Maria Teresa Zappia

Deputy CEO - BlueOrchard Finance

Maria Teresa Zappia has covered a number of positions in BlueOrchard since 2008 like head of the investment team and chief investment officer. She currently leads the blended finance and impact management team and is responsible for BlueOrchard’s blended finance mandates (PPPs) and overall impact management and measurement practice. She also leads the Sustainability and Impact team at Schroders Capital, the private assets business of Schroders created in June 2021.

She has over 25 year experience in emerging and frontier markets, has authored and co-authored a number of publications, and is a guest speaker at several universities. She is the convenor of the Advisory Board of the Operating Principles for Impact Management, which is a best-in-class impact investing framework for asset managers and asset owners. She represented BlueOrchard at the G7 Impact Taskforce created by the UK under its G7 Presidency. More recently, she joined the Board of the NatCapResearch, a company specialized in biodiversity and net zero carbon measurement, and the Board of Swiss Sustainable Finance.

Prior to BlueOrchard, she covered several positions at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank, and the Overseas Development Institute based both in the field (Africa, Asia, Central Asia) and in Head Office.