Speakers

Keynote Speaker

William McDonough
Founding Principal
McDonough + Partners

Keynoting for 2009 is renown designer William McDonough, whose Cradle to Cradle™ design protocol is helping companies assess the materials used in products and production processes from an environmental perspective. McDonough is the founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, an internationally recognized design firm practicing ecologically, socially, and economically intelligent architecture and planning in the U.S. and abroad.

Keynote Speaker

Tom Szaky
Founder and CEO
TerraCycle

Keynoting for 2009, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TerraCycle, Inc., producer of the world's first product made from waste (worm poop) and packaged in waste (used plastic bottles.) TerraCycle operates three large facilities manufacturing in North America and makes more than 50 consumer products, partnering with companies like Kraft, Hershey’s, Frito-Lay, and Starbucks. The secret sauce: recycling stuff that people don't value into usable products.

Keynote Speaker

Peter Arnell
Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Arnell Group

Peter Arnell is Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Arnell Group, a brand ideation and experience marketing company specializing in integrated branding, strategy and communications solutions. He is also chief innovation officer for Chrysler, and designed and engineered the Peapod, a colorful and user-friendly electric vehicle with the space age, pod-shaped design. In addition to being gas and emissions free, the Peapod boasts iPod integration, has lightweight mesh seating and is made out of recyclable materials.

Keynote Speaker

David de Rothschild
Adventurer and Activist

David de Rothschild is the author of “The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook” and founder of Adventure Ecology, an organization that uses adventure and storytelling to captivate the imagination, raise global mass media awareness and inspire individuals, communities and industry to take smart actions for our planet. In summer 2009, he will embark upon the Plastiki Expedition, traveling from San Francisco to Australia aboard a vessel made almost entirely of recycled plastic water bottles. In doing so, he hopes not only to draw attention to the wonders that can be created from recycled materials but also to the dangers, in the forms of garbage and waste, facing our oceans. Like “Eco-Trip: The Real Cost of Living”, The Plastiki aims to combat the environmental threats that un-recycled waste pose to our planet.

Mark Aggar
Director, Environmental Technology Strategy
Microsoft Corp.

As Director of Environmental Technology Strategy at Microsoft, Mark Aggar is focused on reducing the environmental impact of technology and championing ways in which it can help the environment. By remaining on the frontlines of a company-wide initiative to drive efficiency, Aggar’s efforts contribute to the Environmental Sustainability team that is focused on sustainable computing and enabling people and businesses to improve the environment through the potential of software.

Gary Barker
Co-Founder and CEO
GreenHeart Global, Inc

Concerned with the ever growing toxic waste from poorly designed, ill conceived products, Gary co-founded GreenHeart Global, an international green product development and manufacturing company. GreenHeart Global uniquely sources recycled and highly recyclable materials, works with certified socially responsible manufacturers and creates award-winning and responsible solutions. Clients include Adidas, the GAP, O’Neill and LL Bean. Greenheart Global is based in Oakland, CA with offices in Hong Kong.

Chhaya Bhanti
Sustainability and Design Strategist

A sustainability strategist based in New York City, Chhaya has worked as a designer, filmmaker and a branding consultant for over ten years. Chhaya served as the executive vice president of Assouline Inc., a luxury branding agency with a client list including Harry Winston, Cole Haan and Chanel. She is currently pursuing an MBA in Sustainability and is spearheading the development of a 60,000-square-foot green innovation center in New York. Raised in India, Chhaya is deeply committed to applying her design and media experience to development issues and heads her own NGO, Sanjhi, in Rajasthan.

Dr. Joseph Fiksel
Executive Director of the Center for Resilience
Ohio State University

Joseph Fiksel is Executive Director of the Center for Resilience at The Ohio State University, where he leads the development of advanced tools for product life cycle assessment and industrial ecology modeling. He is an internationally recognized authority on sustainable business practices, with a focus on linking supply chain sustainability to shareholder value. Joseph is also Principal and Co-Founder of the consulting firm Eco-Nomics LLC, and has advised dozens of global companies and industry associations on strategic environmental management. His latest book, “Design for Environment: A Guide to Sustainable Product Development,” will be published by McGraw-Hill in 2009.

Resources

The Center for Resilience at The Ohio State University

"Design for Environment" (2009 edition) by Joseph Fiksel

Susan Gladwin
Sustainability and marketing consultant

Susan Gladwin is a sustainability and marketing consultant who combines a career in technology marketing with a decade of helping organizations achieve success in a sustainable context. Her current focus is working with companies to define and realize their sustainable brand proposition through their products, programs and positioning. Gladwin Consulting’s client list includes Apple, HP, Microsoft, Adobe, PARC, emerging companies in clean technology, and organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Clean Technology Open. She has co-developed and is teaching the sustainability studio course in the MBA in Design Strategy program at the California College of the Arts.

Steve Gutmann
Senior Commercialisation Manager
EcoSecurities

Steve Gutmann is a Senior Commercialization Manager in the Portland office of EcoSecurities, a Dublin-based company that develops and supplies greenhouse gas emissions reductions to the compliance and voluntary markets. Prior to his current position Steve was a new business development manager for Flexcar, a loan officer for ShoreBank Pacific, and a high school teacher. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he has served on the board of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.

Wendy Jedlicka
Founder
Jedlicka Design

Award-winning designer Wendy Jedlicka, a Certified Packaging Professional, has more than 25 years packaging and print experience, coupled with 11 years as a retail industry insider. As a design and business strategy vendor she has served clients such as 3M, Target, Hormel Foods, Citibank, Old Dutch, Land O'Lakes, Anchor Hocking, First Team Sports, and Toro. Jedlicka writes a regular feature on sustainability for Package Design Magazine, as well as contributing to other magazines around the world. As part of her professional outreach efforts, Jedlicka is the US-Hub Co-Coordinator for the o2 International Network for Sustainable Design (o2.org) as well as chapter chair for o2-USA/Upper Midwest (o2umw.org). Working to change minds in higher education, Jedlicka is program development team member and faculty (Packaging, Economics, Business and Marketing Ethics) for Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s ground breaking Sustainable Design Certificate Program (mcad.edu/sustainable).

Resources

Where do I start?

Minneapolis College of Art and Design Online: Sustainable Design Certificate

Tony Knoerzer
VP Research & Development Packaging, Frito-Lay

Tony Knoerzer is responsible for development of new packaging formats, materials, customer specific packaging solutions and packaging quality. He also oversees research that will deliver greater performance and value to packaging in the future, and leads the development of sustainable food packaging, coordinating a global team that is reducing the environmental impact of packaging by research and commercializing technology that will make the packaging renewably based, have a lower carbon footprint and compostable.

Uri Kogan
Program Manager, Global Supply Chain Social & Environmental Responsibility
Hewlett Packard

Uri Kogan is a supply chain social and environmental responsibility program manager at Hewlett Packard. His career at HP began with environmental strategy work in the Imaging and Printing Group. Prior to HP, Uri was a research economist with the U.S. government and an energy consultant, both in Washington, D.C. Uri has also consulted with an energy efficiency startup on communications strategy, and with a Fortune 25 company on reducing its logistics carbon footprint. Uri graduated from Northwestern University magna cum laude with a BA in economics and a Bachelor of Music in opera performance, and from the Kellogg School of Management with an MBA in marketing and strategy.

Amnon Levav
Director
SIT International

Amnon Levav is a facilitator of workshops in new product development, problem solving and advertising, a lecturer on various aspects of innovation and Managing Director of SIT International. SIT International is a company dedicated to the development and application of Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT). The SIT method combines creativity with structures and predictable processes to deliver Systematic Inventive Thinking.

Davidson Lewis
CEO and founder, Ecologic Designs, Inc.

Davidson Lewis is the CEO and founder of Ecologic Designs, Inc., an award winning eco-manufacturer dedicated to the creation of sustainable products that reduce the environmental impact of discarded materials by transforming waste into ecological products. Ecologic Designs offers green design and domestic manufacturing services to companies that seek to reduce their impact by repurposing waste materials into products and sourcing co-branded/private label eco-products. The growing list of clients that already benefit from this strategic upcycling includes Patagonia, Greenpeace, Container Store, and New Belgium Brewery. Davidson leads the Ecologic Designs Inc. design department for the consumer brands Green Guru and Green Goddess Gear and actively contributes to executive business development. He strives to create a sustainable business model to make the future greener, one material at a time.

Paul Ligon
Managing Director
Waste Management's GreenOps, LLC

Paul Ligon joined Waste Management's Upstream group in 2003 and launched the Environmental Enterprise and Supply Chain Service unit, which provides zero-waste services to Fortune 500 companies in the diversified manufacturing, industrial, food and beverage, cruise-line, petrochemical/pipeline segments. He is currently Managing Director of WM’s GreenOps, LLC, a revolutionary material recovery system that brings together “best-in-class” physical and digital infrastructure, product tracking, point-of-retail collection, consumer rewards, and closed loop recovery systems. Prior to joining Waste Management, Ligon was a Senior Scientist at the Tellus Institute, a global environmental research and consulting NGO, where he advised agencies and businesses on emerging best practice and policies related to product and material recovery, recycling, and reuse. A Cum Laude graduate of The University of Vermont, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Sciences, and a Master's of Business Administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Stephen Linaweaver
Associate Principal
GreenOrder

Stephen Linaweaver is an Associate Principal at GreenOrder. As an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, Stephen advised clients on innovation, emerging market strategies, and energy and operational efficiency, working for major health care, industrial, and public sector clients on four continents. Prior to joining McKinsey in 2003, Stephen was a product manager for a Silicon Valley start-up and managed small and medium-sized enterprises in East Africa and Asia. He has worked as a campaigner for the International Rivers Network, an educator for the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies and Save the Bay (Oakland, California), and for five years as a professional whitewater rafting guide in North America, Asia, and Africa.

Stephen was previously an Associate in Research for the Children's Environmental Health Initiative atDuke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. He received an MSc with Distinction in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics, and was an Echols Scholar at theUniversity of Virginia, where he received a BA with a focus on environmental science, policy, and management. His work has appeared in the International Journal of Sustainable Development among other publications.

Dr. Richard Liroff
Executive Director
Investor Environmental Health Network

Dr. Richard Liroff serves as Executive Director of the Investor Environmental Health Network, a group of investment organizations working to reduce production and use of toxic chemicals by business. Such steps can enhance corporations’ long-term value, reduce their potential liabilities, and contribute to improved public and environmental health. Investors have engaged companies via letters, meetings, and shareholder resolutions. Dr. Liroff developed IEHN after more than two decades’ work at World Wildlife Fund, where as a Senior Program Officer he directed projects on toxic chemicals and other subjects. Prior to his work at WWF, Dr. Liroff was affiliated with The Environmental Law Institute and was a guest scholar and research fellow at The Brookings Institution.

Resources

Investor Environmental Health Network

Blogs

Adam Lowry
Co-Founder & Chief Greenskeeper
Method Products, Inc.

Founder and Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Adam Lowry believes that business, as the Earth’s largest and most powerful institution, has both the opportunity and the onus to be the greatest agent of positive social and environmental change on the planet. First and foremost an entrepreneur and change agent, Adam has a proven track record of innovation across multiple categories and consumer segments.

Angela R. Nahikian
Director, Global Environmental Sustainability
Steelcase Inc.

Angela Nahikian is the Director of Global Environmental Sustainability at Steelcase Inc. As the world leader in contract furnishings, Steelcase is committed to leadership in environmental sustainability. Angela heads a cross-company effort to ensure the company achieves its global sustainability goals. In her role, she is responsible for integration of the key environmental platforms of life cycle management, materials assessment, and designing for disassembly in new product and program development. She also leads environmental research programs and corporate collaborative efforts with sustainability experts.

Christopher Nelson
Director Of Global Commercial Development
UL Environment.

Chris Nelson directs global commercial development for UL EnvironmentTM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) that is focused exclusively on environmental services for products, companies and energy. In this role, he is responsible for corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships and alliances and commercial sales and marketing operations. Previously, Nelson was director of corporate development for UL, helping its businesses identify candidates and options for strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. A certified public accountant, Nelson has been in various financial management roles prior to his time at UL, including most recently as vice president of financial planning and analysis at Citigroup. Nelson has also spent time in various business development roles in the computer software industry.

James Sullivan
Vice President of Advisory Services
Clear Standards

James (Jim) Sullivan brings over 16 years of experience to his role as Vice President of Advisory Services at Clear Standards, where he works directly with clients, partners, and analysts to drive the benefits of technology to better manage carbon across business operations. Mr. Sullivan is the former Director of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Climate Leaders, a program that partners with over 200 businesses whose revenues represent 10% of the U.S. GDP, to develop comprehensive carbon management strategies. Mr. Sullivan's previous work at EPA included developing and analyzing performance metrics for U.S. climate programs, and serving as an expert reviewer of the European Union's climate policy under the UNFCCC. Mr. Sullivan represents Clear Standards on the technical committee of the WRI GHG Protocol Product/Supply Chain initiative. A frequent speaker at environmental and climate change related events, Mr. Sullivan is a strong advocate of industry efforts to implement meaningful, verifiable energy efficiency and carbon reduction programs.

Terry Swack
CEO and Co-founder
Sustainable Minds

Terry Swack is a pioneer in the design and technology industries, and an Internet and environmental entrepreneur. In 2007, Terry co-founded Sustainable Minds, a software and information services company enabling product design organizations to create innovative and sustainable products. The company's mission is to bring sustainable product design into the mainstream in an accessible, empowering and credible way. Early in 2007, Terry founded Clean Culture, a customer experience research and strategy consultancy focused on making clean tech and sustainable products more understandable and desirable.

Rand Waddoups
Senior Director of Business Strategy and Sustainability
Wal-Mart

Rand Waddoups is the senior director of business strategy and sustainability at Wal-Mart. In this role, he joins a small team dedicated to building sustainability into every part of Wal-Mart's global business strategy and culture. They are doing this by focusing on three aspirational goals: 1) to have zero waste, 2) to use 100% renewable energy, and 3) to bring sustainable products to our customers.