WHY ATTEND
Employing over 3.4 billon people globally, the fashion and textiles industry is estimated to generate over $1.7 trillion in 2023. With 87% of fiber input incinerated or disposed in landfills, the industry makes up 10% of global carbon emissions, and is expected to surge more than 50% by 2030.
Although some leading brands are answering calls for more sustainable materials and products, sustaining current conditions of our planet is no longer enough. The need to go beyond sustainability and transition towards restoring and regenerating our lands is now paramount. Pressures for change and the climate crisis have significantly increased the need to transition ‘backwards’ to embrace the future of textiles: regenerative agriculture.
Introducing the Regenerative Agriculture and Textiles Summit. Through peer-to-peer sharing, cross-industry collaboration between the textiles and food industries, and partnership building; the summit will provide key strategies to accelerate the adoption of regenerative Summit practices.
Bringing together the entire supply chain, the Summit will demonstrate the need for involvement from all stakeholders whilst addressing key industry challenges and underpinning the value regenerative agriculture has on supporting business operations and hitting climate goals.
- Industry Collaboration: Accelerate scalability, secure financing and mitigate risks of adopting regenerative practices within the textiles industry through industry collaboration
- Solution-Oriented Discussions: Take away and share practical strategies to successfully implement regenerative practices throughout the supply chain
- Uniting the Textiles and Food Industries: Increase efficiency and ensure impactful change by building partnerships with key players across the textiles and food industries
- Full Supply Chain Involvement: Understand stakeholder challenges, drive solutions and build partnerships across industries resulting in diversification of your supply chain
INNOVATION SHOWCASE
The Innovation Showcase aims to give start-ups with unique and interesting technologies, services and products within the textiles and agriculture space, the chance to present in front of our audience of investors and industry leaders.
All applications are stage agnostic and can relate to any solution within regenerative agriculture.
Our esteemed Selection Committee will judge and select five emerging companies to take to the stage to present their vision of the future of the regenerative agriculture space. Each finalist will have five minutes to pitch their innovation to our entire audience on the main stage. This will be followed by a live Q&A session from our Selection Committee and questions from the audience.
Audience members will have their say in a live vote at the end of the pitching session to select the first ever Regenerative Agriculture & Textiles Summit ‘Audience Choice Winner’.
Applications close Friday, September 29.
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Michael Smith
Nick Schroer
Lisa Sebesta
As Founder of Sitari Capital, Lisa works with investors to evaluate and manage impactful, direct investments in private companies that align with their values. She was previously a Managing Partner at Fresh Source Capital, LLC, and a General Partner in Fresh Source Capital Fund 1, which focuses on the sustainable food and agriculture sector. Previously Lisa spent 15 years as an equity analyst and portfolio manager for boutique investment firms in Boston.
Lisa has served as an advisor and/or board director for several food and agriculture organizations, including Atlantic Sea Farms, Farmers To You, Big Picture Beef, and Boston Public Market.
Lisa holds an undergraduate degree from Holy Cross and earned her Masters at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is a CFA® Charterholder and member of the Boston Security Analysts Society.
Renee Cheung
Renee is Managing Partner of Bonterra Partners, an investment advisory firm she founded in 2010 that helps investors develop pioneering agriculture, forestry and other natural capital investments that generate financial returns and regenerate the environment and local communities. She has led and evaluated numerous sustainable agriculture investments in both developed and emerging markets on behalf of investment firms, family offices, corporates, foundations, NGOs and multilateral development banks. Renee was formerly Senior Vice President, Real Assets at New Island Capital, where she focused on investments in sustainable and regenerative agriculture and forestry in the Americas and the rest of the world. Previously, she was a private equity executive at RIT Capital Partners PLC and Pantheon Ventures. Renee received a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Management of Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
Brian Dawson
Brian P. Dawson is a co-founder and Partner of Biome Capital Partners, an investment fund deploying capital to accelerate the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture. Most recently, Brian was co-founder and CEO of HarvestPort, a venture-backed AgTech marketplace with a mission to improve the economic and environmental outcomes of commercial farming operations.
Brian began his career in agriculture by co-founding Palogix, which became the largest supplier of bulk harvesting, transport, and storage containers and logistics services to fruit, vegetable, and nut producers in North America. Prior, Mr. Dawson co-founded PetroCal Inc. (exited via IPO), a technology company focused on increasing the production of mature oil and gas fields.
Brian is also a co-founder of Fifth Season Ventures (FSV), an impact investment fund focused on the food and agricultural supply chain. At FSV, he led the seed investment round and served as Executive Chairman of Full Cycle Bioplastics, a circular economy startup that converts organic waste into biodegradable plastic.
Brian is an Advisor to Planet FWD, a platform to connect farmers to brands seeking climate-friendly products, and to Wolf Tree Ventures, a regenerative venture studio. He also serves on the Board of the regenerative advocacy nonprofit Farmer’s Footprint. Mr. Dawson is a graduate of Columbia University, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
Parker Hughes
2023 SPEAKERS
Katina Boutis
Brent Crossland
Liz Hershfield
Dalena White
Byron Rath
Sarah Kelley
John Kay
Heinz Zeller
Heinz initially worked in chemical research, first on anti-malaria and later on biodegradable polymers. Moved on to project management and completed a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems.
He joined HUGO BOSS Ticino, South Switzerland, in 1998 with the responsibility to insource all existing textile and leather licensees, taking over the responsibility of logistics and participated at various corporate business-reengineering projects.
After the completion of the Cert. Adv. Study (CAS) in CSR, he established the HUGO BOSS sustainability road map and the sustainability strategy. Based on this, the required structures and programs were implemented, and he led the various involved departments to publish the first sustainability report in 2013. The results of this work are many recognitions like CDP DACH sector leader, robecosam industry mover or the listing in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2017.
Moreover, he created important public documents like the three whitepapers on Natural Capital Valuation or policies for the environment, plant based materials, animal welfare, responsible products and more with the help of some well-known cotton and fiber experts as well other field experts
Dr Deepika Mishra
Dr. Mishra is responsible for analysing data input for the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol. She is experienced in communicating about soil health data with growers and with the wider supply chain. She holds a PhD in Soil Science, which she obtained by producing a dissertation on “Improvement of cotton fiber quality with chemical mutagenesis”.
Gonzalo Pertile
Michael Smith
Matthew Sheffer
Matt Sheffer is a farmer, designer, researcher, writer, and champion of the regenerative agricultural movement.
Matt has worked in production agriculture for over 10 years. He has extensive experience working in diverse
systems at varying scales, implementing large-scale regenerative transition, and developing regional
regenerative supply chains. For the past four years, Matt has been leading a non-profit research organization,
Hudson Carbon, working on advancing science and policy to support landscape-scale regenerative food system
transition across the globe.
Matt is a systems thinker who is passionate about food systems, ecology, and ecosystem regeneration. He is
dedicated to finding solutions that harmonize the produciton of food, feed, fiber, fuel, and medecine with the
complex interactions and cycles that define healthy ecosystems.
Zack Angelini
Zack Angelini is a recognized leader in sustainability combining passion, drive, scientific knowledge, and
business experience to strategically deliver positive impacts.
Zack formerly led global sustainability at Timberland, a VF company. In this role, Zack developed and
implemented Timberland’s product sustainability strategy, setting public-facing goals and driving internal
processes for success. This strategy led Timberland to achieve the 2020 Sustainability Leadership Award
from Footwear News.
Zack also established and led cross-functional working groups, embedding sustainability across the
organization and leveraging each function’s capabilities to bring sustainable solutions to market. With
Zack’s leadership, Timberland and parent company VF Corporation built new regenerative agriculture
supply chains for their top volume natural materials, including leather, cotton, and natural rubber.
During his time at Timberland, Zack participated in industry-wide organizations, such as the Textile
Exchange, the Outdoor Industry Association, the Savory Institute, and Regenerative Rising through which
he worked collaboratively to solve sustainability issues across the industry.
Prior to joining Timberland, Zack worked for international government and non-profit organizations focused
on marine plastic pollution, oil spill response, and sustainable energy development in the United States,
Australia, and Ghana.
In 2021, Zack was named to the GreenBiz 30 Under 30 List of emerging leaders in business sustainability
around the world, and Drapers 30 Under 30 List of rising stars in fashion retail. In 2022, Zack was recognized
as the Sustainability Alumni of the Last Decade by the University of New Hampshire, where he holds a
Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Civil
Engineering.
In his current capacity, Zack provides sustainability strategy consulting services for major brands across the
food, fashion, and outdoor industries, with a focus on regeneration.
Kyle Bridgeforth
Nick Schroer
Njeri Kimotho
Andrew Lentz
Andrew Lentz, the former Policy Director for the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), is joining the Environmental Defense Fund as a Director of Federal Affairs for agriculture policy. He will lead EDF’s engagement with policymakers at the federal level to advance climate-smart agriculture and shape proposals in the upcoming Farm Bill.
“While I am sad to be leaving such a terrific team at ESMC, I am so excited to be joining EDF in their efforts to support farmers’ transition to a climate-smart future,” he said. “Agriculture is uniquely positioned to offer immediate nature-based climate solutions and I look forward to working with policymakers to put farmers and ranchers at the center of our nation’s climate-change mitigation strategy.”
In his new role with EDF, Andrew will work closely with the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA), which brings together environmental and agricultural stakeholders to jointly advocate for climate-smart agriculture legislation, and which EDF serves as co-chair. Andrew also worked with FACA during his time at ESMC, which is a general member of the alliance.
In his immediate previous role, Andrew led ESMC’s engagement with federal and state policymakers to educate them on environmental markets for agriculture and develop policy that reduces barriers to entry for farmers and ranchers in order to scale market adoption. He also co-led ESMC’s Working Group on Inclusion & Racial Justice to identify and remove obstacles to equality, equity, inclusion, and racial justice for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in agriculture. “While environmental markets are an important tool in the agriculture sector’s toolbox, it was important for us to make sure we were not developing yet another system of oppression for BIPOC farmers. I am looking forward to continuing to advocate for a broad portfolio of strategies that move the sector towards its climate and equity goals,” Lentz said.
Prior to his service with ESMC, Andrew held various positions in the public and private sectors, including for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service where he worked to build agricultural markets in post-conflict regions such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. He also previously held positions with Deloitte’s Policy & Government Relations team and in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Franklin Holley
Franklin Holley has over 20 years of experience in sustainable agriculture/sustainable sourcing, conservation programming, and community development spearheading diverse collaborations that result in better outcomes for all stakeholders in our agricultural systems. As Director of Sustainable Fashion at Conservation International, Franklin leads efforts to transform the production of raw materials in the fashion industry from approaches that deplete the land and degrade our environment to ones that offer positive solutions for people, nature, and climate.
Prior to joining CI, Franklin was the Director of Food and Agriculture at the Keystone Policy Center, where she led multi-stakeholder food and agriculture initiatives focused on issues such as sustainable natural resource use, wildlife habitat and biodiversity, climate change, and farm labor. She has also held previous roles with the World Wildlife Fund, Southern Maryland Resource Conservation & Development, and the University of Tennessee Extension. Franklin has an MS in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Virginia.
Scott Herndon
Scott Herndon serves as the President of Field to Market. Prior to joining Field to Market in 2022, he served as the Vice President and General Counsel of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, focusing sustainability, the Farm Bill and regulatory issues.
Scott has also served as Director of Global Government and Public Policy for S & P Global in Washington, D.C. and in various roles for Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the Florida Senate. He also worked in the orange juice production business started by his great grandfather, for Louis Dreyfus Commodities in Brazil, and for a citrus and cattle business in Florida.
Scott holds a JD from the University of Miami, an MBA from the University of Florida, and a BA from Tulane University. He has studied in Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. Scott currently lives in Washington, DC with his wife, daughter and Labrador Retriever. He is admitted to practice law by the Supreme Court of the United States, the District of Columbia and the State of Florida. Scott currently serves as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Agricultural Advisory Committee.
Steven Pires
Chisara Ehiemere
Daren Abney
Mariana Gatti
Dr Andy Jordan
Dr. Jordan holds a PhD in Environmental Health and long-standing experience in working side-by-side with cotton growers to support their progress on sustainable agricultural practices. He was awarded the 2019 Trusted Adviser of the Year by Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. He has also been at the center of the launch of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, for which soil health is one of the main areas of focus.
Megan Meiklejohn
Megan Meiklejohn is a sustainability practitioner with experience working in the fashion, green building, and manufacturing sectors.
As SVP of Supply Chain Innovation for Land to Market, Megan is focused on creating and scaling positive impact through strategic supply chain development and connecting regenerative growers to brands. She holds a BS in Environmental Resource Management from Penn State and an MS in Impact-Focused Business and Investing from the Glasgow Caledonian New York College.
Since 2014, Megan has focused on supply chain transparency and the impacts from raw material sourcing within the fashion industry. At EILEEN FISHER, a NYC based women’s clothing brand, she worked with the Savory Institute’s Argentinian hub, Ovis 21, to source wool fiber from the network for the brand’s largest merino wool program. Seeing first-hand how a brand’s support of regenerative land management could help drive ecosystem restoration and financial stability for the growers, Megan's focus turned to creating positive outcomes through the lens of business.
By designing supply chains from the farm forward, she has helped brands source natural fibers that support ecosystem functioning and local communities.
Eeshan Ganju
Carli Rosencranz
Zeb Winslow
Zeb Winslow is a fifth-generation farmer who uses a diverse mix of cover crops, including rye, triticale, oats, crimson clover, vetch and radishes while growing cash crops of corn, soybeans and cotton on 900 acres. Cover crops are allowed to grow as long as possible before planting to help with weed suppression and moisture conservation. If growing conditions allow, cash crops are planted green into the covers. In the past 10 years, Zeb has eliminated all tillage on his land, reduced his use of pesticides, and started to reduce synthetic fertilizers.
Hunter Buffington
Hannes Schoenegger
Hannes Schoenegger, born in Innsbruck, Austria is co-founder and CEO of Swiss bag brand QWSTION and it’s «spin-off» company Bananatex®, which represents a self developed, fully circular textile made from 100 % banana fibres. QWSTION has been making bags and everyday goods from plants since 2008 – ones that unite responsibility with functionality and timeless aesthetics. The efforts have been honoured with several international awards for innovation in sustainability and outstanding material development, including a Cradle to Cradle Gold Certification. Besides for QWSTION bags, Bananatex® has already been used by major global brands for furniture, footwear and accessory applications.
Tameka Peoples
Alissa Baier-Lentz
Karen Wynne
Karen Wynne spent most of her adult life working on and with smaller organic farms. After working on a farm in Virginia and starting a farm in New York state (and getting her degree in soil science), she moved south over twenty years ago. For a few years she delineated wetlands and mapped soil on land from Florida to Arkansas, and eventually set roots in Alabama.
Karen served as the founding executive director of the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, a grassroots organization focused on strengthening local and equitable food systems throughout the state. She shifted to providing individual technical assistance for farmers across the country, developing hundreds of farm plans focused on whole farm systems, sustainable and regenerative practices, and organic certification and transition.
For the past five years, Karen has worked with Better Cotton to build a stronger network of commodity cotton growers and key partners in the US and promote sustainable and regenerative practices at scale. She is also building better connections with their counterparts across the globe.
She still raises good food on her family’s 24 acres and even grows a little bit of Mississippi Brown heirloom cotton.
Lisa Sebesta
As Founder of Sitari Capital, Lisa works with investors to evaluate and manage impactful, direct investments in private companies that align with their values. She was previously a Managing Partner at Fresh Source Capital, LLC, and a General Partner in Fresh Source Capital Fund 1, which focuses on the sustainable food and agriculture sector. Previously Lisa spent 15 years as an equity analyst and portfolio manager for boutique investment firms in Boston.
Lisa has served as an advisor and/or board director for several food and agriculture organizations, including Atlantic Sea Farms, Farmers To You, Big Picture Beef, and Boston Public Market.
Lisa holds an undergraduate degree from Holy Cross and earned her Masters at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is a CFA® Charterholder and member of the Boston Security Analysts Society.
Renee Cheung
Renee is Managing Partner of Bonterra Partners, an investment advisory firm she founded in 2010 that helps investors develop pioneering agriculture, forestry and other natural capital investments that generate financial returns and regenerate the environment and local communities. She has led and evaluated numerous sustainable agriculture investments in both developed and emerging markets on behalf of investment firms, family offices, corporates, foundations, NGOs and multilateral development banks. Renee was formerly Senior Vice President, Real Assets at New Island Capital, where she focused on investments in sustainable and regenerative agriculture and forestry in the Americas and the rest of the world. Previously, she was a private equity executive at RIT Capital Partners PLC and Pantheon Ventures. Renee received a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Management of Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
Brian Dawson
Brian P. Dawson is a co-founder and Partner of Biome Capital Partners, an investment fund deploying capital to accelerate the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture. Most recently, Brian was co-founder and CEO of HarvestPort, a venture-backed AgTech marketplace with a mission to improve the economic and environmental outcomes of commercial farming operations.
Brian began his career in agriculture by co-founding Palogix, which became the largest supplier of bulk harvesting, transport, and storage containers and logistics services to fruit, vegetable, and nut producers in North America. Prior, Mr. Dawson co-founded PetroCal Inc. (exited via IPO), a technology company focused on increasing the production of mature oil and gas fields.
Brian is also a co-founder of Fifth Season Ventures (FSV), an impact investment fund focused on the food and agricultural supply chain. At FSV, he led the seed investment round and served as Executive Chairman of Full Cycle Bioplastics, a circular economy startup that converts organic waste into biodegradable plastic.
Brian is an Advisor to Planet FWD, a platform to connect farmers to brands seeking climate-friendly products, and to Wolf Tree Ventures, a regenerative venture studio. He also serves on the Board of the regenerative advocacy nonprofit Farmer’s Footprint. Mr. Dawson is a graduate of Columbia University, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
Cannon Michael
Mead Hardwick
Mead Hardwick is a Partner at Hardwick Planting Company. Hardwick Planting Company produces 8,000 acres of cotton, corn, soybeans, grain sorghum and wheat.
Mead’s focus at Hardwick Planting Company is strategic and long-range planning, financial planning, cost of production analysis, lending needs, equipment acquisition strategy, development and implementation of precision agriculture systems and precision terrain designs. Mead has completed The Executive Program for Agriculture Producers (TEPAP), is a Certified Louisiana Master Farmer and was awarded the 2020 Louisiana Master Farmer of the year. Mead serves on the board directors for Cotton Incorporated, EWR, Inc., Tensas Co-op Gin, Tensas State Bank and the Louisiana Agricultural Corporation, LLC Self Insured Fund (LAC – SIF).
Prior to his role at Hardwick Planting Company, Mead obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Finance from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, in 2004. From 2004 – 2015, Mead worked for Dallas based corporate real estate firm Fischer & Company specializing in industrial real estate development for various FedEx divisions in the U.S. and Canada. After living in Dallas, TX for 14 years, Mead and his family returned to their family farm in 2014.
Mead has been married to his wife Felicia for 16 years. They have three children – Will (13), Caleb (11) and Vivian (6). Mead, Felicia, and their children live in Monroe, Louisiana.
Parker Hughes
Gina (Asoudegan) Nagel
Gina Asoudegan is the Fomrer Vice President of Mission and Regenerative Agriculture at Applegate, the nation’s leading brand of natural and organic meat. In her role, Asoudegan leads the strategy for the company’s evolution toward regenerative agriculture and facilitates the creation of consciously scaled supply chains rooted in regenerative principles. Gina was awarded Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business 2022 for her work in regenerative agriculture and the supply chain collaboration she facilitated between the food and fashion industries.
Asoudegan is on the board of directors of the National Young Farmers Coalition and was instrumental in securing Applegate as a founding partner for the Savory Institute’s Land to Market™ Program, the world’s first regenerative sourcing solution for livestock-derived meat, dairy, wool and leather. Asoudegan is also a member of the senior advisory board at the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
Michael Miller
2023 PARTNERS
GOLD PARTNER
Peterson and Control Union
Website: https://www.petersoncontrolunion.com/en
Please visit our website for more information.MEDIA PARTNERS
Continuum Ag
Website: https://continuum.ag/
Continuum Ag was started as an agricultural consulting company, with its agronomists supporting their farmers through services such as soil sampling and fertility recommendations. With a realization that traditional agronomic consulting only addresses the chemical soil component, Continuum Ag has differentiated itself by working with growers that take a more holistic approach and recognize that soil’s physical and biological aspects must be addressed.
Today, Continuum Ag operates by deploying its soil health-focused RightWay program on farms across the Midwest with a footprint throughout the country and as far away as South Africa. Additionally, the company has attracted the attention of numerous product manufacturers, who pay Continuum Ag to conduct third-party field trials of their agricultural products. In the process, Continuum Ag has collected one of the largest private collections of soil biological data.
Loop Closing
Website: https://www.loopclosing.com
Loop Closing places commercially available composting machines where dumpsters once stood providing a path to zero waste. Instead of hauling food waste “away,” we compost it on-site where it’s generated, thereby elevating the use of food from heading to landfill/incineration. Our innovation is deploying a decentralized network that inclusively regenerates our soils, communities, and planet. Similar to distributing personal computers, scaling computing capacity far beyond mainframe computers, distributing on-site composting can scale composting capacity beyond centralized recycling infrastructure. In the US, it’s stuck at a recycling rate of 6% without a path to meet ReFED goals of 23% by 2030. LC’s decentralized approach provides a path to meet and exceed the ReFED goal.
Partner with Us
Based on your objectives, we can create bespoke packages designed specifically for you – from presenting your expertise on the main stage, to hosting a private dinner. You can partner with us showcase your brand and make valuable new connections. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories: Thought Leadership, Branding & Networking.
To discuss your objectives and partnership opportunities please contact [email protected]
Interested in a media partnership?
We'd love to hear from you and how we can support one another to connect with the industry. Contact [email protected]
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