Our Team

Co-Principal

Seth Shames is Co-Principal of Persimmon Co-Lab, where he leads strategy, partnerships, and finance innovation for landscape transformation. With over 20 years of experience at the nexus of land use, governance, and regenerative finance, he co-founded and co-leads the finance innovation design team of 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People, and co-developed its Landscape Finance Accelerator to help local coalitions structure investable portfolios and finance strategies.

Seth was also an initiator of the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature initiative, which advanced integrated landscape management globally through research, policy, and action. As former Managing Director at EcoAgriculture Partners, he guided its global work on landscape finance and co-authored influential publications such as "Scaling Up Finance for Integrated Landscape Management" and "Mobilizing Finance Across Sectors to Achieve Sustainable Landscapes."

He helped develop widely used planning and finance tools, including the Landscape Investment and Finance Tool (LIFT), Landscape Assessment of Financial Flows (LAFF), and the Landscape Governance Assessment. A frequent speaker and facilitator, Seth holds an M.S. from Yale School of the Environment and a B.A. from Columbia University. He also co-owns Preston’s Orchard, one of the few Asian persimmon orchards on the U.S. East Coast, where he cultivates both fruit and metaphors for place-based stewardship.

Co-Principal

Bemmy Granados is the Co-Principal of Persimmon Co-Lab, where she guides strategy, partnership and programmatic development and leads efforts on planning and governance that connect people and nature. She is also currently Co-Lead of 1000L’s Capacity-Strengthening Design Team and Co-Steerer of Regen10’s Framework Working Group. She also teaches sustainability courses to graduate students and guides research fellows on a range of sustainable landscapes and community-based/engaged research projects.

Previously, Bemmy was the Director of Innovation in Landscape Management at EcoAgriculture Partners. She was also an Associate Director for Strategic Innovations at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for Community Engagement, where she provided leadership in advancing community-engaged research, teaching, and learning across the campus and UC system. This included overseeing the Center’s environmental and international development partnerships and expanding community-engaged environmental justice coursework. Before pursuing her doctoral degree, Bemmy was the Manager of the Food Security Initiative at Conservation International in Washington, D.C., where she played a leadership role in the collaborative development of the institution’s food security strategy.

Bemmy has a Ph.D. in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy from the University of California, Irvine’s School of Social Ecology, a joint M.S.E.S. in Ecology and M.P.A. in Environmental Policy from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of San Diego. Her recent publications include topics related to civic ecology, environmental stewardship networking and analysis, environmental peacebuilding, and community-engaged and empowered partnerships.

Dr. Sara J. Scherr is a prominent voice globally in promoting the regeneration of agricultural landscapes. She is an advisor to the global collaborative 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People, which she co-founded and chaired from 2019 to 2024, and remains active in the 1000L finance solutions team. From 2002 to 2024, she founded and led the nonprofit EcoAgriculture Partners, a leader in collaborative landscape management for food security, thriving livelihoods, and healthy nature.  From 2011 to 2020, she co-founded and chaired the global Landscapes for People, Food, and Nature initiative. She has supported landscape partnerships in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the U.S., advised landscape programs worldwide, and advanced innovative finance for landscape investment. She is a fellow of the Global Evergreening Alliance, a council member of the World Agriculture Forum, an advisor to NGO Solutions from the Land, and on the editorial boards of several journals. Her previous career in international policy research focused on food security, agricultural development, and land degradation and restoration. She held senior positions at the nonprofit Forest Trends, the International Food Policy Research Institute, and the World Agroforestry Center. Sara earned a B.A. degree in economics at Wellesley College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in international economics and development from Cornell University.

Juan Ramos is a practitioner in integrated, systemic approaches and landscape finance, with experience spanning blended finance, policy engagement, partnership development, and investment strategy for nature, climate, and sustainable development outcomes. His work focuses on how finance and governance can better support coordinated action across landscapes, bioregions, and territories where agriculture, conservation, infrastructure, livelihoods, and governance systems intersect. He has worked with multilateral development banks, UN agencies, governments, philanthropies, NGOs, and private sector actors across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Earlier in his career, he worked with WWF, the Inter-American Development Bank, South Pole, and EY.

Stuart brings over 25 years of experience as a planetary strategist, ecological designer, systems scientist, and regenerative economist. He is Executive Director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, where he launched and directs the BFI Innovation Lab + Venture Studio, supporting initiatives advancing planetary thriving. He is Co-Founder of Autopoiesis LLC, applying complex systems frameworks to regenerate communities, ecosystems, and organizations, and was the founding convener of the Regenerative Communities Network at Capital Institute. He has played a leading role in advancing the modern bioregional movement, helping to shape its theoretical foundations and practical applications. He is co-author, with Sim Van der Ryn, of Ecological Design, and holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley.

With 25+ years in strategic communications, Ryan Thompson has spent his career at the intersection of storytelling and mission-driven impact. He led communications for USAID's Integrated Natural Resource Management program and the Accountability Framework initiative — a global ethical supply chain coalition co-led by the Rainforest Alliance. Through his consultancy Helix River, he now partners with environmental and social impact organizations as a fractional communications director. He holds a master's degree in environmental conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.