Andrew is Chief Executive of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which was established in 2010. The Foundation aims to accelerate the transition to a circular economy - one that is restorative and regenerative by design, eliminating waste and pollution and keeping products and materials in high-value use for longer. 

The Foundation develops insights and analysis to demonstrate the economic rationale and value creation opportunity of a circular economy, and works with business, governments, cities and educators to promote adoption of circular economy principles and practices. 

Prior to joining the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Andrew was a consultant strategy partner with McKinsey & Company, Andersen Consulting and Accenture, and previously worked in medical research focused on HIV/AIDS epidemiology.

​​Dame Ellen MacArthur made yachting history in 2005, when she became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. She remains the UK’s most successful offshore racer ever, having won the Ostar, the Route du Rhum, and finished second in the Vendée Globe. She received the French Legion of Honour from President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, three years after having been knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Having become acutely aware of the finite nature of the resources on which our linear economy relies, she retired from professional sailing to launch the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010. The Foundation works to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, and has helped establish the subject on the agenda of decision-makers around the world. 

Since the publication of its first economic report in 2012, the Foundation has launched global initiatives on plastics, fashion, and food, developed innovation networks with educators, businesses, and governments, and released more than 20 reports and books. 

Dame Ellen is a World Economic Forum Global Agenda Trustee for Environment and Natural Resource Security, and she sat on the European Commission’s Resource Efficiency Platform between 2012 and 2014.

Janine Benyus is the Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8. She is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine’s work as a global thought leader has evolved the practice of biomimicry from a meme to a movement, inspiring clients and innovators around the world to learn from the genius of nature.

In 1998, Janine co-founded the Biomimicry Guild with Dr. Dayna Baumeister. That consultancy morphed into Biomimicry 3.8, a B-Corp social enterprise providing biomimicry consulting services to international clients.

In 2006, Janine co-founded The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit institute to embed biomimicry in formal education and informal spaces such as museums and nature centres. 

Kate Raworth is an ecological economist focused on making economics fit for 21st century realities. She is the creator of the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries. Her international best-selling book, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think like a 21st Century Economist, has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Mark Schneider became Nestlé’s CEO in January 2017. Together with the company’s 276,000 associates in 186 countries, he strives to enhance quality of life through the power of food with Nestlé’s 2,000+ brands.

Mark has sharpened the company’s focus on high-growth categories, its innovations to bring new products to market faster, and its sustainability efforts in climate and packaging.

Nestlé has committed to reach net zero by 2050. On this path to a low carbon future, Mark is particularly passionate about a just transition to regenerative agriculture and supporting farming communities in Nestlé’s supply chain.

Mark is a member of the Board of Directors of Nestlé S.A., the World Economic Forum (WEF) Board of Trustees and its International Business Council, the European Round Table for Industry and the Board of the Consumer Goods Forum. 

Wolfgang Blau is an international media manager and climate communication expert. Together with Oxford University, he co-founded the Oxford Climate Journalism Network which trains 300 journalists a year.

In his last role, he was the Chief Operating Officer & President International of global media company Condé Nast, overseeing all Condé Nast companies and licensing partners in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, as well as the global teams for product development, IT, data, business development, policy and editorial operations in New York, London and Chennai.

Prior to that, Blau was The Guardian's Executive Director of Digital Strategy for the UK, US and Australia and Editor-in-chief of Zeit Online, a position that won him Germany’s Chief Editor of the Year award.

He is a Trustee of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and an advisor to the UNFCCC.

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As Emerging Innovators Manager, Ella leads the Foundation’s work on circular startups. In her role, she is working to support the scaling up of these innovative startups, through partnering with businesses and accelerators, and creating visibility of the emergent landscape. In her time at the Foundation, Ella has designed circular economy innovation content and learning resources for the Network, and managed relationships with our community of innovators.

As Circular Design Programme Lead, Joe’s role is to inspire and empower the world’s designers to create products, services, and systems for the circular economy. Part of the team since 2011, Joe has helped shape the circular economy narrative, crafting stories and messages to reach new audiences and improve understanding. Joe worked closely on Circulate, a digital publication from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that explores unique angles and aspects of the circular economy, and is frequently involved in the Foundation’s events, including the flagship Summit, and formerly the Disruptive Innovation Festival.

Lucy founded and leads with Jon Miller Brunswick’s Business & Society practice, based on the proposition that businesses today need to deliver financial and social value in tandem. For more than a decade, they have worked with companies all over the world and in all sectors to help them shape and deliver their social value strategies. They co-authored Everybody’s Business, the Unlikely Story of how Big Business Can Fix the World. Prior to establishing Business & Society, she had twenty years’ experience as an advisor to global corporates and coach to senior executives. Lucy chaired the Prime Minister’s Taskforce for Talent and Enterprise for Gordon Brown, focused on skills for competitive edge in the global economy. She began her career as a BBC documentary maker.

Joanna is Director of Design and Innovation at the RSA. She is responsible for championing how design for social innovation is applied across the RSA community and programmes to create a better future.

Joanna is a leading social designer with four hats: practitioner, researcher, thought leader, and educator; with 15 years of experience in the UK and Lebanon. Prior to joining the RSA, Joanna was Health Director at FutureGov, and had spent 10 years leading Uscreates – a pioneering design agency for health and wellbeing – through growth and onto acquisition, alongside co-founders Zoe Stanton and Mary Cook. In 2015, Joanna completed a PhD on design for social integration at the University of the Arts London. Alongside research and practice, Joanna is a supervisor and visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art,  the University of the Arts London, Ravensbourne University and Kingston University. She is also a Mega Mentor, and founder of micro-social enterprise Design My Family Tree.

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Kara is Executive Design Director and Global Lead for Sustainability at frog, part of Capgemini Invent. She is passionate about the dynamic opportunities for impact that can be found at the intersection of people, planet, services, and systems. With a graduate degree in design and over 15 years of experience, she can be found supporting her clients to build better futures by creating more sustainable products, services, teams and ventures. She hails from the oceans of Vancouver, Canada but is now living life near the mountains in Munich, Germany.

Vice President, Inclusive Impact & Sustainability at Visa Europe. Previously Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing at World Economic Forum, Head of Europe & Eurasia for the Forum of Young Global Leaders, and Senior Advisor to IMD Business School. Master’s degrees from WEF Global Leadership Fellows Programme (The Wharton School, INSEAD, CEIBS, Columbia University, and LBS) and London Business School, and BA from Kenyon College.

Michael Pawlyn has been described as an expert in regenerative design and biomimicry. He established his firm Exploration Architecture in 2007 to focus on high performance buildings and solutions for the circular economy.

Prior to setting up Exploration, he worked with Grimshaw for ten years and was central to the team that designed the Eden Project. Michael jointly initiated the widely acclaimed Sahara Forest Project. In 2019, he co-initiated ‘Architects Declare a Climate& Biodiversity Emergency’ which has spread internationally with over 7,000 companies signed up to addressing the planetary crisis. Since 2018 he has been increasingly providing advice to national governments and large companies on transformative change. He is the author of two books, Biomimicry in Architecture and Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, co-authored with Sarah Ichioka.

Tim Brown is Chair of global design and innovation firm IDEO and Vice Chair of the kyu Collective. His best selling book Change By Design has introduced design thinking to business leaders worldwide. Tim has written for Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Rotman Magazine and his TED talks Serious Play and Designers Think Big have reached millions. His work focuses on creative leadership and the strategic application of design across sectors such as health, education, technology, mobility and global development.

Wouter Vermeulen (55) leads The Coca-Cola Company’s ESG agenda for its Europe Operating Unit. This includes integrating sustainability goals across issues such as packaging, water, climate, social impact and nutrition in the local business plans, as well as engaging with stakeholders and build partnerships to scale up solutions.

Wouter joined TCCC in 2006 as Senior Manager Public Affairs and Communications for Belgium and Luxembourg and held roles of increasing responsibility over the years including Health &Well-being Director in Coca-Cola Europe’s Public Affairs team and Group Director Health & Well-being in Coca-Cola’s corporate International Government Relations team. Most recently he was leading the Company’s Europe Public Policy Center for Europe. 

Wouter represents The Coca-Cola Company at various trade associations and platforms.

As Emerging Innovators Manager, Ella leads the Foundation’s work on circular startups. In her role, she is working to support the scaling up of these innovative startups, through partnering with businesses and accelerators, and creating visibility of the emergent landscape. In her time at the Foundation, Ella has designed circular economy innovation content and learning resources for the Network, and managed relationships with our community of innovators.

As Circular Design Programme Lead, Joe’s role is to inspire and empower the world’s designers to create products, services, and systems for the circular economy. Part of the team since 2011, Joe has helped shape the circular economy narrative, crafting stories and messages to reach new audiences and improve understanding. Joe worked closely on Circulate, a digital publication from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that explores unique angles and aspects of the circular economy, and is frequently involved in the Foundation’s events, including the flagship Summit, and formerly the Disruptive Innovation Festival.

Andrea is the lead author of the forthcoming World Bank’s report “Squaring the Circle: Policy Lessons From Europe’s Circular Economy Transition”. He has over 20 years’ experience in research and policy assignments, as well as financial and advisory support to governments, much of it focused on issues of environmental sustainability and climate change. 

Before joining the Bank Andrea worked for the OECD Development Assistance Committee Secretariat, and previously held positions in government, academia and private consulting. 

Andrea has a PhD and an MSc from the London School of Economics.

Helena Braun is a Member of the Cabinet of Frans Timmermans, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission leading the work on the European Green Deal. Under the Green Deal, Helena is responsible for the circular economy agenda, including sustainable product policy and the EU Textiles Strategy, the biodiversity agenda, including the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy and the new EU Forest Strategy, and chemicals policy, including the EU Chemicals Strategy. Before that, Helena was the sustainable development advisor of Mr Timmermans in the previous Commission. 

Prior to joining the European Commission, Helena held different positions in the Estonian Government. She was a diplomat working for the Estonian Agent before the Court of Justice of the EU and helped develop the Estonian Better Regulation system in the Justice Ministry. Helena has also advised OECD on regulatory policy and good governance in several countries, and has been a lecturer of EU Law.

A graduate of Business and Administration in 1994 at the Statale University in Brescia, Mr. Micillo started his career with Fin-eco Sim before moving to IMI Fideuram Asset Management. Later, he became Fixed Income Director at Fin-eco Investimenti SGR.

In 2000 he was appointed CIO of Banca Esperia.

In 2002, he joined the Capitalia Group as Executive Director (in charge of Group Finance) and in 2005 he was appointed CEO of the Group’s asset management companies.

At the end of 2007, he became Deputy General Manager and CFO of the Banca Popolare di Vicenza Group.

He joined the Intesa Sanpaolo Group in October 2009 as CEO and General Manager of Eurizon Capital SGR, Chairman of Eurizon Capital S.A. and of Epsilon SGR.

In January 2014, he was appointed General Manager of Banca IMI, now integrated in Intesa Sanpaolo, where he became CEO in April 2015. In 2016 he was appointed Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Division.

Philipp Hildebrand, Vice Chairman of BlackRock, is a member of the firm's Global Executive Committee. He also oversees the BlackRock Investment Institute (BII) and BlackRock Sustainable Investing (BSI).

Mr. Hildebrand joined BlackRock in 2012. Prior to that, he served as Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB). In that capacity, he was also a Director of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Swiss Governor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), of which the Leaders of the G20 appointed him Vice Chairman in 2011. He was also Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the Board of Directors of the BIS, and part of the Steering Committee and the Plenary of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). Previously, Mr. Hildebrand was Chief Investment Officer of a Swiss private bank and a partner at Moore Capital Management in London.

Mr. Hildebrand is a Trustee of the British Museum, Chair of the Zurcher Kunstgesellschaft, a member of the Group of Thirty and an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He sits on the International Advisory Board of Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government and the International Leadership Council for Europe for the University of Toronto. He is a Chevalier de L'Ordre National du Merite (France).

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Shardul Agrawala is Head of the Environment and Economy Integration Division at the OECD Environment Directorate where he leads the work on environment-economy modelling, empirical analysis, circular economy, and trade and environment.  He has led flagship OECD publications including the Global Plastics Outlook (2022) and the Global Materials Resources Outlook (2018). At the OECD since 2002, he has previously served as Senior Advisor to the OECD Secretary General, Senior Economist Climate Change, and Co-ordinator of New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC).

Dr. Agrawala received his PhD from Princeton University, and has previously held research positions at Princeton, Columbia and Harvard universities. He has also served as a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) for the Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports of Working Groups II and III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

As Emerging Innovators Manager, Ella leads the Foundation’s work on circular startups. In her role, she is working to support the scaling up of these innovative startups, through partnering with businesses and accelerators, and creating visibility of the emergent landscape. In her time at the Foundation, Ella has designed circular economy innovation content and learning resources for the Network, and managed relationships with our community of innovators.

As Circular Design Programme Lead, Joe’s role is to inspire and empower the world’s designers to create products, services, and systems for the circular economy. Part of the team since 2011, Joe has helped shape the circular economy narrative, crafting stories and messages to reach new audiences and improve understanding. Joe worked closely on Circulate, a digital publication from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that explores unique angles and aspects of the circular economy, and is frequently involved in the Foundation’s events, including the flagship Summit, and formerly the Disruptive Innovation Festival.

Antonella Centra is EVP General Counsel, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs for Gucci, as well as a member of the Guccio Gucci Board of Directors and part of the Executive Committee. Previously, Antonella was General Counsel for Bottega Veneta and also worked in the legal departments of some of the world’s best-known companies including IBM, Prada, Coca-Cola Italia and Wind Telecomunicazioni, and for high-profile law firms in Italy and internationally. In her role at Gucci, she brings a breadth of experience and acumen to head up core departments of the company and to ensure strategies are global and at board level.

Elisa Tonda is the Head of the Consumption and Production Unit in UNEP Economy Division, whose main goal is the promotion of sustainable production and consumption policies, practices and initiatives through the engagement of governments, the business community and civil society organisations. The Unit is the organisational focal point for circular economy initiatives and projects. Prior to that, Elisa worked in the UNEP Office for Latin America and the Caribbean and in the UN Industrial Development Organization.

Before joining the UN, she worked in the private sector in the promotion of environmental solutions. Elisa has a Master degree in Environmental Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, and in Sustainable Development from the University of London, UK.

John Duncan is the Initiative Lead for WWF International’s No Plastics in Nature Initiative. He holds an MBA and an MSC in Environmental Science and Policy and has over a decade of experience working across diverse value chains to develop effective multi-level, multi-actor sustainability approaches. With a background in marine biology, and an interest in sustainability transitions, he previously led WWF South Africa’s Marine Programme. He is now based in Zurich, Switzerland where he is responsible for coordinating the WWF Network’s work on plastic pollution. He is a also member of the Advisory Board for the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP).

Liz Corbin is Co-CEO and Founder of Materiom, a platform for accelerating regenerative material development and commercialisation. Liz is a systems thinking and circular design expert with an MA from University College London. Her professional background encompasses commercial practice, academic research, teaching, and strategic advisory.

Martin Koehring is senior manager for sustainability, climate change and natural resources at Economist Impact (part of The Economist Group), where he leads sustainability-related policy and thought leadership projects in the EMEA region. He has directed Economist Impact projects in areas such as food sustainability, decarbonising technologies for cities, getting to net zero, the circular economy, ESG and real-world impact, social impact, electric vehicles, and advanced plastic recycling. He is also the editorial lead of The Sustainability Project and head of the World Ocean Initiative, inspiring bold thinking, new partnerships and the most effective action to build a sustainable ocean economy. His previous roles at The Economist Group, where he has been since 2011, include managing editor, global health lead and Europe editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Martin is a trustee of the New Economics Foundation (a think tank focusing on social, economic and environmental justice), a member of the Advisory Committee for the UN Environment Programme’s Global Environment Outlook for Business, and a faculty member in the Food & Sustainability Certificate Program provided by the European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability. He earned a bachelor of economic and social studies in international relations from Aberystwyth University and a master’s degree in diplomacy and international relations from the College of Europe.

Philippe Bonningue joined L’Oréal in the UK in 1988. Since then, he has been promoted to several positions in different divisions in France, including Building/Processing management, breakthrough Biotechnology project leadership, Pumps/Aerosols Lab management, Packaging Innovation, international Technical Packaging & NPD teams. In 2007 in the US, he became Vice-President of Development & Packaging for the North America zone. Starting mid-2013, Philippe took over the Global Direction of Sustainable Packaging & Development and his role has been to establish the vision, the missions and the strategy of the Group for the most responsible packaging activity, in support of the major Sharing Beauty With All worldwide program, and for the L’Oréal For The Future program since 2020; in addition, Philippe led the Packaging part of the creation of the environmental and social assessment SPOT Methodology (Sustainable Product Optimization Tool) in 2016, and the co-foundation of the SPICE initiative (Sustainable Packaging Initiative for CosmEtics) in 2018. Mid-2021, Philippe became the Global Vice-President of Packaging & Circular Economy Stewardship for the L’Oréal Group. Philippe has invented more than 15 worldwide patented innovations.

Robert Triefus was appointed Executive Vice President, Brand & Customer Engagement in February 2018. Prior to that, Robert had held the role of EVP, Chief Marketing Officer since 2012, after originally joining Gucci in 2008 as Worldwide Marketing and Communications Director.   

British by nationality, he established his own marketing and communications agency, Timm Triefus Maddick in 1986 after working as Marketing Manager of The Observer and Today newspapers. In 1991 Robert was appointed as General Manager of Worldwide Communications at The Body Shop, before moving to New York in 1992 as US Vice President of Communications. In 1994 he became Associate Director of Ketchum Communications Headquarters New York office. 

Before joining Gucci, Robert was Executive Vice President of Worldwide Communications at Giorgio Armani S.p.A. and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Communications for Calvin Klein, Inc.

Maya currently works as the Arts, Culture and Learning Coordinator at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. She is passionate about discovering ways that creative communication and experiences can be harnessed to mobilise action towards a thriving future for both people and the planet.

Seb has worked at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for eight years. He is the Learning & Education Lead looking out across formal education partnerships and event, learning and broadcast content creation, including the Circular Economy Show, where he is one of the primary hosts. Prior to joining the Foundation, Seb worked as a freelance journalists, completed an undergraduate degree in English Literature, and a Masters in International Education at the University of Birmingham.