Digital Version Agriculture has always been an industry defined by its ability to adapt. From the earliest farming practices to today’s highly sophisticated production systems, every generation has been challenged to produce more while working within the limits of available resources. Yet few periods have demanded as much balance as the present one. Farmers are expected to increase productivity, strengthen food security, meet sustainability expectations, preserve natural resources, and respond to rapidly changing market demands all at the same time. For Haroldo Cunha, President of AGOPA (Goiás Cotton Producers Association) and IGA (Goiás Institute of Agriculture), these challenges are not new. They have shaped much of his professional journey and continue to influence the work he leads today. As an agronomist, Cunha has spent decades following the evolution of agricultural technologies, production systems, and sustainability practices. Throughout that journey, he has witnessed agriculture transform from an industry focused primarily on output into one that increasingly values efficiency, environmental responsibility, and long-term resilience. His leadership has been closely connected to the development of Brazil’s cotton sector, a segment that has become recognized internationally not only for productivity and quality but also for its commitment to responsible production. Through AGOPA and IGA, Cunha has helped drive initiatives that connect research, innovation, sustainability, and practical farming solutions, ensuring that producers are equipped to meet both current demands and future challenges. What distinguishes his approach is a clear understanding that sustainable agriculture is not achieved through a single technology or isolated initiative. Instead, it requires the continuous integration of knowledge, innovation, collaboration, and responsible resource management. It is a philosophy that has guided his work for years and one that continues to shape the future of cotton production in Goiás and beyond. A Career Built on Continuous Improvement Since the beginning of his professional career, Haroldo Cunha has maintained a strong interest in technical innovation within agriculture. As an agronomist working directly with production systems, he consistently sought opportunities to improve farming practices and increase efficiency on the farm. That commitment became even stronger when he became involved with AGOPA and other institutions connected to the cotton sector. Through these experiences, he gained exposure not only to Brazilian cotton production but also to the broader global cotton industry. The deeper his involvement became, the clearer it was that productivity alone would not define the future of agriculture. While improving yields and enhancing fiber quality remained important objectives, another factor was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore: sustainability. “As we learned more about cotton production around the world, it became clear that sustainability would play an increasingly important role,” Cunha explains. This realization extended beyond environmental considerations. He understood that sustainable production was essential not only for preserving natural resources but also for maintaining competitiveness in a market that was becoming more attentive to environmental, social, and governance practices. That understanding led him to play an active role in implementing sustainability programs across Goiás and Brazil. During his tenure leading ABRAPA, the Brazilian Cotton Producers Association, Cunha was directly involved in initiating the implementation of the Better Cotton Initiative in Brazil, helping establish a framework that would later become one of the industry’s most significant sustainability programs. For him, sustainability was never viewed as a trend or external requirement. It was a practical necessity for ensuring the long-term future of agricultural production. Why Productivity and Sustainability Must Move Together Agriculture today faces a challenge unlike any before. The global population continues to grow, increasing demand for food, fiber, and renewable raw materials. At the same time, the resources required to support this growth—particularly land and water—are finite. According to Cunha, this reality has fundamentally changed how agricultural success must be measured. “It is no longer enough to produce at any cost,” he says. Over time, producers have come to understand that productivity cannot be separated from environmental responsibility. Soil health, water conservation, biodiversity protection, and efficient resource use are no longer secondary considerations. They are central to the future of agriculture. The need to produce more per hectare remains critical. However, achieving higher productivity without preserving the resources that make production possible creates risks that eventually undermine the entire system. This balance between productivity and sustainability is one of the principles guiding the work carried out by AGOPA and IGA. Through research, education, and technical support, both organizations seek solutions that allow producers to improve performance while protecting the natural resources on which agriculture depends. For Cunha, the objective is straightforward. Agriculture must continue increasing production, but it must do so using technologies and management practices that ensure future generations can continue farming successfully. Turning Sustainability Into Measurable Action While sustainability is frequently discussed throughout the agricultural sector, Cunha believes its value ultimately depends on practical implementation. This belief has helped shape several important programs supported by AGOPA and IGA. Among the most significant are the ABR – Responsible Brazilian Cotton program and the Better Cotton program. Although coordinated nationally by ABRAPA, these initiatives are implemented at the state level through organizations such as AGOPA. The programs establish clear standards covering environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and governance practices. Producers participating in the programs receive guidance and support to meet these requirements, while independent international auditing organizations verify compliance. The objective extends far beyond certification. These programs help producers incorporate sustainability into everyday operations, ensuring that responsible practices become part of the production system itself. The result is a model that allows cotton producers to strengthen environmental performance while maintaining competitiveness in demanding global markets. For Goiás producers, these initiatives have become important tools for demonstrating that high productivity and responsible production can successfully coexist. Research as a Foundation for Sustainable Growth If AGOPA focuses on representing and supporting producers, IGA serves as an important engine for agricultural research and innovation. The institute conducts studies designed to improve production systems while strengthening environmental sustainability. One area of particular focus involves crop rotation systems that integrate cotton production with soybean and corn cultivation. These systems are further

Digital Version Finance leadership has entered a new era, one where technical expertise alone is no longer enough to guide organizations through complexity. Markets are evolving faster than forecasting models can fully capture. Geopolitical uncertainty, technological disruption, and shifting workforce expectations are redefining how businesses operate and how leaders make decisions. In this environment, the executives creating the greatest impact are not simply the ones managing numbers. They are the ones shaping direction, building resilient teams, and making intentional decisions even when certainty is impossible. Few leaders embody this evolution as clearly as Antinea Reyes. With a career spanning organizations such as General Electric, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Antinea has built her leadership philosophy in some of the world’s most demanding and competitive business environments. Much of her professional experience has been rooted in Latin American markets, where volatility is not an exception but often the operating reality. Financial crises, hyperinflationary economies, and unpredictable commodity cycles shaped her understanding of leadership early in her career, forcing her to develop a perspective that extends far beyond traditional finance. For Antinea, finance has never been simply about reporting performance or managing spreadsheets. It has always been about understanding how organizations make decisions, how value is created, and how leadership influences both culture and long term outcomes. Those experiences taught her one of the most defining lessons of her career: in uncertain environments, leadership is not driven by perfect data. It is driven by judgment, adaptability, and people. “Decision making is not about perfect data, it is about strong judgment and the right teams,” she explains. That perspective has become central to the way she approaches leadership today. While many organizations still view finance primarily as a control function, Antinea believes its true role is far more strategic. Finance, in her view, should sit at the center of business direction, helping organizations navigate uncertainty while shaping growth, transformation, and innovation. Her journey has also been deeply influenced by another dimension that extends beyond corporate leadership. Antinea has become a passionate advocate for expanding opportunities for women, particularly across Latin America, where economic inequality and gender limitations still restrict the futures of many young girls. As Global Advisor to the Financial Empowerment and Policies wing of the G100, she works alongside other women leaders committed to advancing access, opportunity, and financial independence for future generations. For her, leadership is not only about performance metrics or business results. It is about creating environments where people can grow, contribute, and build better futures for themselves and others. Leadership Built Through Volatility and Complexity Some careers are shaped by stability. Others are shaped by constant transformation. Antinea’s belongs firmly to the latter. Operating across Latin American markets exposed her to conditions that demanded resilience at every level. Economic instability, inflationary pressure, currency fluctuations, and changing political environments required leaders to make high stakes decisions without always having access to perfect or complete information. These experiences fundamentally changed the way she understood leadership. In volatile environments, spreadsheets alone do not provide clarity. Data can be delayed, incomplete, or unreliable. What ultimately determines outcomes is the quality of judgment behind the decisions and the strength of the people making them. This realization reinforced her belief that organizations succeed when they are built around strong teams with diverse perspectives and the ability to navigate ambiguity confidently. It also strengthened her appreciation for the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. Referencing Jim Collins’ well known insight from Good to Great, she reflects on a philosophy that has remained central throughout her career: “People are not your greatest asset. The right people are.” Working within globally recognized organizations exposed her to exceptional leaders who established high standards for excellence and execution. At the same time, she also encountered leadership styles that demonstrated exactly what leadership should not become. Those experiences became equally valuable, shaping her understanding of the type of environment she wanted to create for others. Over time, Antinea developed a leadership approach grounded in transparency, empowerment, and strategic clarity. Rather than leading through authority alone, she focuses on building alignment, encouraging independent thinking, and fostering accountability across teams. This philosophy became particularly important during one of the most defining moments of her career: leading a global organizational restructuring driven not by strategic expansion, but by financial constraint. The transformation impacted more than 50 CFO roles globally and carried enormous operational and leadership pressure. The decisions involved were not theoretical exercises. Every move carried real consequences for people, performance, and the future structure of the organization. There were difficult questions that could not be answered with certainty. Would the new operating model succeed? Had the organization underestimated the level of support required for execution? Would the cost savings ultimately compromise performance? In moments like these, Antinea learned that stability does not come from structure alone. It comes from leadership. She focused on maintaining clarity of purpose, ensuring teams understood what truly mattered, while also prioritizing transparency and empowerment. Rather than creating fear driven environments, she encouraged ownership and decisive action. The experience reinforced her belief that transformation succeeds when leaders trust capable people, communicate clearly, and remain adaptable under pressure. Redefining the Role of Finance Leadership As organizations continue to evolve, Antinea believes finance leaders must redefine how they contribute to business growth. Historically, finance has often been positioned as a back office function centered on control, reporting, and operational oversight. Antinea rejects that limitation entirely. For her, finance belongs at the front line of strategic decision making. “I’ve never believed in the concept of traditional finance,” she says. “Finance should not follow decisions, it should help shape them.” That mindset reflects a broader transformation taking place across global business leadership. Modern finance executives are now expected to connect financial insight directly to strategic direction. They must understand how technological disruption reshapes industries, anticipate market shifts before they occur, and allocate resources in ways that align execution with long term vision. This requires a

Digital Version There is a noticeable change in how the clean energy transition is being discussed across boardrooms, development teams, and infrastructure planning circles. The language has shifted. Conversations that once centered on ambition, targets, and long term climate commitments are now grounded in something far more immediate and complex. The focus is on how projects actually move from concept to operation within the realities of grid limitations, capital discipline, regulatory frameworks, and long term performance expectations. It is no longer enough to identify the need for clean energy. The defining question has become whether it can be delivered in a way that is reliable, repeatable, and financially viable over time. This shift has created a new kind of leadership requirement in the industry. It calls for individuals who are not only aligned with sustainability goals, but who also understand the structural challenges that determine whether those goals can be achieved at scale. Leaders who can move between engineering constraints, financial structures, and operational realities without losing sight of execution. Becky Koze, Director of Development at Dispatch Energy, operates within this exact intersection. Her work reflects a consistent focus on turning viable concepts into projects that can be financed, permitted, built, and operated without disconnect between intention and outcome. Her perspective is shaped by a foundation in civil engineering and early experience in traditional development, where the connection between design decisions and real world impact is immediate and measurable. That background continues to influence how she approaches clean energy today. Rather than treating sustainability as a separate objective, she approaches it as an extension of how infrastructure should be designed and deployed within a system that is evolving but still constrained by legacy structures. This grounding in practical execution defines both her leadership style and her approach to development. Understanding Impact Through Early Experience Before entering the clean energy sector, Becky Koze worked across commercial, residential, and infrastructure development projects. These early roles provided direct exposure to how the built environment interacts with natural systems and how decisions made during planning and design stages can influence long term environmental outcomes. The experience was not theoretical. It was tied to real projects, real constraints, and real consequences. She recognized early on that the way infrastructure is designed has a measurable effect on the surrounding environment, and that integrating sustainability into that process could improve both performance and long term value. As she put it, “I observed how designs can directly affect the surrounding environment and how sustainability and clean energy could strengthen the way we plan, build, and operate projects.” That realization did not immediately lead to a change in direction, but it gradually reshaped how she viewed the role of development itself. Clean energy offered an opportunity to apply that understanding at a different scale. Instead of optimizing individual buildings or projects, it created a pathway to influence how energy systems are deployed across regions. The transition into clean energy development was therefore less about entering a new industry and more about expanding the scope of impact. It also introduced a level of complexity that required a broader, more integrated approach, where engineering decisions, financial structures, and regulatory processes all intersect. Working Within Constraints to Enable Execution One of the most defining aspects of Koze’s approach is her starting point. Rather than beginning with innovation or emerging technologies, she begins with constraints. This includes grid capacity, interconnection feasibility, cost structures, and deployment timelines. Her perspective is grounded in the reality that projects only succeed when these elements align. She explains this directly by saying, “I start with what has to work in the real world; reliability, cost and speed to deployment, and build innovation around that.” This approach reflects a clear understanding of how projects move forward. It is not enough for a project to be technically sound or environmentally beneficial. It must also fit within existing infrastructure systems, meet regulatory requirements, and demonstrate financial viability in a competitive capital environment. This foundation changes how innovation is applied. Instead of being the starting point, it becomes a tool that is introduced where it can create measurable improvements without increasing risk. This may involve refining site selection to reduce interconnection challenges, improving design efficiency to enhance output, or structuring projects in ways that accelerate deployment while maintaining financial discipline. The emphasis is always on practicality. At Dispatch Energy, this approach is reinforced by the company’s role as both an asset owner and operator. Development decisions are made with long term performance in mind, not just initial completion. This includes disciplined underwriting practices and the use of long term service agreements to ensure that assets continue to operate reliably over their full lifecycle. The result is a development model that prioritizes consistency and durability alongside speed. Grid Limitations as a Structural Challenge While renewable technologies have advanced rapidly, the infrastructure required to support them has not evolved at the same pace. This creates one of the most significant challenges in scaling clean energy. Much of the existing grid was designed for centralized generation models, where energy flows in predictable patterns from large scale sources. Integrating decentralized and variable energy sources such as solar and wind introduces new complexities that require substantial upgrades to transmission and distribution systems. Koze identifies this clearly when she states, “The most critical bottleneck is the grid, which was designed for a different era.” This limitation affects nearly every stage of development. Even when projects are technically feasible and financially structured, they can be delayed or stalled due to interconnection constraints and limited capacity. Interconnection queues continue to expand, creating uncertainty in project timelines and increasing development risk. Addressing this challenge requires a combination of infrastructure investment and strategic planning. Developers must consider grid positioning as a central factor in site selection and project design. At the same time, broader system level improvements are needed, including expanded transmission networks, smarter distribution systems, and greater integration of flexible resources such as energy storage. The pace at which these