ECAS Institute’s Governing council consists of members with diverse skills. The primary mandate of the Governing Council is to provide governance oversight in ensuring the Institute functions to the highest standards to execute its mission. To do this, the Governing Council has delegated the day-to-day management to the Chief Executive Officer who is assisted by senior management teams that are actively working towards a single leadership team and unified policies, processes and systems. The Governing Council is made up of the following members:
Prof. Wandiga was born in Karachuonyo, Homa Bay County in 1939. He received his early education at Kamagambo School and Pine Forge Institute, Pennsylvannia. He received his B.Sc., M.Sc and Ph.D degrees at Howard, Maryland and Case universities respectively. He joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nairobi in 1972, where he has held various positions, including Chairman and Professor of Chemistry, Principal of College of Biological and Physical Sciences, Deputy Vice Chancellor, and Founder Director of the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation. He was a member of many national and international scientific organizations, including, Chairman, Natural Sciences Committee of the Kenya National Commission of UNESCO, a member of the International Society for Trace Element Research in Humans and Coordinator of the Eastern and Southern Africa Environmental Chemistry Network. Prof. Wandiga has had a long-standing research interest in coordination chemistry, and environmental and pollution chemistry. He has to date published over 70 scientific papers mainly in the area of coordination and analytical chemistry. His studies of heavy metal content in living specimens have revealed moderate to high concentrations in Kenya Human hair. However, the concentration of these metals in the tissues of fish from the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria and Indian Ocean are low. Similarly, the metals concentration in the Kenyan lake waters and sediments are low. His recent achievement involves the identification of termites as a major biological source of methane and carbon dioxide emission of the tropics feeding on fungus combs and soil do emit methane and carbon dioxide as do lower termites.
Jacob Olonde is an environmentalist, mentor, author and Founder/ CEO of the Environmental Capacity and Sustainability Institute based in Nairobi, Kenya. He has over 10 years of experience working and engaging in advisory, research, training and mentorship roles.
He is a member of the national expert team of negotiators under the AGN .
He currently supports the Office of the Special Climate Envoy in the Executive Office of the President of Kenya as Climate Advisor. He previously worked at the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, Council of Governors, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Ministry of Environment, Groots Kenya. He has advised and consulted for organizations and institutions in Kenya, across Africa, Asia and Europe.
He has a master’s degree in Environmental Law from the University of Nairobi and an undergraduate degree in Environmental Planning and Management from Kenyatta University. He is a fellow of the Danida Fellowship Center (DFC) and serves as the Secretary General of the DANIDA Alumni Network- Kenya.
Apart from leading ECAS and supporting the Executive Office of the President (Special Climate Envoys office), Jacob spends his time supporting and advising organizations and mentoring youths.
His greatest professional achievements include and are not limited to founding ECAS Institute, mentoring over 500 youths, contributing to the delivery of the African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action and contributing to the Devolution Conference, African Positions during the AMCEN, Summit of the Future, United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COPs) among other regional and global processes.