Dr. Edward Mungai is the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC). KCIC supports a holistic country driven approach to accelerate the development, deployment and transfer of locally relevant climate technologies to the private sector. Dr. Mungai has a multifaceted background in business advisory, entrepreneurship, innovation and investment management. He is passionate about sustainable development and the role of the private sector as a driver for sustainable development in Africa. He has thorough experience in development financing mechanisms for the private sector. He holds a PhD in Business Management on Environmental Sustainability from Strathmore University Business School, and Executive MBA in Business Administration and Management from Scandinavian International Management Institute, Denmark. He is the publisher of Impact Investing in Africa. Learn more at www.edwardmungai.com.

Liz McKeon is the Climate Action Portfolio Lead at IKEA Foundation (Stichting IKEA Foundation). The IKEA Foundation is funded by INGKA Foundation, owner of the Ingka Group of companies. The IKEA Foundation is independent from the retail business with a sole focus on creating brighter lives on a liveable planet through philanthropy and grantmaking. The IKEA Foundation resides in the Netherlands and previously partnered with WDCD in the Refugee Challenge, the Climate Action Challenge and the Clean Energy Challenge. Together, What Design Can Do and the IKEA Foundation are engaging the design community to find innovative solutions to climate change and motivate the many people to take climate action. Learn more at www.ikeafoundation.org.

Rajeev Goyal is an author, nature conservationist, and co-founder of the “KTK-BELT” project, which seeks to create an open air “Vertical University” stretching from the plains of Nepal to the 3rd tallest peak in the world, where farmers and yak herders are the professors, and villages are the classrooms. KTK-BELT won the WDCD Clean Energy Challenge in 2018 for its bold model which seeks to safeguard Asia’s forests through botanical education, green livelihoods, and new policy frameworks for Indigenous communities. Born and raised in New York, Rajeev possesses two decades of grassroots experience working across Asia. His passion is to work at the intersection of language, the arts, and conservation.

Silvana Bahia is Executive Co-Director at Olabi, an organisation based in Rio de Janeiro that aims to democratise technologies and increase gender and racial diversity in the tech industry. Silvana also helps lead PretaLab (BlackWomanLab), a collective that mobilises Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous women to engage with and develop technology against social inequalities and racism. Silvana is a guest professor and researcher on narratives, technologies and diasporic knowledge at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Tatiana Glad is Director of Impact Hub Amsterdam, co-founder of Waterlution, and chair emeritus of the global Impact Hub Board. As an entrepreneur, sustainability practitioner, and change strategist working across sectors and cultures, she has a focus on impact entrepreneurship, urban innovation, sustainable business, and the next generation. With an MSc in Responsible Business Practice, Tatiana sees enterprise as a vehicle for social change.

Porfirio Gutierrez is a California-based textile designer, artist and advocate specialising in the weaving traditions of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. He comes from a long line of traditional Zapotec weavers, and his family remains dedicated to this art. He grew up immersed in colour, surrounded by the wildness of Oaxaca’s mountains and with knowledge of medicinal plants. His current work looks into the intersection of Indigenous knowledge and contemporary art practices, conversing about the land of the Americas as a whole. His life’s work has been revitalising and preserving traditional Zapotec natural dye techniques with a focus on reinterpreting traditional textiles and materials to reflect his distinct creative vision.

Ximena Saskia Warnaars is Programme Officer on Ford Foundation’s Natural Resources and Climate Change team, leading the foundation’s global work on extractive industries. Trained as an anthropologist, she has worked in support of human rights, Indigenous peoples’ rights, and environmental justice for nearly 15 years, with a focus on the mining, oil, and gas sectors.

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto is co-founder of Tokyo’s Atelier Bow-Wow, an architectural design office established in 1992 side-by-side with Momoyo Kaijima. He believes in not only designing more responsible spaces and architecture, but also ‘designing the framework to encourage people to imagine themselves as a resourceful human, instead of human resources’.

Julieta Loaiza is a VP of Marketing, Communication and Corporate Affairs at Nestlé México. She has over 28 years of experience creating and innovating brands with cross-platform business, marketing and communication strategies. For 15 years she worked in Global Creative Agencies and the last 14 in Nestlé. She brings experience, leadership, and global vision to achieve the objectives of Nestlé and its brands with different audiences.

Neha Singh is a partner at Quicksand, a design research and innovation studio based in India that investigates, imagines and co-creates meaningful futures in the Global South. A foundation in design anchors her varied explorations of storytelling to celebrate people, cultures and ecosystems, while engaging diverse audiences towards creating positive impact. Neha is a co-founder of UnBox Cultural Futures Society, a platform exploring new narratives and action at the intersection of disciplines, to reimagine India’s plural futures.

Richard van der Laken is a graphic designer, creative director and long-time advocate for the transformative power of design. Together with Pepijn Zurburg, he is co-founder of What Design Can Do, an international platform which empowers creatives to address urgent societal issues. To do this, WDCD has created multiple design challenges, publications, and events hosted across Amsterdam, Brazil and Mexico. Van der Laken is also creative director of renowned agency De Designpolitie and member of the award-winning design collective Gorilla.

Dagan Cohen is Head of R&D at What Design Can Do. He is involved in all research, impact measurement and development programmes. During his long-term involvement with WDCD, Dagan has spearheaded challenge programmes. Dagan’s passion in participative culture has proved invaluable to their success. After graduating from Rietveld Academy, Dagan worked as a visual artist and entrepreneur, and has gained 15 years of experience working as (digital) creative director at agencies from Saatchi & Saatchi to Draftfcb.