and mystique of diverse places. He also likes to cook meat, seafood and prepare hot sauces. He likes a lot Mexican and Peruvian cuisine. He is an EHS engineer, and has experience in the design and implementation of programs, systems, and plans. Also, he is a technical instructor in critical risks in various in different sectors of the industry.
Professional profile
Pablo holds a bachelor’s degree in safety and health engineering and is a consultant with Futuris Consulting. He has more than 15 years of experience and has worked on prestigious construction projects such as P.H. Pirrís and P.H. Reventazón for the Costa Rican Electricity Institute. He has carried out the EHS management of several projects where he has developed risk assessments, occupational health programs, emergency preparedness and response plans and critical task supervision. He has worked as a technical auditor on various construction sites and is a trainer on topics such as working at height, confined spaces, and rigging.
He has given courses in private companies and at the Costa Rican College of Engineers and has also collaborated with the School of Safety and Industrial Hygiene Engineering of the Costa Rican Technological Institute as a juror of final projects. He has also been project manager for the preparation of legal matrices for the Central American region, Mexico, and Colombia for a food company, and has participated in environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) monitoring for a company in the agricultural sector in Sonora, Mexico, a company in the construction sector in Honduras and a project in the hospitality sector in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
He also has experience and knowledge of EHS management systems, audits, and compliance with regulatory requirements in the Americas and IFC Performance Standards for Financial Institutions.
ALISE ROJAS
Alise is an Engineer in Occupational Safety and Environmental Health. She is passionate about learning a little about everything, she is very active and loves outdoor activities and knowing places where she can be in contact with nature. She loves going to the gym and sharing the day to day with her son in the funniest way possible. In addition, she loves to share coffee afternoons with her family and friends and she does not miss any opportunity to dance.
Professional profile
Alise holds a degree in Occupational Safety and Environmental Hygiene Engineering and is a consultant for Futuris Consulting. She has developed occupational health programs, emergency preparedness and response plans and safe practices in the hotel and construction sector and other SMEs.
She has been involved in the start-up of operations and in charge of the Safety, Health and Environment area in a recognized multinational medical device company. She has also collaborated with the risk assessment of multiple work areas, including office, telecommuting and operational risks in the public and private sector. He currently provides support and advice to several companies on occupational health and environmental issues. She worked for two years at the municipal field in the country in the area of territorial planning. She has certifications in brigade training, fire prevention, hot work, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, disaster management, development of performance indicators, among others.
FIORELLA KIKUT
Fiorella is an Occupational Safety and Environmental Health Engineer. She likes to cook Korean food, make desserts and dance, although learning languages is what she is most passionate about. Her favorite movie is Léon: The Professional and she enjoys the extended version of Lord of the Rings. In her spare time she likes to read, travel, spend time with her family and take a walk with Paqui (her dog and the true love of her life).
Professional profile
Fiorella is safety and health engineer with a bachelor´s degree, and is a consultant for Futuris Consulting. She has worked in Costa Rica for companies such as Mabe, Align, RICOH, Banco Popular and Banco Nacional. She has developed Occupational Health Programs, Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans, and given training on health, safety and environmental topics. Fiorella is fluent in Spanish and English.
In addition, she has participated as a consultant in environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) projects in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala in desk reviews and field visits. Fiorella is proficient in IFC standards. Also, she has been manager in different projects related to contaminated soils in fuel service stations in Costa Rica.
LARISSA FERNÁNDEZ
Larissa is an environmental engineer originally from Paraguay. Her favorite snack is one of the typical delicacies o her land: mbejú accompanied by a comforting cup of burnt milk cocido. Passionate about literature, Larissa devours both science fiction and romance novels, when she is nos immersed in marathons of crime series or adventure anime. In the workplace, she embraces challenges with enthusiasm and is always willing to expand her knowledge, discuss ideas and shares perspectives.
Professional profile
Larissa is an environmental engineer who brings more than a decade of experience to her role in environmental and social risk management within the financial sector. She has developed, implemented and supervised environmental and social management systems (ESMS) adapted to the Paraguayan financial landscape. She is recognized for her ability to design credit policies that integrate environmental, social, and climate considerations, as well as for her competence in creating sustainable financial products with measurable impacts.
In addition, Larissa has significant experience in the development and dissemination of educational materials designed specifically for the financial sector. These materials cover essential topics such as SARAS, the implementation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards, and sustainable finance and impact investing. Her ability to communicate these complex concepts clearly plays a critical role in improving understanding and promoting the adoption of sustainable financial practices.
MELANY DIAZ
Melany‘s heart has always belonged to the coast and the cloud mountains, even though she was born very close to the city. She studied environmental engineering and, in her daily life, she is passionate about fusing that knowledge with art, so she is always experimenting with colors, music and new materials. She loves spending quality time with her trusted ones.
Professional profile
Melany has a degree in environmental engineering and three years of experience in issues related to waste management systems, environmental footprinting and training. She has provided technical assistance for the implementation of projects to international cooperation agencies, such as GIZ and UNDP.
She has supported institutions in the public sector, hotel and hospitality sector, banking, and sustainable refrigeration and air conditioning. During 2022 she was part of the team that calculated the environmental footprint of BAC Credomatic, leading the operational team in Honduras. She closely supported the Ozone Technical Office oh the Directorate of Environmental Quality Management (DIGECA) in the executions of workshops and actions related to the sustainable transformations of the RAC (refrigeration and air conditioning) sector in the country.
SANTIAGO JARAMILLO
Santiago is a time traveler passionate about cultural geography and geopolitics. In his free time, he enjoys outdoor walks, birdwatching, and reading biographies with a good cup of Colombian coffee. In recent years, his mission has focused on advancing financial inclusion for marginalized communities, supporting organizations of all kinds in adopting and improving practices that benefit society and the environment, and promoting the use of financial resources to develop climate solutions.
Professional profile
Santiago is a political scientist and historian from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, with continuing studies in impact investment, impact measurement and management, carbon footprint accounting, sustainable finance and financial inclusion. He is currently a Senior Consultant at Futuris Consulting.
Santiago has over 11 years of experience in sustainability consulting, supporting companies with sustainability and climate strategies, ESG and climate change risks analysis, sustainable and climate finance, and sustainable supply chains. He has provided advisory services across multiple sectors, including financial, extractive, energy, infrastructure, agribusiness, manufacturing, and pharmaceutical industries, working with companies across Latin America.
