Chris McFarlane is the Global Responsibility Advisor for Waste on the Starbucks Global Sustainability Team. He leads the global coordination and strategy for Starbucks 2030 waste target and supports Starbucks initiatives to divert waste from landfill and make packaging more sustainable. He also channels his passion for circularity into leading Starbucks engagement and collaboration with NGO's, waste infrastructure stakeholders, and communities to advance the circular economy.

Dr. Joy Banner is Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Descendants Project, a nonprofit foundation committed to the liberation of the Black descendant community through the dismantling of inequitable and discriminatory economic, environmental, and social systems inherent in the violent legacies of slavery. As part of this work, Dr. Banner is on the front lines of the struggle against environmental racism in the form of petrochemical plants and heavy industry along Louisiana’s River Road, otherwise known as “Cancer Alley.”

Aditi Gogineni is an Assistant Vice President, Research & Innovation North America at L’Oréal, where she leads sustainability and green sciences efforts to achieve the organization's 2030 L’Oréal for the Future goals. With more a decade of experience in upstream and downstream research, Aditi has made important contributions to L’Oréal’s research and innovation efforts. With 6 patents granted, 14 patents pending, and multiple brand launches to her credit, including Pureology, Redken, and L’Oréal Paris, Aditi has established a noteworthy track record at the company. Aditi earned her B.S. in Materials Science Engineering and her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Aly Khalifa is the Chief Technical Officer of McDonough Innovation and the COO of MBDC. These entities are built upon the pioneering thought-leadership of William McDonough, Time Magazine's "Hero for the Planet." The team at McDonough Innovation work with leading technologies and progressive brands to realize the latest advances in eco-effective solutions. Their work spans across creative scales: from corporate sustainability strategies to circular carbon metrics to innovative material development. Aly's team at MBDC works with clients to define products across supply chains and down to the molecule to assess their suitability to be Cradle to Cradle Certified®. This certification is recognized by Amazon as a top qualification for it's Climate Pledge Friendly program. Their clients include Ralph Lauren, Walmart, Unilever, SABIC, L'Oreal, Herman Miller and IFF. Prior to joining the McDonough companies, Aly led his own innovation consultancy for 27 years, working with top consumer brands to invent unique products and direct their manufacturing globally. His design collaborations have garnered more than 40 patents, been exhibited at the Louvre, and nominated for a Grammy. He is an Eisenhower Fellow and served as an Expert in Residence in Australia to mentor Impact Entrepreneurs. He has co-founded several positive impact companies including Oceanworks, a leading ocean plastic materials marketplace.

Alyssa Macy (Wasco, Navajo, Hopi) is the CEO of Washington Conservation Action, a statewide environmental policy and advocacy organization with deep roots in the state. She is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon and was raised on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Prior to WCA, she served her Nation as the Chief Operations Officer where she was responsible for $33 million in tribal programming and services. Her previous experiences include working in transportation, campaign management, communications and international advocacy within United Nations bodies. She is a published writer and co-authored the first ever national report on Native American voting in 2005. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and spending time outdoors. She is a graduate of Arizona State University where she received her B.S. in Justice Studies.

Andy Ruben is the founder and executive chairman of Trove, the market leader in branded resale and trade-in for world-class brands and retailers such as Canada Goose, lululemon, Patagonia, REI, Levi’s, and more. Ruben has spent more than two decades pioneering change across retail, consumer products, and sustainability. Prior to starting Trove, he led a number of transformational efforts at Walmart, including serving as the first-ever chief sustainability officer and overseeing global corporate and ecommerce strategy.

Bryan Yuji Walker leads the organizational design portfolio at IDEO. He actively pursues new ways that designers can catalyze and support massive change of complex, human systems, and has worked with organizations in a diversity of industries (consumer electronics, health care, fashion, sports apparel, retail and hospitality, food and beverage and financial services). He is passionate about collaborating with organizations to design innovation strategies that build upon existing assets to meet future needs and goals—and ultimately support enterprise-wide transformation. He has a bias towards action, believing the best way to help an organization become more innovative is by working together to bring more innovative "products" to market.

Bryan’s work has been widely recognized. His innovative design research on a baby stroller was awarded the product design of the year by the Human Factors Ergonomic Society and was later featured in the Smithsonian. His work has also been written about in BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, USA Today and Fast Company.

In addition to his work at IDEO, Bryan is a core design team member for the Aspen Institute First Movers Fellowship Program. He also lectures at Cornell University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and the California Center of Arts on the topics of design thinking, organizational design, consumer experience design and service design.

Carol is the Senior Manager of Global Sustainability at The North Face, where her work spans all aspects of The North Face’s environmental footprint, from retail waste to regeneratively-grown raw materials. She oversees the brand’s sustainability initiatives and helps teams across the brand action on TNF’s sustainability strategy and goals. She is a textiles enthusiast and loves handcrafts. She co-founded Aggie Reuse Store, a creative reuse store at UC Davis. She has a BA and an MFA in Design from UC Davis and an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School.

Danielle Jezienicki is the Vice President of Sustainability for Grove Collaborative, the leading digital-first brand & ecommerce platform for natural home and personal care products, and the world's first plastic-neutral retailer. A certified B Corp, Grove serves hundreds of thousands of households in the U.S. every month. At Grove, Danielle manages Grove's sustainability program, advocacy and corporate giving. 

Prior to Danielle’s current role at Grove, Danielle was the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI) where she supervised ESG reporting and sustainability initiatives for the Company and its West Coast brands including Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, Williams-Sonoma, Rejuvenation and Mark & Graham. Long inspired by the possibilities of sustainability-first consciousness provide, she was an Impact Analyst for four years at Sonen Capital, an investment firm that prioritizes socio-environmental outcomes in conjunction with financial returns. She holds an MBA in Sustainable Management at Presidio Graduate School and BA from Brown University.

Kate Daly is Managing Director at impact investment firm Closed Loop Partners and leads their Center for the Circular Economy, an innovation center for research, analysis and collaboration. Prior to joining Closed Loop Partners, Kate served in New York City government for more than a decade, most recently as Senior Vice President at the NYC Economic Development Corporation, where she oversaw business development programs to foster the growth of entrepreneurship across sectors including smart cities, healthcare, cleantech, fashion, tech, media, and advanced manufacturing. Kate previously served as the Executive Director of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. Kate earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.