Experienced Sustainability and New Business Development Leader with a demonstrated history of working in the plastics and packaging industries. Currently focused on collaborating for scientific progress pertaining to biobased thermoplastics, recycling and biodegradation.

Mike is considered one of the leading experts in the transformation of logistics platforms from single use to circularity, reducing the mountains of plastics and corrugated cardboard entering our waste stream while saving millions in packaging expenses. He received his MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Over the last 20+ years he has worked at the intersection of supply chain and sustainability; he directed the Sierra Club’s political operations in 20 states and built e-waste programs which saved millions of used cell phones from landfills for companies such as Verizon, AT&T, Walmart, and Best Buy during his tenure as the Sales and Marketing Vice President for ReCellular. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded three companies and built and launched technology products that have been distributed to millions of consumers. He brings a unique range of leadership experience to the table, including being elected president of a labor union and working in Nairobi advising a non-profit making footwear made from used tires. He has a true passion for starting and growing companies and developing partnerships with companies like Wal-Mart, Target and Verizon. He has leveraged his unique insight to effectively implement successful programs that balance sustainability with consumer and financial targets, empowering companies’ supply chain and purchasing teams to adopt innovative new packaging models thereby easing the shift to the new circular economy.

Lawrence is the Chairman and co-Founder of Resonance, which launched in July 2015 with the purpose of transforming the Fashion Industry by enabling talented fashion designers to build businesses that are as beautiful as their creative visions. Resonance uniquely combines venture capital company-building experience; fashion industry insight and experience; a proprietary, technology-based fashion business architecture; advanced manufacturing capability; and capital. Prior to Resonance, Lawrence founded FirstMark Capital in New York City in 2007, and before that he was the Founder of Pequot Ventures, the predecessor to FirstMark, in 1996.  He started his career at IBM in its Retail Industry sales organization.

Lawrence is the Co-Founder of the NYU Stern Fashion Lab and has served as an Adjunct Professor at NYU since 2007.

Lawrence holds a BSEE from Duke University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.  Follow Lawrence on Twitter at @lawrencelenihan on Instagram at @lawrence.lenihan.

Robert is a three-time entrepreneur. He sold his first company for $300,000 while he studied at the University of Southern California. He is a Forbes Under 30 Scholar and Global Shaker’s Sustainable Fashion Innovator 2019. He is also an Entrepreneur Hall of Fame at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.

Currently, Katherine is working at Mitsubishi Chemical Performance Polymers managing the business development and sales of BioPBS TM in North and South America. BioPBS TM is manufactured by PTTMCC Biochem Company Limited, supplier of the first bio-based polybutylene succinate. Both MCPP and PTTMCC have a passion to bring sustainable material solutions to the plastics industry with a focus in sustainable packaging. BioPBS TM is a partially bio based polyester that is certified industrial and home compostable providing a sustainable solution over conventional plastics used today.

Over the past 25 years, Steven has been motivated by a strong sense of environmental ethics and continues to develop new ideas and business opportunities that support his company’s purpose: Innovative and Relevant Solutions for the Crisis of Stuff. The Bank and Vogue family of companies which Steven leads is focused on diverting waste from landfills and contributing to the global economy through circularity. 

Michael is the Sustainability Enterprise Catalyst for Hemp Black. Hemp Black is a hemp technology startup based in Philadelphia, creating innovative technologies that utilize the plants inherent performance and sustainability attributes. In his role, Michael works across the organization to ensure that all innovations, processes, and products are socially and environmentally responsible. Originally from Canada, Michael has worked in social and environmental sustainability for 5 years. He has a M.S. in Sustainable Design from Thomas Jefferson University, where he researched the sustainability of hemp and its technological uses for Hemp Black.

Adrián and Marte were born the same day, the same month and the same year. The first is originally from Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes and studied Global politics and Economy at Tamkang University Lanyang Campus in Taiwan. The second, from Culiacán, Sinaloa, studied International Business at Tec de Monterrey, Guadalajara, and learned the Chinese language in Taiwan. They met in 2011 in Taipei. Back both in Mexico, with the experience of having worked in the fashion, automotive, furniture and food industy, they generated brainstorming to put together a project that would contribute with a sustainable material that was a solution and covered the needs of these industries that face a global problem that has to do with the environmental impact.

Adrián and Marte were born the same day, the same month and the same year. The first is originally from Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes and studied Global politics and Economy at Tamkang University Lanyang Campus in Taiwan. The second, from Culiacán, Sinaloa, studied International Business at Tec de Monterrey, Guadalajara, and learned the Chinese language in Taiwan. They met in 2011 in Taipei. Back both in Mexico, with the experience of having worked in the fashion, automotive, furniture and food industy, they generated brainstorming to put together a project that would contribute with a sustainable material that was a solution and covered the needs of these industries that face a global problem that has to do with the environmental impact.

Dr. Luke Haverhals is the founder & CEO of Natural Fiber Welding, Inc. (NFW).  Luke has deep technical expertise with natural materials, nanomaterials, agriculture, manufacturing technologies and automation.  He has spent the last decade working on scalable technologies that will enable the circular economy.  Luke founded NFW to commercialize technologies he developed as a professor at the United States Naval Academy and Bradley University.

Oliver received his Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from The California Institute of Technology. Following his doctorate, Oliver relocated to Japan to join Spiber, where he draws inspiration from nature to design new protein materials from the genetic level up. The Fiber R&D section adopts and develops methods to deliver next-generation, synthetic protein fibers and textiles with higher performance, lower cost, and with less environmental impact. Oliver’s work on material design, creation, and testing contributes to the realization of Spiber’s vision for a more sustainable future.

Ravish Majithia leads Magnomer as founder & CEO. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Texas A&M University. Ravish is also a Babson Fellow and MBA from Babson College. Ravish was named one of the top 100 MBA’s in 2018 by Poets and Quants and was awarded the prestigious Sorenson Merit Award by Babson College for his work on Magnomer.

Magnomer is a winner of Materials Research Society’s Innovation Award & MassChallenge Gold.

With over 20 years of industry experience working for several large packaging companies, such as International Paper and Georgia Pacific. He developed packaging that resulted in over $ 25 MM in revenue for these companies. Most recently he worked for PepsiCo, in the area of sustainable beverage packaging. During his 8 year tenure at PepsiCo, Dr. Kulkarni worked on a wide range of sustainable packaging initiatives such as a fiber-based bottle, bio-based plastics for beverage bottles and designing packaging for recyclability. Dr. Kulkarni has 7 granted patents as well as several publications in industry journals

Experienced CEO with a demonstrated history of Business Development in the Americas and South East Asia. Skilled in Strategic Planning, Business Development, M&A, Innovation, Sustainability, Corporate Venturing, Great Place to Work, Strategic Marketing, Sales and Operations Mgt, Lean and Six Sigma Transformations. Strong business development professional with a Master of Science in Management and BS in Industrial Engineering.

Michalyn founded Provenance after experiencing supply chain issues as a fashion entrepreneur, namely a lack of high-quality vegan leather alternatives. Her journey began in the early 2000’s, with an exploration of lab-grown materials as compassionate solutions to leather. Michalyn founded Provenance, partnering with scientists from the University of California at San Francisco.

Provenance Bio is a synthetic biology platform on the cutting-edge of recombinant protein protection and is working to realize the next generation of design and sustainability in our core materials.

Dr. Keskar has played a key role in establishing Material ConneXion as a thought leader, by creating curated content and presenting eco-innovative solutions at various conferences and client meetings. Dr. Keskar has served as a technical advisor to various start-ups and Fortune 500 companies including NBCUniversal, Hunter Douglas, and The Estée Lauder Companies.