Martha Casey, the former CEO of Halifax startup hub Volta, has been named interim co-CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, replacing Richard Florizone, who she also worked under at Dalhousie University.

Casey joined the IISD about a year ago, overseeing the think tank’s administration as vice president for operations and business transformation. Her new co-president and co-CEO is Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, who was previously the IISD’s vice president for global strategies, heading up international policy programming.

Casey previously served as Florizone’s chief of staff when he was president of Dalhousie University. There, she was involved in the expansion of the school’s startup support programs, with Florizone backing the creation of a roster of initiatives focused on commercializing innovation via Dal Innovates.

Her role at the IISD was the result of conversations she had with Florizone about their respective post-Dalhousie careers, in which he suggested she speak with the institute’s search committee.

“Thank you Richard Florizone for your leadership!” wrote Casey on LinkedIn. “I look forward to working with colleagues from across the International Institute for Sustainable Development to support our momentum in advancing critical work in sustainability.”

Casey became Volta CEO in the spring of 2020, after a two-year stint as COO, and shepherded the organization through the depths of the pandemic by temporarily pivoting to online startup support services.

The creation of the IISD, meanwhile, was spearheaded by then-prime minister Brian Mulroney with the aim of advancing international policy around environmentally sustainable economic development. Founded in 1990, the IISD now has offices in Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Geneva, Switzerland.

Last year, the organization spent about $33 million and had a staff of more than 200 people working on research, educational and lobbying efforts related to topics such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as sustainable energy development.