Beth Zonis
As Director of Cleantech Open Northeast, Beth is passionate about combating climate change, improving environmental equity, and growing the cleantech economy through innovation and entrepreneurship. The Northeast is the most active region of Cleantech Open, the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit accelerator and business plan competition. Beth has experience developing innovation hubs in the Northeast with Cleantech Open, as well as in India and Russia. She has worked at MIT and IBM, run her own marketing and sustainability consulting business, and led business development for a startup that grew from 10 to 1000 employees. Beth holds two prominent volunteer leadership positions: Board Member of ACTION Innovation Network, and Vice President of her graduating class at Wellesley College. She is a frequent speaker on cleantech innovation, as well as a judge and mentor. She’s been invited to speak at MIT, Wharton, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, and Boston University. An MIT Venture Mentoring Service (VMS) trained mentor, she has mentored and judged startups in various programs including Cleantech Open, MassChallenge, SBIR, Techstars, MIT $100k, and MIT Media Lab. She holds a BA, cum laude, from Wellesley College, an MBA from Boston University, a Certificat d’Etudes Politiques from Science Po in Paris, and a Certificate in Sustainable Business from the University of Southern Maine. She speaks French and Spanish. She plays squash, swims, kayaks and hikes, and enjoys spending time with her family.
Rania Elkalla
Rania Elkalla is an integrated designer with product & graphic design educational background with an experience in material science and production techniques.
She is skilled in visual communication, spatial imagination, branding, designing 2D & 3D products, illustrations, patterns, experimenting with materials, and integrating between different design groups.
Her designs are mostly eclectic, derived from different cultures and styles. She likes to merge between different disciplines.
The main aim is to keep on improving, present the best of herself and most authentic version of who she is.
Designers should always remember the word “FUN” that exists in Function. She tends to design things with humor and interaction with users
Özak Durmuş
Özak Durmuş, completed B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering at Hacettepe University and has been working in Ford Otosan since 2013. He has 6.5 years experience as Senior Engine Mount Design Engineer and 0.5 years as Sustainability Senior Engineer. He is also the co-founder and lead of company internal initiative ReCube(Recycle,Reuse,Reduce) project. He has experience in anti-vibration systems, engine mounts and brackets, sustainable material development & applications, circular economy and life cycle assessment.
Willemijn Peeters
Willemijn is the CEO of Searious Business, a social enterprise committed to prevent plastics from ending up in our environment. She has over 16 years of experience in changing companies to a more sustainable business model. Her experience includes game changing, innovating, program management, business developing and finance.
With a background in business management, broad experience in joint initiatives between businesses and the non-profit sector, she is used to bringing about change in the strategy and way of working of organizations. She is specialized in moving teams of people forward in an enthusiastic way – by creating a spark, an initiative that people and organizations want to be a part of.
She has been awarded with several titles:
- Green Solutions partner of the European Commission
- Finalist of edie Sustainability Leaders Awards 2020
- Winner of Dutch Design Awards 2019
- Winner Plastic Recyclers Europe Award 2018
- Winner National Energy Globe Award 2018
- Leader in Sustainable Top 100 in the Netherlands
- Ocean Ambassador of the Netherlands