Wil Burns – Professor of Research and Founding Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy at American University in Washington, DC and a visiting Professor in the Environmental Policy and Culture program at Northwestern. Prior to this, he served as Director of the Energy Policy & Climate program at Johns Hopkins University, and Assistant Secretary of State for Policy for the state of Wisconsin. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law Section of the American Branch of the International Law Association. Previously, he served as well as President of the Association of Environmental Studies & Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Wales-Cardiff School of Law and is the author of more than 80 publications.

Nick Kanopoulos has many years of experience in creating and managing large teams of development, mass production, and marketing of semiconductor products for the global market. Before founding Brite he was Managing Director for Channel Development in Europe / Africa / Middle East for the Solar Business Unit of Applied Materials. He was Director of the Multimedia & Communications (MMC) business division of Atmel Corp. managing product development groups based in the U.S., Greece, Sweden, and China. He was founder and CEO of Data Communications Technologies, which was acquired by Atmel, Director of the Integrated Electronics Group at RTI International (one of the largest independent research centers in the U.S.) and for 10 years an adjunct professor at Duke University in North Carolina. He has been a special advisor to the Minister of Macedonia & Thrace in Greece for matters of technology and to various semiconductor companies. He graduated in Electrical Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece, and holds MS and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University. He has published one book and over 100 papers in journals and conference proceedings, has six patents (issued and pending), and is a member of several international trade and scientific organizations.

Pascal Brunner is an entrepreneur at heart. He founded his first companies in his teenage years and achieved considerable success as a manager and frontman of a music group. After graduating from ETH Zurich with a master’s degree in movement science and sport, he and his father started the Vatorex project, which he has been managing and growing as CEO for the past six years. In his private life, sport and music continue to give him a balance to his ambitious executive job.

Julie Andersen is CEO of Plastic Oceans, a non-profit organization with the goal of eliminating plastic pollution. Julie has focused on communicating new means to improve and safeguard human health and the environment from the negative effects of industrial development. She has worked in public health and nonprofit management internationally for the past 20 years, including in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Julie earned her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and her Master of Public Health from Hunter College in New York City.