2024 Festival Line Up

Allison Abner is Executive Producer/Producer of the acclaimed documentary BAD RIVER, about the Bad River Band’s resilience in their fight for sovereignty over their centuries-old tribal homeland. The film, which has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, has garnered acclaim from New Yorker’s Bill McKibben, Mother Jones’s David Corn, the Boston Globe, among others; earned an extended national AMC theatrical release in 13 cities; and broke box office records in northern Wisconsin, outperforming Barbie and Dune 2.

Throughout her career, Allison has been a writer-producer on numerous award-winning series, including Golden Globe-nominated Narcos, Emmy Award-winning The West Wing, and NAACP Image Award-winning mini-series Self Made. She received the TV Cares Ribbon of Hope Award for her episode of The West Wing for bringing awareness to the AIDS crisis in Africa and the Hispanic Heritage Award for her episode of CBS’s Without A Trace on the challenges of undocumented families.

She has developed projects for Hulu, Apple, Netflix, Disney, Fox, and NBC.

Outside of her work in tv and film, Allison co-founded a bipartisan advocacy group to end child sex trafficking, the Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, which advised the White House on President Obama’s domestic Anti-trafficking Initiative. Additionally, she serves on the Writers' Guild of America PAC board, has served as a WGA Strike Captain, as well as advocated before members of Congress and the FCC on industry consolidation and expanding diversity and access in media, and union protections. She has also served on Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Moore Center Advisory Board, Common Sense Media’s Gender Equity Advisory Board, and The ONE Campaign. She’s been a featured panelist at SXSW, The Writers Guild of America panel on politics and tv ( with legend Norman Lear), and Women in Television and Film. Allison identifies as Black/mixed race and is a descendant of the Stockbridge Munsee Tribe in Wisconsin. Her husband Gene Sperling is currently White House Senior Advisor to President Biden and served as Director of the National Economic Council in both the Obama and Clinton administrations. Their family lives in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Stacey Abrams is a political leader, business owner and New York Times bestselling author. A tax attorney by training, Abrams served eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Minority Leader, and became the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia in 2018 and 2022. Over the course of her career, she has launched multiple organizations devoted to democracy protection, voter engagement, tackling social issues, and building a more equitable future in the South. Committed to the pursuit of equity, she works to break barriers for young people, people of color and the marginalized through her work in the public, nonprofit and corporate sectors.

She currently serves as Senior Counsel to Rewiring America, the leading nonprofit working to electrify communities across America. She also serves as the Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics at Howard University and is a senior counsel to Rewiring America. Abrams is the CEO of Sage Works Productions, Inc., an entertainment production company.

Abrams sits on both nonprofit and corporate boards, and she is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has received degrees from Spelman College, the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and Yale Law School.

Renata Koch Alvarenga is a global climate advocate from Brazil, and has been involved in gender and climate justice spaces for the past 9 years. Renata has a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University, and is the Founder and Executive Director of EmpoderaClima, a Brazilian organization for gender equality and climate action with global reach, focused on youth empowerment in Latin America through education and access to decision-making spaces. She has been on boards and youth councils of various international organizations, including UN Women, UNICEF, the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices, and the New York Times. Renata has professional experience in politics and diplomacy, having worked at the British Mission in Brazil and the United Nations Youth Office. Currently, she works at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC as a Disaster Risk Financing Specialist for the Caribbean.

Josh is the Strategy Director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund. He is the former Climate Lead at the Office of the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth. He has over 8 years of experience working with young people on Climate Action Disaster Risk, and Resilience Building. He founded Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), served as a member of the IRENA Global Council on Enabling Youth Action for SDG 7, and has been an Adaptation Fellow at the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA). In the past two years, Joshua has focused on supporting grassroot youth-led organizations and is continuously engaged in the advocacy to shift climate philanthropy to youth and locally-led organizations.

On the honey shores of Cape Cod in a beach shack, Courtney Marie Andrews found self-love and her voice. Every morning, she’d walk 6-8 miles around the back trails of an island and meditate on her life, perusing old memories and patterns like browsing a used bookshop. That summer of introspection led her to a joyous sense of beginnings and ends. When she let love for herself in, she therein let the outside love in, too—the summer feeling, the swaying cypress, the full moon, and the possibility of healthy love. This phase came only right after one of her darkest, though, where being alone with oneself was the most terrifying thing you could do. After more than a decade on the road, the Phoenix-born songwriter, poet, and painter finally had the space to process all the highs and lows of a life of constants. She was finally ready to make a record of triumph, while not completely forgetting the years that made her. That record is Loose Future.

Her early pursuits led to her playing in punk bands in high school before becoming a touring member of Jimmy Eat World at just 18 years old, and from there Courtney went on to release a series of acclaimed albums. She garnered her first GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best Americana Album” for 2020’s Old Flowers. Meanwhile, the record closed out 2020 on year-end lists from Good Morning America, Magnet, and Uncut. The New York Times raved, “Courtney Marie Andrews’s luminous new album, 'Old Flowers,' anatomizes the aftermath of breaking up: loneliness, bittersweet memories, recriminations, regrets, temptations, lessons of experience.” Highlighting “Burlap String,” Rolling Stone claimed, “Driven by acoustic guitar, the song brings to mind classic Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, but Andrews’ bell-clear voice and fearless message of introspection are unmistakably her own.” Of the album, Stereogum attested, “up front in all of it is Andrews’ voice, wringing beauty out of pain and self-realization.” Along the way, she also unveiled her debut poetry collection, Old Monarch.

“When you listen to me, I hope you feel good,” she leaves off. “I spent so much of my career relating to the brokenhearted. There will always be that side of me. With this record, I hope you feel love on multiple levels. It doesn’t have to be romantic; it could just be self-love or hope. I’ve come into the full spectrum of my own creativity and selfhood. I want to keep continuing exploring that forever against the backdrop of summer.”

Donnel Baird is the founder of BlocPower, a climate tech company based in Brooklyn, NY, that analyzes, finances, and installs clean energy and decarbonization upgrades in buildings in underserved communities. BlocPower creates jobs for qualified local low-income workers, energy savings for building owners, reduces carbon emissions and asthma rates, and provides financial returns to investors. In 2021, the company announced a historic partnership with Ithaca, New York to decarbonize 100% of the city’s buildings—the first such project in the United States.

BlocPower is backed by Kapor Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Volo Earth Ventures. Baird is a graduate of Duke University and Columbia Business School. He spent four years as a political and community organizer, and two years managing a national initiative to leverage American Reinvestment and Recovery Act energy efficiency investments in underserved communities.

He is a member of the board of directors of several organizations including the New York Federal Reserve Bank Second District Board, the Climate Reality Project, and the Coalition For Green Capital. Additionally, he serves on the Advisory Committee of the US SEC Small Business Capital Formation. An award recipient of the Columbia Business School Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021, the National Venture Capital Associations Startup Innovator of the Year in 2022, and TIME Magazine’s inaugural 'Dreamer of the Year' in 2022. In 2022, Fast Company named BlocPower the #4 Most Innovative Company in the World, TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential Companies, and the 42nd Most Disruptive Startup in the world by CNBC.

Lauren Bash aka @ReLauren (she/her) is a climate optimist, activist, and storyteller from Los Angeles. Her social channels aim to make conversations about sustainability and climate more inviting and less judgemental, through (sometimes silly) educational content around the principles of climate action, community, and slow living.

Xiye Bastida is a 22-year-old Mexican climate justice activist, Indigenous rights advocate, and storyteller. Through her Otomi roots, she champions Indigenous worldviews as a solution for the climate crisis. She was an organizer with Fridays For Future and is the co-founder of Re-Earth Initiative, an international youth-led organization that supports frontline youth across 27 countries. Xiye was the recipient of the 2018 UN Spirit Award and was named TIME100 Next in 2023.

Zoe Berman serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Sound Future, a nonprofit making it easy for live events to restore nature and lower emissions. Her diverse background intersects music, environmental stewardship, psychological research, and marketing. Zoe brings over seven years of experience as a singer-songwriter and touring musician. She recently graduated with distinction from Berklee College of Music with a Master's in Global Entertainment & Music Business, where she conducted her thesis on sustainability in U.S. music festivals. Zoe also worked on the sustainability team at Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary, implementing environmental data protocols aligned with the European Green Deal Circular Festival Network. Additionally, she has been involved with various nonprofit organizations in Northern Colorado dedicated to food waste prevention and youth/community advocacy.

A WNBA legend and decorated athlete, Sue has captured five Olympic Gold Medals, four World Championship Gold Medals, two NCAA Championships, four WNBA Championships, and is a 13x WNBA All–Star. Bird stepped into her entrepreneurial spirit and has co–founded two companies – Togethxr and A Touch More, both in line with her passion to uplift underrepresented voices and stories through allyship and advocacy.

Black Stax’s sound is like Miles Davis, Etta James and Langston Hughes adapted for savvy, hip-hop and neo-soul listeners. By any standard, their music is not ordinary and nothing is dumbed-down or gimmicky. It is smart music; every word carefully chosen and every song carries a message of social justice and community upliftment. Fans appreciate their eclectic, urban sound laced with jazz and 70s-era soul, which provides life’s soundtrack to the sophisticated connoisseur. A collaboration that works, Black Stax successfully blends and bends the musical genres of blues, jazz, R&B, and hip-hop.

As the Senior Associate Director of Sustainability for the American Hospital Association, Kara Brooks spearheads strategic leadership, advocacy, and program development for the association’s sustainability initiatives. With over 20 years of experience in environmental sustainability and energy engineering, Kara is a recognized expert in her field. She actively contributes to numerous national panels and committees, helping to develop codes and standards for the healthcare built environment. Kara holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Business Management from Colorado State University. She also serves as a subject matter expert on the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector and participates in various other national technical standards committees.

Scott Z. Burns is an award-winning screenwriter, director, producer and playwright. He is the writer, director, executive producer and creator of the Apple TV+ series EXTRAPOLATIONS which won an Environmental Media Association Award as well as a Sentinel Award and stars Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton and Marion Cotillard among others. In film, Burns' writing credits include THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM as well as THE INFORMANT!, CONTAGION, SIDE EFFECTS and THE LAUNDROMAT for director Steven Soderbergh. As a director, Burns' credits include PU-239 starring Oscar Isaac and Paddy Considine and THE REPORT starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening. Burns served as a producer for the Academy Award-winning documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH for which he received the Humanitas Prize, as well as an executive producer of AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL and SEA OF SHADOWS which won the Sundance Audience Award. On stage, Burns' play THE LIBRARY was produced at The Public Theater and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for best new American play.

Burns is a frequent advisor at the Sundance Institute and a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Leadership Committee. He attended the University of Minnesota where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in English Literature. Burns began his career in advertising where he was part of the team that created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign for which he apologizes to lactose intolerant people everywhere.

Deb Chachra is a Professor of Engineering at Olin College of Engineering and the author of How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World (Riverhead/Torva, 2023), one of Publishers Weekly’s ‘Best Books of 2023’. Dr. Chachra writes, thinks, builds, consults, and speaks widely on themes of technology and society, all with an eye towards creating an abundant, thriving, and sustainable future for everyone.

As one of the earliest faculty at Olin College, now one of the most highly regarded and influential undergraduate engineering programs in the world, Dr. Chachra has been on the leading edge of a transformation in engineering education. Her work encompasses all aspects of it, including designing and facilitating learning experiences and programs, consulting and collaborating with programs worldwide, and carrying out educational research (for which she received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award).

Her writing, research, and creative practice have been supported and recognized by the Sloan Foundation, the Autodesk Foundation, and others. Her writing has appeared in the Atlantic, the Guardian, the comic book Bitch Planet and the scientific journal Nature, as well as her own long-running online newsletter, Metafoundry (described in WIRED as a ‘must-follow feed’). Dr. Chachra’s technical background is in engineering physics and materials science, with a focus on biological systems. Prior to joining the Olin College faculty, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT, and she earned her doctorate at the University of Toronto.

When she’s not in a design studio with her students, you can find Deb in the boxing ring, on a climbing wall, or blowing glass in the hot shop.

Quannah ChasingHorse (she/her) is a Han Gwich’in and Sicangu/Oglala Lakota land protector, climate justice activist, and fashion model from Eagle Village, Alaska and the tribes of South Dakota. As a fourth generation land protector, her deep connection to her homelands and her people’s way of life is her grounding and guiding force as a land protector. Quannah dreamed of being a model since she was a little girl, through her advocacy work she was scouted for a Calvin Klein campaign when she was 18 years old. She has since worked with the top global fashion houses, won countless awards, and graced the covers of numerous magazines. With all of Quannah's accomplishments, her most important work is using her platform to uphold and uplift her Indigenous values and peoples.

Tom is the founding partner of At One Ventures, which backs early-stage (Seed, Series A) companies using disruptive deep tech to upend the unit economics of established industries while dramatically reducing their planetary footprint.

Previous to founding At One, Tom was a founding member of Google X where he led the teams that created self-driving cars, deep learning artificial intelligence, wearable augmented reality and internet connectivity expansion. He played a significant role in established projects with global reach including Microsoft (Outlook) and Yahoo (Search, Answers).

He has also spent time in the developing world and via social entrepreneurship accelerators, mentoring 200+ entrepreneurs working on global development issues such as access to clean water, electricity, education, health care, and employment.

Tom has spoken at TEDx, Aspen Institute, YPO, SuperVenture, IDEO, Unreasonable and Summit at Sea. He is also a lifelong inventor, with 75 patents across hardware, software, design, and mechanical systems.

Coco & Breezy are Producers & DJs and the fiercely stylish twins behind their multifaceted brand. Their musical journey was influenced by their family and grew into a deep passion for dance music culture. Post-moving to New York to launch their eyewear company, C&B submerged themselves into changing the face of dance music and what it means to be a technically accomplished Afro-Latina women DJs and producers—paying homage to the classic but pushing boundaries for the new. With sold-out headlining shows, performances in front of thousands of fans at major festivals, tour dates at the most respectable clubs across the globe, and a Billboard Chart-topping single “Just Say”, Coco & Breezy are just warming up!

Kaycee Conlee is a standup comedian, actor, and writer described as “refreshingly authentic, hilariously relatable, and brilliantly witty.” Kaycee earned a spot in the 2023 Climate Comedy Cohort, a fellowship program co-created and directed by Generation180 and the Center for Media & Social Impact’s GoodLaugh initiative. The cohort brings together comedians to learn, collaborate, and create hilarious content informed by climate science. Additionally, Kaycee hosted and performed at the 2023 Hollywood Climate Summit and showcased at Gen180 and HCS's "lol climate" show earlier this year.

Kaycee has worked on “The Tonight Show” and “Ellen” and brings a dynamic stage presence and infectious energy. While at "The Tonight Show," Kaycee created, produced, and hosted a web series for the show called “On The Lot With Kaycee,” interviewing both celebrity guests and audience members and making appearances on the show as the always eager and helpful, "Kaycee the Page." Kaycee has a natural charisma that draws audiences in and their unique blend of observational humor and personal storytelling are hilariously delightful.

James (“Jim”) Coulter is a Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of TPG, Managing Partner of TPG Rise Climate, and Co-Managing Partner of The Rise Fund. He serves or has served on over 40 corporate and charitable boards, including the Stanford University Boards of Trustees and the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees. Jim holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, where he graduated summa cum laude, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was named an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Page leads Tapestry, X’s moonshot for the electric grid. Tapestry is working to make the world’s electric grid visible so everyone can access clean, reliable energy. Before joining X, Page held roles as a go-to-market and commercial leader and advisor at several startups, two of which attained “unicorn” status: Sunrun in rooftop solar energy in the U.S., and Konfio in financial services in Mexico. She was previously co-CEO and founder of Clarus Power, a venture-backed residential solar customer acquisition platform.

Page is a co-inventor of several U.S. Patents in the energy domain. She earned a certificate from the Stanford GSB Summer Institute for General Management and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Santa Clara University. She was recognized as one of the top 50 Climate Tech Operators in the 2021 Climate Draft.

Willow Defebaugh is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Atmos, a climate and culture magazine that tells stories about the environment through a lens of creativity. She is the author of The Overview, a deep ecology newsletter and book. She is a lifelong student of nature and graduated with a degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Teen Vogue, V Magazine, Interview, i-D, BBC, The Guardian, them, New York Magazine, and more. She lives in Brooklyn on unceded Lenape territory.

Jace is a veteran of the Seattle Hip-Hop/Arts scene. Since the mid 90's, Jace has been very instrumental in doing work to turn the 'scene' into an industry. Through his work as performer, activist, advocate and community member, he sees himself as a vehicle to help build Seattle into a powerhouse in the Arts Worldwide.

Growing up in the Southend of Seattle, he sees the disparity of those who have dreams and those who get the help to reach their goals. So, he uses his influence and knowledge to share with those whose voices are not always listened to.

Developed the first Hip-Hop Summit/Conference in Seattle in 1993 at the Seattle Center House in collaboration with Festival Sundiata. As well as working with the Hip-Hop Community to create 'Dope Emporium' in 2005, the only ALL Hip-Hop Festival in Seattle. With the help and contributions from Hip-Hop artists, practitioners, supporters, advocates and those interested in finding out what the Seattle Hip-Hop scene is all about. And, how much bigger it is than just the music.

Jace is a founding member of one of Seattle's elite, eclectic and groundbreaking groups, Black Stax.

Reem Edan is an Iraqi-American comedian, content creator, award-winning writer and actress based in Los Angeles. Her performances have captivated audiences globally, making appearances on "The Stand Up Sketch Show", Laugh After Dark, Sirius XM, the NBC Late Night Writing Program, and as a commentator on the popular YouTube channel Fail Army. She’s performed in nine countries across four continents, amassed tens of millions of views online, and brought audiences to tears at renowned comedy clubs, college campuses and festivals like Netflix Is a Joke and the Dubai Comedy Festival.

Using edgy humor, character-driven storytelling and witty commentary, Reem explores topics like her first-generation identity, climate issues, and what life is really like living in the gray (or brown) area between different cultures.

Ben is a founding partner of Stepchange, an early-stage (pre-seed, seed) climate venture fund that partners with product-led companies that will make a step change impact on climate. Stepchange seeks founders that will unlock fast deployment of climate solutions and have a major impact this decade. Ben also runs Climate Papa, a podcast exploring the intersection of climate change, parenthood, and technology.

Ben is a two time-exited founder and product leader from Stripe and Google and has worked across product categories ranging from consumer mobile to B2B fintech APIs. Ben made the jump to work full-time on climate in 2022 and wrote the guide on the role of software in climate tech. Ben received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford University in Electrical Engineering at age 20.

When not working on climate solutions Ben is often, perhaps unsurprisingly, exploring the parks and playgrounds with his wife, kids (ages 6, 3, and newborn), and their Seattle community.

ENSO is a tire technology company that makes better tires for electric vehicles (EVs), to extend EV range and reduce tire pollution, a major source of air and microplastic pollution.

ENSO is the only Certified B-Corporation in the tire industry and delivers its high-performance EV tires directly to customers, helping to make EVs more commercially successful by reducing their total cost of operations, as well as the emissions from their tires.

Gunnlaugur (‘G’) Erlendsson, is the Founder & CEO of ENSO, responsible for developing ENSO’s vision, building its team and coordinating key partnerships with leading EV carmakers and large EV fleets.

ENSO was recently nominated by Prince William for the Earthshot Prize and now expanding its US operations, to deliver affordable, ultra-efficient and low-emission tires to make EVs more successful, while reducing tire pollution.

Jessyn Farrell, J.D., is a leader in building public consensus on difficult issues related to the environment, housing, transportation, and the economy. A long-time environmental advocate, Jessyn’s career has spanned the public, private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors as a state legislator from the 46th District, Executive Director of Transportation Choices and most recently as the Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE) for the City of Seattle. As a legislator, Jessyn passed ground-breaking legislation on oil-by-rail safety, affordable housing near transit centers, education supports for low-income and homeless youth, protections for pregnant workers and restrictions to cell-phone use while driving. As Director of OSE, Jessyn leads efforts to reduce climate pollution and ensure a clean and healthy environment for all residents of Seattle. She has three kids, a dog, two cats and is working on her first book.

Becky Ferguson is CEO of the Salesforce Foundation & Senior Vice President of Philanthropy at Salesforce. In this role, she helps strengthen, grow, and evolve the company’s integrated philanthropic model and commitment to business as a platform for change. Prior to joining Salesforce, Becky spent nine years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation scaling social good initiatives globally with a focus on women’s and children’s health. Her responsibilities included making and managing large international grant portfolios and leading strategy, planning and management activities. Becky was a Fulbright Fellow in the Netherlands and a Fulbright Visiting Scholar with UNESCO’s Education Sector in Paris, France. She started her career working with small, grassroots organizations in rural communities of the United States. She holds a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Business Administration in Sustainable Systems from Presidio Graduate School.

Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of numerous novels and works of non-fiction, including Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Eating Animals, and Here I Am. He has been named a Rolling Stone “Person of the Year,” and one of The New Yorker’s 20 best writers under 40. His work has won numerous awards, is translated into more than 40 languages, and has been made into major motion pictures. He is a professor of creative writing at New York University.

Dorothy Fortenberry was the co-showrunner and an Executive Producer on the climate change anthology series EXTRAPOLATIONS at AppleTV+. She spent four seasons on Hulu’s award-winning adaptation of THE HANDMAID’S TALE, for which she received multiple Emmy nominations, the PGA Award, and two WGA Awards. Before HANDMAID'S, Dorothy was on the writing staff for the first three seasons of the CW hit series THE 100.

Her play PARTNERS had its world premiere production at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Los Angeles's IAMA Theatre Company produced the world premiere of Dorothy's play SPECIES NATIVE TO CALIFORNIA, a modern re-telling of THE CHERRY ORCHARD.

She is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights and is the 2021 recipient of the George W. Hunt, S.J. Prize in the category of fiction writer or dramatist. She also writes essays about politics, culture, and memory for publications including Commonweal and The Los Angeles Review of Books, and she likes to talk on podcasts.

For the past several years, Dorothy has worked with the WGA, PGA, NRDC, Good Energy, and other groups to encourage more climate-conscious storytelling and sustainable production practices.

Jerome Foster II is a climate activist, social entrepreneur, and renowned public speaker. Jerome is one of the major organizers of the Fridays for Future and has been a leading voice for Black visibility in climate activism. In March of 2021, Jerome made history becoming the youngest-ever White House Advisor, as he was appointed to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council following 80 weeks of holding weekly climate strikes in front of the White House and leading the OneMillionOfUs initiative registering one million young people to vote. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of Waic Up, a climate justice advocacy non-profit organization using art, journalism, and civic engagement to impact change.

Directing external relations for Amazon Worldwide Sustainability, Sally unites organizations and individuals around solving urgent climate crisis issues. With 20+ years of experience managing teams that create impact, she’s passionate about accelerating decarbonization solutions through collective action.

A 2x James Beard Award Nominee, Executive Chef Shenarri Freeman is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education's plant-based Health-Supportive Culinary Arts program. Chef Greens is a Richmond, VA native committed to creating plant-based dishes that are fun and indulgent. Since opening her first restaurant (Cadence) in 2021, Chef Shenarri has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient, been nominated for Two James Beard awards, has been recognized by Esquire, New York Times, Michelin, Vogue, and so many more. Now, she is excited to be bi-coastal, leading UBUNTU in LA and Cadence in NYC as Executive Chef.

Esteban Gast is a comedian, writer, and host.

He is Colombian, was raised in Puerto Rico and Illinois, and currently lives in LA. His work has been called "irreverent but aspirational" by Variety. He is co-cco-host of Identity at Play, a Spotify Original podcast and host of Comedians Conquering Climate Change. He was the host of Hyundai Highways, a travel series using only an electric car. He was the star of Jungletown, a tv show airing on VICELAND about his time running an off-the-grid eco-community.

As a writer, he is the co-writer of the book and lyrics for Teacher Of The Year, a comedy musical inspired by his time teaching. The musical was most recently a finalist for the O'Neil and was selected for YALL Fest. He is also the co-writer of Thena, a feature film produced by the creative team from 13 Reasons Why. He travels as a standup comedian; winning Denver's Rise Comedy Festival and being chosen as "Best of the Fest" for the Burbank Comedy Festival.

He is currently the Comedian-in-Residence at Generation180 where he helped build the Climate Comedy Cohort and the Climate Cultura programs. His work has been featured in LA Times, NPR's Science Friday, and ABC's Nightline.

Wawa Gatheru is a GenZ climate activist and Rhodes scholar passionate about cultivating a climate movement that is made in the image of all of us. She is the founder and Executive Director of Black Girl Environmentalist, the only national organization dedicated to addressing the pipeline and pathway issue for Black girls, women, and gender expansive individuals in the climate sector.

She sits on boards and advisory councils for the Environmental Media Association, Climate Power, Sound Future, National Parks Conservation Association, and EarthJustice. Wawa is also an inaugural member of the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council of the US EPA - the first federal youth-led advisory council in US history.

For her work, Wawa has been recognized as a Glamour College Woman of the Year, a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient, a Grist 50 fixer, an AFROTECH Future 50, an Adweek Creative 100, a Young Futurist by The Root, a Climate Creator to Watch by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Public Voices Fellow by Yale, and was featured on the January 2023 digital cover of Vogue alongside Billie Eilish and 7 other climate activists.

Dominic Gill (Director/Producer/Cinematographer) utilizes his background in environmental biology along with a passion for outdoor adventure to focus his films on issues dealing with our natural world. In 2012, he released his first feature doc, TAKE A SEAT, winning the Grand Jury Prize at Banff Film Festival. It was distributed by ITVS. In 2017, his film COMING TO MY SENSES was released on Netflix. He has won a Jackson Wild Award for his film LAST CALL FOR THE BAYOU and the German Television Award in cinematography for his work on the ARTE's feature documentary RIDERS OF DESTINY. Dominic works for ad agencies and brands such as Taylor Guitars, Patagonia, and Red Bull, directing high-quality branded content. Dominic is an award-winning author whose published memoir “Take a Seat” won the 2010 National Outdoor Book Award.

Formerly an attorney, Nadia decided to pursue a career in filmmaking after meeting her directing partner and husband Dominic Gill. Together they formed Encompass Films and produced two seasons of a travel adventure series titled "Take A Seat" for NBCUniversal before transitioning the company to independent film and branded content. She has brought to market dozens of award-winning action sport and environmental short films, working with brands such as Patagonia, Red Bull, and Black Diamond Equipment and ad agencies such as Team One. In 2017, she produced her debut feature documentary COMING TO MY SENSES, distributed by Netflix. In 2018 she co-produced the feature documentary RIDERS OF DESTINY for ARTE France/Germany, and in 2019 she created, produced and co-directed LAST CALL FOR THE BAYOU as an independent short film series. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Channel, won a Jackson Wild Award, and was nominated for an IDA Award and a Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities Award. She is currently working on her directorial debut feature documentary about conservative climate change advocates titled "MESSENGERS".

Pattie Gonia is a critically acclaimed drag queen, artist and environmentalist. Their work exists to diversify the outdoor and environmental movements. Pattie has been named Outside Magazine’s Person of the Year, National Geographic Traveler of the Year and most recently, Time Magazine named Pattie a Next Gen Leader 2023.

Pattie is a co-founder of the Outdoorist Oath- a non-profit that works to diversify the outdoor and environmental movements. In addition they founded the Queer Outdoor and Environmental Job Board - a free tool queer individuals can use to get hired or find volunteer opportunities in the outdoors.

Together with her community, they’ve fundraised over $2 million dollars for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and environmental non-profits, completed thousands of miles of hiking and backpacking and raised awareness about the ongoing environmental crisis through their film projects like Won’t Give Up, Birds Tell Us & Everything to Lose. Pattie’s drag itself is a personal journey of self identity, sustainability, and queering traditional masculine outdoor narratives to explore the natural world.

Chris Granger serves as CEO, OVG360, the venue management, venue services, and premium hospitality arm of Oak View Group, the world’s largest developer of arenas and live entertainment projects in the world. Granger, who has more than 30 years of experience in the industry, oversees a portfolio of nearly 600 global clients, ranging from arenas, stadiums, and convention centers to music festivals, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions. In addition, Granger has been instrumental in leading the development of GOAL (Green Operations & Advanced Leadership), the sustainability consulting arm of OVG, which now boasts 40+ clients across the NBA, NHL, NFL, and NHL. During Granger’s tenure at OVG, the growth of OVG360 has been explosive across all metrics, reinforcing and validating Oak View Group’s mission of being a “positive disruption” in the sports & live entertainment industry. The range of partners now in the OVG360 family represents some of the most iconic venues in the world.

Prior to OVG, Granger joined Ilitch Holdings in 2017 as Group President, Sports & Entertainment, and was responsible for all aspects of business operations for the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Red Wings, the company’s joint venture interest in 313 Presents, and the operations of Little Caesars Arena, Comerica Park, Detroit’s historic Fox Theater, Pine Knob Music Theatre, Meadow Brook Amphitheater, and Michigan Lottery Amphitheater at Freedom Hill. In Granger’s 4+ years leading the organization, the Ilitch sports and entertainment businesses saw a period of unprecedented growth, broad expansion of programming, and significant community investment. During this time, Granger also saw his organization consistently recognized as one of the most innovative in sports, winning the prestigious Sports Facility of the Year award (Little Caesars Arena) at the 2018 Sports Business Awards ceremony; recognition by the Aspen Institute in 2020 as a Project Play Champion for the Detroit Red Wings pioneering “Learn, Play, Score” Youth Hockey program; and in 2021, Little Caesars Arena was named Sensory Inclusive Venue of the Year for its efforts in promoting an accommodating and positive experience for guests and fans with sensory needs.

Chris previously served as President of the Sacramento Kings and Sacramento Basketball Holdings, LLC. During his tenure, the Kings enjoyed unprecedented revenue growth and were widely recognized as a highly innovative, technology-forward franchise. Granger’s influence also extended to the development of Sacramento’s new, award-winning, LEED Platinum Golden 1 Center, and its 1.5 million square-foot downtown mixed-use development project, Downtown Commons. The Golden 1 Center was the first arena in the world to be recognized as LEED Platinum, reflecting its groundbreaking commitment to sustainability. Granger’s Kings were recognized in 2017 by Fast Company Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Sports.”

Prior to joining the Kings, Chris worked in various capacities for the NBA for 14 years. He most recently served as the Executive Vice President of the NBA’s renowned Team Marketing and Business Operations function, where he advised NBA, WNBA and NBA Development League teams on all aspects of business operations.

Received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his Master of Business Administration from Yale. He was named Sacramento Businessperson of the Year in 2017 and was a 2010 Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 award winner. Granger and his family are active in a wide range of charitable organizations in the Detroit community, including Make-a-Wish Michigan, the Detroit Children’s Fund, the Salvation Army, and City Year Detroit, where Granger proudly served on the Board, reprising the role he also held in Sacramento.

He and his wife, Jennifer, have two daughters, Zoe and Megan, and reside, and play tennis, in metro Detroit.

Adrian Grenier is an accomplished actor, filmmaker, and environmentalist. He has cemented his reputation as an advocate and a communicator on environmental issues over the last decade. He launched Earth Speed Media (January 2023), a think tank and content-production firm that focuses on sustainability, social responsibility and environmental stewardship. The 1st series is documentary EARTH SPEED, that follows Adrian as he searches for partners, companies, and entrepreneurs who can change the world for the better.

Adrian is also founder of the Lonely Whale Foundation, dedicated to ocean health and the wellbeing of marine wildlife and Co-Founder and general partner of DuContra Ventures, which brings investors and forward-thinkers together to help propel projects that are “better for the planet investing and tools for the giving economy“. He is also an Ambassador at the UN Environment Programme Clean Seas, a campaign to end marine plastic pollution. He is the first Chief Earth Advocate for the space tourism company World View, inspiring new perspectives on the planet, and encouraging deeper respect for it as a living organism.

Adrian currently resides in Austin, TX on his sustainable farm with his wife Jordan Roemmele and their baby boy - where their eco-friendly efforts include growing much of their own food, using regenerative practices to replenish the soil, and creating a wildlife sanctuary. Their 46-acre property is home to bobcats, wild boar, fish, egrets, hawks, vultures, ducks, llamas, donkeys, goats, and chickens. Adrian calls living in Texas “a breath of fresh air” after his life in Hollywood.

Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir is an Icelandic author, speaker, film maker and sustainability leader who brings together ideas and people across sectors and disciplines to inspire creative mindsets and constructive solutions.

A firm believer that change starts from within, Hrund draws on her broad-based and global experience ranging from sustainable businesses, post-conflict reconstruction and development, film making, the arts to various roles in the private and public sectors where she has led innovative projects. Her curiosity about the human spirit, human superpowers and our ability to improve our lives and the state of the world, led her to diving into the 'world within us', from where change, vision and flourishing futures first emerge. She has designed a university programme, co-directed a film and most recently published her book about InnSæi - the Icelandic art of intuition, coming out globally this year and next year, centred around InnSæi - 'the sea within', our innate relationship with other beings and the natural world and how change starts from within us.

Hrund is an Advisory Council member at Yale’s International Leadership Centre and Nordic Ignite Angel Ambassador. She has been recognised for her work as a Yale World Fellow, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Cultural Leader, and Icelandic Ocean Cluster’s Sustainability Leader.

Dr. Steven Hamburg is chief scientist and senior vice president of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) as well as executive manager of MethaneSAT LLC, a non-profit subsidiary of EDF. Trained at Vassar College and Yale University, he has also held fellowships at Stanford, Harvard and Yale. Hamburg was on the faculty of University of Kansas for nine years followed by 16 years at Brown University, where he led several units.

Steven has published more than 100 scientific papers on biogeochemistry, climate change impacts, carbon/ghg accounting and methane emissions from the oil and gas value chain. He has served as a lead author for the IPCC and was acknowledged as one of the contributing recipients of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was twice awarded the US EPA Environmental Merit Award from Region 1 for his climate change related work.

Steven is currently Chair of UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory’s Science Oversight Committee, a member of the EPA’s Science Advisory Committee, a member of the Division on Earth and Life Sciences of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Advisory Board and serves in other advisory capacities.

Bruce Harrell was born and raised in Seattle, worked as an attorney before serving on City Council, and is currently mayor – Seattle's first Asian American, first biracial, and second Black mayor. He grew up in Seattle’s redlined Central District, his African American father worked for the city’s electric utility and his Japanese American mother worked for the city’s library. Bruce graduated Garfield High School and then attended the University of Washington on a football scholarship, where he won a Rose Bowl and received a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He went on to earn a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law and worked as an attorney on technology issues and later public interest law.

Bruce was first elected to the Seattle City Council in 2007, re-elected twice, and twice elected City Council President by his peers. On Council, he was a leader racial equity, public safety reform, and economic and educational opportunity. In 2021, Bruce was elected mayor of Seattle on a commitment to address the homelessness crisis with urgency and compassion, to ensure public safety for all communities, and to restore trust, hope, and unity in local government and civic life. Bruce and his wife Joanne are proud to be the parents of three children and the grandparents to two grandchildren.

Gaya is an internationally known sustainability researcher and wellbeing economist. She has been shaping conversations at local and global levels with her message that true sustainability will not be achieved without transforming our economic system away from an obsession with perpetual growth to one that centers around human and ecological wellbeing.

Gaya was born in the Netherlands, where she is also known for her public efforts to make street harassment a finable offense. She worked as an Economic Policy Advisor at the Dutch Central Bank before emigrating to the United States (US) in 2014. For several years, Gaya advised many multinationals in the position of Director of Sustainability Services at KPMG US. She obtained her second citizenship from the US during this time. Since 2022, she has served as Vice President at Schneider Electric, a multinational working in the energy transition.

Gaya's 2021 study ""Update to Limits to Growth"" went viral, sparking widespread discussion. A year later Gaya's book ""Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse"" further solidified her reputation as a thought leader. She has done interviews for tv, radio, and papers, spoken as a guest lecturer at colleges including Berkely, Cambridge, UCLA, Shizenkan University, the UN Institute for Training and Research and the Victoria University of Wellington, and at conferences around the world, including various UN conferences. She is also a member of the Club of Rome, a global think tank, as a member of their Transformational Economics Commission.

Gaya has a Master's Degree in Econometrics from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and another Master's Degree in Sustainability from Harvard University.

Laur Hesse Fisher is the founding director of MIT’s climate engagement program, which helps millions of people around the world get smart quickly on climate change (https://climate.mit.edu). She hosts MIT’s climate change podcast, TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate) and launched the MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellowship, to engage Americans in what climate change and a low-carbon economy means for them and their community. She holds a part-time appointment with DEPLOY/US, a nonprofit elevating political right-of-center leadership on climate change. Follow her on LinkedIn, where she posts frequently about effective climate change engagement strategies: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurhessefisher/

Tia is the embodiment of music and wanderlust combined. Traveling from one captivating stage to another, Tia ignites the spotlight for A-list celebrities such as Fantasia, The Clark Sisters, Cissy Houston, Lalah Hathaway, Kim Burrell, J Moss, Tisha Campbell and many more. Infusing each performance with the essence of The Tia Holt Experience. Tias' journey started from local gigs and has evolved into curating global musical odysseys, breaking the shackles of boundaries with here voice. Through my art, I weave melodies that come to life, etching unforgettable moments in the hearts of my audience. As the founder of The Tia Holt Experience, she's on a mission to share stories, one soulful song at a time. Music is not just her passion – it's her life's pulse. Tia embraces the stage with every fiber of my being, transforming raw emotions into harmonious rhythms that resonate with the world. Join Tia as she continues to embrace the stage with heart and soul, turning every performance into an unforgettable journey. Remember To Always Dream Big!

Rebecca is the founder and CEO of Glacier, a recycling startup building AI and robotics to help recyclers, brands, governments, and other stakeholders measure and improve recovery rates for their highest-priority recycled commodities.

Glacier's circularity work has been featured in several leading publications, including CBS, NBC, Inc., Axios, and TechCrunch.

Rebecca is a Waste360 40 Under 40 winner. Prior to founding Glacier, Rebecca was a consultant at Bain & Company and advisor to several early- and growth-stage startups. She is also a mentor for the Google Circular Economy Accelerator.

Kara Hurst leads Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon. Utilizing Amazon's scale, speed and innovation, the Sustainability organization includes teams executing the work of The Climate Pledge; Sustainable Operations; Sustainability Science and Innovation; Social Responsibility and responsible supply chain management; Circular Economy; Sustainable Products, packaging and shopping; Sustainability Technology; Sustainable Transportation; and social and environmental external engagement and policy setting.

Prior to joining Amazon, Kara was CEO of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), a multi-sector group across academia, the retail industry and the public sector. TSC was named one of Scientific American's "Top Ten World Changing Ideas" of 2012. For eleven years before that, Hurst worked as Vice President of BSR, where she built several global industry practices and lead BSR's NY and DC offices, as well as the global partnership practice with governments, multi-laterals and foundations. Hurst also co-founded of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC, now the Responsible Business Alliance) and worked in Silicon Valley as Executive Director of the public-private venture OpenVoice, building out early teen channel content for AOL and others. In her early career, she held roles at the Children’s Health Council, leading interdisciplinary educational and development programs, at the Urban Institute as a Research lead in the public finance and housing division, and worked in the offices of two elected officials – Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco and in New York for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY).

Kara holds a BA from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MPP from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jay Inslee is currently the longest serving governor in the United States.

As governor, he has helped put Washington state at the forefront of climate action and is helping lead numerous subnational partnerships. Since 2013, the state has passed nation-leading policies to transition to 100% clean electricity, cap carbon pollution, electrify transportation, and more.

Oliver Jeffers is a visual artist, author, and climate activist working in painting, bookmaking, illustration, collage, performance, and sculpture. His illustrated works include The Day The Crayons Quit, Here We Are (Notes for Living on Planet Earth), and The Fate of Fausto. His first book intended for a wider audience, Begin Again, was released in October 2023.

Jeffers’s fine arts practice includes For All We Know, The Dipped Painting Project, and The Moon, The Earth and Us, and his work has been exhibited at institutions like the Brooklyn Museum, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the National Portrait Gallery in London, among others.

Sally Jewell served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 2013-17 following over 40 years in business, including eight years as CEO of outdoor retail co-op REI. In government, she advocated for balanced protection of public lands and waters, including working closely with President Obama and his team on long-term conservation of our nation’s most vulnerable and irreplaceable natural, cultural, and historical treasures, protecting more lands and waters than any other U.S. president in history. She leveraged science to shape a landscape-level understanding of our resources, nurtured a respectful nation-to-nation relationship with our nation’s Indigenous peoples, and engaged youth in opportunities to experience and care for the natural world. Working with industry, states, and the community, Jewell and her team also facilitated thoughtful development of renewable energy on public lands and waters, one of many steps taken to address climate change and biodiversity loss.

Jewell’s extensive experience in environmental, educational, social service, and business organizations has given her an appreciation of the inner workings of our democracy and civil society, earning her multiple national and regional awards. She currently serves on the boards of The Nature Conservancy, Costco Wholesale, Symetra Financial, Green Diamond Resources, plus multiple advisory councils that focus on addressing solutions to climate change, effective government, Native youth empowerment, and public engagement. She is also a frequent contributor to the University of Washington and other universities through guest lectures, mentoring, and helping students and faculty work across disciplines, and in partnership with communities, understand how their diverse skills and life experiences are essential to shaping a future that is equitable, economically successful, and environmentally sustainable for all.

Anna Jane Joyner is the founder and CEO of Good Energy, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring and supporting stories in television and film that honestly reflect the world we live in now — a world that’s in a climate crisis -- and help us build a better future. With over fifteen years in climate communications and storytelling, Anna Jane has worked to build bridges between the climate movement and screenwriters, musicians, faith communities, Southerners, youth audiences, and more. Her work has been featured by The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, TIME, Fast Company, The LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Glamour, Rolling Stone, CNN, and The Associated Press, among others.

Sarah Keo is a Cambodian-American filmmaker from Seattle, Washington. After receiving a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Washington, Sarah pursued her childhood dream of telling stories and changing the world, believing that film was the perfect medium to do both. Her first venture into filmmaking was as the Production Coordinator on Jeff Orlowski-Yang's Emmy-winning documentary, The Social Dilemma. Since then, Jeff and Sarah have co-directed a short documentary film together called Chasing Time, which is Sarah's directorial debut. Sarah currently resides in Denver, Colorado and is a 2024 Cine Fe Fellow.

King Youngblood is focused on reclaiming rock music, specifically black fronted rock packed with strong song writing, Afropunk attitude and an undeniable exhilarating live show. Alternative Press calls King Youngblood “Seattle’s Alt Rock Princes” - they sure got that right. Founder and recently graduated from the University of Washington front man Cameron Lavi-Jones, along with, drummer Paul “Sticks” Stoot, cellist Chet Peterson, and bassist Samy Garcia have a singular mission: grab heavy guitar/drums rock by the collar and drag it into the willing arms of the fresh new generation of fans currently fueling the world-wide resurgence of rock music. The world agrees with affirming descriptions including AfroPunk Magazine in October 2021 declaring “King Youngblood’s skill at transforming a small phrase into a massive hook is at this point unparalleled in the world of heavy music.”

Christof Koch is a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute and at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, the former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and a former professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is best known for his work exploring the physical basis of consciousness in humans, animals, and machines. His latest book is Then I Am Myself the World. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Aaron Krol is the climate communications coordinator at MIT’s climate engagement program, where he writes for the TILclimate podcast and serves as managing editor of the Ask MIT Climate and Climate Explainer series at climate.mit.edu, working with MIT faculty and experts to make tricky climate topics easy to understand. Previously he worked as a science journalist covering the field of genomics. He is the author of the children’s book A Cloud in a Jar.

Kate is the Organics and Landscape Resource Conservation Planner and Program Lead for Seattle Public Utilities. Her work area encompasses topics related to compost and compostable products, climate, sustainable landscaping, and soil stewardship. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master’s degree in soil science from the University of Washington. She is passionate about bringing science-backed approaches to policy and program management, in order to help build more sustainable systems for Seattle and beyond.

Erin Latimer is a 2x Canadian Paralympian and 6x World Cup medalist the sport of Alpine Skiing and alumni of the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment. Erin works in Corporate Citizenship and ESG Strategy at the Royal Bank of Canada, supporting the operationalization and advancement of the bank’s strategy to drive positive impact on people and the planet. She also serves as an advisor for Racing To Zero, where she blends her background in sustainability and climate change with her passion for sport. Racing to Zero is a not-for-profit Olympian founded organization dedicated to informing, inspiring, and equipping sport organizations and the sport system to take meaningful action to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Sage Lenier is a climate activist, public speaker, and nonprofit leader. She got her start teaching her own program at UC Berkeley, which broke records for largest-ever student-led class. She is the Founder & Executive Director of Sustainable & Just Future and was recently honored by TIME Magazine as a 2023 Next Generation Leader.

Paulina has over 25 years of experience working on issues of civil rights, social environmental justice, equity, education and diversity. Paulina is keenly in tune with the strengths and challenges of this community as it moves toward environmental health and social and climate justice. Paulina highly regarded organizer, facilitator, community and policy strategist, movement builder focused on building systems of power and shifting power outward to those most impacted by injustice and oppression. Developed consulting with governments, organizations, community and foundations to identify ways to shift power dynamics, and develop frameworks for collaborative co- creating and transformative governance. Through this work and her leadership in social, environmental, and racial justice organizations, Paulina has developed expertise in multi-sector stakeholder engagement, networks, collaborative problem solving, and building power with BIPOC communities of color, immigrants, and refugees. Paulina emigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador and has made Seattle her home for the past 22 years. She first joined DRCC/TAG as a volunteer, advocating in her community for access to a safe, clean environment for South Park’s families. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights Law from St. Thomas University and currently serves as the Executive Director.

SCIENTISTS TEACH YOU. COMEDIANS MAKE YOU LAUGH!

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and improv comedy unite for Mad Science. Every show we invite special guests to share their real cutting-edge research and stories from the academic front line for our team of improv comedians to warp, twist, and turn on its head. No laboratory could have synthesized an improv show like this. IRB approved!

Our mission

Seattle is a hub for fascinating, surprising, and thought-provoking work at the forefront of science and technology. Mad Science produces events that communicate complex and exciting ideas to general audiences using the joyful lens of comedy. Our audiences think and laugh, smile and learn, and maybe even come away inspired!

PAST GUESTS INCLUDE

New York Times best-selling authors

Seattle brewing legends

Tech founders and entrepreneurs

Faculty and staff from the University of Washington and Seattle University

Curators from the Burke Museum

Enthusiastic PhD students

Maybe you?

Emelie Mahdavian is an Emmy, Peabody, and Sundance Award-winning filmmaker.Her films have screened at major venues including Telluride Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Centre Pompidou, Berlin Film Festival, and garnering awards recognition, international press, and receiving international theatrical distribution. She was selected for DOCNYC “40 under 40” in 2020.

She is currently completing her feature film entitled PLANET A, a film about a women-led science team who are the last humans to set foot on the ice shelf of Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. The film was the result of a solo-filming expedition, and has been supported by development funding from Sundance Sandbox Grant, Tangled Bank Studios, catapult film fund, and NSF/BAS.

Ari Matusiak is co-founder and CEO of Rewiring America, a national climate solutions nonprofit working to electrify homes, businesses, and communities, and vice-chair of Power Forward Communities, a national coalition built to help deploy Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund dollars equitably. He is also co-founder and managing partner of Purpose Venture Group, a social impact advisory and incubator building ventures to address climate and economic inequality. Matusiak previously was co-founder and chairman of Young Invincibles, a nonprofit he co-founded to speak for young adults in the health reform debate, and chief strategy officer of Renovate America, a residential energy efficiency and renewable energy financing platform. From 2011 through 2014, he was special assistant to the president and director of private sector engagement in the Obama White House. Earlier in his career, he was vice president of strategy and community impact at the Rhode Island Foundation.

Forty-two percent of U.S. energy emissions that are causing climate change come from household decisions: what cars we drive, how we heat and cool our homes, heat our water, cook our food, dry our clothes -- and what power supply we choose from our utility or put on our rooftops. We already have the technology to decarbonize all these decisions: lowering bills, improving our health, and creating an abundant, flourishing, climate-safe future. We also have billions of dollars of U.S. government investment to fund the clean energy transition -- the largest investment in America's 124 million homes since the Rural Electrification Act of 1936.

Ari Matusiak is the architect of a multi-lever strategy to inform and equip homeowners, multi-family property owners, and renters to draw on these investments, remove fossil fuel emissions, improve comfort and performance, and multiply efficiency in their homes and vehicles. Rewiring America develops accessible, actionable data, tools, and messaging and builds community-based and national partnerships and coalitions to drive affordable financing, workforce investment, policy change, and civic renewal.

Mary Mazzio, an award-winning documentary film director, Olympic athlete (1992 Olympic Games - Rowing), and former law firm partner, is Founder and CEO of 50 Eggs, Inc., an independent film production company dedicated to making socially impactful films. Mazzio wrote, directed, and produced highly-acclaimed and award-winning films, including I Am Jane Doe (which catalyzed bipartisan federal legislation); Underwater Dreams (which raised $100 million dollars with the White House for underserved students); Ten9Eight (called “one of the most inspirational films you will ever see” by Tom Friedman in The New York Times); A Hero for Daisy (which inspired a lawsuit that was decided years later by the US Supreme Court, called “a landmark film” by the New York Times); The Apple Pushers (with an innovative partnership with Whole Foods); Apple Pie (called “priceless” by The New York Times), and I am Little Red (an animated short written with Academy-Award nominee, Alec Sokolow (Toy Story). A Most Beautiful Thing, narrated by Academy Award-winning artist, Common, and produced with NBA stars Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade, was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, an NAACP Image Award as well as nominated for Best Documentary by the Foreign Press Academy.

Mazzio is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Georgetown Law School. She is the recipient of several awards including an honorary degree from Mount Holyoke College; the Ricky Martin Foundation Humanitarian Award; the Hope Award (from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children); the Women's Sports Foundation Journalism Award; a Gracie Award; a Critics’ Choice Award nomination, Fellowship (to Korea); a Rotary Foundation Graduate Fellowship (to France); and an American Heritage Award (from the American Immigration Council). Mazzio, formerly a partner with the law firm of Brown Rudnick in Boston, has served on several Boards of Directors including Shackleton Schools, Sojourner House (a homeless shelter); The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras; The Head of the Charles Regatta; The National Rowing Foundation; and World T.E.A.M Sports (supporting disabled athletes). She will be inducted into Mount Holyoke College Athletics Hall of Fame and The Schlesinger Library at Harvard University has requested all of Mazzio’s papers for its collection.

Mazzio has given keynote addresses for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women; the YPO Global Convention (South Africa); Aspen Ideas Festival; Clinton Global; convenings at the White House (under two different presidents); the OECD (in Paris); The McCain Institute Human Trafficking Symposium; the Massachusetts Children’s Alliance Annual Conference; the State of Nebraska Convention on Economic Development; the NCAA Title IX Convention; the Women’s Sports Foundation Convention; the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools Convention; the National Association of Collegiate Women’s Athletic Administrator’s Convention, the Ad Club Women’s Leadership Forum, among hundreds of other events.

Filmography:

A Most Beautiful Thing, narrated bythe Academy Award/Grammy Award-winning artist, Common; executive produced by NBA Stars/Olympians Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade; and directed/produced by Mary Mazzio, chronicles the first African American high school rowing team in this country (made up of young men, many of whom were in rival gangs from the West Side of Chicago). The film opened theatrically in 20 major cities and garnered a 100% Rotten Tomato rating from critics and is now streaming on Peacock and Amazon Prime.

I Am Jane Doe, narrated by Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, directed by Mary Mazzio, and produced by Mazzio along with Academy Award-nominee Alec Sokolow, chronicled the battle that several mothers across the country waged against Backpage.com, the largest online portal for commercial sex. The film has catalyzed extraordinary activity, including new legislation (on a bipartisan basis) signed by the President in the spring of 2018; investigative reporting into the links between Google and Backpage; and a federal criminal probe of Backpage executives, resulting in a 93-count indictment. The OECD, which invited Mazzio to speak about the issue of online harm, moved to amend its charter documentation, so that human rights violations and harm to children happening online are addressed as the organization moves forward to establish global policy for online platforms.

I Am Little Red is a 10-minute animated short aimed at children most at-risk for sex trafficking, with the goal of prevention and awareness. The film, animated by Academy Award winners Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala from Punkrobot, and written by 10 survivors of sex trafficking (aged 14 - 21) along with Alec Sokolow (Academy Award nominated writer of Toy Story) and Mazzio, is a contemporary re-imagining of the classic fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood. In partnership with The US Department of Health and Human Services, Little Red is expanded to a wide variety of federal and state agencies working with disenfranchised children.

Underwater Dreams, narrated by Michael Peña and funded by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and the Bezos Family Foundation, raised over $100 million dollars in corporate and private commitments in connection with a White House initiative built around the film. The film, which chronicles the epic story of how the sons of undocumented Mexican immigrants learned how to build an underwater robot from Home Depot parts – and defeat engineering powerhouse MIT in the process. Underwater Dreams was released theatrically in Los Angeles, New York, and Phoenix with AMC Theatres and then screened at the White House, with introductory remarks by President Obama. A special version of the film was broadcast on MSNBC and Telemundo (simultaneously in English and Spanish) with promotion and events throughout the NBC Universal family. The film screened at the White House, at Clinton Global, Aspen Ideas Festival and many other forums around the globe.

Ten9Eight, which tells the inspirational stories of several inner-city teens as they compete in an annual business plan competition, was theatrically released in a first-of-its-kind partnership with AMC Theatres, and broadcast on BET/Viacom, coinciding with the release of a companion book to the film from Scholastic and a screening at the White House Summit hosted by the US Department of Education and the Library of Congress.

The Apple Pushers, narrated by Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, follows immigrant street vendors who are rolling fresh fruits and vegetables into the inner cities of New York. The film was picked up for distribution by Oscilloscope and exhibited theatrically on Earth Day in several cities by Whole Foods, followed by a nationwide broadcast on public television’s WORLD channel. The film has had a wide-ranging series of special screenings, including Aspen Ideas Festival with Robin Schepper (head of Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move" campaign); the US Department of Agriculture with Kathleen Merrigan (Deputy Secretary of the USDA) for heads of federal agencies; as well as pop-up screenings organized by foundations, food policy activists, and policy leaders – all with the goal of sparking creative thinking about how to solve the obesity problem in low income neighborhoods.

A Hero for Daisy, chronicles two-time Olympian Chris Ernst who galvanized her rowing team to storm the Yale athletic director’s office in 1976 to protest the lack of locker room facilities for the women. The film was hailed by The New York Times as a “landmark film”; “fantastic” by Sports Illustrated; and “remarkable” by NPR. The film aired nationwide on ESPN Classics, Oxygen, WGBH, and WTSN- Canada; was invited to screen at the Smithsonian; and is in thousands of classrooms across the country. The film helped to inspire a group of parents in Michigan to file a lawsuit, contesting unequal treatment of high school girls throughout the state, which prevailed, years later, at the US Supreme Court.

Apple Pie, featuring Shaquille O’Neal, Drew Bledsoe, Mia Hamm and Grant Hill, is a tribute to the often- invisible strength, courage and power of mothers. The film was broadcast nationally on ESPN to critical acclaim.

Contrarian, narrated by Fred Thompson, chronicles the life of legendary stock investor John Templeton. Contrarian aired primetime nationwide on Bloomberg Television, and internationally throughout Asia.

Lemonade Stories, featuring Richard Branson, Arthur Blank and Russell Simmons, focuses on how mothers have contributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of their sons and daughters. The film aired nationwide on CNNfn (and globally in Latin America, the UK, Israel, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Hong Kong).

The first White House National Climate Advisor and former U.S. EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy is one of the nation’s most respected voices on climate change, the environment, and public health. As head of the Climate Policy Office under President Biden, McCarthy’s leadership led to the most aggressive action on climate in U.S. history, creating new jobs and unprecedented clean energy innovation and investments across the country. Her commitment to bold action across the Biden administration, supported by the climate and clean energy provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, restored U.S. climate leadership on a global stage and put a new U.S. national target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 within reach.

Throughout her years of public service in both Republican and Democratic administrations, McCarthy is credited for her common-sense strategies and ability to work across the aisle, with states, communities, business leaders, and the labor community, to tackle our nation’s toughest environmental challenges in ways that spur economic growth. and improve public health for workers and families, especially those living in environmental justice communities.

Gina is a Senior Advisor at Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Managing Co-Chair of the America Is All In coalition, and a Senior Fellow at The Fletcher School’s Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University. She is also an Operating Advisor at Pegasus Capital Advisors and a Senior Advisor at TPG Rise Climate Fund. She serves as co-chair of the India-U.S. Track II Dialogue on Energy and Climate Change, and on the Board of Directors for the Energy Foundation and the Resources Legacy Foundation.

Before joining the Biden administration, McCarthy was President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the nation's largest and most influential environmental advocacy organizations. Prior to NRDC, she was a Professor of the Practice of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where she served as the Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment. She was also a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. During this time, she engaged students and climate science thought-leaders across the faculty, as well as corporate and non-profit leaders across the world, to coordinate strategies to turn climate and health science into actions that promote a healthier, more sustainable, and just world.

From 2013–2017, McCarthy was the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Obama. McCarthy focused on using science and input from broad external engagement to strengthen clean air standards including establishing tighter standards on mercury pollution, a new EPA Clean Water Rule to protect rivers and streams that 117 million Americans rely on for drinking water, the first national standards requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for fossil-fuel-fired power plants, and many other policies, programmatic and regulatory efforts that demonstrated the United States' strong commitment to protecting public health and the environment. To advance climate and environmental justice domestically and internationally, McCarthy worked to implement President Obama’s climate action plan spearheading U.S. international engagements that resulted in the passage of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out the use of high global warming chemicals and engaged in efforts leading to the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Before serving as EPA Administrator, McCarthy held the position of Assistant Administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation. Prior to her Presidential appointment, McCarthy was the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, where she served as Chair of the Governor’s Climate Advisory Council, developed the state’s Climate Action Plan, began an initiative called “No Child Left Inside” to introduce families to the natural world by visiting state parks, helped design and implement the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nation’s first cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for power plants. She also held senior positions in the administration of five Massachusetts governors, including Deputy Secretary of the Office of Commonwealth Development and Undersecretary for Policy for the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

McCarthy earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a joint Master of Science in Environmental Health Engineering, Planning and Policy from Tufts University.

Heather McTeer Toney is the executive director of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Beyond Petrochemicals campaign. Her decades of leadership and service began at age 27 when she became the first African American, first female, and youngest person ever elected mayor in Greenville, Mississippi. Under her leadership, the city emerged from significant debt and focused on sustainable infrastructure repair. In 2014, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeast Region. Before joining Beyond Petrochemicals, McTeer Toney served in leadership roles at Mom’s Clean Air Force and Environmental Defense Fund. In 2023, her book Before the Streetlights Come On: Black America’s Urgent Call for Climate Solutions was published by Broadleaf Books. McTeer Toney holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Spelman College in Atlanta and a law degree from the Tulane University School of Law.

Nicole Merat is a teacher, actress, nature lover, and soundbath sorceress. Having graduated with a BFA in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts (2012) and received her 200HR Yoga Teacher certification from Be Luminous Yoga (2016), she has since continued her exploration of art and zen. Nicole’s creative background and passion for personal expression and life-long learning inspires her teachings - encouraging commitment, curiosity, and play. Her diverse education combines the subtle practices of mindfulness, breath, and sound with strength based asana and functional anatomy, creating balanced classes that are challenging and purposeful. Nicole’s personal journey with Tourette Syndrome and OCD has made her a true believer in self-love and an advocate for inquiry; she has found empowerment through mindful movement and by meeting herself where she is with compassion and a willingness to adapt. Her eagerness to help others discover their individual potential both on and off the mat makes her offerings both accessible and igniting. Nicole continues to explore the intersection of creativity and spirituality, seeking to connect the bridge between self-fulfillment and service. She wishes for all beings to recognize their wholeness, open their hearts, and enjoy the ride. When she’s not teaching, Nicole loves traveling, reading, collaborating on creative projects, hiking, spending time with loved ones, and manifesting her greater vision.

Erica Merritt is a singer songwriter, vocal coach, teaching artist and social and human services specialist with more than 25 years of experience as an artist and youth development worker in the greater King County region. She began teaching choir in 1998, and has continued to teach voice, songwriting and choir with organizations such as Langston Hughes, Arts Corps, MoPOP and the Creative Advantage. Erica is a social justice advocate who believes Arts Education can close the opportunity gap for underserved youth. Erica's work focuses on the belief that art changes the lives of those who experience its healing powers, just as art was a catalyst to change in her own life. Her teaching style includes laughter, critical thinking, self-reflection, transparency and fosters a growth mind-set. Her student-centered pedagogy creates a learning space where the student becomes the teacher. She has enjoyed the amazing opportunity to combine her passions of social well-being and music through the art of teaching. Erica takes great pleasure in supporting her students in becoming the best version of themselves.

The interests of Adam Met PhD bridge music, sustainability, law, academia, policy, marketing, and technology. As the bassist for AJR, he has traveled the world on sold-out tours, achieved platinum certifications in numerous countries, and recorded a repertoire of music that has garnered more than 7 billion streams worldwide. In the 2021/2022 touring season, Adam has played live in front of over 1 Million fans. As the founder and Executive Director of Planet Reimagined, he leads a nonprofit that addresses climate change systems through media, academic research fellowships, and incentive-based initiatives.

A graduate of Columbia University, Adam received a dual degree in business and philosophy. He also holds a Master’s from New York University in constitutional religious law and holds a PhD in international human rights law, advocating for a reconciliation of tensions between sustainable development and human rights obligations. Adam’s work with the UN Development Programme as a Development Advocate fosters awareness on social media and beyond of sustainability, rights violations and solutions. In Washington DC, Adam has worked closely with the EPA, The Department of Energy, and The White House on innovative renewable energy policy, and with a bipartisan coalition in Congress to help pass the Inflation Reduction Act. He has brought his interdisciplinary perspective to his writing for publications including TIME, Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, Fortune, Mashable, and Quartz, and he is the host of the podcast Planet Reimagine.

Val is a serial cleantech entrepreneur who knows how to scale technology for use by existing transportation industries. Under Val's leadership, ZeroAvia is helping to deliver a future of truly clean flight, with the company already completing two world-first breakthrough demonstration flights of its hydrogen-electric, zero-emission technology and signing up airlines including American, United and Alaska.

Val’s previous venture, eMotorWerks, developed smart vehicle-grid integration hardware and software, and was acquired in 2017. eMotorWerks’ JuiceBox Smart EV charging station was the best-selling product in its category in the United States for over 5 years.

Before eMotorWerks, Val held executive business strategy & operations positions at Google, McKinsey & Company, and Nielsen. He also launched and managed three startup companies, in all of which he held the CTO positions. Prior to his industry experience, Val was a high energy physics researcher at Stanford Linear Accelerator, a Department of Energy facility.

Val received his PhD in Physics from Princeton University and his MS in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He was a two-time winner of the Nationwide Russian Physics Competitions. In whatever spare time he gets, Val tries to get good use out of his airplane, helicopter pilot licenses, as well as competing as a triathlete.

Will N. Miller is a documentary filmmaker and co-founder of Documist, a production company based in NYC and Toronto. His work mostly focuses on environmental conflict, migration, and human rights. Will produced THE TERRITORY, which won over 30 awards including two at Sundance 2022, and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. He edited and produced NUISANCE BEAR, which won over 25 awards including the Critics Choice Award and Cinema Eye Honors, was nominated for IDA and Canadian Screen Awards, and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. He edited and story produced UNSAFE PASSAGE, which won an Emmy, NPPA Documentary of the Year, POYi Documentary Journalism Award, and others.

Will's work has been published by the New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, the Economist, the New Yorker, CNN, NBC, and the BBC. From 2017-2019 he worked at Human Rights Watch, where he produced over 100 videos reaching millions of viewers online and broadcast by dozens of news outlets around the world. Will has also worked on a range of participatory multimedia projects in the US, Canada, Kenya, Haiti, the Philippines, and Brazil; from art projects for kids, to evidentiary techniques for human rights defenders, to masterclasses for aspiring cinematographers.

Andrew Nadkarni is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. His directorial debut, Between Earth & Sky, was shortlisted for the 2024 Academy Awards. The film played over 50 festival screenings, won Best Short at Big Sky and Hot Springs Documentary Film Festivals, and received nominations for two Critics Choice Documentary Awards and the Cinema Eye Honors.

A 2023 BRIClab Artist in Residence, he integrates sustainability, community care, and trauma-informed practices into his filmmaking process, exploring generational stories about diaspora communities. Andrew was also an associate producer on BEL CANTO, production supervisor on the NY Unit of GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, and produced the narrative feature, ACTUAL PEOPLE, now streaming on MUBI.

As Microsoft’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Melanie Nakagawa leads the company’s commitments to become carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030. She brings nearly two decades of experience at the nexus of policy, business, and technology, most recently serving as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy on the National Security Council at the White House. Prior to the White House, Melanie helped launch Princeville Capital's inaugural global growth equity climate technology fund, investing in companies delivering transformative solutions to climate change. She also served as a strategic advisor to Secretary of State John Kerry on climate change and environmental issues and held roles in the U.S. Senate and with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Melanie has a JD and MA from American University and AB from Brown University.

NËSTRÄ, born Eliyas Abdulkadir to East African immigrants in Minnesota, is an American artist based in Seattle. Through his lyrics, music, and dance, NËSTRÄ tells his story, reflecting on his life as a first-generation immigrant of East African heritage. NËSTRÄ plays with a variety of sounds and themes, while never forgetting his roots.

Sarah Newman founded the Climate Mental Health Network in 2021 after her own struggles with climate emotions. It is now a national organization that leads research and offers programs and resources for youth, teachers and parents across the United States. She previously worked for many years creating impact campaigns for films, as a community organizer and a nonprofit outreach director. She has a BA from Barnard College and MPH from UCLA.

Shelby Orme, a sustainability expert and content creator with a B.S. in Environmental Studies, has been a thought leader in sustainable living and advocacy for several years. She has used her platform to start Kayaness, a reusable menstrual brand, and ATX Cares, a community organization. Shelby also serves on the parks board in Austin, Texas. Her goal is to deinfluence folks to give up consumerism for community.

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Crissy P is a magnetic force in the local music scene, infusing The Evergreen State's hip-hop roots with fresh energy. Inspired by the genres golden era, he adds a modern touch to the foundation that was laid before him. Working alongside a team of local producers and DJs, Crissy P delivers an unforgettable blend of sample-based beats, heartfelt melodies, and impactful lyrics—a captivating experience for audiences.

Savitha is the Deputy Director of Climate Solutions. To her, climate change is the biggest justice issue of our lifetime. She is also on the fundraising team for No on 2117 ballot initiative campaign in 2024. She is on the Board of the Wing Luke Museum and Advisory Council of the University of Washington’s EarthLab and Capitol Hill Ecodistrict. In 2018 she was on the fundraising team for Yes on 1631 ballot initiative campaign. She has worked at Seattle Foundation, Collins Group, Women's Funding Alliance, US EPA and Environmental Media Services. She won a 40 Under 40 award from Puget Sound Business Journal and graduated from Bowdoin College.

David Perdue is an Atlanta comedian who has performed on Comedy Central, FuseTV, EPIX, & Kevin Hart’s LOL Network. David is also an actor appearing in "Love Is..." on OWN and "Bobcat Goldthwait"s Misfits and Monsters" on truTV. David co-hosts a sports/comedy podcast called "Forth and Ten" as well as the feel good news podcast “What’s Good Atlanta” on Atlanta’s NPR member station WABE. In 2022 David was selected as an Arts & Social Justice Fellow at Emory University in addition to a 2022 Climate Comedy Cohort created & directed by Generation180 & the Center for Media & Social Impact’s Good Laugh Initiative. As you can see David is many things but most importantly he is NOT a former US Senator.

John Pimentel is CEO of 280 Earth, a pioneering venture launched to scale and commercialize innovative direct air capture technology developed at X, The Moonshot Factory (formerly Google X). John was an early leader in the renewable energy and sustainability industry. Over the past two decades he has co-founded, managed, and grown companies developing sustainability-based projects that deployed new business models or first of a kind technologies in biofuel production, wind and solar renewable energy generation, municipal solid waste management, used motor oil recycling, and industrial waste water recovery. John was a consultant with Bain & Company, and he served as California’s Deputy Secretary for Transportation.

John Plaza is CEO of SkyNRG Americas, a company dedicated to producing Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) using waste streams and industry leading technology solutions in North America. The company’s core mission is to build production facilities that offer SAF which is produced sustainably and provides significantly reduced emissions over traditional jet fuel. John’s passion for airplanes began as a kid, and he has been a leader in sustainable aviation fuels since 2006 by providing the first commercial volumes of SAF consumed by a Boeing 747 in collaboration with Boeing and Virgin Atlantic in 2008 and co-developing Alcohol to Jet technologies with PNNL in 2010.

Highlights of his career include starting three sustainable energy companies in the PNW including Founder and CEO of Imperium Renewables which built a 100 million gallon per year biodiesel facility in Hoquiam, WA. With more than 20 years of experience in renewable energy and clean technology, John has a proven track record of launching highly successful startups and has raised over $600M from investors to build the companies he has founded. Prior to founding Imperium Renewables, John was a commercial airline pilot for 18 years and has flown over 18,000 hours in more than 50 different aircraft.

The Hybrid Genre Artist Rosé Prosecco is a R&B singer-songwriter, Hip-Hop Lyricist, producer and beat maker all wrapped in to one divine being. Delivering lush and poetic textures through melodic presentation and bopping hits Prosecco delivers an experience that can be described as Nostalgia.

An earth system scientist specialized in how the air and sea interact, Dr. Julie Pullen works at the intersection of climate resilience and climate solutions to enhance the life-sustainment and security of our planet. A Partner and Chief Scientist at Propeller Ventures, she invests in early-stage ocean climate tech startups and catalyzes research at institutions to expand the realm of climate solutions using science, nature and technology. Previously a professor and leader at a climate risk company, she is the featured climate scientist in the 2024 film Earth Protectors streaming on Prime Video and AppleTV+.

Mary Purdy, MS, RDN, is an acclaimed integrative eco-dietitian, working at the intersection of sustainable food systems, climate and human health. She spent over 13 years in clinical practice using a personalized and food-as-medicine approach, and taught for 8 years at Bastyr University in Seattle, WA. She is the the Managing Director of the Nutrient Density Alliance which works to connect the dots between soil health and nutrient-rich food. She is also currently Adjunct Faculty at The Culinary Institute of America teaching Sustainable Diets and Public Health and speaks regularly at national and state conferences on both nutrition and sustainability with a focus on the health and environmental benefits of agroecology. She has served as a Nutrition and Sustainability Advisor for numerous food brands and organizations, and is the Director of Education for The Planetary Health Collective. With 125+ podcast episodes and two books, she's a leading voice in nutrition and sustainability, fostering resilient, just, and healthy food systems. Explore more at www.marypurdy.co

Rangeela Dance Company (RDC) is one of the nation’s leading South Asian dance companies, founded in 2016 by Priyanka Jain Vora, a trained classical Indian dancer and Bollywood dance choreographer.

RDC is based in Seattle and Los Angeles, but provides dances services globally. Our mission is to cultivate a community that celebrates and shares South Asian culture through the form of Indian dance. We were the first full-service Bollywood dance company to exist in Seattle and have been recognized by prestigious platforms such as the Smithsonian Institute.

Rangeela’s vision is to make dance accessible to all individuals through group and private dance classes for kids and adults, performing & visual arts for special events, and private choreography services. Our talented group of instructors and dancers have professional expertise in a variety of styles ranging from Bollywood, Bhangra, Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Kuthu Hop, Semi-Classical, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Garba, and more.

Johan Rockström is an internationally leading scientist on Earth system resilience, global sustainability and sustainable development. He is the Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam, and the Chief Scientist of Conservation International. He is the former Founding Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, and the former Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute.

He is deeply involved in numerous research activities covering a broad range of topics related to the Earth System and global sustainability in the Anthropocene with the overarching research question: “What is the safe operating space for Humanity's future on Earth, and what are the sustainable transformations that can take us there?”

Rockström has over 25 years’ experience in interdisciplinary research on sustainable development and Earth system research, ranging from global water resources, ecosystem services, agricultural development, and social-ecological resilience, with over 250 research publications. He serves as advisor to international organizations, governments, the UN and the European Union, and is a frequent keynote speaker for international business, policy and academia. He led the transition team designing Future Earth (www.futureearth.org) (the integration of the Global Environment Change programs under ICSU), served on the Swedish Prime Minister’s (PM) Futures Commission 2012-2013.

He is member of European Commission expert group Mission Board for adaptation to climate change including societal transformation and German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. In 2012 and 2013 he was voted Sweden’s most influential person on environmental issues, was in 2009 voted Swede of the year, in 2023 he was listed TIME100 most influential people in the world and received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 2024.

Chris Roe is Director of Environment at Amazon. In this capacity, he manages the strategy and execution of Amazon’s commitment to reach The Climate Pledge, a goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement. Chris has over 15 years of experience driving initiatives in corporate energy and sustainability.

Prior to Amazon, Chris led energy, water, and sustainable building initiatives within Boeing’s real estate and manufacturing operations. Chris has a Master's degree in Engineering from Cambridge University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. He currently serves on the board of the Smart Electric Power Alliance and the Smart Building Center.

Mila Rosenthal, PhD, established the International Science Reserve, a network of researchers, technologists, and institutions to respond to climate disasters, based at the New York Academy of Sciences. She co-founded the climate solutions nonprofit Planet Reimagined with musician and advocate Adam Met and teaches climate justice advocacy and human rights campaigning at Columbia University as an Adjunct Professor. Dr. Rosenthal previously served as Director of Communications and Advocacy for the United Nations Development Programme, playing a lead role in the global public campaign to launch and popularize the Sustainable Development Goals. She held executive positions at Amnesty International, HealthRight International, and Concern Worldwide, and worked in several countries in Africa and Southeast Asia. Dr Rosenthal’s PhD in social anthropology from the London School of Economics is based on research in Vietnam with women factory workers in the garment industry.

Jeremy is a globally recognized leader and alliance builder, advocating for systems change aimed at improving the impact of the travel and tourism sector on communities and the climate crisis. Through a variety of roles across industry, academia, and the nonprofit sector, he has helped bring together public and private entities across the globe to adopt holistic measures of success, accelerate climate action, develop and promote more equitable visitor economies, and integrate sustainability across complex value chains.

Jeremy was instrumental in setting up the Future of Tourism Coalition in 2020, and served for three years as the Founding Chair of this global movement representing 6 global NGOs. He also was a Co-Author of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action and Tourism, launched at COP26 in Scotland, an initiative which he continues to build alongside colleagues at The Travel Foundation and UNWTO. He is a regular contributor to media, events, and other publications and an in-demand keynote speaker.

In his current role as CEO of nonprofit The Travel Foundation, Jeremy oversees a global team which has transformed the agenda-setting organization into the leading independent international NGO in the tourism sector. Prior to assuming this post in September 2019, he worked at the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation in Spain, where he helped to launch the MEET Network, a destination management association for Protected Areas in Europe and North Africa.

In addition to other industry roles, Jeremy also spent time in private sector as President of international tour operator GreenSpot Travel. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest (Spokane, WA), though he has lived in four different countries and worked on six continents during his career.

Ali Santore is the executive vice president, chief administrative officer for Providence. In this role, Ali leads advocacy, public affairs, environmental sustainability, corporate responsibility, mental health, health equity, philanthropy and governance for Providence. Her national advocacy and engagement strategies have successfully advanced social justice priorities that preserve and expand access to care for the underserved, positioning Providence as a leading advocate for mental health, the environment and the Medicaid program. Ali also leads Providence’s ambitious goal of working toward carbon negative by 2030.

Prior to her work at Providence, Ali served in the United States Senate as a legislative assistant to Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-OR) and as professional staff and policy aide to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. In 2021, Ali was named one of Modern Healthcare’s top 25 leaders under age 40. She also had the honor of speaking at the United Nations and testifying before the U.S. Congress on the importance of sustainability and health equity in health care. In 2020, Ali was the recipient of Practice Greenhealth’s Visionary Leader Award, which recognizes executive leaders who effectively advocate for environmental sustainability across health care operations.

With degrees from the University of Oregon and Cornell University, Ali has served as a guest lecturer at the George Washington University Milken School for Public Health and the University of Oregon. In 2022, Ali was featured by Harvard Business School as one of the “Women Changing the World” at Harvard Business School’s Dynamic Women in Business Conference.

Ali serves on several nonprofit boards and is a founding member of the California Climate Care Alliance and the Washington Climate Care Alliance, as well as an Advisory Board Member for America’s All In and the United Nations Race to Zero initiative.

Kate Schapira has been listening to people about climate change for ten years, at the Climate Anxiety Counseling booth and elsewhere. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she teaches nonfiction writing at Brown University and is involved with local efforts toward environmental justice, climate justice and peer mental health support. The exercises in her first work of nonfiction, Lessons from the Climate Anxiety Counseling Booth, offer actionable steps for connecting with others, identifying and activating community abundance, matching your skills with organized climate activism, and imagining a radically more livable future in order to bring it into being.

Liev Schreiber is an actor, writer and director who has played leading roles in films, television, and on Broadway. He has narrated numerous documentary films for PBS, HBO, and the National Geographic Channel. His performance as Father Flynn in the recent Broadway revival of John Patrick Shanley's play DOUBT earned Schreiber his fourth TONY nomination. Schreiber is a co-founder of BlueCheck Ukraine and an ambassador for President Zelinsky's fund United 24. To date, BlueCheck has raised and distributed more than $4.5 million to frontline organizations that provide food, water, shelter, medical supplies and equipment, in addition to evacuating and providing care and psychological support for 20,000 Ukrainian children orphaned by the war.

Ben Schuler is Founder and CEO of sustainable electric motor maker Infinitum. Prior to founding Infinitum, Ben spent 15 years leading the design and deployment of complex industrial automation equipment across Taiwan, Japan and the United States. He was involved in the production ramp of Corning’s Gorilla Glass, Bloom Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell and Solyndra’s thin film solar module. Infinitum is the direct beneficiary of Ben’s expertise, which helps him lead the mission of disrupting the way industrial machinery and electric motors consume and create electricity. As one of the original creators of Infinitum’s air-core motor system, Ben holds 36 patents related to electric machines and drives.

Is a poised, young and relatable artist that seeks to bond with people by using her mellifluous voice and experience to set the ambience and create connection. Performing at some of the biggest venues in Washington, such as, Benaroya Hall, Climate pledge Arena, Lumen Field, and more! Performing with some of the biggest artist in Washington, like Macklemore, Black Stax, The Seattle symphony, and more.

Dr. Jylana L. Sheats is an applied behavioral scientist, educator, and practitioner known for being a ‘boundary spanner’ and working collaboratively across sectors. She leads and advises on research, programs, and initiatives aimed at changing behavior, improving health outcomes, and addressing complex societal issues. She has designed a career that enables her to navigate across sectors, communities, and institutions. This is evidenced by her roles as a Clinical Associate Professor at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, and as the Associate Director of the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program. In her consultancy capacity, Dr. Sheats is a Senior Science Advisor for organizations such as See Change Institute and the Climate Mental Health Network. She is an advisory board member for both the Stanford School of Medicine Research Fellowship Program in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and the Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA). Noteworthy among her achievements are receiving a National Institutes of Health “Building Innovative Research Careers in Women’s Health” award and the 2022 Tony A. Mobley International Distinguished Alumni award from Indiana University-Bloomington School of Public Health. Dr. Sheats’ academic achievements include degrees from Spelman College, Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, and Indiana University-Bloomington, with postdoctoral training at Stanford School of Medicine.

Antonique Smith is a Film, Television and Broadway actress, a Grammy Nominated singer/writer and a passion climate and environmental justice “artivist”. Antonique first garnered attention in her leading role in "RENT" on Broadway as Mimi Marquez. She is most famous for her critically acclaimed, starring role as Faith Evans in the movie "Notorious", and recently starred in “Genius: Aretha" as Aretha Franklin's mother Barbara Franklin. She also starred in season 2 of the NETFLIX series “Marvel’s Luke Cage”, and in season 2 of the Blumhouse TV anthology series "Sacred Lies" among numerous other notable film and television projects. Having been dubbed "the voice of the movement" by famed climate activist Bill McKibben, Antonique believes the arts and culture are necessary to affect change in the world and she works tirelessly to use her art and her gifts to raise awareness and inspire new generations of people committed to creating solutions for the critical environmental, social and economic issues facing our world.

Antonique began her journey as an artivist in 2014 when she was featured on the first- ever album about climate change titled, “Home: Heal Our Mother Earth,” released by People’s Climate Music. Since then, Antonique has led with action through her participation in a 20 city "Act On Climate" tour with the Hip Hop Caucus, she's taught a master class at the United Nations during COP21 in Paris about how to use art to further movements and also sang for the Pope at his climate rally for over 100,000 people on the National Mall in D.C.. Antonique was honored by Grist in 2018, being named one of Grist’s 50 Fixers and she received the "Visionary Leaders Award" by the Physician's For Social Responsibility for her work as co-host of Think 100% - The Coolest Show On Climate Change. She executive produced an amazing stand-up comedy special from the frontlines of the climate crisis called "Ain't Your Mama's Heatwave," which debuted at the DC Environmental Film Festival in March 2021. Antonique is also a serious advocate for human rights and people with special needs. Heralded as "an amazing actress with a great career ahead of her" by the legendary director Sidney Lumet, Antonique is following the career path of Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Lena Horne and Nina Simone; enjoying a career in both film and music while using her gifts and platform to touch, heal and change the world.

The SongCatchers are a Grammy winning intertribal fusion musical group creating a musical conversation between Native Americans and the rest of us. The multi -generational SongCatchers started 30 years ago as an experiment proving Native American culture is part of a living culture that doesn’t need to be under glass in a museum. Native American music can evolve and respond to popular music, art, dance and poetry without diluting the sheer impact and beauty of intertribal vocables, music and drumming. The SongCatchers have toured extensively across country with notable stars including Peter Gabriel and the Neville Brothers and have played many reservations concerts across North America. The group was originally signed to A&M/Universal Records releasing the ground breaking album Dreaming In Color which one two Grammy’s and numerous Native Music Awards.

“Led by Arlie Neskahi (Dine' (Navajo) of the White Eagle Singers, Lara Lavi, a two time Grammy winning singer songwriter herself and musical director Mark Cardenas – the SongCatchers brings to life several musical genres while elevating intertribal singing and drumming to a powerful spine tingling level of musical exuberance. There is nothing like it” - The New York Times

The Group is now in a refresh for a new generation with a collaboration with Andrew Joselyn who is a symphonic composer and arranger who works closely with the Seattle Symphony. The SongCatchers are performing select concerts in 2024 in preparation for its Seattle Symphony partnership in 2025. The project is non-profit organization fiscally sponsored by the Allied Arts Foundation and is called the SongCatchers Living Culture Project.

Aline is the President and Director of the Central das Cooperativas de Trabalho de Catadores de Materiais Recicláveis do Distrito Federal - CENTCOOP, and is a state representative of the National Movement of Waste Pickers of Federal District (MNCR-DF) and the National Secretariat for Women and Youth of Unicatadores.

She deals with everything from the simplest to the most complex issues, managing more than 1,000 waste pickers, from more than 20 cooperatives besides being mother of 7 children. She is the first female president of CENTCOOP, a network that advocates for the social recognition of waste pickers, strengthens environmental education on recycling and the shared solid waste management, and contributes to the development of waste picker-led collection systems in the capital of Brazil.

Recycling has always been part of her social life, as the third generation of waste pickers in the family. At the age of 14, she started helping her grandmother with her recycling work. Since then, she has worked in the sector, making recycling a way to transform her life and the lives of the people who work with her. The verb to rebuild and preserve has been part of Aline's life since she was a child. As a teenager, she dreamed of studying law. During the pandemic, she managed to get a 90% scholarship to study law, but today she has stopped her studies due to personal and professional demands. As a mother of 7 children, a waste picker and a black woman, she faces many challenges, but each obstacle has become an opportunity to learn, grow and strengthen the work of recycling. Today, she is committed to sustainability, female empowerment, racial equality and the environment and is leading the climate discussion between waste pickers as diversifying their services to work with organic waste management.

As the managing director of sustainability for Alaska Airlines, Ryan Spies is accountable for the development and implementation of the long-term strategy, operational and financial performance of environmental sustainability and the Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) program at the company. In this role, Ryan holds the deep and direct responsibility for the continued evolution of Alaska’s strategy and plans to manage and reduce its carbon footprint, and to achieve Alaska’s environmental sustainability goals. That includes initiatives to scale up use of sustainable aviation fuel, drive operational efficiency, cultivate and leverage new technologies related to achieving these goals including carbon removals, mitigate the impact of climate change on the business, and develop new ways to engagement stakeholders in enabling the journey.

Ryan joined Alaska in 2023 with experience integrating sustainability, decarbonization & ESG strategies at an executive level with three Fortune 500 companies in multiple industries. Most recently, he served as the vice president of sustainability for Clayco, an integrated develop, design and build firm. In that role, he was charged with building and executing an industry-leading long-term strategy focused on corporate emissions goals and reporting, coordinating net-zero carbon design in industrial and commercial buildings, and more.

Ryan graduated from Lehigh University in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, and from Washington University in St. Louis in 2011 with an MBA with a concentration in corporate strategy. Ryan, his wife Rita (a pediatric hospitalist), and two boys Henry (6), Louie (4) and and one girl Rosie (newborn) call Seattle home after moving to the area from Philadelphia in January 2024. Ryan loves to ride bikes – over 4,000 miles per year – and is thrilled to get back to the West Coast where he went to high school.

Nathaniel Stinnett is the Founder & Executive Director of the Environmental Voter Project, a non-partisan nonprofit that uses data analytics and behavioral science to mobilize environmentalists to vote. Named one of five global “climate visionaries” by The New York Times in 2018, and dubbed “The Voting Guru” by Grist magazine, Stinnett is a frequent expert speaker on cutting-edge campaign techniques and the behavioral science behind getting people to vote. He has held a variety of senior leadership and campaign manager positions on U.S. Senate, Congressional, state, and mayoral campaigns, and he sits on the Board of Advisors for MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School, and he lives in Boston with his wife and two children.

Dr. Shanna Swan is an Environmental and Reproductive Epidemiologist. She is Professor of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, Adjunct Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California San Francisco and Senior Scientist at Environmental Health Sciences. Her work examines the impact of environmental exposures on reproductive health and neurodevelopment. Since 1998 Dr. Swan has conducted multi-center pregnancy cohort studies, which now include more than 1,500 mothers and their children, to better understand how prenatal and early childhood exposure to stressors can impact children's health and development. In 2017 Dr. Swan and colleagues published “Temporal Trends in Sperm Count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis”, which was updated in 2022. In 2021 Dr. Swan and co-author Stacey Colino published: Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Health, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race which has been translated into nine languages. Dr. Swan is committed to broadening the impact of this science to protect public health and the environment.

Tank and The Bangas is a New Orleans-based band that blends various music styles such as funk, soul, hip hop, and spoken word to create a unique sound. The band is led by vocalist and songwriter Tarriona “Tank” Ball who commands every performance with her powerful voice and magnetic stage presence. Formed in 2011, they gained nationwide recognition after winning the NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2017. The band consists of a varying number of musicians but is typically around five, including Tank herself. Their critically acclaimed live performances are energetic and highly emotive, making them a must-see act.

The Residency seeks to build a powerful community of young hip-hop artists equipped with the artistic and leadership skills, business acumen, and mentorship necessary to become professional artists and cultural change makers. Through their participation in The Residency, young artists from low-income families acquire tangible artistic and professional skills while also gaining confidence, teamwork, and a deepened understanding of their own identity and power.

The Residency launched in July 2015 as a collaboration between Museum of Pop Culture, Arts Corps, and Grammy award winning artists Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. It was created as a response to the glaring gap in access to high-quality, experiential arts education for low-income youth and has quickly become the preeminent training ground for the next generation of artists poised to leave a lasting mark on Seattle’s growing music industry.The year-round program includes a month-long intensive workshop in the summer in which 45 young people participate in either a vocal or production track. During the intensive, youth write original songs, record in a professional studio and perform in front of hundreds of people at a premiere Seattle venue. In addition to making, recording and performing their music, the youth participate in a number of engaging panel discussions with leaders in the northwest creative community. The Residency exists to break down barriers to equitable arts learning. In an effort to address financial difficulties and to honor their work as artists, youth participants receive stipends at the completion of summer intensive. Further, participants receive subsidized transportation and meals throughout the intensive to minimize potential challenges to full participation in the program. After the summer intensive, youth (our “alumni”) have access to regular skills building workshops, get opportunities to perform and take part in other educational and industry experiences, including the Resilience College Scholarship Fund which provides financial scholarships for alumni pursuing further education.

Jill Tidman (she/her) is Executive Director of The Redford Center, an independent nonprofit organization founded in 2005 by Robert Redford and his son James Redford. Jill has worked with the organization since its founding and took the helm in 2012 to lead the vision, strategy, and operations in service of advancing environmental solutions through the power of stories that move people to act. She has produced three award-winning feature documentaries and impact campaigns, and draws on her experience as a writer, filmmaker, and activist, and her passion for sustainability and environmental justice, to create a new way forward for impactful environmental films. With over 25 years of experience as an activist and storyteller, Jill has raised millions of dollars for environmentally engaged artists and film projects that serve as powerful education, communication, and activation tools. Prior to The Redford Center, Jill led projects for Business for Social Responsibility, Social Venture Network, The Natural Step, and Global Footprint Network, and she serves on the board of the KindHumans Foundations. Jill was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her short fiction and resides with her family on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone tribe in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Alec Turnbull is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Climate Film Festival, a new cultural organization in New York City. From personal transformations to political movements, from urban jungles to the world's wilderness, CFF features films that break the boundaries and expectations of what climate cinema can be. In addition to his work at CFF, Alec is a climate tech executive and entrepreneur, with experience in building decarbonization, carbon removal, and renewable energy.

Mark Vins is an Emmy Award winning wildlife and adventure filmmaker, and the CEO and co-founder of Brave Wilderness. The Brave Wilderness YouTube channel launched in 2014 focused on wildlife education and immersive outdoor adventures. As the largest digital wildlife content company, Brave Wilderness has become a global sensation growing to over 20 million subscribers with over 5 billion views.

Along with the company’s commercial success, Mark’s passion for conservation inspires him to use the platform to make an environmental impact. Connecting his global audience of nature enthusiasts to conservation and sustainability efforts, Mark has supported organizations like Re:wild.org, World Wildlife Fund, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Explore.org, and many others to help inspire Brave Wilderness viewers to take action and make a difference.

As one of the leading ambassadors for Re:wild.org, Mark is now hosting and producing the docuseries, Brave Mission, to support sustainability with Re:Wild’s co-founding board member, Leonardo DiCaprio. In Mark’s words, “Now more than ever, shining light on some of the most amazing at-risk species and environments on earth is paramount to our planet's future. Conservation needs to mean “action”, and my hope is that our videos accelerate community involvement and prove how we can all make an impact together.”

Dr. Evelyn N. Wang currently serves as the Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), where she leads the Agency’s development, launch, and execution of high-risk, high-reward energy research and development programs.

Prior to joining ARPA-E, Dr. Wang served as the Ford Professor of Engineering and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During her time at MIT, she focused on thermal management, thermal energy conversion and storage, and water harvesting and purification.

Dr. Wang was previously the Associate Director of the MIT Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center, a DOE Energy Frontiers Research Center. Earlier in her career, Dr. Wang worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent and as a consultant for the Defense Science Study Group, where she advocated for collaboration between academia and national defense to solve issues of national security

Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. She also received an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Rollie Williams is a Brooklyn-based comedian, video editor, and guy with both student debt and a Climate Science & Policy degree from Columbia University. He is the creator and host of the digital comedy series Climate Town, an exhaustively researched YouTube channel focused on the climate crisis. In the past few years, Climate Town has amassed 560,000 YouTube subscribers, several millions views, a handful of awards, and has spawned a delightfully engaged Discord community. Rollie is also the co-creator of The Climate Denier's Playbook, a podcast he hosts with childhood friend/Daily Show writer Nicole Conlan. When he's not feverishly researching climate change, Rollie plays an unhealthy amount of pool and recently achieved his dream of commentating for the World Cup of Pool in England.

Dounia Wone is Vestiaire Collective's Chief Impact Officer since March 2020 and a member of the company’s executive committee. She brings a wealth of experience in sustainable development, having worked with esteemed French institutions including the Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Ecological Transition, National Assembly, and Paris’ City Hall. As the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for the Social and Solidarity Economy of Paris, she played a key role in creating the Paris Good Fashion movement, supporting the industry's environmental responsibility efforts. Committed to bridging public and private sectors, Dounia channels her ecological and societal vision to profoundly impact Vestiaire Collective's community of millions of fashion activists.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is the President & CEO of Hip Hop Caucus. Rev Yearwood is the Host of the award-winning climate and environmental justice podcast The Coolest Show, Senior Advisor of Bloomberg Philanthropies Beyond Petrochemicals Campaign, and one of the most innovative advocates and strategists for racial justice and climate justice. He is a White House Champion of Change for Climate leadership and according to Rolling Stone he is a “New Green Hero.”

Sara Zewde is founding principal of Studio Zewde, a design firm in New York City practicing landscape, urbanism, and public art. Named to Architectural Digest's AD100, an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York, and one of ArchDigest's Best New Practices, the firm is celebrated for its design methods that sync culture, ecology, and craft. In parallel with practice, Sara serves as Assistant Professor of Practice at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and is currently writing a book on her research retracing Frederick Law Olmsted's journeys through the Slave South. Sara holds a master’s of landscape architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, a master’s of city planning from MIT, and a BA in sociology and statistics from Boston University.

As an organizer and leader, he strives to build high-functioning teams and political groundswell that empowers communities to change the world.

As a Piolet d'Or winning professional alpinist, he strives to complete what was once considered impossible.

As a creative, he has directed award-winning films, written an award-winning memoir, launched acclaimed podcasts, and written for various print publications. He focuses on the broader impacts of content strategy and accessibility through consulting and coaching.

His work has shown that taking well-calculated risks in combination with astute strategies is a pathway to success and he has constantly found that stories, well told, have the power to change the world. Above all, he believes in the power of nurturing talent to create the professionals and community leaders we need to move towards an equitable society that is in better balance with the planet on which we live.

Manoush Zomorodi is the host of NPR’s TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, whose work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity. TED Radio Hour won the 2023 Ambie award for Best Knowledge, Science, and Tech podcast. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk (6+ million views) are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy." She’s won numerous awards, including two Gracies for Best Radio Host. She has two kids, a husband, and a Havanese.

Emily Anton is a senior producer on the cross-platform media team. She works on special editorial projects, events, and co-organizes the Bloomberg Green Docs competition.

Rob Barnett, a Senior Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, is a seasoned research professional with two decades of experience advising investors, companies, and policy makers. Barnett’s research franchise is focused on the wind and solar industries, the energy transition, and the European carbon market.

Barnett holds a master’s degree in economics from Boston University and undergraduate and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Clemson University. Before joining Bloomberg Intelligence, he was Bloomberg Government's Senior Energy Economist; and previously, he was an Associate Director of Climate Change and Clean Energy at IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

In addition to his research on the energy industry, Barnett is co-author of The Economists' Diet: The Surprising Formula for Losing Weight and Keeping It Off (Published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster). The book combines his passion for economics with his personal narrative about successful weight-loss.

Kira is the editor of Bloomberg’s Greener Living pillar, overseeing a team of reporters focused on individual solutions tied to decarbonization. Before this, she was executive editor at Quartz and has worked at Newsweek, Reuters and Crain’s New York Business.

Jenny Chase founded what is now BloombergNEF's Solar team early 2006, and ran the team from Bloomberg's Zurich office until late 2022. She then stepped down from management and continues to write about and analyse the solar industry as part of the team. She is the lead author of BNEF’s quarterly Global PV Market Outlook, which draws together updates on demand, supply, price, margins and bottlenecks across the photovoltaic industry. The team also conducts continuous ad-hoc research and data provision on the hot questions of the day for many of the leading financial institutions, utilities, developers and manufacturers.

Jenny is the author of a book, Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon, published by World Scientific Publishing in 2019 with a second edition out at the end of 2023. She holds a BA in Physical Sciences and an MSci in Physics from the University of Cambridge, England, and breeds rare West of England geese. She is on X as @solar_chase, bluesky as solarchase, and Mastodon as solar_chase@mastodon.green.

Sharon Chen is the Managing Editor for Bloomberg Green. She oversees a global team of reporters covering climate change from Tokyo to San Francisco. Before this, she was Bloomberg's Beijing bureau chief and has also worked for the news organization in Singapore and New York.

Abby Danzig is the Senior Programming Director for Bloomberg Green and Sustainability Events. In this role she works closely with Bloomberg’s world-class newsroom to bring its ESG and climate coverage to life through discussions and experiences with global business, finance and thought leaders. Abby previously managed digital and event content at Bloomberg Industry Group, focusing on topics in law, tax and government. Prior to Bloomberg, she spent nearly a decade working in television news as a New York- and Washington, DC-based producer for Fox News and MSNBC. Abby holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Brian Eckhouse is Bloomberg News' Team Leader for Power & Natural Disasters in the Americas. He oversees a team of reporters from San Francisco to Boston who cover the power industry, weather, natural disasters and cleantech. Brian is based in Los Angeles. He previously covered solar and project finance for Bloomberg in New York.

Anna Edgerton is Bloomberg's Seattle bureau chief. Anna started with Bloomberg as a correspondent in Brazil where she covered street protests, the 2014 World Cup, 2016 Olympics, the sprawling "Car Wash" corruption investigation and then-President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment. She moved to Bloomberg's Washington bureau where she covered Congress, as well as tech policy, antitrust and lobbying. Anna continues to write about the geopolitics of tech, now from Seattle. She has also written for publications in Argentina and Miami.

Lindsay Firestone manages film and special content projects for Bloomberg Philanthropies, leading film grants, co-productions and entertainment partnerships aligned with the foundation’s core focus areas. Additionally, she serves as a consultant with Bloomberg Associates where she works with cities to engage their local creative industries to enhance equitable economic development and workforce opportunities.

Firestone helped incubate Good Energy, a nonprofit creative consultancy working to inspire, support, and accelerate entertaining climate stories in scripted television and film (so the content reflects the world we live in now) and currently serves on the organization’s board. She has served as an advisor to a growing portfolio of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ supported films, as well as co-produced the 2017 feature From the Ashes which explores opportunities in renewable energy and just transition efforts, and the 2018 feature Paris to Pittsburgh which examines what climate leadership really means. Both films are available on Disney +. A Tampa, Florida native, she lives in New York.

John Fraher is Senior Executive Editor for Business, Finance and Energy at Bloomberg News. Overseeing more than 430 reporters and editors, John has a special interest in climate change and in how technology is disrupting business around the world. Previously, John ran Bloomberg's coverage of global politics and has reported on economics, markets and European governments. He studied German and Modern History at University College, Oxford.

Zahra Hirji is a Washington, DC-based reporter for Bloomberg News, focused on climate solutions and climate corporate accountability. She previously wrote about climate change, energy and the environment for BuzzFeed News, InsideClimate News, Discovery News and Earth Magazine. She’s a 2021 Seal Environmental Journalism Award winner and was a 2018 Type Investigations’ Ida B. Wells Fellow. Hirji has a master’s degree in science writing from MIT and a bachelor’s degree in geological sciences from Brown University.

Eric Kane is the Director of ESG Research for Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), a research platform that provides context on industries, companies, government, litigation and the economy, available on the Bloomberg Professional Services at BI.

Mr. Kane leads the development of Bloomberg’s Environmental and Social scores as well as BI’s Climate research. His research focuses on identifying current and future trends, including climate change, resource scarcity, and data security, and linking performance to financial value. Mr. Kane also specializes in understanding ESG disclosure and how key metrics can be incorporated in traditional company analysis.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, Mr. Kane was the Health Care Sector Analyst at the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and a Senior Analyst at Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. Mr. Kane holds a Master of Public Administration from NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a degree in political science from Bates College.

Jason Kelly is the chief correspondent for Bloomberg Originals, and a co-creator, host and executive producer of series including “Power Players,” “Next in Sports” and “The Deal,” with Alex Rodriguez. During more than two decades at Bloomberg, Jason has served as New York bureau chief, executive editor of Bloomberg Television and host of the Bloomberg Businessweek radio and television shows. He is the author of two books -- 2012's The New Tycoons, about the global private equity industry and 2016's Sweat Equity, on the booming business of fitness. Jason began his career in his hometown of Atlanta, covering the 1996 Olympics for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A graduate of Georgetown University, he lives in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Lauren Kiel is the Global Head of Community Innovation at Bloomberg Media.

She was previously general manager for Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg Media's multiplatform editorial brand focused on climate change news, analysis, and solutions.

Prior to the launch of Bloomberg Green in January 2020, Lauren was director of the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summits, which bring together senior leaders in sustainable business and sustainable finance across the world for conversations on how sustainability connects to the global economy. Lauren previously led editorial and programming strategy for Bloomberg Industry Group’s marquee live journalism conferences and managed editorial for Bloomberg Government events.

Before joining Bloomberg, she was a member of the editorial team for The Atlantic’s live journalism division, AtlanticLIVE. There she led content development and speaker recruitment for more than a dozen events and conferences per year, including the CityLab conference for mayors and city leaders.

Lauren studied History and Literature at Harvard University and earned a master’s degree in English: Issues in Modern Culture from University College London.

Kate Krader is the London-based Food Editor at Bloomberg Pursuits, where she writes about news and trends around the world for the website and Businessweek magazine. She also contributes to the Bloomberg business division.

She is the former restaurant editor at Food & Wine magazine, where she oversaw its news, trend and restaurant coverage. During her long tenure at the monthly magazine, she led Food & Wine's annual search for Food & Wine Best New Chefs. She also edited the Food & Wine Cocktail series, an annual guide to the hottest cocktail recipes, the best spots and the biggest trends in nightlife.

She is a graduate of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio and a native New Yorker.

Michelle Ma is a clean tech reporter for Bloomberg News based in Los Angeles. She covers tech innovations that are confronting the climate crisis, from carbon dioxide removal to how AI and satellites are being used to hold polluters accountable.

Previously, she was a climate reporter at Protocol, a new media company focused on the people, power and politics of tech. Before that, she was a news editor of live journalism and special coverage at The Wall Street Journal, where she was responsible for live journalism series like Women in the Workplace and the WSJ Jobs Summit. Ms. Ma holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in business and economics journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she was a Sy Pearlman Fellow.

Carol Massar is co-host of “Bloomberg Businessweek,” airing on Bloomberg TV and Radio, Bloomberg Originals and YouTube daily from 2pm-5pm ET. An award-winning business and financial journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Carol has anchored and reported around the globe. She began her career as a producer at FNN/Financial News Network. She later served as a producer, reporter and anchor for Dow Jones TV and was a correspondent for “The Asian Wall Street Journal Report'' and “The Wall Street Journal Report” produced by Dow Jones and later by CNBC. Massar earned a degree in economics from Barnard College/Columbia University, where she also delivered business news over Columbia’s radio waves, edited WKCR’s program guide and served on the station’s board.

Akshat Rathi is an award-winning senior climate reporter for Bloomberg News. He is the host of Zero, a weekly climate podcast for Bloomberg Green and writes a weekly newsletter on climate solutions. His first book Climate Capitalism has been named one of the best books of the year by The Times and The Economic Times.

Akshat has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Oxford and a BTech in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai. He has worked for Quartz and The Economist. His work has been cited in widely read global publications, including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian. Akshat lives with his wife in London, UK.

Aaron Rutkoff is the executive editor for Bloomberg Green, overseeing Bloomberg’s climate coverage and managing a team of reporters and editors in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Since its launch in January 2020, Bloomberg Green has spawned a popular daily newsletter, a print magazine, a live event series, a video show and a podcast, as well as a news website specializing in data on global warming and the energy transition.

Aaron joined Bloomberg in 2013 and has served as an editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, a deputy managing editor for digital news and the founding editor in 2018 of Bloomberg Hyperdrive, a vertical focused on the electric future of transportation. Projects he has led have been recognized with a National Magazine award in 2016, a Gerald Loeb award in 2019, and a Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing award in 2020. He started his career at the Wall Street Journal.

Aaron is a graduate of Wesleyan University and lives in Brooklyn with his son and wife.

Karen Saltser was named Bloomberg Media's Interim CEO in December 2023 and is now in her fifteenth year as a Bloomberg LP executive. She most recently served as Bloomberg Media's COO and the CFO of Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Media - a key member of the executive team in recent years that's responsible for driving record revenue growth, launching and scaling the company's paid subscription business and growing audience and commercial opportunities across all digital, video, audio and live events platforms internationally.

Before Bloomberg, Saltser was at Time, Inc. in two separate roles at Real Simple -- on the launch team as its General Manager and later as Vice President, Digital. She also held roles as Time Group's General Manager and the Finance Director at Entertainment Weekly.

Saltser earned her Masters of Business Administration in Finance & Marketing from Columbia Business School and her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Agnieszka de Sousa is Global Food Czar at Bloomberg News, coordinating the coverage of food issues from farm to fork. She's reported on topics ranging from farming and agricultural commodity markets to tracking consumer trends and dietary changes. Agnieszka has a special interest in food security, sustainability and innovation. She's based in London.

Amy is the Chief Sustainability Officer for Bloomberg, L.P., a global leader in business and financial information connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas through technology solutions, data, news and media. She is responsible for developing the company’s global sustainability strategy and driving its execution cross-functionally, chairing councils and reporting outcomes to senior leadership and company boards. Amy manages a team working collaboratively with key internal and external stakeholders to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into business objectives, identifying ESG-driven risks and opportunities and reporting and disclosing related performance meeting both voluntary and mandatory requirements. She brings a history of developing and managing sustainability departments in prior work for BNY Mellon (NYSE: BK) and Voya Financial (NYSE: VOYA) and in communicating, branding and marketing sustainability initiatives from her work at Addison Design and prior, with private consulting clients. As a visiting professor in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, Amy developed and taught the sustainability intrapreneurship course in the Master of Science in Social and Sustainable Enterprises program at Florida State University.

She is chair of the AccountAbility AA1000 Standards Board, a member of the Junior Achievement of New York Board of Directors and sits on the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) Advisory Board. Amy holds Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Certified Sustainability Professional and Compass Sustainable Investing professional certificates. She earned both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Florida State University.

In her spare time, Amy enjoys aquafit exercise, fostering her gemology hobby, completing LEGO sets and exploring New York.

Meg Szabo is the Managing Editor of Bloomberg Green and Sustainability Events for Bloomberg Live Experiences. She oversees editorial programming for Bloomberg Live’s climate and sustainability events, including the Bloomberg Green events and the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summits.

Jessica Webber was named Global Head of Bloomberg Live and Bloomberg New Economy in July 2022. In this role she oversees all commercial events for Bloomberg Media. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Jessica spent over two decades leading events and experiences for media companies, arts organizations and conference organizations across the globe. From The Sydney Morning Herald to The New York Times Jessica has grown profitable audience focused events businesses drawing from the power of great journalism to engage brands in meaningful and impactful ways.

Antha N. Williams leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ environment program. Under Williams’ direction, Bloomberg Philanthropies supports climate and environment initiatives to accelerate the transition from coal to clean energy, improve air quality, advance city and local climate action, protect ocean ecosystems, and help unlock sustainable finance. Previously, Antha has led philanthropic and advocacy efforts supporting climate action, clean energy, and health care and immigration reform. She currently sits on the Boards of Directors of C40 Cities, Climate Imperative, ClimateWorks Foundation, European Climate Foundation, League of Conservation Voters, Oceana, and Oceans 5. Antha earned her degree from Dartmouth College and resides in New York.