Tim Agnew
Company: Bold Ocean Ventures
Location: Portland, ME
22+ years in early stage venture capital, and many years of impact finance, both debt and equity. Served on multiple governmental and non-profit boards.
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David Aguado
Company: Ibiza Formentera Marine Plasma
Location: Ibiza, Spain
We collect sea water in the sea, in privileged sites for its high stability in the composition of minerals. Sites where sea currents keep the seawater clean and constant salinity, where sea currents are circular type called vortex. There are large concentrations of plankton, second food chain on Earth form, along with the plants, capable of transforming, through a process called marine biocenosis, non bioavailable minerals in bioavailable elements, fully comparable to our body . This Seawater is called MARINE PLASMA.
Nathan Allen
Company: WaterStart
Location: Reno, Nevada
Nathan Allen is the Executive Director of WaterStart. Since joining in 2014, Nathan developed the initial program model and grown the organization into a globally recognized water innovation hub. He led the development for online innovation knowledge sharing portal, CHANNELS, and opened up WaterStart to its first international office located in Queensland, Australia. Nathan has also served on the U.S. Department of Commerce Environmental Trade Advisory Committee and regularly speaks internationally on water innovation.
Newsha Ajami
Company: Berkeley Lab
Location: Berkeley, California
Newsha K. Ajami, Ph.D., is the Chief Strategy and Development Officer for Research at the Berkeley Lab. She is a hydrologist specializing in sustainable water resource management, water policy, the water-energy-food nexus, and advancing uncertainty assessment techniques impacting hydrological predictions. Her research throughout the years has been interdisciplinary and impact driven, focusing on the improvement of the science-policy-stakeholder interface by incorporating social and economic measures and relevant and effective communication.
Dr. Ajami is a gubernatorial appointee to the Bay Area Regional Water Quality Control Board. Before joining Berkeley, she was the director of Urban Water Policy with Stanford University’s Water in the West and NSF-ReNUWIt initiatives. Previously, she worked as a senior research associate at the Pacific Institute from 2011 to 2013, and served as a Science and Technology fellow at the California State Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee where she worked on various water and energy related legislation. She was also a post doctorate researcher with the Berkeley Water Center, University of California, Berkeley. She has published many highly cited peer-reviewed papers in predominant journals, coauthored two books, and contributed opinion pieces to the New York Times and the Sacramento Bee. She was the recipient of the 2005 National Science Foundation award for AMS Science and Policy Colloquium and ICSC-World Laboratory Hydrologic Science and Water Resources Fellowship from 2000 to 2003. Dr. Ajami received her Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Irvine, an M.S. in hydrology and water resources from the University of Arizona, and a B.S. in civil and environmental engineering from Tehran Polytechnic.
David Balsar
Company: Mekorot
A lawyer and economist with a MBA from INSEAD (France) and a MA in Philosophy.
David has experience working in different business development roles for international corporates such as FOX (Newscorp) and Endemol Shine in London.
Later he became an entrepreneur who founded two start-ups, acted as CEO including fund raising, management and execution.
Currently is the General Manager of Innovation and Ventures in Mekorot (Israel’s National Water Company). For the last 4 years, he has been managing the company’s investment strategy and execution. Screening hundreds of startups from which Mekorot has invested in 10 companies.
A former professional athlete with passion for doing good. He was an Intern in the UN DESA in NYC and a volunteer in the World Food Program (WFP) in Africa.
Larissa Balzer
Company: Ocean Sewage Alliance
Location: Oklahoma
A mixed Mary Poppins bag of project management and development, coordination and creation of digital content for web and social media marketing.
The Ocean Sewage Alliance aims to reduce the threat of sewage and wastewater pollution in our oceans and in doing so, increase the health and well-being of humans and nature. We will achieve this mission by collaborating across sectors, synthesizing and sharing knowledge, developing solutions, and raising awareness.
Larissa Balzer
Company: Ocean Sewage Alliance
Location: Oklahoma
A mixed Mary Poppins bag of project management and development, coordination and creation of digital content for web and social media marketing.
The Ocean Sewage Alliance aims to reduce the threat of sewage and wastewater pollution in our oceans and in doing so, increase the health and well-being of humans and nature. We will achieve this mission by collaborating across sectors, synthesizing and sharing knowledge, developing solutions, and raising awareness.
Dan Bena
Company: PepsiCo (previously)
Dan Bena founded his Corporate Purpose and ESG consultancy after a long career with PepsiCo, where he served in leadership roles as Corporate Water Steward, Head of Sustainable Development, Food Safety and Quality specialist, and Head of the company’s first-ever corporate function for Occupational Health and Safety. In addition, he is Senior Consultant for Antea Group USA, and Chair of their Strategic Advisory Board, Advisor to Grimley Capital, Honorary Professor for Glasgow Caledonian University, and Board Trustee of its New York College, which houses the Center for Social Impact and Innovation. Bena advocates for the power of the private sector as a force for good in society. He was recently Senior Advisor to Paul Newman’s charity, Safe Water Network, and serves/has served on the Water Leadership Group of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); Steering Board of World Bank’s 2030 Water Resources Group; Steering Committee of the United Nations CEO Water Mandate; the Global Agenda Council on Water Security of the World Economic Forum; US Water Alliance; and Creative Visions Foundation, a non-profit whose signature program, Rock Your World, engages middle and high school students from over 70 countries in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
He serves on the Board of the United Nations Association Westchester Chapter, and on the Advisory Boards for Conrad Challenge, SuperYou Fundation, Artistic Circles, Environmental Leader publications group, and the journal, Water Security. Bena was selected as a mentor for the ThreeDotDash.org Global Teen Leader program; a judge for the University of Notre Dame Corporate Adaptation Prize; and the Penn State Sustainability Case Challenge. He delivered the keynote address at the Swedish Royal Gala, the Our Food, Our Future Summit, in Dublin, Ireland, provided testimony to the US Senate, spoke at the United Nations NGO Conference, “”Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens,” and keynoted the United Nations Youth Assembly to over 1,000 youth delegates from over 100 countries. He received the Light Up the Night Award for youth advocacy and engagement, was honored to have October 24th proclaimed “Dan Bena Day” in New York State; and was recently named a “Global Goals Local Leader” by the UN Association for his role in the partnerships which have provided over 55 million people with access to safe water.
Learn more: www.Linktree.com/danbena and www.danbena.com
Steve Bender
Company: Earth X
Location: California / Texas / Panama
I am an experienced and successful leader in non-profit development and have founded or served on the boards of more than fifteen organizations and volunteer initiatives. I not only have the vision to recognize opportunities to help others, but I understand the business side of establishing sustainable volunteer organizations from charter creation to fundraising to marketing. It has been my pleasure to focus on needs in my local Newport Beach community and find ways to export our successful models to other communities both in the United States and internationally. Causes I support include:
◆ Community and business development
◆ Sustainability and conservation (I’m a certified Naturalist Volunteer with Orange County)
◆ Dental and health care for those in need
◆ Veterans
◆ Special Olympics
◆ Education
A realtor with twenty-five years’ experience, I use the same skills that have brought me professional success to envision, create, develop, and expand these local and international non-profit organizations. My most ambitious project is the “Doc-in-a-Box” series, which sends affordable health care microclinic facilities to countries in need. I serve as President of the Newport Beach Rotary Club.
Kate Bennett
Company: Brownee
Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
Passionate and determined sustainable development specialist with national and international experience across a wide range of sectors and industries.
Professional objective to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to enhance capacity, capability and collaboration across private sector, public sector and civil society locally, nationally and internationally to ensure SDGs are achieved by 2030.
Committed to the empowerment of individuals and communities through facilitated self realisation, strategic community engagement, self-sourced solutions, and inclusive and tailored business models such as social enterprises and micro-industries.
Relationship-oriented with a compassionate, empathetic leadership approach and the ability to deliver quality outcomes that satisfy the diverse interests of multiple stakeholders.
Passion for stakeholder engagement with a demonstrated ability to communicate fluently and effectively in multiple languages (English, French and Spanish) and to successfully manage and deliver projects in diverse cultural settings.
Strong believer in the power of cross-sectoral collaboration for the promotion of social development, and in the importance of impact investment mechanisms to transform the private sector’s approach to sustainability from risk-mitigation to opportunity-optimisation.