Nilam Bedi is of Kenyan origin and was educated at Makerere University, Uganda, Imperial College (UK) and Michigan State University. He has over 35 years of policy and operational experience in “connecting the dots” across disciplines and sectors on projects in Africa, Canada, Latin America, Asia and the middle east. Internationally, Nilam has worked in numerous public and private sectors organizations, the World Bank and the United Nations, where he was Chief of the Technical Cooperation Program in the 13 countries within the Western Asia Region. Within the academic setting, he was a visiting scholar in India, focussing on diverse capacity building projects in collaboration with academic, public sector and industry partners. Within Canada, he has led policy files on various environmental and natural resource files and delivered leadership training sessions on environmental policy for executives from many countries, including IAS officers from India, Deputy Ministers from Sri Lanka, Cabinet Secretaries from several African countries, among others.  

Nilam is active in the Rotary organization, locally, regionally, and internationally. As a member of Rotary International’s Cadre of Technical Experts, Nilam has evaluated complex projects. He is the Technical Officer for the Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group (ESRAG) and a member of the Climate Action Roadmap Working Group and a Director of the Rotarian Action Group on Community Economic Development. He provided significant input into the Rotary’s Environment Area of Focus Policy Statement. 

As Chair of the Environmental Action Committee and an Assistant Governor of Rotary International’s District 7070, he is working closely with the Global Footprint Network and York University’s Footprint Data Foundation (FoDaFo) to explore how evidence-based information and ecological footprint trackers can be customized for Rotary in a meaningful way that both informs and motivates Rotarians in diverse settings. Nilam has been a catalyst in profiling the work of FoDaFo within Rotary International through seminars attended by global audiences and providing an interactive display for the Global Footprint Network on a virtual Exhibition sponsored by Rotary. A key aim of these collaborative efforts between Rotary and FoDaFo has been to enable the translation of environmental information and insights into practical actions. In addition, Nilam is involved in collaboration between Rotary and other influential organizations, such as Drawdown and C-40. As well, Nilam has been appointed as the Chair of the Impact Committee of FoDaFo, with the mandate to bridge the gap between scientists and decision-makers.