Christopher Carter is an educator, a seasoned animator/story board artist, and a nationally-known and highly regarded sculptor of reclaimed and re-purposed found materials.

He holds an MFA (Fine Arts/Sculpture) from UC Berkeley and a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In addition to being a working artist, Christopher was a Visiting Professor and Lecturer at UC Berkeley, and an Instructor at San Francisco's Art Institute of California. His art work has been shown in numerous solo museum, gallery, and Artfair exhibitions, and is held in private collections and museums. Most recently one major work was acquired by the new African American Museum of History Art and Culture-Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

Christopher has an extensive background in animation. He was CEO/Creative Director of Maverix Studios (San Francisco, CA and Tokyo, Japan) from 2007 to 2012, and twice won a "Clio" (the advertising industry's highest award) for his animation work and art direction while at Colossal Pictures, and Wild Brain, Inc. Maverix Studios' clients included HBO, National Geographic, Warner, Proctor and Gamble, Coke (Sprite) and Lucas Arts and Entertainment.

Christopher is also a Trustee/Board Member of The Wege Foundation and resides in Miami, FL, where he is constructing a multi-use mixed media art studio and exhibition venue implementing used shipping containers for the primary art production space.

Alysia, PhD, is a Founder and Co-CEO of Materiom, a platform with the mission of accelerating the development and adoption of regenerative materials. Alysia is an Associate Professor of the circular economy at the Faculty of Management and Economics, University of Santiago, Chile. She is also an Associate Fellow at the CABDyN Complexity Centre, Saïd Business School, at the University of Oxford. Her research takes place at the intersection of circular economy, biomaterials, and data science. She regularly collaborates with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and is a regional co-chair of the Research Data Alliance. Alysia is a Rhodes Scholar and has a Doctorate from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. 

Meritxell Martín i Pardo, PhD, or as she prefers to be called, Txell, is a writer, researcher, and professor. In her writing, she strives to immerse her audiences in the details that add up to shape cultural practices. In the field, Txell delights in speaking to people and in the challenge of gleaning patterns in the raw research data to communicate them to diverse audiences. In the classroom, she teaches knowing that many of her students will work in jobs that do not yet exist.

This, in fact, is her own experience. After working as a university professor for some years, she became a Research Associate for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. While running a cultural sustainability program in Catalonia, she discovered that her analytical skills had the power to directly impact the communities she was working in, for the projects not only documented the cultural diversity of communities and identified their most cherished living traditions, but also helped the communities develop strategies to make these expressions vital, visible, and viable.

In addition to continuing to explore the relationship between the circular economy and living heritage in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation flagship learning program, Txell is a founding member of the NGO The Cascade Collective for Cultural Sustainability as well as a Professor of Anthropological, Cultural, and Religious Studies at IES Abroad in Barcelona. She holds an MA and PhD in the History of Religions from the University of Virginia and a BA in Philosophy from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Meritxell is on the board of directors of Lluïsos de Gràcia.

For more than 40 years, Tom Newhouse has been designing furniture, lighting, appliances, and other products as the owner/principal of Thomas J Newhouse Design, an industrial design consulting firm located in western Michigan. Prior to 1978, he was a member of the corporate design staff of Herman Miller, Inc. He holds a degree in industrial design from the University of Michigan. Tom works primarily in the areas of home and office furniture, lighting, kitchen cabinetry, and major appliance design, with an emphasis on environmentally sustainable design practice. He currently holds over 90 design and utility patents. Tom lectures to professional design societies and universities internationally on the topic of environmentally sustainable design and his “Four Corners” design philosophy. 

Tom was inducted into the WMSBF Business Hall of Fame in November 2015. This lifetime achievement award honors individual practitioners that have made the greatest contribution to sustainable business in West Michigan during their careers.

Nathan Shedroff is a Professor at California College of the Arts, an entrepreneur, business strategist, education innovator, author, and speaker. He is a serial entrepreneur in various technology and strategic sectors. Nathan has written over 10 books (including the new A Whole New Strategy, as well as Blindspot, Design is the Solution, Design Strategy in action, and Make It So, and Experience Design 1.1), started more than 6 companies, and founded the ground-breaking Design MBA program at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, CA. He is focused on building new tools for strategy and communication and recently led the Foodicons.org Challenge, an initiative for building a global, visual, open-source language for food systems.

He holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School and a BS in Industrial Design from Art Center College of Design. He worked with Richard Saul Wurman at TheUnderstandingBusiness and, later, co-founded vivid studios, a pioneering company in interactive media and one of the first Web services firms on the planet. vivid’s hallmark was helping to establish and validate the field of information architecture, by training an entire generation of designers in the newly emerging Web industry.

Braj Kishore (BK) Singh, PhD, is the co-founder of Green Roots Consultants, a consulting firm dedicated to provide local solutions to global challenges in agriculture production, natural resource management, and human capacity enhancement. He has advised over 65 theses research in soil fertility, plant nutrition & environmental health. Dr. Singh is a former professor of Soil Science & Plant Nutrition at EARTH University in Costa Rica and one of the founding members of EARTHIANOS – a global group of EARTH graduates committed to innovation based social entrepreneurship.

He obtained M.Sc. from PFU, Moscow in agro-chemistry and PhD from University of Florida in Soil Science. Dr. Singh joined EARTH University in 1990 along with the first cohort of pioneer students. He was one of the lead scientists in MasterCard Foundation’s grant to develop Global Masters in Health & Sustainable Development, one of the principal investigators in the US Department of Energy funded Biofuel Project, one of the principal research scientists in Multinational Project on structure based drug design for Chagas Disease in partnership with NASA, and coordinator of Lemelson Foundation supported Hub and Spoke model to promote invention, innovation and entrepreneurship at academic institutions and rural communities. In 2017, Dr. Singh was one of the expert witnesses to successfully defend Costa Rican Government in UNICITRAL arbitration in Washington D.C.

Professor Singh has been providing training and conducting international workshops in soil and plant nutrition for the past 28 years. He has developed, registered, and introduced in international markets over 25 products to improve soil-plant health, water purification, and public sanitation.

Bill Stough, owner of Bill Stough, LLC, provides strategic advice to management teams on sustainable business practices including current state evaluations, future state development, planning, and marketing.

Bill was the founder of Sustainable Research Group, a pioneer business sustainability consultancy. He has over 40 years experience working on environmental and sustainable business issues in a variety of capacities including non-profit environmental organizations, private manufacturers, and environmental engineering consulting firms. He is widely cited as one of the early initiators of the sustainable business movement, founding the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum in 1994, and continuing on to help found and facilitate the development of similar organizations in other regions.

Bill was the lead technical consultant on the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association’s Sustainable Furniture Standard, a project manager for the West Michigan Sustainable Manufacturing Initiative and a Green Supplier Network Assessor for the Department of Commerce Manufacturers Extension Partnership. Mr. Stough also served as the Executive Director of the Southeast Michigan Sustainable Business Forum, and as a consultant to the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum. He is a 2014 inaugural inductee into the West Michigan Sustainable Business Hall of Fame.

Colin Webster is a Learning Content Manager with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation , a UK-based charity that supports the transition to a circular economy. In this role, Colin creates teaching resources for universities and business audiences, designs courses, runs workshops online and in-person, and creates podcasts and videos about the circular economy. Prior to this role, Colin was a geography teacher at a high school in Scotland. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his children and his dog.

Skot is the Principal/Founder of Global Bridgebuilders (GBB), a firm focusing on Organizational Development, Cultural Transformation and Inclusion. Global Bridgebuilders is an international team providing services to enterprises across the globe. GBB bases its work in the core belief that inclusion is a business discipline and that it should be leveraged across all that the enterprise does.

Skot has been a global bridge builder long before he founded the company in 2006. Growing up in a military family gave Skot a unique perspective on diversity that he still carries and a passion for helping organizations tap into the vast experiences of their employees to create stronger businesses. Prior to the launch of Global Bridgebuilders, Skot served as Vice President of Business Development and Benchmarking Services for DiversityInc magazine in New Jersey, where he worked with many of the Fortune 500’s biggest global brands across a broad range of industries. 

Skot is an author, the Diversity & Inclusion Expert In Residence (Silicon Valley) CultureShift Labs Think Tank, the Inclusion Lead and Curator for TEDx Grand Rapids, and former Board Member of ArtPrize. 

He is also the founder of The Mosaic Film Experience  – An interactive high school media experience focusing on creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and career preparedness on the platform of mobile filmmaking, The Greater Michigan Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, and The Belonging Initiative.

He is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The New Community Transformation Fund, a $25M VC Fund focusing on Entrepreneurs of Color. 

Skot received his bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from Albion College and His Masters in Management and International Marketing (M.M.) from Aquinas College. 

Jo Williams is a Circular Economy Learning Consultant based in the UK.

She worked for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for 8 years, setting up and managing the higher education program. This included the world’s first CE fellowship program; an international year-long program for graduate students, blending online learning with a week-long summer school.

Since 2018, Jo has been a senior tutor on the University of Exeter’s CE Masterclass; an online program for business executives. She has also developed and run CE workshops for various clients including the UN’s Switch Asia Leadership Program and Tsinghua University, China.

Prior to this, Jo worked in science communication, developing content for exhibitions and events at the Science Museum in London, before running her own company working with museums around the world.

She lives on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, and spends her free time mountain biking, walking, growing vegetables, playing badminton (moderately well) the guitar (badly) and learning how to be more artistic through drawing and painting.

Jannan Cotto is a Tribal Child Care Systems Coordinator for First Children’s Finance. In this role, Jannan supports Tribal Nations’ efforts to build, improve, and sustain high quality, culturally-relevant early care and education systems. Prior to joining First Children’s Finance, Ms. Cotto worked in Indigenous education for 15 years in both urban and reservation contexts supporting improved outcomes for and awareness of Tribal people and Nations through a framework of tribal sovereignty and decolonization. Prior to joining First Children's Finance, she served as the Anishinaabe Curator at the Grand Rapids Public Museum where, in additional to curatorial work, leveraged her experiences in tribal consultation, culturally-responsive relationship building, and facilitation of participatory program development to help enhance indigenous-focused initiatives at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Michelle Seppala Gibbs is the Director for the Office of Sustainability at Hope College. In this role, she coordinates strategic planning, implementation, analysis and communication of campus sustainability initiatives by working with faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community stakeholders. She also oversees a team of a dozen student interns focused on promoting sustainability across the campus.

Before joining Hope College in 2014, Michelle served as the Next Generation Energy Coordinator for Lakeshore Technical College in Wisconsin. Prior to that, she worked as an Environmental Scientist for an environmental consulting company and while in college she also worked for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in the departments of Environmental Education and Land and Water Management. Michelle has a bachelors in zoology with a specialization in environmental studies from Michigan State University and a masters in sustainable management from the University of Wisconsin–System. 

Yumiko Jakobcic, PhD, is the Director of Grand Valley State University’s Office of Sustainability Practices.  She received a BS in natural resource management from Grand Valley State University, a MEM in conservation science and policy from Duke University, and a PhD in natural resources from the University of Vermont.  She previously served as the Executive Director of the Winooski Valley Park District, managing eighteen parks across seven communities in Vermont.  Her research interests include the transboundary management of natural resources, human diversity in conservation, and neighborhood cohesion supported by natural areas.  She is passionate about engaging students in a more sustainable lifestyle.

John A. Kinch, PhD, directs the strategic and daily operations of Michigan Energy Options emphasizing innovative and collaborative projects between the public and private sectors. Kinch is a US Department of Energy SunShot advisor and a municipal-certified solar expert by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He has served on numerous nonprofit and governmental boards, including being chair of the City of East Lansing Commission on the Environment, a member of the Michigan Governor’s Energy Excellence Awards, a Vice President on the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association board and on advisory board for Highland Carbon. Kinch has volunteered at the Grand Rapids Community Food Club, among other social service organizations. He served as the inaugural “Executive in Residence” at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business in 2022 and continues to guest lecture and teach. He has most recently been appointed to the Grand Haven Sustainability and Energy Commission.

Mary Ellen Mika is Director of Sustainability for Steelcase and leads a global team spanning six countries. She is responsible for the company’s overall sustainability and environmental regulatory compliance programs. Those programs include: designing for a circular economy, implementing a carbon strategy with goals approved by the science-based targets initiative, and choosing and using resources responsibly. Her team is responsible for energy and renewable energy procurement, implementation of the company’s ISO14001 environmental management system, the pursuit of third party-verified product sustainability certifications, waste reduction and recycling efforts, market support and ESG / sustainability reporting.

Mary Ellen is a LEED-accredited professional and served on the Materials and Resources Technical Advisory Group for U.S. Green Building Council. She has a B.S. in Biochemistry, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology, and over thirty years of experience in environmental consulting and industry. She serves on the boards for Michigan Energy Options, the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems External Advisory Board, the C.R. Evenson Foundation, and Highland Carbon.  She recently served on the Michigan Environmental Rules Review Committee appointed by Michigan Governor Whitmer and the Grand Rapids Energy Advisory Council appointed by Mayor Bliss.

Lisa S. Oliver-King, MPH is the founding executive director for Our Kitchen Table (OKT), a grassroots organization based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. With funding provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, OKT is developing a set of best practices and evidence-based applications for how community women can improve health and wellness by building a healthy neighborhood food system. Essentially, OKT is addressing the diet related and environmental health disparities that impact these women and their families.

Information learned and documented will be used to help vulnerable children, their families, and the neighborhoods in which they reside. This information will lead to residents gaining a better understanding of their local food system, learning how to address systemic change in order to become food secure, and building neighborhood-based sustainability.

Wendy Ogilvie retired in Fall of 2023 after serving 10 years as the Director of Environmental Programs for the Grand Valley Metro Council (GVMC), leading watershed and stormwater projects throughout West Michigan. Originally from Maryland, Wendy came to Michigan to earn a B.S. in Forestry from The University of Michigan. After a year out west, Wendy returned to Michigan, and joined the Allegan Conservation District as a Watershed Coordinator. While earning an M.S. in Resource Development from Michigan State University, she worked for Fishbeck for 13 years focusing on water resource management projects.

Wendy now consults through her recently formed business, Natural Resource Connections, LLC. She continues to assist the project team in bringing back the rapids and restoring connectivity and habitat in the Grand River, earning state designation for the Lower Grand River Water Trail, and collaborates with Great Lakes Audubon to create a landscape-level comprehensive conservation management plan for the Grand River Coastal Corridor. She previously served on the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum's Board of Directors and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2023.

Stephanie Ogren, PhD, is the Vice President of Science and Education at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. She attended Central Michigan University where she received a B.S. in Biology and a M.S. in Aquatic Sciences. She completed a PhD at Michigan Technological University in Restoration Ecology. She worked as a Senior Aquatic Biologist for a Native American Tribe for 15 years developing water quality programs and working with threatened species. The ability to translate scientific information for the public brought her back to the Grand Rapids Public Museum where she assisted in developing an exhibit documenting the journey of Lake Sturgeon through time. She now develops programming, outreach, research projects and exhibits for the Museum and strives to bring relevant scientific information and experiences to the public. Stephanie leads the education and volunteer teams, working alongside leadership to develop engaging, educational, and thought-provoking programs for the schools and visitors. She works collaboratively with community groups and natural resource managers in her professional and personal capacity.

Fernando Ramirez is a designer dedicated to exploring the intersection of sustainability and community and how it drives value in design. Specializing in industrial design and furniture design he has left his imprint on diverse projects, collaborating with both major corporations and innovative startups. His deep commitment to sustainability propels him beyond conventional boundaries, driving him to explore pathways that lead into the realm of regenerative thinking. 

As a co-founder of Common Object Studio, a design studio aligned with his values for people and the planet, Fernando has forged a path guided by these principles. At the core of his studio's philosophy is a "planet- centered" design approach, empowering companies to take steps toward sustainability while fostering more inclusive connections with people. Their versatile portfolio spans industrial, furniture, medical, and interiors. A notable aspect of their work involves community projects, actively participating in co-design workshops specifically crafted to empower and uplift communities. 

David A. Rinard retired in 2020 as director of Global Environmental Performance for Steelcase, the global leader in the office furniture industry. Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

 During his 41-year career at Steelcase Dave, served in a variety of roles leading the department that was responsible for overseeing the company’s environmental initiatives and performance and implementing corporate environmental strategy, including regulatory compliance, environmental management systems, sustainability programs, environmental outreach and responsible conduct programs.

 Dave began his career with Steelcase in 1979 as an assistant environmental engineer. In 1981, he was promoted to environmental engineer, in 1986 to senior environmental engineer, in 1992 to Manager Environmental Quality.  He has also held the position of Directory, Environment, Health and Safety.   

 Dave joined Steelcase after two years with Plastic Plate, Inc., where he was a chemist.

Dave served on the board of directors for the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum.  He also served as a member and as chair of the external advisory board of the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems, and as a board member of the Land Conservancy of West Michigan.  He is a member of the U.S Green Building Council West Michigan and serves on the Board of Directors.  During his career he also participated in the BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association) Government Affairs Committee, Vice Chair of the BIFMA Sustainability Committee and participated in several technical working groups.  He was a recipient of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forums Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement recognition in 2015 and the WMSBF Presidents Award in 2018.  

Ms. Wendy S. Schlett, Managing Director of Foresight Management with thirty years of experience in environmental consulting, received her bachelor’s degree in Hydrogeology from Western Michigan University and a Professional Certificate in Sustainable Business from Aquinas College. Ms. Schlett is currently deploying her passion for sustainability by assisting manufacturers and non-profits in building strategies, identifying and prioritizing risk, and implementing sustainability and environmental business standards, certifications, and labels. She trains leadership, engages with internal and external stakeholders, and supports management within an organization to collaboratively develop effective sustainability management systems across diverse program areas within manufacturing and not-for-profit organizations. She also implements ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems, ISO 50001:2015 Energy Management Systems and conducts Internal Audits for manufacturers. She is active in Business Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA), West Michigan Environmental Action Council, and is currently on the Board of the Kalamazoo Nature Center. She also participates in the ANSI/BIFMA e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard.   

Deborah M. Steketee, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Sustainable Business at Aquinas College (Grand Rapids), where she contributed to the development of a new generation of business leaders through the college’s Sustainable Business degree and its Center for Sustainability. The focus of her teaching, research and curriculum development included experiential courses such as Sustainable Business Innovations Lab, Building Social Capital, and International Perspectives in Sustainable Business (including a field component in Costa Rica) as well as environmental studies.

In addition to her teaching and research, Dr. Steketee also took on leadership roles in programs and organizations that have helped catalyze sustainability and environmental conservation throughout West Michigan and further afield.  Having retired from Aquinas in 2022, Dr. Steketee currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Charles R. Evenson Foundation.

Dr. Steketee earned her PhD in Public Policy and Political Science from Indiana University-Bloomington, focusing on the social dimensions of natural resources management with dissertation research in Ecuador. She received a MSc degree in Resource Development from Michigan State University, with thesis research on community engagement with ecotourism in Costa Rica. Dr. Steketee’s undergraduate degree was a BA in Journalism from the University of Michigan, launching a first career in media and environmental communications.

Audrey, a lifelong climate activist, is a senior project manager and consultant with over 15 years of experience in complex project and program management. She is currently the program manager for the Emerging Lansing 2030 District - a program of the US Green Building Council West Michigan, a community facilitator for the Climatebase Fellowship, and supports local event productions whenever possible. As a Michigan native, Audrey was inspired by Wege Prize's global impact and collaborative approach to solving complex environmental issues and is honored to join the esteemed panel of preliminary judges. She enjoys spending time outdoors, participating in endurance sports, and caring for animals.

Kristen is a Senior Consultant with Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) where she brings over 20 years of experience helping municipal, institutional, and corporate partners reduce waste, grow the Circular Economy and promote sustainability. As a member of the leadership team in Kent County, Michigan, she led strategic communications and stakeholder engagement for the ambitious ‘90% by 2030’ landfill diversion goal that included innovative approaches to sustainable materials management. Kristen applies her skills of community engagement, solid waste management planning, environmental education curriculum development and collaboration to help individuals, organizations, and the community work together to achieve sustainability goals.

Milinda Ysasi is the CEO of Grow, a community development financial institution, providing small business loans to those who have been left out of traditional financial markets. Over the last three years she has worked to reset the organization, which resulted in over $1 Million in small business loans deployed in 2023. 

Prior to Grow, Milinda worked as a workforce development non profit leader and in the private sector in Human Resources. She has an executive MBA from MSU and a B.B.A. from GVSU in management. 

In 2014, Milinda co-founded the Latina Network of West Michigan with three other friends. Their focus was to reclaim the Latina narrative and create a space of support and belonging. In 2019, Milinda was elected to serve on the Grand Rapids City Commission as a 2nd Ward Commissioner. She is finishing her first term and is running unopposed for her second term in 2024. 

Milinda has been recognized as a community leader with the 50 most influential women in West Michigan award, as one of the 200 most powerful business leaders in Grand Rapids.