Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native. She is co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities. She co-edited the bestselling climate anthology All We Can Save, co-founded The All We Can Save Project, and co-created the Spotify/Gimlet climate solutions podcast How to Save a Planet. Recently, she co-authored the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. Previously, she was executive director of the Waitt Institute, developed policy at the EPA and NOAA, and taught as an adjunct professor at New York University. Dr. Johnson earned a BA from Harvard University in environmental science and public policy, and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in marine biology. Her writing has been published widely, including in The New York Times, Washington Post, and Scientific American. She serves on the advisory boards of Environmental Voter Project and Scientific American, and on the board of directors for GreenWave and Patagonia. Recent recognitions include the Schneider Award for climate communication and Time’s 100 Next List. Outside magazine called her “the climate leader we need.” |
Anthony Myint, Executive Director, Zero Foodprint
Anthony Myint is a chef-turned climate crusader and Zero Foodprint is a non-profit leading public private collaborations with state agencies and regional governments in CA and CO to scale regenerative agriculture. Anthony is known in the restaurant industry as the Co-Founder of Mission Street Food (SF Chronicle's Most Influential Restaurant of the Past Decade", Mission Chinese Food (NY Times Restaurant of the Year - 2012) and The Perennial (Bon Appetit's "Most Sustainable Restaurant in the Country"). Zero Foodprint, the 2020 James Beard Humanitarian of the Year, is building a regenerative economy through which businesses and citizens can directly change how food is grown to restore the climate. A few cents per purchase funds compost application, cover crop planting and other healthy soil practices, overseen and validated by Conservation Districts, Cooperative Extensions and other local experts. Since 2020 ZFP has awarded over $1M to 55 regenerative agriculture projects on 5000 acres expected to sequester a modeled 38,000 tons of CO2e, equivalent to not burning over 4 million gallons of gas. |
Professor Andrew Isaacs, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business
Andrew Isaacs is Senior Lecturer with Continuing Status at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Isaacs is a scientist who began his career in NASA’s Planetary Science Division at the Johnson Space Center in Houston following undergraduate and graduate degrees in Geochemistry from the University of Michigan. He was recruited from NASA to Silicon Valley to join a start-up where his focus shifted to solving engineering problems in manufacturing and related high-tech industries. From there he advanced to management and executive roles in public and private technology firms in Silicon Valley, as well as starting his own consulting company. Since joining UC Berkeley in 1999, Isaacs has taught technology innovation and climate change strategy courses for over 5,000 MBAs and engineering students. He has also delivered executive courses for over 100 companies, with clients including Bank of America, BP, Électricité de France, Google, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Johnson and Johnson, Maersk, Mitsubishi, Oracle, Sony, Toyota, and the US State Department. Isaacs has served as Faculty Director at UC Berkeley Executive Education since 2005, and in 2022 was awarded the Haas School of Business Sustainability Teaching Award. |
Alan Lewis, Vice President, Natural Grocers
Alan Lewis navigates government affairs and advocacy for Natural Grocers, a family-run Colorado-based health food chain founded in 1955 with over 170 locations in 21 states. At the federal, state and local level, Alan engages on food, agriculture, nutrition, rural economic development, food safety, hemp, trade and health issues. He is active in several trade and advocacy organizations and is a fearless writer, speaker, and activist. |
Elisa Turner, Founder /CEO, IMPAKT IQ
Elisa is the founder of Impakt IQ, a recognized thought leader on ESG and sustainable business models – with a special focus on agricultural based consumer products. She advises businesses on ESG frameworks and the interconnections between risk, reward and impact through the use of Impakt IQ’s proprietary investor grade ESG tool set that enables companies to measure, manage and communicate their ESG intelligence aligned with the global leading standards. Elisa has been recognized “As A TOP 50 Leader” by the World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, listed by Gartner as a top 5 leader in Sustainable Business Solutions and was a member of the UN Global Compact Business Leader’s Summit. She has collaborated with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), GRI, CDP. Prior to her focus on impact business models, Elisa was a senior executive with globally recognized consumer brands. This was her inspiration to prove there was a more sustainable path forward. |
Jamie Goode, Chief Anorak, Wine Anorak Global Wine Journal
Jamie began his career by obtaining a PhD in plant biology and ended up becoming an internationally acknowledged wine writer, speaker and lecturer. He has been wine columnist for UK national newspaper The Sunday Express since 2005 and has published award winning books including Wine Science, Authentic Wine, I Taste Red and Flawless. He’s also a co-chair of the International Wine Challenge. He can be found on Instagram (@drjamiegoode) and Twitter (@jamiegoode) and since 1999 has been publishing wineanorak.com. |
Vanessa Suarez, Senior Policy Advisor, Carbon 180
Vanessa Suarez is passionate about championing equitable, science-driven, and ambitious climate solutions. She brings this passion to life through her role as a senior policy advisor with Carbon180, where she works on US federal policy across land- and technology-based carbon removal solutions through a lens of environmental justice. Prior to her work with Carbon180, Vanessa advocated for equitable climate and workforce policies in California alongside frontline communities with Brightline Defense, and supported her hometown of Fresno and its residents during her work with State Senator Andy Vidak. Vanessa holds a B.S. in conservation and resource studies from UC Berkeley with a concentration in climate change strategy. During her time at UC Berkeley, she audited the UC Berkeley Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic under Claudia Polsky, and completed an undergraduate thesis in Dr. Whendee Silver’s lab on the impacts of compost amendments on annual net primary productivity in working rangeland systems across California. |
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