Born in Mumbai, India in 1961, Denzil de Souza spent his working life developing the family business, P.N. Writer & Co. – a relocation company that was bought by his late father, Mr Charles de Souza, in the late 1950s. Denzil joined the business in 1978, which was then under the management of his father and late brother, William de Souza.

Their mentoring instilled values of excellence onto him and greatly influenced his work ethic and outlook on life. With William, Denzil transformed Writer from a single location, 20-employee, single service company into a multi-location, multi-business organisation.

Margie Ruddick has been recognised, for over twenty years, for her pioneering work in the domain of landscape architecture. Winner of the 2013 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in landscape architecture, Margie has forged a design language that assimilates ecology and culture.

Her transformative design for New York’s Queens Plaza has won awards for endorsing a new idea of nature in the city, where stormwater, wind, sun, and habitat merge within an urban infrastructure to create a more sustainable vision of urban life.

Karen is the last child and only daughter of the late William de Souza. She joined the Shillim Institute as Director in January 2015. She studied international business management and economics in Brussels and is fluent in French. Her father’s love for nature instilled a calling to conservation, as a young girl, through their visits to the Western Ghats.

Her interest in sustainability began nearly a decade ago with a growing interest in food. While working in Brussels with a renowned Michelin Star chef, she understood the relationship between sustainability and the production of quality ingredients.