SPEAKERS

Good is the New Cool 2020 celebrates the passionate voices of game changers in every industry who are paving their own path where there’s no rule book and no limits.

In 2012, a meeting with activist, Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and co-founder of Greenpeace, convinced Cyrill to take on the most challenging client; the world’s oceans with the particular objective of focusing attention on the multiple threats facing this vital ecosystem and on establishing a new business culture where it is more lucrative to protect the oceans than to destroy them.

As a result, Cyril founded Parley for the Oceans as a collaboration network for creators, thinkers, and leaders to create awareness for the beauty and fragility of the oceans and to develop and implement strategies that can end their destruction. Parley has collaborated with global brands such as Adidas (on their ocean plastic range of shoes and clothes), Corona and American Express.

She currently leads product design at charity: water, a nonprofit organization on a mission to bring clean and safe drinking water to every person on the planet.

There, she focuses on the digital donor experience, including donating, fundraising, and reporting back on the incredible impact that supporters have.

Ian led the development and growth of Red Bull Amaphiko, an international programme aimed at enabling early-stage, community-based social entrepreneurs. He drove the global growth of the programme which ran in 15 countries, including the USA, UK, Brazil & South Africa, and which enabled thousands of early stage social entrepreneurs.

Red Bull Amaphiko (pronounced “amapico” which is the Zulu word for “wings”) looked for early stage, grassroots social entrepreneurs tackling topics in areas such as education, employment, environment, sustainability, or health and wellness, and provide them with development programs and tools, from the main Amaphiko Academy (which includes 10 day residential and 18 month development program) to weekend boot camps, digital know-how and resources for social entrepreneurs.

Ian recently spun-off the Amaphiko programme into an independent impact venture called FURTHER. He will be joining us to talk about how ‘How to incubate an authentic global social impact program’ inside a global multi-national.

Rajesh Anandan is an impact entrepreneur and growth architect. He is the founder of Unicef Ventures, and creator of Unicef Kid Power, the world’s first wearable-for-good named one of TIME’s 25 Best Inventions.

Kid Power Bands act as a kids’ fitness tracker bracelet that connects to a smartphone app. The app lets users complete missions, which counts total steps and awards points. The points then unlock funding from partners, which is then used by UNICEF to deliver packets of therapeutic food to severely malnourished children around the world.

UNiCEF Kid Power has also created groundbreaking partnerships with the likes of The WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and Pokemon Go.

Rajesh is also the co-founder and CEO of Ultranauts, a software and data quality engineering startup where 75% of employees are on the autism spectrum, named a FastCompany World Changing Idea, MIT SOLVE Challenge Winner and Interbrand Breakthrough Brand.

Dave Ford is the Founder of SoulBuffalo, an expedition company with operating experience in over 80 countries, servicing the Fortune 500, immersing leaders directly into the greatest challenges of our time including climate change, ocean plastics, and wildlife conservation.

Dave will be joining us to talk about Soul Buffalo’s most audacious summit - the Ocean Plastics Leadership Summit which brought an unlikely group of allies (ranging from Greenpeace to Nestle Waters, who literally shared a room together) for a conference on a boat in the middle of the North Atlantic Gyre.

Dave is also the Co-Founder of The Ocean Plastics Leadership Network, a membership community that runs experiential summits in ocean plastic hotspots around the globe that drive to accelerated, collaborative action, which brings together a diverse group of organizations like HP, Greenpeace, P&G, Nestle Waters, The Clorox Company, SAP, IDEO, Dow, Pepsico, the Coca-Cola Company, National Geographic, Conservation International, Kimberly Clark, Milliken, and the WWF.

In 2019, Mary Beth assumed the role of President of The Mission Continues, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that empowers veterans to continue their service, and empowers communities with veteran talent, skills and preparedness to generate visible impact.

She lives in Fairfax Station, VA, with her husband Brian, a retired Marine, and their three kids.