Mitchellake recently completed an executive search for an ESG CEO, placing a founding leader at Atlas Carbon.
The Challenge
Atlas Carbon is an ambitious ESG venture dedicated to helping farmers unlock their carbon farming potential. With a bold mission to transition more than 100 million hectares of productive land to become climate-positive and carbon negative, Atlas needed a founding CEO with the skills and experience to own the vision, build teams, and drive rapid venture growth.
Finding the right leader in the sustainability and carbon markets sector is not simple. These industries demand executives who combine growth expertise with a genuine passion for climate impact and a proven ability to steer complex transformation.
The Context
Over the past 18 months, investment has surged across carbon markets, agriculture, ESG, and natural resource management. These sectors are critical to the planet’s future but face a common barrier: a shortage of leadership talent capable of translating ambition into sustainable business models. At Mitchellake, we specialise in tackling this challenge through executive search for ESG and sustainability leadership.
Our Approach
Mitchellake partnered with Atlas Carbon to conduct a . Drawing on our extensive networks in climate tech, agriculture, innovation, and ESG leadership, we mapped the market, identified executives with growth experience, and engaged leaders who had scaled ventures through similar transformational journeys.
Our process for this executive search for an ESG CEO focused not only on technical expertise but also on alignment with Atlas Carbon’s mission and values. The ideal candidate needed to combine venture-building resilience with a long-term commitment to sustainability.
The Result
Within 14 weeks, we successfully appointed Ashley Silver as CEO of Atlas Carbon. Ashley brings the leadership experience and vision required to guide Atlas through its next phase of growth while building a mission-driven leadership team to achieve ambitious climate goals.
This appointment strengthens Atlas Carbon’s ability to deliver meaningful change in agriculture, carbon farming, and sustainability. We are proud to support such a passionate venture tackling one of the world’s most urgent challenges.
The market for this leadership
Live MitchelLake intelligence across this sector and Oceania.
Adjacent signals across Oceania
Product Launch · Oceania
Bound →Sydney-based startup Bound launched Looplock, a reusable roll-top bag seal device, which has gained international recognition including a Red Dot Award for Product Design approximately two years post-launch.
Product Launch · Oceania
Charles Sturt University →Charles Sturt University's School of Rural Medicine is piloting Visionflex telehealth technology at its Central West Clinical School in Parkes. The technology captures high-quality images, videos, and patient vital data for remote specialist consultation. The university is embedding this into its medical curriculum and conducting a qualitative study of clinical adoption across NSW.
Product Launch · Oceania
Dedalus →Dedalus completed proof of concept for next-generation cloud-enabled, web-based i.Pharmacy platform. Work underway to modernize architecture, enhance UI, and integrate AI capabilities. Collaboration with AWS and technical teams in Chennai to validate architectural assumptions and develop AI features.
Capital Raising · Oceania
Plenti →Plenti secured $660.5 million in automotive asset-backed securities (ABS), marking the company's largest deal to date amid strong investor demand.
Restructuring · Oceania
Alinta Energy →Alinta Energy scaled down its proposed Whitsundays wind farm project following community opposition and insufficient wind resource.
Ma Activity · Oceania
Arcadis →Dutch engineering consultancy Arcadis is in takeover discussions with multiple bidders including Canadian peer WSP Global, with sources indicating the company is viewed as undervalued