Elise Ballegeer studied Apparel Design at the Rhode Island School of Design. Upon graduating she was already a recipient of various awards, fellowships and attention from the Council of Fashion Designers of America [CFDA], the Fashion Scholarship Fund [FSF], Textron Systems and V Magazine. 

After several years working in the industry, Elise Ballegeer started her eponymous label focusing on the latest technologies of luxury eco-friendly fabrics and ethical manufacturing practices. Since the launch of the collection, the label has received coverage from publications including WWD, VOGUE Italia, NYLON Magazine, Refinery 29, and Racked NY. In 2016 she was selected to be one of twelve designers to form the Made in NY Collective, an initiative backed by the NYCEDC to support fashion brands championing local and ethical production. Elise currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. 

Lydiah is the Founder/CEO of 8B Education Investments, the first for-profit, mission-led company using blended finance to provide talented African students with the financing they need to take advantage of world-class education opportunities, thereby contributing to building a deep bench of leaders and professionals across all sectors. Born and raised in Kenya, Lydiah has over 17 years of experience in a wide range of sectors relevant to Africa’s development, most recently serving at the lead on the UN-World Bank partnership at the Department of Political Affairs of the UN Secretariat. She has co-founded a number of social impact initiatives, in addition to working at the World Bank, the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, and the World Health Organization. In 2018, Lydiah joined the Board of WorldQuant University. Lydiah holds a Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil) in Politics from the University of Oxford and a Master of Science from Oxford, where she attended as a Clarendon Scholar. She holds additional degrees from Cornell University.

Christina Chan is an MBA Candidate at Cornell University. Before Johnson, she was a Purchasing Merchandiser at H&M’s Global Production Office, where she was responsible for determining the country of order placements and sample handling. In her free time, she enjoys making creative pieces of art and music. She holds a B.Eng in Industrial Engineering at Hong Kong University. After graduation, she will be a Product Manager at Corning Incorporated.

Allison M. Chatrchyan is the Director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions, and a Senior Research Associate in the departments of Development Sociology and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University. As a social scientist, her work focuses on the interactions between social, environmental, and agricultural systems. With the Institute, Dr. Chatrchyan facilitates interdisciplinary research and extension teams and helps develop resources and tools for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Her research focus is on assessing views and actions on climate change, multi-level climate change governance mechanisms, and climate change policies and institutions. She is co-developing a plan for a new Climate Master Extension Volunteer Program for Climate Smart Communities with NIFA funds. Dr. Chatrchyan helped establish the Cornell Climate Smart Farming program, the University Climate Change Seminar series, and has led the Cornell Delegations to COP21, COP22, COP23 and COP24 (December 2018). Dr. Chatrchyan previously worked for Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, University of Maryland, United Nations Environment Programme in Paris, France, and the Environmental Policy Center in Washington, DC.  A native of Hamilton, NY, she received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Maryland in College Park, and her B.A. from Colby College in Waterville, ME. 

Ravid Chowdhury is the founder of RC Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on internet and technology investments in Bangladesh. Ravid sits on the board of Truck Lagbe, the leading truck booking platform in the country with 100,000 registered trucks and clients. Additionally, he sits on the board of Kajkey, a Bengali-language freelancing platform. Prior to RC Ventures, he was the CFO of Pathao, the largest ride-sharing, food delivery, courier and payments platform in Bangladesh. Pathao is backed by GO-JEK and is was the first Bangladeshi tech company to be valued over US$100M. Before joining Pathao, he worked for TAU Investment Management, a Soros-backed private equity fund investing in South and Southeast Asia. He is graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and Columbia University in New York. 

For his work in the movement, Fairtrade International named Ben one of the Top 10 Biggest Fair Trade Advocates in the World and #1 in the U.S. Ben's passion for fair trade has taken him to the TEDx stage and on-the-ground to fair trade farms in Ecuador and artisan workshops in India. Ben celebrate all cultures and people. As a US Ambassador for the 33rd Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, he spent a year in Germany representing the US to strengthen diplomatic relations. And as an LGBT rights activist, Ben was named 40 LGBT Leaders Under 40 by Business Equality Magazine. Dedicated to great taste, consumer health, and sustainable sourcing, Ben founded Five North Chocolate®, an award winning, Certified LGBT Business Enterprise® supporting cacao farmers around the world by creating deliciously nutritious, Fair Trade Certified™ chocolate snacks.

Glen Dowell is an Associate Professor of management and organizations at the Johnson Graduate School of Management. He researches in the area of corporate sustainability, with a focus on firm environmental performance. Glen received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta, MBA from McGill, and Ph.D. from Michigan. He has been on faculty at Cornell since 2007 and teaches “Strategies for Sustainability” at Johnson.

Scott D. Doyle serves as an Associate Planner at the Tompkins County Department of Planning & Sustainability. Scott works on a range of local planning projects including conservation and natural resource planning, land use, natural hazard mitigation and resiliency as well as energy planning. He is also currently an adjunct faculty member with Ithaca College’s Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences. He has served as an active volunteer in the greater Ithaca area with Ithaca CarShare, the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Loaves & Fishes and the Upstate NY Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). He holds a Master’s Degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon, a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Ithaca College and is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).

Gadnis is the co-founder of BanQu, the first ever blockchain supply chain and economic identity platform for refugees and people in extreme poverty. An award-winning financial tech company with a social cause, BanQu strives to eradicate poverty by connecting the “unbankable” to a secure, portable digital economic identity -- simply through a cellphone app. This revolutionary technology provides a pathway into the global economy, creating dignity through identity for people worldwide. Growing up in poverty in Bombay, Ashish never forgot how it felt to stand in food lines to survive. He went on to build a successful career as a serial entrepreneur, serving as founder and CEO of multiple technology startups delivering global mobile solutions. In addition to his role at BanQu, Ashish is also a senior strategic advisor to the United Nations on the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda.

Oriol is a partner at CPG Hospitality, a private equity firm that invests in and asset manages hospitality assets throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. 

The principals of the company currently oversee approximately 3,000 hotel keys throughout the region. 

Mr. Gimenez was previously a manager at the Hospitality & Real Estate Advisory Group of Ernst & Young where he specialized in resort real estate development, strategic advisory, and transaction due diligence across the Americas.

His professional career includes hospitality positions at Intercontinental Hotel Group, Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Leading Hotels of the World in Europe and the United States.

He received his business undergraduate degree from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, and a Masters of Management in Hospitality with honors from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. 

He is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Natalie Grillon is the Director of the Open Apparel Registry (OAR).  Backed by the C&A Foundation and launching in March 2018, the OAR is a directory and interactive map of global apparel facilities. The registry's name and address matching algorithm normalizes uploaded facility names and address and assigns each facility a unique identifier code. Users can upload and normalize a factory list, search a factory profile and explore data contributors and their corresponding affiliations. Before this role, Natalie was the co-founder of Project JUST, an online platform to help to bring transparency to fashion supply chains and empower consumers to shift their purchasing behavior. She is an Acumen Fellow, an RPCV and a graduate of Georgetown University (BS) and Cornell University (MBA).

Viviana is a Research Associate and Quantitative Ecologist for the Conservation Science

Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Associate Director of the Coastal Solutions

Fellows Program. Viviana earned her BS in Tropical Biology from the National University of

Costa Rica, her Ph.D. from the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University,

and spent several years as a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and

Conservation Biology at Colorado State University. Viviana has over 15 years of experience

supporting and developing projects related to bird research and conservation in Latin America,

She has also focused on capacity building efforts in quantitative ecology in the region, 

including the development and application of novel statistical models to study the impacts of

land-use changes on bird populations. 

Dr. Helms is a Sustainability Developer at Inter IKEA Group, focusing on animal sourced foods.  Her role is to develop IKEA’s supply chain globally, ensuring IKEA is purchasing sustainable products with long term supply chain relationships.  IKEA values center on sustainability, from its furniture to its food.  

Prior to her role at IKEA, Dr. Helms was the National Director of the American Humane Farm Program where she managed the American Humane Certified brand, from sales to marketing to managing intellectual property and the farm animal welfare auditing program. Dr. Janet worked at Pfizer Animal Health/Zoetis in numerous capacities, including Senior Dairy Technical Services Veterinarian in the Pacific Northwest, working directly with veterinarians and their clientele in Oregon, Washington and Utah. 

Matthew has a decade and half experience working in agriculture and development.  He is the Senior Manager for Strategic Value Chain Systems at the Committee on Sustainability Assessment, a global non-profit that helps corporations and other organizations measure the sustainability and performance of agricultural supply chains.  

Prior to joining COSA Matthew managed a cooperative of small produce growers, worked at Root Capital, a non-profit social investment fund, and was a TechnoServe Fellow in Northern Uganda, developing and teaching a business course for small agribusinesses. 

Matthew has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Hamilton College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  Matthew lives with his wife, son and dog on their micro-farm in Ithaca.

Jennifer Ifft is an Assistant Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. She has research and extension responsibilities in farm and agribusiness management. Her research covers farmland markets, risk management and farm labor issues, with a focus on how government policies and regulations affect farm viability and decision-making. Her extension programs focuses on performance of the Federal crop insurance program and increasing the resilience of U.S. and New York farm operations to policy and regulatory changes. Before Cornell, she worked in the Farm Economy Branch of the USDA Economic Research Service. She has a PhD from the University of California - Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She grew up on her family’s farm in central Illinois.

José Koechlin von Stein established Inkaterra in 1975, pioneering ecotourism and sustainable development in Peru. Aiming to underscore natural and cultural values, Inkaterra works under a holistic approach. Scientific research is produced as a basis for conservation, education and the wellbeing of local communities. Major flora and fauna inventories have been sponsored by Mr. Koechlin since 1978, defining natural areas where Inkaterra hotels are located – the Amazon rainforest in Madre de Dios, the Machu Picchu cloud forest, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the city of Cusco and the Cabo Blanco coastline. Achievements in research and conservation in hotel grounds include the study of 814 bird species registered at Inkaterra areas of influence; the description of 362 ant species ; the Andean Bear Conservation Center at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel; and the world’s largest native orchid collection according to the American Orchid Society, with 372 species (including 20 new to science).Acknowledged by AACSB  in its ‘100 World Influential Leaders’ academic list, Mr. Koechlin is also Chairman of Sociedad Hoteles del Perú; Vice Chairman of CANATUR and E-Meritus Board Member of Conservation International.

Derek LaClair is a FinTech/Clean Tech Entrepreneur who is helplessly addicted to facts, numbers, and statistics without ever forgetting that life invariably has room for the intangible. A career in project finance led him to believe passionately in energy efficiency and its role in the fight against climate change. However, Derek was thoroughly unimpressed with the current financial solutions available to small commercial customers in the field. As CFO and founder of EMPEQ, he sees a way to help lead the industry into the future. EMPEQ is disrupting commercial finance by providing companies simple, swift, and safe capital access through a subscription service on their energy equipment.

Derek LaClair is a FinTech/Clean Tech Entrepreneur who is helplessly addicted to facts, numbers, and statistics without ever forgetting that life invariably has room for the intangible. A career in project finance led him to believe passionately in energy efficiency and its role in the fight against climate change. However, Derek was thoroughly unimpressed with the current financial solutions available to small commercial customers in the field. As CFO and founder of EMPEQ, he sees a way to help lead the industry into the future. EMPEQ is disrupting commercial finance by providing companies simple, swift, and safe capital access through a subscription service on their energy equipment.

Yrenilsa Lopez is a Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Officer at Women’s World Banking Asset Management, a fund manager which directs private equity investments into gender-focused inclusive finance institutions around the world. She serves on the board of two portfolio companies in Latin America and also serves on the Advisory Board of the Financial Inclusion Equity Council (FIEC), an industry group of private equity investors focused on inclusive finance solutions. Yrenilsa was previously with BlueOrchard Finance in Lima, Peru where she managed a portfolio of private debt investments to financial institutions serving the bottom of the pyramid. Prior to this, she was the Relationship Manager for Latin America for Developing World Markets based in Stamford, Connecticut. Yrenilsa began her career with the SME Finance department of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). She is a CFA Charterholder and speaks fluent Spanish and conversational Portuguese. 

Keith is Director – Smart Grids for AVANGRID Networks. Currently, he is the Project Director for the New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) Corporation Energy Smart Community (ESC) Project. Leveraging a small scale environment, the ESC will serve as a platform for initiatives and technologies that will test New York Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) concepts and advance the Company’s ability to serve as a Distributed Systems Platform Provider (DSPP) on a larger scale.

Keith has extensive experience in Process Management and Optimization, Field Operations, Engineering, Emergency Management and Customer Services during his career with NYSEG and successor Companies.   

Keith is a lean six sigma green belt, holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Technology Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey and a Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University.            

Dr. Bruce Monger received his PhD in Oceanography from the University of Hawaii, Manoa in 1993.  He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland for two years before coming to Cornell in 1997 as a Senior Researcher, and more recently a Senior Lecturer, in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.  

Bruce’s research centers on the use of satellite observations to study how variability in ocean dynamics impacts marine ecosystems at ocean basin and global scales.  He teaches a highly popular course at Cornell University: “Introductory Oceanography” with an attendance that has grown to nearly 1100 students.  A major theme of the course centers on environmental threats to the ocean and the importance of citizen activism to pressure leaders to act now to make a more sustainable.  His course was featured as part of a New York Times article on 10 interesting courses in the United States.

Erol Odabasi is the Sr. Director of Sustainability for The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN), a leading organic and natural products company with operations in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  In this role, Erol is leading efforts to help Hain Celestial become one of the world’s healthiest businesses and make a Healthier Way of Life accessible for everyone – for good.  

Prior to joining Hain in 2018, Erol had over 20 years of delivering sustainability leadership and culture in global organizations.  He began his career at Johnson & Johnson by implementing site and regional level Environmental, Health & Safety programs while serving in roles of increasing responsibility at medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing locations. He then developed the first sustainability strategy for Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Device & Diagnostics sector and launched a global engagement program to raise awareness and activate sustainability action among the >130,000 J&J employees around the world.  In addition to experience with J&J, he spent several years providing environmental, safety, and sustainability consulting for a number of global clients, and was responsible for developing the global EHS & Security programs for a rapidly growing smart-grid startup company in the San Francisco Bay area.

Erol holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. from the University of California Davis.

Lisa Park is Director of Knits R&D for J.Crew and Madewell brands. She works with a global mill matrix to find as well as develop knit materials for J.Crew and Madewell designers. In addition to searching for new ideas in fabric, she also looks for ways  to incorporate sustainable fibers, processes and technology into the company’s knit products. Lisa partners with J.Crew’s Corporate Social Responsibility team to ensure that fabric development adheres to corporate sustainability goals and meets required certifications/traceability standards. In her previous role, Lisa managed knit fabric R&D and innovation for Banana Republic where she worked on integrating sustainably sourced fibers and performance technology into core and fashion programs. Prior to her roles in R&D, Lisa designed women’s apparel for various American brands, including Gap, Ann Taylor, and Talbots.

Summer Rayne Oakes is an entrepreneur, author and media host whose work focuses on health, wellness and sustainability. She most recently launched Homestead Brooklyn, Plant One On Me, and the Houseplant Masterclass—a website, weekly YouTube series, and online course—to help reconnect people to nature through the beauty of plants and gardening. She is the co-founder of Source4Style (now Le Souk), a venture-backed materials marketplace with an emphasis on featuring small and medium sized sustainable material suppliers for fashion and interior design. As a model of 15 years, she has worked exclusively with brands that are seeking more sustainable supply chains and has helped create more sustainable collections with Payless ShoeSource, Portico Home, Modo eco Eyewear, and others. Her books include How to Make a Plant Love You (Optimism Press, July 2019); Models Do Eat (BenBella Books, Feb 2017); SUGARDETOXME (Sterling Epicure, 2017); and Style, Naturally: A Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty (Chronicle, 2009). www.summerrayne.net

Ian founded Taitem in 1989. He is the co-author of the books Green Building Illustrated (2014) and Energy Audits and Improvements for Commercial Buildings (2016), both published by Wiley. He has been a visiting lecturer at Cornell University, Tompkins Cortland Community College, and Syracuse University. He holds an undergraduate degree from McGill University, and an M.S. from Columbia University, both in mechanical engineering. Ian is a licensed engineer in the states of New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania. In his spare time, Ian enjoys to write poetry, and play basketball.

Patrick Starr ('14, SGE '13) is a Financial Specialist with USAID's Bureau for Food Security in the Office of Market and Partnership Innovations where he is coordinating the Bureau's implementation of the financial components of the Global Food Security Strategy. He is a native of the Washington, DC area, and joined the Bureau from Connexus Corporation, a boutique consulting firm specializing in rural and agricultural development and access to finance issues. Prior to Connexus, Patrick was a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, West Africa, as well as a management consultant with PwC's Washington Federal Practice. He holds a degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Cornell University. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife and son.

Isaac is a Senior Associate in Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Industries Practice, where he focuses on sustainable aviation. He works to decarbonize the commercial aviation industry by accelerating the growth of the sustainable aviation fuel industry, increasing the participation of passengers and businesses in offsetting the environmental footprint of their travel, and enhancing the energy resilience of airports with microgrids.  

He joined RMI after completing his MBA with a concentration in Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University. Prior to earning his MBA, Isaac was an economic consultant with The Brattle Group, and covered a wide range of industries and practice areas including: renewable energy, agricultural and resource economics, electric utility energy efficiency and demand response, and environmental damages assessment.

Chris Wood is the Assistant Director of Information Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He and his team have developed a novel approach to citizen science by engaging diverse communities interested in watching birds while developing partnerships with scientists in a wide variety of fields.  eBird data are openly available and used by a broad spectrum of students, teachers, scientists, NGOs, government agencies, birding tour operators, hotel managers, land managers, and policy makers. eBird has become a major source of biodiversity data, increasing our knowledge of the dynamics of species distributions, and having a direct impact on the conservation of birds and their habitats. Participants have collectively spent more than 40 million hours collecting effort-based checklists, amassing more than 500 million records, representing every country in the world. Before coming to Cornell, Chris was a Senior Leader with the birding tour company WINGS and led trips around the world.