Christina Agapakis is a biologist, writer, and artist known for her experiments exploring the future of biotechnology. She collaborates with engineers, designers, artists, and social scientists to explore the many unexpected connections between microbiology, technology, art, and popular culture. During her PhD in synthetic biology at Harvard University she explored biological design principles through interdisciplinary work with complex biological systems, from hydrogen producing bacteria to photosynthetic animals to cheese. She is currently creative director at Ginkgo Bioworks, an organism design company that is bringing biology to industrial engineering.

Roger Griffith is an Associate Objects Conservator at The Museum of Modern Art since 1998. He received his MA from the Royal College of Art/ Victoria & Albert Museum in 1997. Prior to MoMA he worked at various institutions including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and the University of East Anglia: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich England. Roger has published and lectured internationally on various topics of conservation and his recent research examines the nature of the collaborative process of art professionals in regards to the exhibition installation, preservation, maintenance, and storage of ephemeral contemporary art.

Marina Zurkow is a media artist focused on near-impossible nature and culture intersections, researching “wicked problems” like invasive species, superfund sites, and petroleum interdependence. She has used life science, bio materials, animation, dinners, and software technologies to foster intimate connections between people and non-human agents. Her work spans gallery installations and unconventional public participatory projects. Her collaborative initiatives include Climoji, Dear Climate, More&More Unlimited, and Floating Studio for Dark Ecologies. Currently, she is working on visualizing future oceans, and connecting eaters to food opportunities in changing climates.

Gregg Buchbinder was born and raised in California with a love and concern for the environment. With a dream to protect and preserve our environment, in 1998 Gregg saw the potential in Emeco, a down-at-the-heels military fabricator in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Gregg bought Emeco and transformed it from an industrial Navy producer into a top design furniture brand that uses waste material for input to make the best possible long lasting chairs.

Mark Chambers is an architect and Chief Sustainability Officer for Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City of New York. In this role, he leads the development of policies and programs to create an equitable, sustainable city where every resident can thrive. Mark’s work for NYC focuses on both battling climate change and confronting social inequality, two inextricable parts of the same fight for an inclusive green economy. Most recently, Mark served as the Director of Sustainability and Energy for Mayor Bowser in Washington, DC. He holds a graduate degree in Public Policy & Management and an undergraduate degree in Architecture, both from Carnegie Mellon University.

Perc Pineda is the Chief Economist of Plastics Industry Association, where he serves as the organization’s primary staff expert on economics, statistics and industry research. Perc received his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Philosophy in Economics from the New School of Social Research in New York. He also holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the American University in Washington, D.C. and a Master in International Management from the University of Maryland. Before joining PLASTICS, Perc was the Senior Economist of the Credit Union National Association, where he tracked macroeconomic trends, conducted economic research, wrote articles for industry publications, and interfaced with the media.

Christopher K. Ober is an American/Canadian materials scientist and engineer. As of 2018, he is Francis Norwood Bard Professor of Materials Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University and Director of the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility. As an expert in the synthesis of precision functional polymers, his current research focuses on biology-materials interface, including the fabrication of 2D and 3D nanostructures, high resolution lithography, and anti-fouling materials. Amongst his many distinctions, he has been named an American Chemical Society Fellow; Society of Polymer Science Japan, International Prize; American Chemical Society, Polymeric Materials Science, and Engineering Division Fellow.

John McGeehan is a British research scientist and Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Portsmouth. As a Co-Director of the Institute of Biomedical & Biomolecular Sciences he leads a research team on enzyme engineering, with a recent focus on manufacturing an enzyme to break down plastic. He holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Microbiology from the University of Glasgow, a PhD in Virology from the Medical Research Council Virology Unit, Glasgow, and obtained a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble, France in the group of Dr Raimond Ravelli. He has previously held a position in the Structural Biology Laboratories at the University of York.

Arthur Huang is the founder and CEO of Miniwiz, a company dedicated to upcycling and consumer trash and industrial waste reuse innovation. With a background as a structural engineer and an architect, he is an innovator of loop economy building material solutions. Under Arthur’s leadership, Miniwiz has been awarded the Financial Times’ Earth Award (2010), The Wall Street Journal’s Asian Innovation Award (2011), and the Technology Pioneers title by the World Economic Forum (2015). Personally, Arthur has been named Emerging Explorer, National Geographic (2016); Technology Pioneer, World Economic Forum (2015); IDEA GOLD Award, Chicago (2013); Mayor Bloomberg’s New York Venture Fellowship, New York (2012); Wall Street Journal Innovation Award, Hong Kong (2011); 40 under 40 Design Talent Award, Perspective, Asia (2011), amongst others. Arthur holds a B.A., Architecture from Cornell University and an M.A., Architecture from Harvard University, Graduate School of Design.

Michael Preysman is the founder and CEO of Everlane, a direct-to-consumer design brand based in San Francisco, California. Inspired by the lack of affordable options for quality basics, Preysman founded Everlane in 2011 to provide consumers with well-designed, high-quality clothing and accessories at an approachable price point while simultaneously encouraging them to stay informed and educated on product origins. By cutting out the middleman and openly sharing the costs behind each product, Preysman has become a distinguished leader in the transparent retail space, and a disruptor of the luxury clothing industry. Prior to starting Everlane, Preysman was an investor at Elevation Partners for both their New York and Menlo Park offices investing in media and entertainment companies.