Meet the POW Team

A passionate splitboarder, snowboarder, mountain biker, and alpinist, Sören previously served as Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Resilience Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, where he supported the development of Climate Change projects in the agri-food sector with the Global Environmental Facility and Green Climate Fund. Prior, Sören worked as environmental advisor for a Colombian human-rights organisation and with Friends of the Earth South Africa.

Sören grew up in the Stubai Alps in Austria, where his passion led him to engage in a wide variety of alpine projects. He has worked in the assessment of environmental impacts and laws of extractive industry projects in Latin America and Sub-Sahara Africa and trained local communities in community-based environmental monitoring. Sören has worked in government, international organizations and civil-society organisations in more than 10 countries. He is now based in Innsbruck, where he serves as European Coordinator for POW Europe.

Brita usually introduces herself as a climate advisor by day, and a climate activist by night. She took part in founding POW Norway back in 2013, and has since that been central in building the international movement and coordination of Protect our Winters. 

Brita grew up in the north of Norway, and has winter rooted in her culture and history, and climate engagement embedded in her entire life path so far. Brita holds an MSc in Sustainable Development Management and is a trained Climate Reality Leader by Al Gore. She currently resides in the Lofoten Islands, and enjoys life in the mountains while holding active roles in organisations and enterprises across the Nordics.

Professionally, she has held sustainability management positions for global brands, and has broad experience with managing risk, responsibility, and climate action in global supply chains and operations. Brita is specialised in building climate strategies by creating broad ownership and clear objectives in organizations and municipalities, through inclusive processes and relevant frameworks. Brita has led strategy processes towards sustainable impact, done analysis on climate risk, and trained professionals for science based targets both in public, private and international NGO sectors.

Originally from the Netherlands, Marita fell in love with winters as a kid when the canals and lakes used to freeze over and it was skating time. Schools would give children the day off, stands popped up on the ice selling hot chocolate, and everyone and their grandma would get out on the ice. Realising as she grew older that those magical skating days were happening less often was her first awareness of climate change. 

Since then, Marita has lived and worked in London, New York, Seattle and lately in France, forging a career as a journalist and communications consultant. Passionate about telling stories that deserve to be told and that can drive positive action, she mostly specialises in science and sustainability communications.

POW’s ability to inspire and engage the outdoor community to protect what we all love grabbed Marita's attention from the start. In 2015 she co-founded Protect Our Winters France and she has been actively involved in building the POW movement in Europe ever since. Today, she is happily settled in a small mountain resort and village at the foot of Mont Blanc, having long ago swapped skates for skis, and can often be found heading off for an early morning ski tour or trail run before checking in at her desk.

Founder and Chairperson of POW Finland since 2014. Sustanabilty expert who loves telemark and cross country skiing.

Head of POW Germany since 2017

Chapter head for POW France, mountain and snow enthusiast, environmental education professional.

Chapter head for POW Norway since 2019, Skier, winter devotee, social scientist passionate about protecting our future.

Nicholas founded POW in Switzerland in 2017, convinced that his passion for the mountains and the protection of our planet could be successfully channelled in an organisation that has its roots in the outdoor community. An avid backcountry skier and father of three, he holds a Ph.D. in political science and has extensive experience working for government as well as in public affairs and political communication.

Chapter Head of POW Austria, skier, mountain biker, climber and surfer. Passionate about protecting our playground.

Chapter head for POW Sweden since 2019, skier, snowboarder, climber, mountain biker and general outdoor lover with a particular passion for touring and polar dogs.

General Manager POW UK since 2018, Snowboarder, Mountain biker and 80's disco enthusiast as well as Land reform and Climate campaigner.

Director and sustainable development consultant at AIR coop, Thibault has been working in the outdoor industry for more than 15 years. Former president of the environmental NGO Protect Our Winters- France, he is now part of the board of Protect Our Winters - Europe & France.  But more important than anything else, he is the father of 2 little blond heads that he brings out into nature whenever he can !

An avid alpinist, snowboarder, mountain biker, guide, and life adventurer, Molina previously served as international director at The Climate Reality Project, where he designed the organization’s climate leadership trainings and oversaw its post-Paris Agreement international strategy. Prior to his work at Climate Reality, Molina led strategy and programs as deputy director at the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE).

Molina grew up in the highlands of Guatemala and has a deeply rooted respect and relationship with the mountains and outdoor culture. He has trained corporate leaders, government officials, NGO groups, athletes and activists, on climate change strategies, communications, and engagement. He has spoken widely on climate policy including for the World Bank, IBM, the Mexican Senate, the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change, and various global stages. Mario now calls the Rockies home, where he lives with his wife and peak-bagging Australian Shepherd outside Nederland, Colorado.

Heidi is a glaciologist, Director of Outreach at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative and Fellow International of The Explorers Club. She teaches Glaciology at the University Centre in Svalbard (Norway). Her field of expertise is in glacier dynamics. She travels regularly to the polar regions and highest mountains of the world to better understand how glaciers react to climate change. She is currently leading two science outreach projects: Climate Sentinels, a team of female scientists heading to Svalbard in April 2021, and The Last Tropical Glaciers, an educational project on the most endangered glaciers on Earth.

Tom ran legendary freeride snowboard shop Zero G in Chamonix, France since 2006 where he grew the shop’s snowboard business and implemented a successful multi-channel strategy. For the last decade he’s been Senior Snowboard Writer at Boardsport SOURCE and the head of the illustrious ISPO Award Snowsports Jury. Tom has fundraised for POW France for years through film premiere events and a successful merchandising programme. Tom’s extensive network and creative & commercial acumen remain key to Protect Our Winters’ European growth.

Chris was born in Houston, TX before moving to Innsbruck at a young age, a city he still calls home today. His passion for the mountains was developed through snowboarding, a sport that continues to be a mainstay both in his personal and professional life.

Today, Chris is the Director of Integrated Marketing for Burton and a driving force in sharing the company’s value-based approach. A challenge only second to passing his love for snowboarding and the outdoors to his kids Joni and Lauri.

As Chief Development Officer at the Anglo-Nordic advisory firm Xynteo, Rick works with executives in global companies as they develop strategic responses to seismic shifts in society, the marketplace and in the natural world. With clients spanning companies like Unilever, Equinor, Verizon and more, his particular specialty is around how leaders learn, drive change and adapt in times of tremendous change. Climate change and rising social inequality feature very significantly in this work. While Rick is originally from Vermont (USA), today he lives with his three children in Oslo, Norway and spends his free time skiing, mountain-biking and climbing.

Mat Schaer’s childhood dream became reality after finishing high school when he passed pro in snowboard and could focus full time on his passion. With a start in slopestyle competitions, he rapidly turned his focus on the backcountry and integrated international snowboard video productions allowing him to chase the best snow in the most beautiful mountains around the world.

He could have been satisfied “living this good life” as long as possible, but Mat’s temperament always pushed him to look for meaningful new challenges. During his early years of professional career, he started to care more about environmental and climate issues, inspired by his brother who was studying geosciences. Reading reports and books on these topics motivated him to start in 2012 a degree in Environmental sciences and Engineering at the Swiss Institute of Technology in parallel to his snowboard career.

6 years later, with lots of efforts and compromises involved, he obtained his Master’s degree. Meanwhile he has also found new sponsors, JONES and Picture Organic Clothing, that share his environmental values. These new partnerships comforted him in his will to enjoy the outdoors with a smaller environmental footprint and use his position to raise awareness. To him, accessing the mountains in a low carbon way is fully relevant as the footprint of alpine sports comes primarily from travelling. Schaer does not own a car, so he rocks up from the train station in his snowboard boots, carrying his splitboard and hoping to inspire others.

His commitment gave rise to the movie Shelter, an adventure using local public transport and splitboards to go sleep in mountain huts and look for new peaks to hike and ride. Mat Schaer’s idea behind it was to show that not only is it possible to make a professional snowboard movie with a minimal carbon footprint, but to illuminate that sometimes the greatest discoveries lie in our very own backyards. The film features POW’s creator Jeremy Jones, his adulthood idol as he likes to call him.

Right after the shooting of Shelter, Mat started a new job as a scientific collaborator at the Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology where he freshly obtained a permanent position. Besides, he is a motivated ambassador for Protect Our Winter Switzerland since its creation in 2017.