GEMIA Board
Kosta Stavreas
Chair - Governance & Strategy Lead
Kosta is a strategy and innovation leader focused on building climate solutions. At Rumin8, he is helping scale a promising intervention to reduce livestock methane emissions, drawing on a career spent advising Fortune 500 companies, founding strategy firms, and supporting startups in sharpening their vision, raising capital, and commercializing technologies. His work spans sectors from renewable energy to financial services, always grounded in systems thinking and value creation. With a background in economics, law, and finance, Kosta brings a global perspective shaped by time in Australia, the U.S., and beyond. He’s passionate about scaling teams, accelerating impact, and unlocking business models that drive climate progress.
Charles Brooke
Treasurer - Finance & Fundraising Lead
Charles Brooke leads Spark’s Livestock Enteric Methane Mitigation program, drawing on deep expertise in science, policy, and practice. His team works to accelerate action and innovation across research, policy, market-making, and collaboration. He coordinates the Global Methane Hub Enteric Fermentation Accelerator science oversight committee and served on the American Academy of Microbiology’s Microbial Solutions for Climate Change advisory group. Previously, Charles was the lead scientist for short-lived climate pollutants at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, where he launched the state’s first enteric methane research program. He has also been an affiliate researcher at UC Davis, studying feed additives, the rumen microbiome, and microbial compounds.
Daria Balatsky
Director - Programs & Impact Lead
Daria Balatsky is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Alga Biosciences, a company manufacturing safe, large-scale, low-cost feed additives for reducing methane in cattle. Daria leads the technical team on product innovation and integration and has facilitated research across our academic partners, including Cornell and UC Davis. She has managed the implementation of grants with the United States Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Prior to starting Alga Biosciences, Daria was a Berkeley PhD candidate in physical chemistry. She has worked on condensed matter physics and drug development for rare kidney diseases in humans.
Barrett Olafson
Vice Chair - Membership & Community Lead
Barrett Olafson is a project manager at Spark Climate Solutions, where he leads stakeholder engagement and coordination in the emerging field of livestock methane mitigation. With over 15 years as a product and engineering leader, he has guided distributed teams and launched large-scale initiatives for global brands. He brings a systems-thinking lens to climate action, shaped by a background in meteorology, computer science, and AI/ML. Barrett is focused on building the field around enteric methane and advancing pragmatic, high-impact solutions at the intersection of climate, technology, and systems change.
Kendra Tolley
Secretary - Operations & Compliance Lead
Kendra Tolklleads product strategy as Chief Product Officer at Athian, which uses software to aggregate, certify, and fund greenhouse gas reductions across the livestock value chain. An experienced AgTech product leader, she focuses on empowering producers to access carbon markets and supporting sustainability professionals in achieving carbon neutrality. With a background in launching global banking products and driving multimillion-dollar growth, Kendra is a disciplined operator known for building collaborative teams, scaling high-impact solutions, and enhancing customer experience. She is passionate about innovation that delivers financial, operational, and environmental sustainability at scale.
