Tanya Popeau

Biography

Tanya Popeau is the Director of Synthesis an award-winning agency.  Her expertise lies in innovation and sustainability. She has worked with the world’s leading corporates, non-profits, government agencies and academic institutions, to design breakthrough innovations to global challenges.  Her clients have included Unilever, the United Nations, HSBC, Amazon, the Jimmy Choo Academy and the UK government.  She has worked across the globe in Africa, Asia, the US and the UK.

In 2023, Synthesis won ‘Best International Sustainability Consultancy’ in the Greater London Enterprise Awards.

Tanya’s projects have covered a range of sustainability issues including urban poverty, energy efficiency, social cohesion, human rights and education.

She was a consultant and advisor to the United Nations. She worked for the UN’s largest agency and was at the forefront of their shift to a strategic focus on innovation. She implemented this new approach across 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific, overseeing the development of the first ever innovation fund in the region. She was the lead consultant on the fund, which generated projects which tackled challenges from natural disasters to women’s economic empowerment. Many of these innovations went on to scale and win awards.

She is often asked to guest lecture on innovation & sustainability and has delivered sessions at UCL, Warwick Business School and the University of Chicago.  She has recently joined the academic faculty at the University of Exeter, where she teaches the module ‘Tackling Global Challenges’.

Tanya studied at Cambridge university and Kings College London. Her studies have focused on innovating to solve complex global challenges, and the use of new emerging technologies to bring about positive sustainable impact.