Led by an experienced management team, SmartCert relies on a multidisciplinary network of collaborative consultants throughout the world. SmartCert consultants are recognized professionals in the field of environment, natural resource management, legality, stakeholder engagement and dispute resolution.
Our team
Ugo Lapointe, Founder
Ugo is an entrepreneur and biologist specialized in forest ecology. Since 2008, he has been helping private sector companies improve their social and environmental practices through certification. His experience in corporate social responsibility is broad and diverse. From forestry and agriculture to the fashion industry, Ugo has supported CSR in the Americas, Asia and West Africa. Prior to founding SmartCert, Ugo managed the certification portfolio of Rainforest Alliance in Eastern Canada and conducted research as a biologist for the Centre for Forest Studies a university-based research center. A charismatic and skilled presenter, he is a qualified lead auditor trainer and is periodically invited as guest speaker at various events. He has a Master’s degree in forest ecology, a Bachelor’s degree in biology, university level training in civil and corporate mediation and an Executive Master’s of Business Administration. Ugo is bilingual (English and French) and is based in Montreal.
Alexandre Boursier, Founder
A Canadian professional forester since 1996, Alex has experience working in Africa, Asia and South, Central and North America in forest certification, forest legality, education, forest inventory, community forestry and natural resources management. From 2003 to 2013 he was the country manager of an international certification body in Canada, managing a team of 18 staff and a portfolio of over 600 clients. For 10 years in that position, Alex developed a wide network amongst NGOs, industry, government and indigenous representatives. Alex has a Master’s degree in social‐forestry and is a sustainable forestry specialist, a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) senior assessor and lead auditor trainer. Charismatic and personable, he has conducted numerous stakeholder consultations, developed sustainable forest management and legality standards and conducted numerous forest management audits worldwide for various certification bodies. In his forest management assessment and auditing activities, Alex routinely works with multidisciplinary teams of people of different national and cultural backgrounds. From 2015 to 2017 Alex was one of the 10 international experts in a working group elaborating guidance on Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) by indigenous peoples for the forest sector. He is based in Quebec and travels regularly to Africa and Asia to perform mandates. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Elaura Martel, Environmental certification expert
Elaura is an expert of environmental management. She holds a master’s degree in environmental management and a second cycle certification in environmental auditing from Sherbrooke University. She is an auditor for FSC chain of custody, Veriflora, ISCC and several other forestry and agriculture sustainability standards. Previously, she has worked for 6 years in the environmental risk assessment and environmental conformity fields. She has worked on different restoration sites projects in the forestry and mining sector in Quebec (Canada) since 2018. During the past years, she has conducted many environmental studies including legal aspects and data analysis. Her professional experiences include management and monitoring of riparian areas, nature conservation areas, wild and isolated areas, former mining sites in Canada, Health & Safety and Hazardous waste monitoring of complex environmental work sites.
Carlos Paixao , Forestry certification expert
Canadian registered professional forester, Carlos has a degree in wood engineering and a master’s degree in forestry. For the past seven years he has been working on forest sustainability projects in South America, North America, Europe, and Central Africa. Carlos is an approved auditor with certification bodies for the following standards: FSC FM/CoC, PEFC, ISCC, SBP program, UTZ, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 17065:2015 and RSPO. He speaks and writes French, English, and Portuguese.
Elise Münch, Supply chain certification expert
Elise has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology (Free University Berlin, Germany) and a Master’s degree in Ecology, Evolution and Nature Conservation (University of Potsdam, Germany). Since 2010, parallel to and after finishing her University studies, she worked for renown research institutions in Germany (i.e., Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, University of Potsdam), including projects in the Assessment of Ecological Status, Plant Ecology in Drylands, Land Use in Drylands and Ecological Modelling. Prior to her work for SmartCert, she was a Ranger in the National Parc of the Lower Oder Valley in Eastern Germany. Elise is fluent in German, English, and French and has basic knowledge of Spanish.
Maylis Borelli, International consultant
Maylis Borelli, is an agronomy, forest and environment engineer. Maylis works in the field of international development and the environment. She lived and worked 3 years in the Republic of Congo. First, for Endengered Species International Congo as community development project manager, than for the French Development Agency as manager of a portfolio 6 projects and 20 NGOs. Maylis conducts consultations with local and indigenous communities, and is familiar with the following initiatives and concepts: FLEGT VPA, adaptation and mitigation to climate change, agro-ecology, climate finance (Green Climate Funds, CAFI), REDD+, COMIFAC, COP, Peatlands Initiative, etc. Maylis is now based in Paris, France. She is bilingual (English and French), and continues to work in Africa with SmartCert on climate change adaptation and human-wildlife conflict projects.
Samir Chaib, Forest and agricultural certification expert
Samir holds a master’s degree in sustainable forest ecosystem management, as well as a background in economics, politics and natural resource management. His varied professional career has enabled him to acquire skills in coordination, strategic planning and political representation in the field of forest and agricultural resources. Samir has also worked on projects related to the social issues of collaborative forest resource management, climate change adaptation and publications on NTFPs and sustainable agriculture.