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
Leadership Change · Oceania
Reserve Bank of Australia →CIO of the Reserve Bank of Australia has retired after 7.5 years in role
Leadership Change · Oceania
Cushman & Wakefield →Cushman & Wakefield appointed Josh Cullen and Gordon Marsden to senior leadership roles within the Global Capital Markets platform.
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Reventon →Reventon (with Hotspotting) released June 2026 Million Dollar Hotspots report identifying emerging high-value real estate markets across Australia. The report tracks 1,600 Australian suburbs now at $1m+ median prices, with 365 new entrants in the past year.
Leadership Change · Oceania
Knight Frank →Knight Frank appointed Natasha Barron as managing director of South Australia, replacing long-serving state leader Bobbette Scott. Part of broader leadership team strengthening.
Ma Activity · Oceania
Aware Super →Aware Super increased its ownership stake in Keyton (Australia's largest retirement village operator) from ~50% to 75% by acquiring Lendlease's 25.1% interest.
Restructuring · Oceania
Judo Bank →Judo Bank issued a warning on provisions, signalling increased loan losses. Share price tanked significantly, reflecting strains in the economy and concerns about multi-sector loan deterioration.