Leading in a World of Multiple Crises & Opportunities
A Two-Day Transformative Leadership Journey
Why Africa, Why Now: Climate, Biodiversity, and AI
Africa contributes under 1% of historical global emissions—compared to roughly 23% for China, 19% for the United States, and 13% for the European Union—yet 17 of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate impacts are in Africa. Biodiversity loss compounds the crisis: sub-Saharan Africa has lost nearly a quarter of its biodiversity since pre-industrial times, with vertebrate populations declining by roughly 39% and thousands of species now at risk of extinction.
AI adds a third, fast-moving front. The continent holds enormous potential for AI-driven growth, but faces real vulnerabilities from digital divides, weak data governance, and limited readiness for AI safety and security.
Together these form a polycrisis (overlapping, compounding risks) and a polytunity (overlapping, compounding opportunities) that skilled, whole-person leadership can unlock.
The Oxford Program: Two Days, Three Crises, One Community
Over two half-day sessions, participants engage with three interlocking domains: climate change, catastrophic biodiversity loss, and AI disruption and opportunity in African contexts. These are not academic lectures; they are existentially engaging sessions combining expert frameworks with breakout dialogue where participants contribute their own expertise, aspirations, and struggles.
The program features a range of compelling global speakers: deep-domain experts on each of the three core topics and on transformative leadership, plus cameo contributions from 6–7 additional leaders spanning impact investing, macro data centers, micro data centers, forestation, regenerative agriculture, measuring climate and biodiversity initiatives, and more. Approximately one-quarter of the program is devoted to a culminating Lead From Wholeness: The River Journey™ session, giving every attendee a direct experience of leading from wholeness amid compounded crises and opportunities, and building a shared language and trusted peer community that outlasts the Summit.
Speakers
Dr. Sandile Mtetwa
Cambridge, UK
Dr. Sandile Mtetwa is a scientist and researcher working at the intersection of science, climate, energy, and sustainable development. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, where her research focused on advanced materials for low-carbon energy generation and carbon storage. She previously worked with the Centre for Global Equality and Climate Compatible Growth, strengthening research-to-policy collaboration and equitable partnerships between the UK and Kenya. As a Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Fellow, she researches climate and energy futures in Zimbabwe, with a focus on marginalised communities. She is also a founding member of Rondil Scholars Hub, advancing interdisciplinary, systems-thinking approaches to complex global challenges (including climate). Her work centres on translating scientific knowledge into locally relevant solutions, policy, and meaningful community impact.
Ian Mangenga
London, UK
Dr. Irina Fedorenko-Aula
Oxford, UK
Dr. Irina Fedorenko-Aula holds a DPhil (PhD) from the University of Oxford in Geography and the Environment. She worked as a Managing Director of Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security for the Swiss NGO Initiatives of Change and consulted for the World Bank. She is a co-founder of BioCarbon Engineering, Vlinder Climate and Flying Forests. She specialises in Nature-Based solutions, climate technology and carbon markets, working as Head of Origination for Abatable.
Mercedes Martin-Burgess
Alaska, USA
Mercedes Martin‑Burgess is an internationally recognized executive coach, CEO advisor, and regenerative culture architect with more than two decades of senior leadership experience across corporate, military, and global social impact environments. A former U.S. Air Force Officer, she brings a rare combination of strategic discipline, systems thinking, and human‑centered leadership to her work with executives and ecosystems worldwide.
As CEO of Mercedes Martin & Company, she leads a global practice focused on whole‑systems leadership, culture transformation, and regenerative futures. Mercedes is the creator of Leading From Wholeness™ and the River Journey Ecosystem, a suite of narrative‑driven, strength‑based frameworks used by senior leaders, founders, and cross‑sector coalitions navigating pivotal inflection points.
Mercedes has advised Fortune 100 companies, global NGOs, philanthropic networks, and emerging social impact alliances across the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Her work integrates appreciative inquiry, somatic awareness, and narrative intelligence — enabling leaders to shift culture, strengthen relationships, and design futures grounded in equity and flourishing.
As Co-Founder of One Thriving Planet, she advances regenerative social impact and whole-systems change, convening leaders and activating alliances that support thriving across sectors and communities.
At her core, Mercedes is a wayfinder — helping leaders arrive at the waters of their own story, discover the current that carries their work, and return with a horizon that makes new futures possible.
Dha. Lawrence Ellis (Program Architect & Host)
California, USA
Dhammācariya (Teacher of the Dhamma) Lawrence Ellis is Founder and CEO of One Thriving Planet, a global consortium addressing three pressing crises: climate change, catastrophic biodiversity loss, and economic exclusion in the low-carbon transition. Its Investment arm deploys US $100M/year toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals, while its Solutions arm runs initiatives on four continents. Consortium members have earned the Nobel Sustainability Award, the CANEX Prize across Africa, the Innovation in Politics Award across Europe, and numerous top-coaching honors.
As a spiritual teacher, Dha. Lawrence combines practices from his African and Native American heritages, and Asian Earth-based traditions, to remind people of our interconnectedness with the Earth as a living system — familiar to many of our Ancestors yet lost to many with modernity and colonialism. It is perhaps best expressed by "Eco Ubuntu”: “I am because we are. We are because the Planet is."
On the path to becoming a Dhammācariya, he received direct transmission of lay mindfulness trainings from Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Master whom Dr. Martin Luther King nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Dha. Lawrence was later authorized to teach by mindfulness and meditation luminary Jack Kornfield.
Dha. Lawrence was the Lead Architect of this two-day transformative leadership journey, with support from colleagues Mercedes Martin and Romancia Shaduka. As Program Host, he will turn high-level strategy into grounded, participatory leadership — moving between frameworks, speakers, and breakout dialogue to help attendees turn insight into action.
The 90-Day Lead From Wholeness: The River Journey™ Cohort
Most leadership programs build competencies. Lead from Wholeness: The River Journey™ builds leaders. Following Oxford, a founding cohort of women leaders undertakes a 90-day executive journey, co-designed and led by Mercedes Martin & Company—a One Thriving Planet Anchor Company—together with other One Thriving Planet leaders.
Traditional Leadership → The River Journey™:
- Skills → Whole human development
- Individual growth → Collective leadership
- Short-term learning → 90 days and beyond
- Networking → Trusted leadership community
- Competencies → Human infrastructure
Global Credibility and Shared Stewardship
Lead From Wholeness: The River Journey™ draws on globally recognized platforms, including SOCAP Global, the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, the Inner Development Goals Initiative, the International Leadership Association, and leading Organization Development networks. Mercedes Martin serves as an Inner Development Goals Ambassador, contributing to the global movement building the inner capacities required for sustainable development.