A seasoned team
Senior-level experts with extensive operational experience across all major industry sectors.
Advisors for a changing world
What Sets Us Apart
The Nature Collective advises public and private sector clients on integrating nature into decision-making, planning, and development. We blend operational know-how with policy expertise to tackle complex challenges through:
Clear, actionable solutions
Cutting through complexity with pragmatic strategies tailored to your organization.
Multidisciplinary insight
Merging conservation science, environmental management, and social considerations to deliver integrated approaches.
Trusted collaboration
Extensive networks across industry, development finance institutions, conservation and research.
Policy-to-practice leadership
Proven success in global policy, partnerships, and negotiations in complex, multi-stakeholder settings.
Guiding Principles
We believe in the intrinsic value of nature and the inherent relationship between people and the natural world. These principles guide our work:
Responsible growth
Development thrives when nature is considered thoughtfully.
Sound judgment
Good decisions are grounded in evidence, experience, and balanced perspectives.
Simplicity with insight
The simplest approaches are sometimes the most effective.
Creativity
New ideas emerge through intellectual engagement, persistent dedication, and open exchange.
Policy-to-practice leadership
Shared purpose and trust are foundational to every client engagement.
Our Work
The Nature Collective, LLC is a collaborative model
The Nature Collective designs every engagement to deliver exactly what each project needs. We operate through a flexible, collaborative model built on decades of global expertise and an exceptional network of trusted experts.
Our lean core team is composed of senior specialists with the skills to tackle complex challenges in diverse contexts. When projects call for additional expertise, we assemble tailored teams—partnering with leading biodiversity, environmental, social, and industry specialists and groups—to deliver solutions for our clients.
Our Team
Lori Anna Conzo
Founder
With more than two decades of experience in over 60 countries in emerging markets, Lori has advised on some of the most complex infrastructure, extractives, renewable energy, and agribusiness projects globally. She works at the intersection of conservation, industry, and finance, helping clients navigate trade-offs and integrate nature into development in line with international standards.
As the lead author of the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Performance Standard 6: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources (2012) and architect of its biodiversity practice, Lori established the framework that shaped how lenders and industry approach biodiversity risk globally. During her tenure at IFC, she built and led the institution’s biodiversity practice and directed biodiversity strategy across IFC’s global portfolio.
Moving beyond a project-level focus, Lori was an early pioneer in developing landscape-scale and sectoral initiatives, integrating biodiversity and social considerations into spatial and sector planning in Jordan, Serbia, Pakistan, and Ethiopia, as well as through IFC’s Global Landscape Advisory Program and Scaling Wind initiative.
Bringing experience across policy, implementation, and strategy, Lori bridges perspectives across diverse stakeholder groups. She has also co-authored the World Bank Group’s Nature Finance Tracking Methodology and advised on its application across the institution.
Through The Nature Collective, she supports clients in aligning development goals with conservation priorities, bringing practical judgment and a balanced perspective to decision-making in high-stakes environments.
Jennifer Hruza
Principal / Founding Team
For more than 20 years, Jennifer has advised private sector and government clients on environmental and social risk management and enhancing sustainability outcomes for infrastructure projects in more than 40 countries. An environmental specialist with an interdisciplinary background, she has in-depth knowledge of the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Performance Standard 6, as a long-standing advisor on its application and as a specialist in IFC’s biodiversity practice group. At the project level, she has played a lead technical role in the design and implementation of biodiversity management programs aligned with international good practice. Jennifer has implemented lender standards in varied geographical and industry contexts, serving as lead environmental and social specialist on high-risk projects, managing multidisciplinary teams through all stages of a project lifecycle. Her project portfolio includes extractives, power transmission and distribution, renewable energy, social infrastructure, transport, and water supply and sanitation.
She has significant experience advising governments on project preparation, transaction structuring and competitive tenders that integrate environmental and social risk management in line with good international industry practice. This includes public-private partnerships to deliver essential infrastructure and services in emerging markets. She has worked for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, IFC, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and the World Bank.
Through The Nature Collective, Jennifer supports clients in structuring programs and projects that align with international requirements and integrate environmental and social considerations at the earliest stages of development.
Amalia Fernandez Bilbao
Principal / Founding Team
Amalia Fernandez Bilbao is a senior biodiversity and E&S specialist with over 20 years of experience supporting private-sector clients in managing biodiversity risks and implementing international lender standards in emerging markets. For the last 12 years, she has served as a biodiversity specialist to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and the World Bank, leading due diligence, biodiversity risk assessment, mitigation and offset design, and the supervision of high-risk investments, with extensive field experience across Africa and Latin America.
Her work spans mining, agribusiness, infrastructure, hydropower, and financial institutions, combining technical depth with hands-on delivery in high-risk and resource-constrained settings. She has also contributed to the World Bank Group’s nature finance initiatives. Amalia is recognized for her work in training, facilitation, and capacity building—designing and delivering practical programs that help clients and project teams translate biodiversity requirements into workable actions. She is also an experienced project manager. Fluent in Spanish, English, and French, she brings a collaborative and culturally attuned approach to stakeholder engagement. Prior to her advisory work with the World Bank Group, she served as Senior Biodiversity and E&S Advisor to Rio Tinto on the Simandou iron ore, rail, and port development in Guinea.
Through The Nature Collective, Amalia supports clients in implementing biodiversity strategies and meeting international standards, with a focus on delivering practical, field-based solutions in challenging project contexts.
Simon Hulka
Advisor
Simon Hulka is an ecologist with over 30 years of experience supporting large-scale infrastructure and renewable energy projects. As an advisor to The Nature Collective, he brings deep technical expertise at the interface of ecological science and project delivery, helping clients apply evidence-based approaches that are proportionate, defensible, and aligned with project timelines, financing requirements, and regulatory expectations.
Simon has worked extensively with international financial institutions, governments, and developers on renewable energy projects, contributing to both project-level assessments and national and regional planning initiatives where biodiversity considerations must be balanced with development objectives.
He has played a leading role in developing and applying methodologies for assessing cumulative impacts in the wind energy sector, including in Egypt, Jordan, Serbia, and Pakistan. Known for his strong scientific grounding and clear, impartial approach, Simon provides rigorous analysis and practical guidance to support decision-making. He has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications advancing international good practice in biodiversity risk management, particularly in relation to wind energy and its impacts on bird populations.
Prior to his advisory work, Simon spent a decade as a research ecologist, focusing on the monitoring and assessment of potential impacts of onshore and offshore wind, wave, and tidal energy projects on birds.
At The Nature Collective, Simon focuses on biodiversity risk assessment, including offset feasibility and design, biodiversity management approaches, and cumulative impact analysis across project and landscape scales.
Nilay Aygüney
Principal / Founding Team
Nilay Aygüney is a biodiversity specialist with more than 15 years of experience supporting infrastructure, renewable energy, mining, hydropower, and agribusiness projects across Europe, the South Caucasus, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Combining a strong scientific background with extensive project experience, she helps clients translate biodiversity science, policy, and international standards into practical approaches for managing biodiversity risks and impacts.
Her work spans biodiversity risk screening, biodiversity impact assessment, Critical Habitat assessment, supply chain due diligence, biodiversity action planning, and the design of mitigation and conservation measures aligned with international standards and global frameworks. She has worked across consulting, international finance, and project implementation roles, helping multidisciplinary teams navigate biodiversity challenges in diverse environmental and operational settings.
Through her work with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), various consultancies, and major development projects throughout the region, Nilay has developed a strong understanding of both ecological priorities and project development realities. She is experienced in leading multidisciplinary teams and coordinating complex technical workstreams, working closely with developers, engineers, planners, government agencies, and conservation organizations to develop practical and implementable solutions.
At The Nature Collective, Nilay focuses on helping clients identify biodiversity risks, develop practical mitigation strategies, and translate biodiversity commitments into effective implementation, bringing scientific expertise, technical rigor, and practical problem-solving to complex projects.