Elisson has over 20 years of public and private sector experience leading strategic environmental and finance initiatives. He joined the Biodiversity team of the World Bank’s Environment Unit as a Junior Professional Associate in 2004, then from 2006–2015 worked in the private sector. He currently co-leads the Wildlife Conservation Bond (WCB) operation in South Africa, collaborates on efforts to mobilize finance at scale for nature and climate action, and provides technical assistance to operational teams in Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Europe and Central Asia on issues related to innovative finance, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and environmental risk management. Previously, he led design and implementation efforts for the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded Global Wildlife Program (GWP) that include 32 countries, spearheaded the Collaborative Management Partnership (CMP) for Conservation Areas toolkit, and Analysis of international funding to tackle illegal wildlife trade.
He started his career in the finance sector at JP Morgan Chase. Elisson holds an MBA, MS, and Finance degree from the University of Maryland, where he also completed the Life Sciences Scholars Program.