Justin Bzdek

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LinkedIn

Company: Symbios Technologies, Inc.

Location: Fort Collins, Colorado

Justin is a teambuilder and entrepreneur whose career has focused on maximum impact on existential and biosphere sustainability problems at the nexus of energy, water, food/agriculture, climate, ecosystem/human/animal health, and social justice. He is presently CEO of Symbios Technologies, Inc. and VP Business Development of Czero, Inc. driving technology R&D and innovation at the water-energy nexus to reduce emissions and decarbonize energy conversion/storage/use, transportation, agriculture, water treatment, and manufacturing.

As a collaborative executive and board director Justin built companies and nonprofits reducing net CO2 and carcinogen emissions by millions of tons while generating more than $200 million in revenues and creating jobs. Justin has built many talented teams and deep product, finance, project, and business development pipelines across renewables and cleantech verticals toward a net-zero future. He is a Hach (now American Chemical Society) Scholar.

Justin Bzdek

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LinkedIn

Company: Symbios Technologies, Inc.

Location: Fort Collins, Colorado

Justin is a teambuilder and entrepreneur whose career has focused on maximum impact on existential and biosphere sustainability problems at the nexus of energy, water, food/agriculture, climate, ecosystem/human/animal health, and social justice. He is presently CEO of Symbios Technologies, Inc. and VP Business Development of Czero, Inc. driving technology R&D and innovation at the water-energy nexus to reduce emissions and decarbonize energy conversion/storage/use, transportation, agriculture, water treatment, and manufacturing.

As a collaborative executive and board director Justin built companies and nonprofits reducing net CO2 and carcinogen emissions by millions of tons while generating more than $200 million in revenues and creating jobs. Justin has built many talented teams and deep product, finance, project, and business development pipelines across renewables and cleantech verticals toward a net-zero future. He is a Hach (now American Chemical Society) Scholar.

Michael Dyson

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LinkedIn

Company: Infinity Water Solutions

Location: Austin, Texas

Mike Dyson is a second-generation energy professional with more than 20 years of multi-disciplinary experience and an emphasis on early-stage project growth and development. Having founded or co-founded seven operations in his career, Mike’s track record includes five successful exits to date. In 2019, Mike founded Mako Strategies, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage and startup operations, for which he serves as managing director.

Mike received his BA from the University of Houston, graduating magna cum laude, and his JD from Rutgers University, graduating Dean’s Scholar. He also graduated from Stanford University’s Business Executive Program. He currently serves as a board director for several organizations in the technology, energy and real estate industries. Mike is committed to giving back to the community, serving in various local, regional and state commissions, most notably as Mayor of the City of Rollingwood from 2018-2021.

When he’s not working or volunteering, his passion for travel has taken him across the globe. Mike welcomes every new challenge life brings and is fortunate to share this journey with wife, Marsha, and their daughters, Mia and Maddie, who all share his passion for travel and adventure.

Katie Evans

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LinkedIn

Company: Woodard & Curran

Location: Phoenix, AZ

As an energetic, highly motivated Senior Communications Strategist, I chart corporate communications vision to handle internal and external communications. I make organizations shine and position them as trusted, respected, and valued community members. I have a track record of assembling critical data, resources, and people to accomplish overarching goals. Now, I am ready to use this ability as a member of a board of directors where I can add value to conscientious, forward-thinking startups and established companies.

Through the years, I have established new sustainable departments for my employers. This includes generating $1M+ in annual sales, bringing in top talent, overseeing program and project execution, and getting communications up and running.

My expertise includes organizational vision, cross-functional leadership, strategic communications, public speaking, writing, leadership training, and robust knowledge of water regulatory compliance.

► ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT & COMMUNICATIONS LEADERSHIP

I am an enthusiastic member of a steering committee as well as a communications committee. At the same time, I serve in the formal mentorship program and oversee executive training. People quickly notice my strategic thinking, positivity, and ability to create cohesiveness between individuals and groups with polar opposite opinions.

A highlight of my career is when I created consensus between multiple San Diego-based water agencies. They had been given $16M in funds and needed to agree on what parts of the city should get the money. I charted a plan involving five-day workshops and a list of topics for the groups to spark an impartial discussion. In the final analysis, they agreed unanimously on using the funds to improve water supply and quality throughout the county.

► SELECT HIGHLIGHTS

✓ Built and grew multiple departments, brought in new staff, developed a strategy for internal and external communications, and mapped a plan for customer, shareholder, and government relations.

✓ Boosted efficiency and cut costs for Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD), prompting its board of directors to issue the organization’s first-ever proclamation for a departing employee in recognition of my leadership.

✓ Overturned a negative public opinion regarding a $50M design-build project to bring drinking water up to code by initiating workshops, presentations, and a social media campaign highlighting the positive impact on the community.

Karen Frost

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LinkedIn

Company: The Water Council

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I lead three globally focused water tech innovation programs supporting startups in the industry, matchmaking and global economic development.

The Water Council is a global hub dedicated to solving critical water challenges by driving innovation in freshwater technology and advancing water stewardship.

Rakesh Govind

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LinkedIn

Company: NextGen Septic

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

I bring over 30 years of experience and expertise in wastewater treatment, water recycle and reuse. I obtained an MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and am currently a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.

Over the last 30 years, I have researched biological and advanced oxidation treatment of complex wastewaters and polluted air streams. In 1996 I founded PRD Tech, Inc., which has designed several biofilters for treatment of polluted air from wood product industries, odor treatment systems for municipal treatment plants and industrial wastewater treatment skids.

My passion is helping industries achieve greater sustainability by treating wastewaters on-site followed by recycling and reusing the water to greatly reduce their water footprint. Through my expertise and deep understanding of treatment technologies, I can design and supply efficient and cost-effective treatment systems for emissions of polluted air and water from a wide variety of industries.

Troels Grene

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LinkedIn

Company: Flow Loop

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

By the end of 2018 I joined Flow Loop as co-founder. I choose to invest myself into Flow Loop because I want to contribute to make the world more sustainable. I want to use my interdisciplinary profile to bring Flow Loops sustainable shower to market. Flow Loop makes showering sustainable by recycling the water after purification. The shower consumes app. 40% of a household’s water consumption and 25% of the energy consumption.

Greg Newbloom

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LinkedIn

Company: Membrion

Location: Seattle, Washington

If sustainability was simple, cheap & low-risk – it would be irresistible. Multi-dimensional innovation across technology, services, policy & business models is the path to frictionless & broad adoption of sustainable best practices, but even so we’re not moving fast enough to correct the past. That’s why I’m passionate about accelerating innovation towards irresistible sustainability.

My background blends technology development (10+ years), entrepreneurship (10+ years) and management (7+ years) with an emphasis on bringing together counter-intuitive innovations to deliver extraordinary value (financial & sustainable). I’m an action-oriented believer in building diverse teams, fostering a people-first culture, and enhancing idea meritocracy. My efforts have been recognized with numerous awards including prestigious alumni awards from both my alma maters, professional society early career recognition, and national/regional innovator awards.

Most recently, I’ve had the privilege of building Membrion – a company focused on recovering water from “impossible” waste sources. In 6 short years, I founded the company, raised >$10M & built a diverse 20+ person team that invented, scaled & commercialized a world-changing technology.

Millicent Pitts

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LinkedIn

Company: Ocean Exchange, Inc.

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Milly is the executive director of OceanExchange, that gives non-dilutive funding to innovative start-ups that support healthy oceans and a sustainable Blue Economy. She previously was an executive in the chemical/materials industry for 30 years.

In addition to her role at Ocean Exchange, she is a mentor with Creative Destruction Labs (Oceans) in Halifax, is on the Leadership Team of OceansVisions.org, and has previously mentored or judged in collaboration with other partners such as Clean Tech Open and NREL. She leads the Ocean Exchange efforts to grow and communicate with the community of ocean and blue tech innovators.

She holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jacob Sanchez

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LinkedIn

Company: Arrow Electronics

Location: Denver, Colorado

Jacob is a sustainability professional with a technical education in Environmental Engineering currently working for Arrow Electronics and building experience in carbon emission reporting, decarbonization initiatives, and sustainability strategy development. He takes pride in meeting every challenge head-on and in ensuring that his career is having a positive impact on the world.