Carlos is Chief Development Officer at Larta Institute, a Los Angeles-based mission oriented nonprofit that advises & mentors emerging technology-based founders, startups, and institutions (public and private) developing solutions that Feed, Fuel, and Heal the world.

Carlos and the Larta team are driven to unlock the right mix of resources, tools, and networks that effectively bring science-driven solutions into use for impact.  Larta has designed and deployed national-scale commercialization and translational research programs with an applied focus that have been adopted by leading agencies (NIH, USDA, DOE, NSF, NOAA, NIST, DARPA, etc.) to support thousands of grant awardees to maximize ROI of publicly-funded R&D.  In the course of its 25-year existence, Larta has built systems to generate science-to-market outcomes and an entrepreneur-in-residence network of 120+ subject matter/operational specialists in various sectors: bioscience, agricultural technology, energy, environment & sustainability, healthcare, IT, ed-tech, and materials science.

Carlos launched Larta’s industry liaison network, which includes technology scouts, alliance, and corporate VC leaders across various technology sectors. He led Larta’s international expansion to build innovation ecosystem programs for government/innovation agencies in Malaysia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Romania, and New Zealand. He has served as a consultant on World Bank science, technology and innovation missions to Croatia assessing innovation policy, capital infrastructure, and government mechanisms supporting high technology entrepreneurs.

Before joining Larta, Gutierrez was an early management team member and director of business development at Firstlook.com, an idealab venture-backed digital media start-up.

Carlos received his bachelor’s degree from Cal State University, Northridge, and has an M.B.A. from the USC Marshall School of Business.

Arthur Middleton is a wildlife ecologist whose research group at U.C. Berkeley explores the effects of environmental change on wide-ranging wildlife, primarily in the Rockies and Andes of North and South America.

In recent years, he has led collaborative work with state and federal agencies, outfitters, ranchers, and environmental groups to document wildlife migrations across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, mapping and studying them for the first time at the scale of the entire ecosystem. Other research and outreach brings together wildlife managers, livestock producers, and environmental groups together to better understand and mitigate conflicts between large carnivores – such as wolves and mountain lions – and people in working landscapes.

Arthur often goes beyond science reporting to communicate insights to affected communities and the public, collaborating with photographers, artists, cartographers, and others. These efforts have included a major, traveling museum exhibition, a documentary film, and op-eds in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Arthur joined the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley as an assistant professor in 2016. He is a Fellow of the National Geographic Society and serves as a Trustee of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. He holds a bachelor degree in English and government from Bowdoin College, a Masters of Environmental Management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Wyoming. 

Dr. Christa Hasenkopf is the Chief Executive Officer and co‐founder of OpenAQ. Dr. Hasenkopf is an atmospheric scientist who fell in love with open data as a mechanism for change in 2011, after observing the impact of a lone monitor on the U.S. Embassy rooftop in Beijing, China and launching her own open air quality data effort with colleagues in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Dr. Hasenkopf is also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and an adjunct at Johns Hopkins University, where she teaches undergraduate and masters courses on international air quality policy and open data. Prior to starting OpenAQ, Hasenkopf was the first Chief Air Pollution Advisor to the Medical Director at U.S. Dept. of State. Previously, Hasenkopf was an American Institute of Physics Science Policy Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development.  Hasenkopf received a PhD in Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences from the University of Colorado. She is a former Fulbright Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, U.S. National Science Foundation International Research Fellow, and Teach for America corps member. 

 

Marine biologist Dr. Emma Kennedy’s vision is to combine her knowledge, experience and networks as a respected coral reef expert with a passion for storytelling and underwater photography to enable communities, industry and governments world-wide to connect with coral reefs around common and achievable goals for action on climate change. Her award winning science (featured in the Guardian, National Geographic, and BBC) aims to equip people, groups, governments and industries with the tools needed to better protect coral reefs. She has worked on several high-profile projects, including the 50 reefs initiative, where she helped develop a global strategic response the imminent collapse of reef systems, and is now working on the Allen Coral Atlas, the first global coral reef map and a revolutionary step for reef conservation: improving our ability to map, monitor and manage reefs.

Emma grew up in the UK where she learned to dive in a gravel pit outside of London; she later completed a PhD predicting the collapse of Caribbean reefs by 2040. She has led >30 diving expeditions, including to document bleaching damage in the northern Great Barrier Reef. Surveying kilometres of dead reef had a profound effect on her whole team: recognizing that the climate emergency is not solvable by science alone, Emma now splits her time between research and ocean advocacy. She is committed to using every tool in her arsenal to engage the public decision-makers and empower communities to more effectively protect the spectacular reef animals she deeply loves.

Asha Frank is a staunch advocate for improving the environmental, social, and economic future of her home Barbuda, a small island in the Carribbean. She founded BarbudanGO in 2018, the first exclusively Barbudan-led non-profit on the island. BarbudanGO strives to restore the island in environmentally and economically sustainable ways, with programs for water harvesting, upcycling, environmental outreach, and capacity building for ocean management. Through BarbudanGO, Asha is filling a critical gap, able to serve as project executer and fiscal sponsor for international efforts on a range of topics, including disaster relief, ecotourism development, and youth empowerment. Asha was witness to the devastating Category 5+ Hurricane Irma and was a crucial leader during the clean-up, rebuilding, and recovery efforts. She was instrumental in building and implementing the process of returning evacuees to the island. In 2017, she was elected to the Barbuda Council as the Chairperson of Tourism, Culture, and Youth Affairs, where she fought for the rights of Barbudans to maintain ownership of their own recovery efforts. As a former secondary teacher, she is a strong advocate for Barbudan youth and their tremendous potential to create powerful change for their island and the world at large. Asha holds a Bachelors of Arts in Caribbean Studies and History from London Metropolitan University, where she gathered the material for her book on the history and development of land ownership on Barbuda.

As a descendant of farmworkers, Faith Florez was frequently reminded of the risks people in her community took working while in the fields. Faith saw a need to bring wearable technology to those fields to help prevent workers from developing heat stroke while informing them of their rights and legal safety standards.

Faith created Calor, a wearable watch app, after two years of collaboration with farmers, farm workers, and regulators. She fundraised over $60,000 to develop the app and pilot it on three farms. While working on Calor, Faith established the Latina Legacy Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports young women and girls who are addressing social justice issues in their communities, to build on the work that she started with Calor.

Currently, Faith is studying English at the University of Southern California. She has been awarded the first-ever Young Changemaker Award from the Roslyn S. Jaffe Awards Program for 2018, the 2019 Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders Award from the We Are Family Foundation, and has been recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with the Dynamic Youth Award in 2018. Apple recognized Calor with a feature story last fall.

 

Gator Halpern is the Co-founder and President of Coral Vita, a mission-driven company working to restore our world’s dying coral reefs. He is a lifelong entrepreneur who is passionate about starting projects that can help create a better harmony between society and nature. His work has earned him a number of awards including being named a United Nation’s Young Champion of the Earth, a Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur, and an Echoing Green fellow. Before founding Coral Vita, he worked on development projects in Brazil, Peru, and South Africa. During his career, he has helped distribute millions of baby fish for aquaculture to remote villages in the Amazon, he’s analyzed the environmental effects of land-use change projects on three different continents, and worked for the World Wildlife Fund Global Marine Program. Gator founded Coral Vita during his graduate studies at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and he lives and works in the Bahamas where Coral Vita operates the world’s first commercial land-based coral farm for reef restoration.

 

Han Chen manages NRDC’s work to promote a global energy transition and address climate change at the international level—especially in key countries like the United States, China, India, and Canada. Her work covers the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations and implementation of the Paris Agreement, global financing and deployment of renewables, and limits to the expansion of high-carbon energy sources. Prior to joining NRDC, Chen was a researcher at the Brookings Institution. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from American University and a master’s degree in international development from Beijing’s Tsinghua University. She is based in NRDC’s Washington, D.C. office.

Environmental activist and member of Chad’s pastoralist Mbororo People, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim began advocating for Indigenous Peoples rights and environmental protection at age 12, founding the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad (AFPAT) to protect and promote the rights of Indigenous peoples and the environment. She introduce new income revenue activities for women and collaborative tools such as 2D and 3D participatory mapping to protect land rights and build sustainable ecosystems management and reduction of nature-based resource conflicts. Her vision is to grow support for Indigenous Peoples traditional knowledge, technologies and science to improve resilience and adaptation to climate change and to protect biodiversity, especially for Indigenous communities.

She is a member of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC) and served as co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change at the historic UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. She spook at the signature of the Paris Agreement at UNGA and briefed 3 times UN Security Council on climate change, land degradation and World’s Insecurity. She served as cochair of the Facilitative Working Group of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP. She is dedicated to the protection of all Indigenous Peoples, from the Congo to the Arctic, and their wisdom and value of their knowledge in the fight against climate change. She advances environmental protection for Indigenous peoples by participating in international policy dialogues held around the three Rio Conventions; Climate Change (UNFCCC), Biodiversity (CBD), and Desertification (UNCCD) pressuring governments to recognize land rights of Indigenous peoples and advance their solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Currently co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) for COP27 in Africa Egypt and COP28 in Asia UAE. UNPFII expert member and Vice-Chair nominated by African Indigenous Peoples organizations.

Ibrahim’s work with indigenous communities at the local and global level has achieved broad recognition and support including, The Diane Von Furstenberg DVF, the Rolex enterprise award 2021;  the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award;  Riverdale Country School’s 2021 Jolli Humanitarian Award featuring a building named after her. the 2020 Refugee International’s Refugees International Holbrooke Award; the Daniel Mitterrand Prize; appointment as a UN SDG Advocate; Conservation International Board Member and Senior Advisor; Member of the EAT Advisory Board; named Ambassador of the EDEN Project and National Geographic Explorer. She was recognized by  BBC  as a top 100 women leader and by TIME’s Women Leaders in Climate Change. Recognized by African media AkoyaAfrica 100 women leader. Her Speak during One Forest Summit and her  TED talk on Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge meets science to solve climate change has surpassed more than 1 million views.

Jasmine Crowe, an HBCU alumna who is working to make the world a better place by reducing food waste and ending hunger. She has hosted activations in more than 20 US cities and the UK, South Africa and Haiti and has has collected and donated over 2 million items to causes worldwide and fed over 80,000 people through the Sunday Soul Homeless feeding initiative. Through her years of work feeding vulnerable populations she saw a great opportunity for technology to solve a real problem – hunger. In January of 2017, she created Goodr, a tech enabled sustainable food waste management company with a goal to eliminate hunger and reduce food waste. Under Jasmine’s direction Goodr has now diverted nearly two million pounds of food from landfill and serves clients including: Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport, SAP, NFL, The Georgia World Congress Center, Netflix and more. The mission of Goodr is simple, Feed More, Waste Less. The company now operates in six cities and growing with a goal to be in 20 cities by 2020.