ABOUT THE GUESTS
Dr. Charles
Yarish
Globally renowned seaweed expert & Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
Professor Yarish received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University and then joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 1976 where he is in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and The Department of Marine Sciences. At UCONN, he developed an internationally known laboratory for seaweed R&D and intimately involved in the development of the global seaweed aquaculture industry and in particular in the USA.
Dr. Cody
Friesen
Co-founder and CEO, Zero Mass Water
Dr. Cody Friesen is an Entrepreneur, Materials Scientist and Physical Electrochemist. He is the Founder of Fluidic Energy, an advanced battery company and the Founder and CEO of Zero Mass Water, a water technology company. Friesen is the Fulton Engineering Professor of Innovation at Arizona State University and is a Senior Sustainability Scientist at the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability.
Ali
Jaffer
Global COO, Generation
Ali Jaffer is the Chief Operating Officer of Generation: You Employed. In this role, he has overseen Generation’s expansion from a start-up of 100 graduates in two locations to a global leading non-profit in the education to employment space, with over 20,000 graduates across 9 countries, all within the past three years.
Prior to his work with Generation, Ali was a Social Sector Expert with McKinsey & Company, having spent time with the consultancy in Canada, the Middle East, and the United States. As a leader in McKinsey’s education practice, Ali worked with governments, universities, colleges, and school systems on strategic and operational topics. Ali has also published several reports, particularly on the transition of young people from education to the workforce, including the ground-breaking global report, “Education to Employment: Designing a System that Works” (2012), and localized reports on the same topic in Canada and the Middle East and North Africa region.
Dr. Sasha
Kramer
Co-founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL)
Dr. Sasha Kramer is an ecologist and human rights advocate who has been living and working in Haiti since 2004. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology from Stanford University in 2006 and co-founded SOIL that same year while also completing a postdoctoral research position with the Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects at Stanford. While Sasha spends the majority of her time living and working in Haiti, she is also a global advocate for the recycling of nutrients in human waste, helping others implement sustainable sanitation projects and inspiring people around the world to participate in the sanitation revolution. Sasha is an Adjunct Professor of International Studies and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Miami. She is also a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, an Architect of the Future with the Waldzell Institute, and 2014 Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year.