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Our speakers in 2026

Smail Al Hilali

Director, Division of Circular Economy & Green Industry, UNIDO

Signe Marie Bakka Backhaus

Director of Design & Product Development, roccamore
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Domitila Barros

Activist and speaker of Gesellschaft der Europäischen Akademien e.V.

Verena Bentele

President of the Social Association VdK Germany
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Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart

Professor emeritus & CEO, Leuphana University Lüneburg & Braungart EPEA – Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency

Delara Burkhardt

Member of the European Parliament, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament/SPD

Dr. Estelle Clerc

Fatma Deniz

Olaf Deutschbein

Head of UNIDO in Berlin (Investment & Technology Promotion Office)

Nina Eichinger

Host and entrepreneur

Claudia Frese

CEO momox

Ladeja Godina Košir

Chair, European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform / Founder and Director CIRCULAR CHANGE 

Isabel Gomez

Member of the Managing Board, Cradlet to Cradle NGO

Elwyn Grainger-Jones

Executive Director, PII
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Nora Sophie Griefahn

Executive Director, Cradle to Cralde NGO

Laura Griestop

Senior Manager Sustainable Business and Markets WWF Germany

Dr. Stefan Gräter

Director Group Sustainability, Wepa Hygieneprodukte GmbhWepa Hygieneprodukte Gmbh

Franck Grube

Project Lead Construction & Sustainability, dm-drogerie markt

Bettina Hagedorn

Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Dr. Hermann Heipieper

Head of Research Group, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH – UFZ, Leipzig

Katja Hansen

Research Fellow TUM & Advisory Board C2C NGO
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Tim Janßen

Executive Director, Cradle to Cradle NGO

Claudia Kalisch

Head of Central Procurement and Contracting, Stadt Ludwigsburg

Lars Keller

Head of Central Procurement and Contracting, Stadt Ludwigsburg

Dr. Matthias Koehler

Deputy Director-General, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
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Martin Krengel

CEO, WEPA Gruppe

Olaf Lies

Minister President, Lower Saxony

Anita Lührs

Head of Department, Federal Ministry of the Interior

Dr. Matthias Miersch

Chair, SPD Parliamentary Group

Dr. Lennart Osthoff

CEO, Repartly

Tanja Pahlke

Key Account & Project Leadership | Germany & Austria | Iris Ceramica Group

Georg Reifferscheid

Senior Venture & Investment Architect – Climate Tech, REWE Group

Florian Runden

CEO Runden Group
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Sarah Ryglewski

Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor Bundeskanzleramt

I.E. Yadir Salazar-Mejia

Ambassador, Republic of Colombia to the Federal Republic of Germany

Dr. Michael Schmidt-Salomon

Philosopher/Author, Spokesperson of the Board of the Giordano Bruno Foundation & Advisory Board Member of C2C NGO

Sebastian Schels

Chief Environmental Officer, Ratisbona Handelsimmobilien

Dr. Maik Schlickel

Executive Vice President Quality Management and sustainability, Nobilia-Werke

Anja Siegesmund

Executive President BDE Bundesverband der Deutschen Entsorgungs-, Wasser- und Kreislaufwirtschaft e. V.

Silke Schmidt-Stegemann

Administrator, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) 

Willem Stas

Chief Operations Officer, Royal Mosa

Nienke Steen

Director Consumer Products & Textiles, C2C Products Innovation Institute

Dr. Simran Talwar

Program Lead & Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Rolf Verspuij

CEO, Koninklijke Ahrend

Dr. Jan von der Lancken

Managing Director, EPEA GmbH Part of Drees & Sommer

Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen

Founder Gesunde Erde Gesunde Menschen Foundation

Markus Vögeli

CEO, Vögeli

Christoph Waldmann

Managing Director, Herbert Waldmann

Lilli Knodt

Senior Advisor Strategic Partnerships, Cradle to Cradle NGO
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Prof. Dr. Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß

Head of the Department of Strategic Leadership and Global Management, Technical University of Berlin

Dr. Juliane Kronen

Founder, shareholder and managing director & advisory board member, innatura & Cradle to Cradle NGO

Dominik Markward

Advisor Strategic Partnerships, Cradle to Cradle NGO

Jürgen Schmidt

Member of the Executive Board, Cradle to Cradle NGO

Carolin Schultz

Team Leader Volunteer Management, Cradle to Cradle NGO

More speakers to follow!

Call for input

Domitila Barros

Domitila Barros is a social entrepreneur and author. Raised in Brazil, she developed upcycling techniques for her sustainable jewellery label. She taught street children to read and write—children who sorted electronic waste “made in Europe and the USA.” In 2000, she received the UNESCO Millennium Dreamer Award. Since then, she has been committed to circularity and sustainable consumption. She deepened this commitment academically through studies in political and social sciences. In 2025, she was appointed the first global Planetary Boundaries Ambassador for the FISU World University Games. She uses her role to establish Cradle to Cradle (C2C) on a global scale.

Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart

Michael Braungart teaches at Leuphana University in Lüneburg. He is also the founder of EPEA – Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH in Hamburg, the cradle of Cradle to Cradle. He is also co-founder and scientific director of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) in Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) and founder and scientific director of the Hamburg Environment Institute (HUI). Michael Braungart is one of the two founders of the Cradle to Cradle design concept, which is the basis for the Green Deal and the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan. Together with organizations and companies from various sectors, he designs eco-effective products, business models, and intelligent material pooling. Together with William McDonough, he was named Hero of the Environment by Time Magazine in 2007.

Delara Burkhardt 

Delara Burkhardt (born 3 November 1992 in Hamburg) is an SPD Member of the European Parliament since 2019. She is driving forward the transformation towards a resource-efficient, circular economy at EU level. Her work focuses on environmental, climate and circular economy policy, including as a negotiator for the EU Textile Strategy and the EU Packaging Regulation. Burkhardt is a member of the Environment Committee and a substitute member of the Industry and Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee. She lives with her family in the Zero-Waste city Kiel.

Dr. Estelle Clerc

Estelle Clerc is CEO and co-founder of CellX Biosolutions AG, an ETH Zurich spin-off developing bacteria-based solutions to biodegrade PFAS (“forever chemicals”) in industrial wastewater and contaminated soil. She holds a PhD in microbiology from ETH Zurich. CellX has secured multiple pilot contracts with leading industry partners. Estelle is also an active advocate for female entrepreneurship in deep tech.

Ladeja Godina Košir

Ladeja Godina Košir is Founder & Director of Circular Change and Chair of ECESP in Brussels. A WEF Circular Leadership Award finalist, she is a leading voice in circular transformation, connecting policy, business and society to turn bold visions into scalable action. She co-develops national roadmaps, lectures globally and advances transition brokers and circular diplomacy as key drivers of systemic change.

Isabel Gomez

Isabel Gomez started working at Cradle to Cradle NGO in January 2020. As a Member of the Managing Board she oversees the NGO´s departments of Communications and Politics & Society. Previous to that, she was a business and finance journalist for ten years, working for the Financial Times Deutschland, the Wall Street Journal, and Börsen-Zeitung. Isabel holds a Diploma degree in Economics.

Elwyn Grainger-Jones

As Executive Director of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, Elwyn Grainger-Jones leads the Institute’s team to accelerate adoption and maximize the impact of the organization and the Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ Products Program globally, providing overarching leadership, strategy, and direction. Prior to the Institute, Elwyn spent several years at CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) and more than 20 years working in a range of government institutions and development banks, where he held various leadership and change management positions, including Director of Policy, Partnerships and Operations at the Global Environment Facility in the World Bank and Director of the Environment and Climate Department in the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Nora Sophie Griefahn

Nora Sophie Griefahn is co-founder and managing director of Cradle to Cradle NGO. For more than ten years, the environmental scientist has been a sought-after expert on C2C, the sustainable use of finite resources, and the need for materially healthy and recyclable products at political and economic podiums and events as well as in the media. With C2C NGO, she is driving forward a rethink in science, politics, education and society that aims for more than just climate neutrality. Griefahn also holds teaching positions at various German universities.

Katja Hansen

Katja Hansen is a leading practitioner, executive trainer, mentor, lecturer and author in product & process innovation and infrastructure development using the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Design framework. She has organized innovation projects with companies, NGOs, and international agencies since 1992. She is a member of Cradle to Cradle NGOs advisory board, a research fellow at Technische Universität München and a lecturer on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation / Exeter University CE masterclass courses. She was a senior advisor to the 2011 Dutch Government’s comparison of Life Cycle Assessment and Cradle to Cradle. In the early 1990s, as a researcher with EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung and Hamburger Umweltinstitut e.V., she co-authored formative studies on Intelligent Product System (IPS) methods for agrochemicals, nutrient recycling and natural and synthetic fibers that set the groundwork for Cradle to Cradle products. She holds a degree in environmental engineering.

Tim Janßen

Tim Janßen is executive director and co-founder of Cradle to Cradle NGO. He majored in Business, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW). In 2012, he co-founded Cradle to Cradle NGO (C2C NGO) with Nora Sophie Griefahn. C2C NGO connects the fields of business, education, politics, and civil society by creating networking platforms and educational formats. In 2019, the NGO established the C2C LAB in Berlin: the world’s first renovation in an existing building based on Cradle to Cradle criteria. Serving as an educational center, NGO head office, and real-world laboratory, it is here where the C2C school of thought and design concept become reality. As co-executive director, Tim develops strategies to maximize the organization’s impact on society and actively shapes the growth of this young, ever-growing movement. He is a sought-after expert for Cradle to Cradle, Circular Economy and Social Entrepreneurship. He regularly holds keynotes and partakes as panelist at national and international conferences. Furthermore, Tim is a lecturer at DHBW, Leuphana University Lüneburg and TU Berlin.

Lars Keller

Lars Keller, born in 1969, is a business economist and has been working in public procurement and tendering for public authorities since 2013. Since 2020, he has headed the Central Procurement and Tendering Office of the City of Ludwigsburg, a district town with nearly 100,000 inhabitants in the Stuttgart metropolitan region. He has also gained professional experience in the retail sector, with a focus on office supplies and office furniture, where he became familiar with the bidder’s perspective. In addition to his interest in art, music, and gastronomy, he has been actively involved in dance sport for many years, including serving as an official at both state and, most recently, national level.

Dr. Matthias Koehler

Dr. Matthias Koehler is Deputy Director General at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, where he has led the Sub-Directorate for Raw Materials, Circular Economy, Resource Protection and Environmental Law since July 2025. He joined the Ministry in 2000 and has since held senior roles in foreign trade policy, the G8 Sherpa Office, SME financing, and digital policy. He studied law in Germany and France, and holds a PhD in International Public Law.

Martin Krengel

Martin Krengel, Chairman of the Management Board of the WEPA Group, born in 1957, joined the family business WEPA after completing his studies in law in 1985. In 1990, he became Managing Director, and in 2001 he took over the position as Chairman of the Management Board. In addition, he is Chairman of PAPIER NRW, the association of the paper-manufacturing industry in North Rhine-Westphalia e. V. For the entrepreneurial family, he is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the family holding as well as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the company-affiliated WEPA Foundation.

Anita Lührs

Anita Lührs is Head of Division for Public Procurement and Procurement Steering within the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). As a lawyer, she has been working for the BMI since 2007 on topics such as Security, Civil Protection, European Law, and Digital Initiatives. Until February 2026 she headed the unit for Sustainable Public Procurement and Co-Chaired the Interministerial Committee for Sustainable Public Procurement (IMA nöB) for the BMI and led its Secretariat.

Dr. Matthias Miersch

Dr. Matthias Miersch has been chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag since May 2025. Born in Hanover, he joined the SPD in 1990 and has been a member of the German Bundestag without interruption since 2005. A lawyer by training, he has been admitted to the bar since 1997 and received his doctorate in constitutional law and legal history from the University of Hanover in 1999. Miersch has volunteered with the YMCA and as a football referee and has been a member of the Chamber for Sustainable Development of the Evangelical Church in Germany since September 2016, among other things.

Dr. Lennart Osthoff

Dr. Lennart Osthoff is the founder and CEO of Repartly GmbH, a company developing scalable repair and refurbishment solutions for home appliances and electronics. His goal: to make repair and reuse economically viable through digitalisation, automation, and new procurement models and to advance the circular economy in the electronics industry. To this end, he collaborates with manufacturers, specialist retailers, and recycling companies. He previously completed his PhD at the Chair of Production Management and Controlling at the University of Paderborn, and focussed on collaborations along the supply chain.

Sarah Ryglewski

Minister of State Sarah Ryglewski is responsible for cooperation between the federal and state governments at the Federal Chancellery of Germany. She is also entrusted by the Federal Cabinet with responsibility for sustainable development and heads the State Secretaries’ Committee for Sustainable Development. She was previously Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance (2019-2021). She has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2015. From 2011 to 2015, she was a member of the Bremen Parliament. Sarah Ryglewski has been involved in the SPD since 2001. First as state chair of the Young Socialists, then as deputy state chair of the SPD, and since 2017 as an assessor in the SPD party executive. She has a degree in political science and worked as a district manager in Bremen after graduating from university.

I.E. Yadir Salazar Mejía

Career diplomat with professional experience in trade, environmental management, information and communication technology, science and professional partnerships. Expertise in multilateral negotiations and structuring public-private, sustainable development projects. Her areas of focus include women’s rights, the empowerment of women and indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Ambassador Salazar Mejía holds degrees in finance and international relations, European economic integration, as well as certificates in environmental management and climate change, specializations in interdependence management & globalization, and trade.

Sebastian Schels

As a passionate family entrepreneur, sustainability and Cradle to Cradle are Sebastian Schels’ absolute focal points. With his company, he aims to initiate a successful construction revolution as the self-proclaimed ‘Chief Environmental Officer.’ Embracing a fundamentally honest approach and a commitment to implementation, RATISBONA Handelsimmobilien creates tangible references for transformation. The stated goal is to create attractive markets by combining the C2C design concept with architectural culture, thereby establishing sustainability and quality as the new standard. Ultimately, this endeavor leads to environmentally positive, circular, and architecturally valuable buildings.

Rolf Verspuij

Rolf Verspuij has been the CEO of Koninklijke Ahrend since 2023, where he works alongside a global team to design, manufacture, and refurbish sustainable office furniture. With his extensive executive-level experience, he is steering Ahrend towards Net-Zero CO₂ emissions by 2050 and has positioned the company as a pioneer in the industry for circular work environments. Prior to this, he has been a board member at Koninklijke Ahrend since 2012 and held various positions at Gazelle NV, Lampenier and V&D. Since 2018, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board at BrabantZorg. Rolf lives in Zeist with his family and is a passionate runner and cyclist in his free time.

Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen 

Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen studied medicine and science journalism in Berlin, London and Heidelberg. His specialty: communicating medical content in a humorous way. He gives lasting impulses that stick: on television, as an author of non-fiction books, at congresses or as a keynote speaker. For him, “planetary health” means giving top priority to protecting our livelihoods and a future fit for our grandchildren. To this end, he founded the Gesunde Erde – Gesunde Menschen (Healthy Planet – Healthy People) Foundation in 2020 and published the book “Mensch Erde – Wir könnten es so schön haben”. He presents several TV formats for ARD, as well as numerous documentaries. Eckart von Hirschhausen is an honorary member of the faculty of the Charité, a member of the Sustainability Council of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, a member of the Club of Rome and an honorary professor in Marburg.

Markus Vögli

Markus Vögeli from Langnau i.E. is a trained printer. He studied communications and media management at the University of Applied Sciences in Lausanne. After an internship in Canada and working for a Swiss consulting company for the media industry, he joined the family business at the age of 30. Due to his professional stays in French-speaking Switzerland and abroad, the 49 year old speaks 3 languages. He has been running Vögeli AG together with his brother for 17 years.

Christoph Waldmann

Christoph Waldmann has been part of the family business Herbert Waldmann since 2000. After studying business administration, he moved into product management in 2011 and became Head of Marketing in 2017. Since 2020, he has led the Waldmann Group as CEO and owner – bringing over two decades of hands-on company experience to the development of future-ready products.

Lilli Knodt

Lilli Knodt arbeitet seit September 2021 als Senior Referentin für Strategische Partnerschaften bei Cradle to Cradle NGO. Als Wirtschaftsradar und Vernetzer verknüpft das Referat Partnerunternehmen und integriert sie in die Projekte von C2C NGO. Lilli hat einen Abschluss in Kultur- und Religionswissenschaft (M.A.) und einen Abschluss der srh Fernhochschule in Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement.

Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß

Born in 1959. Studied business administration, doctorate and habilitation in Munich. Professorships at the Universities of Heidelberg (visiting professorship), Jena and Bamberg. Since winter semester 2008/09 Head of the Department of Strategic Leadership and Global Management at the TU Berlin. 2011-2013 Dean of his faculty. Head of the course of studies “Sustainable Management”. 2011-12 Member, 2013-14 Chairman of the Board of the Association of University Teachers of Business Administration. Research interests: Sustainability Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Diversification, Ecosystems, Grand Societal Challenges.

Juliane Kronen

Dr. Juliane Kronen ist Gründerin, Gesellschafterin und Geschäftsführerin der innatura gGmbH, eines Sozialunternehmens, das fabrikneue Sachspenden in den sozialen Sektor vermittelt. Die promovierte Betriebswirtin arbeitete von 1994 bis 2010 für die Boston Consulting Group, davon die letzten acht Jahre als Partnerin und Managing Director. Der Schwerpunkt ihrer Tätigkeit lag auf der Verzahnung von Unternehmens- und IT-Strategie, vor allem in der weltweiten Telekommunikationsindustrie. Zusätzlich war sie von 2004 bis 2008 Leiterin Europa der weltweiten Women’s Initiative des Unternehmens und verantwortete diverse Social-Impact-Projekte bei nationalen und internationalen Non-Profit-Organisationen. 2010 entschied Juliane Kronen, die Boston Consulting Group zu verlassen und innatura zu gründen. Sie ist Vorstandsmitglied der Right Livelihood Award Stiftelsen, die den sogenannten Alternativen Nobelpreis vergibt, sowie Beiratsmitglied bei Cradle to Cradle NGO.

Dominik Markward

Dominik Markward ist seit November 2022 Referent für Strategische Partnerschaften bei Cradle to Cradle NGO. Als Wirtschaftsradar und Vernetzer verknüpft das Referat Partnerunternehmen und integriert sie in die Projekte von C2C NGO. Dominik hat einen Abschluss in Soziologie (B.A.) und Politikwissenschaften und setzte sich bereits während des Studiums nebenberuflich für eine nachhaltige Transformation verschiedener wirtschaftlicher Sektoren ein.

Jürgen Schmidt

Jürgen Schmidt begann seine Karriere mit dem Verkauf von „Umweltschutzpapier“ auf dem Schulhof. Daraus wurde im Laufe der Jahre die  memo AG, ein europaweit agierendes Versandhandelsunternehmen für nachhaltige Produkte. Für sein Engagement wurde er 2007 als „Öko-Manager des Jahres“ ausgezeichnet und erhielt die Bayerische Staatsmedaille für Verdienste um Umwelt und Gesundheit sowie den Deutschen Umweltpreis. 2012 verabschiedete er sich aus seinen operativen Funktionen bei der memo AG, um nachhaltige Projekte zu fördern. Seit 2019 sitzt er im Aufsichtsrat der memo AG und errichtete im gleichen Jahr die memo Stiftung. Seit 2019 ist er Mitglied im ehrenamtlichen Vorstand von C2C NGO.  

Carolin Schultz

Carolin Schultz betreut seit November 2022 die ehrenamtliche Community von C2C NGO. Als zentrale Ansprechperson unterstützt, koordiniert und vernetzt sie rund 1.000 Aktiven im DACH-Raum dabei, das C2C-Konzept mit Kreativität und Begeisterung in die Welt zu tragen. Carolin hat einen Abschluss in Ernährungs- und Verbraucherökonomie (M.Sc.) und setzte sich vor ihrer Tätigkeit bei C2C NGO beruflich und ehrenamtlich bei der Berliner Tafel e.V., foodsharing e.V. und dem Start-up Too Good To Go aktiv gegen Lebensmittelverschwendung ein.

Nora Sophie Griefahn

Nora Sophie Griefahn is co-founder and managing director of Cradle to Cradle NGO. For more than ten years, the environmental scientist has been a sought-after expert on C2C, the sustainable use of finite resources, and the need for materially healthy and recyclable products at political and economic podiums and events as well as in the media. With C2C NGO, she is driving forward a rethink in science, politics, education and society that aims for more than just climate neutrality. Griefahn also holds teaching positions at various German universities.

Tim Janßen

Tim Janßen is executive director and co-founder of Cradle to Cradle NGO. He majored in Business, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW). In 2012, he co-founded Cradle to Cradle NGO (C2C NGO) with Nora Sophie Griefahn. C2C NGO connects the fields of business, education, politics, and civil society by creating networking platforms and educational formats. In 2019, the NGO established the C2C LAB in Berlin: the world’s first renovation in an existing building based on Cradle to Cradle criteria. Serving as an educational center, NGO head office, and real-world laboratory, it is here where the C2C school of thought and design concept become reality. As co-executive director, Tim develops strategies to maximize the organization’s impact on society and actively shapes the growth of this young, ever-growing movement. He is a sought-after expert for Cradle to Cradle, Circular Economy and Social Entrepreneurship. He regularly holds keynotes and partakes as panelist at national and international conferences. Furthermore, Tim is a lecturer at DHBW, Leuphana University Lüneburg and TU Berlin.

Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß

Born in 1959. Studied business administration, doctorate and habilitation in Munich. Professorships at the Universities of Heidelberg (visiting professorship), Jena and Bamberg. Since winter semester 2008/09 Head of the Department of Strategic Leadership and Global Management at the TU Berlin. 2011-2013 Dean of his faculty. Head of the course of studies “Sustainable Management”. 2011-12 Member, 2013-14 Chairman of the Board of the Association of University Teachers of Business Administration. Research interests: Sustainability Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Diversification, Ecosystems, Grand Societal Challenges.

Dr. Estelle Clerc

Estelle Clerc ist CEO und Mitgründerin von CellX Biosolutions AG, einem ETH Zürich Spin-off, das bakterienbasierte Lösungen zum biologischen Abbau von PFAS (“Ewigkeitschemikalien”) in Industrieabwässern und kontaminierten Böden entwickelt. Sie promovierte in Mikrobiologie an der ETH Zürich. CellX hat mehrere Pilotverträge mit führenden Industriepartnern abgeschlossen. Estelle setzt sich zudem aktiv für Female Entrepreneurship im Deep-Tech-Bereich ein.

Sebastian Schels

As a passionate family entrepreneur, sustainability and Cradle to Cradle are Sebastian Schels’ absolute focal points. With his company, he aims to initiate a successful construction revolution as the self-proclaimed ‘Chief Environmental Officer.’ Embracing a fundamentally honest approach and a commitment to implementation, RATISBONA Handelsimmobilien creates tangible references for transformation. The stated goal is to create attractive markets by combining the C2C design concept with architectural culture, thereby establishing sustainability and quality as the new standard. Ultimately, this endeavor leads to environmentally positive, circular, and architecturally valuable buildings.

Sebastian Schels

Als leidenschaftlicher Familienunternehmer sind Nachhaltigkeit und Cradle to Cradle die absoluten Herzensthemen von Sebastian Schels. Mit seinem Unternehmen möchte er als selbsternannter „Chief Environmental Officer“ eine gelingende Bauwende einläuten. Mit einer von Grund auf ehrlichen Haltung und einer gelebten Konsequenz in der Umsetzung schafft RATISBONA Handelsimmobilien greifbare Referenzen für Transformation. Erklärtes Ziel ist es, attraktive Einzelhandelsmärkte durch das C2C-Designkonzept in Verbindung mit Baukultur zu gestalten und so Nachhaltigkeit und Qualität zum neuen Standard zu etablieren. Am Ende stehen klimapositive, kreislauffähige und städtebaulich wertvolle Gebäude.

Dr. Simran Talwar

Dr. Simran Talwar ist Programmleiterin und Forschungsdirektorin am UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF). Ihre Fachgebiete sind Politik und Geschäftsmodelle der Kreislaufwirtschaft, Produktverantwortung und erweiterte Herstellerverantwortung. Sie hat zahlreiche erfolgreiche Forschungsprojekte mit der australischen Bundes- und Landesregierung, internationalen Regierungen und der Industrie durchgeführt und dabei Führungsqualitäten sowie branchenspezifisches Fachwissen in den Bereichen Kunststoffe, Chemikalien, Bergbau und Verpackungen eingebracht. Simran ist außerdem Programmleiterin des Australian Solving Plastic Waste Cooperative Research Centre und leitet dort gemeinsam ein Forschungsprogramm zum Thema „Umsetzung der Kreislaufwirtschaft für Kunststoffe“. Sie verfügt über mehr als 13 Jahre Forschungs- und Branchenerfahrung in den Bereichen Kreislaufwirtschaft, industrielle Ökosysteme und Netzwerke, Wettbewerbsdynamik sowie technologischer, struktureller und institutioneller Wandel im Hinblick auf Nachhaltigkeit.

 

Dr. Matthias Koehler

Dr. Matthias Koehler ist Ministerialdirigent im Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, wo er seit Juli 2025 die Unterabteilung Rohstoffpolitik, Kreislaufwirtschaft, Ressourcenschutz und Umweltrecht leitet. Seit 2000 im Ministerium tätig, bekleidete er zuvor Leitungspositionen in der Außenwirtschaftspolitik, im G8-Sherpa-Stab, in der Mittelstands- und Startup-Finanzierung sowie in der Digitalpolitik. Er studierte Rechtswissenschaften in Deutschland und Frankreich.

Dr. Lennart Osthoff

Dr. Lennart Osthoff ist Gründer und Geschäftsführer der Repartly GmbH, die skalierbare Reparatur- und Refurbishmentlösungen für Hausgeräte und Elektronik entwickelt. Sein Ziel: Reparatur und Wiederverwendung durch Digitalisierung und Automatisierung sowie neue Beschaffungsformen wirtschaftlich tragfähig zu machen und die Kreislaufwirtschaft in der Elektronikindustrie voranzutreiben. Dafür arbeitet er mit Herstellern, Fachhandel und Recyclingunternehmen zusammen. Zuvor promovierte er am Lehrstuhl für Produktionsmanagement und Controlling der Uni Paderborn und beschäftigte sich intensiv mit Kooperationen entlang der Supply Chain.

Lars Keller

Lars Keller, Jahrgang 1969, ist Betriebswirt und seit 2013 im Beschaffungs- und Vergabewesen bei öffentlichen Auftraggebern tätig. Seit 2020 leitet er die Zentrale Beschaffung und Vergabe der Stadt Ludwigsburg, einer Kreisstadt mit knapp 100.000 Einwohnenden in der Metropolregion Stuttgart. Weitere berufliche Erfahrung sammelte er im Handel, mit den Schwerpunkten Bürobedarf und Büroeinrichtung. Hier lernte er auch die Bieterseite kennen. Neben seinem Interesse für Kunst, Musik und Kulinarik war er unter anderem langjähriger Funktionär im Tanzsport auf Landes- und zuletzt Bundesebene.

Christoph Waldmann

Christoph Waldmann ist seit 2000 im Familienunternehmen Herbert Waldmann tätig. Nach seinem BWL-Studium wechselte er 2011 ins Produktmanagement und übernahm 2017 die Leitung des Marketings. Seit 2020 führt er die Waldmann Group als Geschäftsführer und Inhaber – und bringt damit mehr als zwei Jahrzehnte Unternehmenserfahrung in die Gestaltung zukunftsfähiger Produkte ein.

Anita Lührs

Anita Lührs leitet im Bundesministerium des Innern (BMI) das Referat für Öffentliches Auftragswesen und Beschaffungssteuerung. Als Juristin ist sie seit 2007 für das BMI tätig, u.a. zu den Themen öffentliche Sicherheit, zivile Verteidigung, Europarecht und Digitales. Bis Februar 2026 verantwortete sie den Bereich Nachhaltigkeit im öffentlichen Einkauf und war für das BMI Co-Vorsitzende und Leiterin der Geschäftsstelle des Interministeriellen Ausschusses für nachhaltige öffentliche Beschaffung (IMA nöB).

Ladeja Godina Košir

Ladeja Godina Košir ist Gründerin und Direktorin von Circular Change sowie Vorsitzende der European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP) in Brüssel. Als Finalistin des WEF Circular Leadership Awards zählt sie zu den prägenden Stimmen der zirkulären Transformation. Sie verbindet Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, um Visionen in skalierbare Lösungen zu überführen, entwickelt nationale Roadmaps und treibt Transition Brokers sowie Circular Diplomacy als Schlüssel für den systemischen Wandel voran.

Rolf Verspuij

Rolf Verspuij ist seit 2023 CEO von Koninklijke Ahrend, wo er gemeinsam mit einem globalen Team nachhaltige Büromöbel entwirft, produziert und aufarbeitet. Mit seiner umfangreichen Erfahrung auf Führungsebene steuert er Ahrend in Richtung Net-Zero-CO₂-Emissionen bis 2050 und hat das Unternehmen als Vorreiter der Branche für zirkuläre Arbeitsumgebungen positioniert. Zuvor war er seit 2012 Mitglied des Vorstands von Koninklijke Ahrend und bekleidete verschiedene Positionen bei Gazelle NV, Lampenier und V&D. Seit 2018 ist er Mitglied des Aufsichtsrats von BrabantZorg. Rolf lebt mit seiner Familie in Zeist und ist in seiner Freizeit ein begeisterter Läufer und Radfahrer.

I.E. Yadir Salazar Mejía

Karrierediplomatin mit Berufserfahrung in Handel, Umweltmanagement, Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik, Wissenschafts- und Fachkräftepartnerschaften. Expertise in multilateralen Verhandlungen und Strukturierung von öffentlich-privaten, nachhaltigen Projekten. Zu ihren Schwerpunkten gehören Frauenrechte, die Stärkung der Frauen und der indigenen und afrokolumbianischen Gemeinschaften. Botschafterin Salazar Mejía hat Abschlüsse in Finanzen und Internationale Beziehungen, Europäische Wirtschaftsintegration sowie Zertifikate in Umweltmanagement und Klimawandel, Spezialisierungen in Interdependenzmanagement & Globalisierung und Handel.

Domitila Barros

Domitila Barros ist Sozialunternehmerin und Autorin. Aufgewachsen in Brasilien, etablierte sie Upcycling-Techniken für ihr nachhaltiges Schmucklabel. Sie brachte Straßenkindern das Lesen und Schreiben bei, die Elektroschrott “made in Europa und USA” sortierten.  2000 erhielt sie den UNESCO Millennium Dreamer Award. Seitdem engagiert sie sich für Circularity und nachhaltigen Konsum. Akademisch vertiefte sie dies mit einem Studium in Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften. 2025 wurde sie zur ersten globalen Planetary Boundaries Ambassador der FISU World University Games ernannt. Sie nutzt ihre Rolle, um C2C global zu verankern.

Isabel Gomez

Isabel Gomez started working at Cradle to Cradle NGO in January 2020. As a Member of the Managing Board she oversees the NGO´s departments of Communications and Politics & Society. Previous to that, she was a business and finance journalist for ten years, working for the Financial Times Deutschland, the Wall Street Journal, and Börsen-Zeitung. Isabel holds a Diploma degree in Economics.

Dr. Matthias Miersch

Dr. Matthias Miersch ist sei Mai 2025 Vorsitzender der SPD-Fraktion im Bundestag. Der gebürtige Hannoveraner trat 1990 in die SPD ein und ist seit 2005 ohne Unterbrechung Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestags. Der Jurist ist seit 1997 als Rechtsanwalt zugelassen und wurde 1999 an der Universität Hannover in Verfassungsrecht und Rechtsgeschichte promoviert. Miersch war ehrenamtlich im CVJM und als Fußballschiedsrichter tätig und ist unter anderem seit September 2016 Mitglied der Kammer für nachhaltige Entwicklung der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland.

Heiner Kroke

Heiner Kroke is the CEO of momox, Europe’s leading re-commerce company. With many years of experience in the digital economy, he drives the sustainable trade of second-hand books, media, and fashion. Under his leadership, momox has evolved from a platform for used books into a second-hand champion – with a strong focus on circular economy, digital innovation, and sustainable growth.

Heiner Kroke

Heiner Kroke ist CEO von momox, dem führenden Re-Commerce-Unternehmen Europas. Mit langjähriger Erfahrung in der digitalen Wirtschaft treibt er den nachhaltigen Handel mit Second-Hand-Büchern, Medien und Mode konsequent voran. Unter seiner Führung hat sich momox von einer Plattform für gebrauchte Bücher zum Second-Hand-Champion entwickelt – mit klarem Fokus auf Kreislaufwirtschaft, Digitalisierung und nachhaltigem Wachstum.

Markus Vögli

Markus Vögeli aus Langnau i.E. ist gelernter Drucker. Er hat in Lausanne an der Fachhochschule Kommunikations- und Medienmanagement studiert. Nach einem Praktikum in Kanada und der Arbeit in einem Schweizer Beratungsunternehmen für die Medienindustrie ist er im Alter von 30 Jahren in den Familienbetrieb eingetreten. Aufgrund seiner beruflichen Aufenthalte in der Westschweiz und im Ausland, spricht der 49-Jährige drei Sprachen. Seit 17 Jahren führt er die Vögeli AG zusammen mit seinem Bruder.

Dr. Christiane Rohleder

Dr. Christiane Rohleder is State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV), focusing on consumer empowerment, transformation, digital issues, climate adaptation, circular economy and environmental protection. Prior to this, she was State Secretary at the Ministry for Family Affairs, Women, Youth, Integration and Consumer Protection in Rhineland-Palatinate for five years. Prior to her position as State Secretary, she worked for over ten years in the two different federal consumer protection ministries in various areas. For many years, she focused on consumer protection in the information society, with a particular interest in the regulation of large global companies. After completing her studies, she worked for the Green Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag as a legal and domestic policy advisor. She is a lawyer and holds a doctorate from the University of Regensburg.

Dr. Christiane Rohleder

Dr. Christiane Rohleder ist Staatssekretärin im Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV) mit den Schwerpunkten Stärkung der Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher, Transformation, digitale Themen, Klimaanpassung, Kreislaufwirtschaft und Umweltschutz. Zuvor war sie fünf Jahre lang Staatssekretärin im Ministerium für Familie, Frauen, Jugend, Integration und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz. Vor ihrer Tätigkeit als Staatssekretärin war sie über zehn Jahre in den beiden verschiedenen Bundesverbraucherschutzministerien in verschiedenen Bereichen tätig. Ein langjähriger Schwerpunkt war Verbraucherschutz in der Informationsgesellschaft, wobei ihr die Regulierung der großen global agierenden Unternehmen ein besonderes Anliegen war. Nach dem Studium arbeitete sie für die Bundestagsfraktion der Grünen als Referentin für Rechts- und Innenpolitik. Sie ist Juristin und promovierte an der Universität Regensburg.

Maike Voss

Maike Voss ist geschäftsführende Direktorin des Centre for Planetary Health Policy (CPHP), ein von der deutschen Allianz Klimawandel und Gesundheit (KLUG) gegründeter Think Tank. Zuvor leitete sie die Global Health Governance Research-Gruppe an der Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin. In ihrer Forschung konzentriert sie sich auf die Steuerung der globalen und planetaren Gesundheit und beschäftigt sich mit Wechselwirkungen zwischen Gesundheit, Klimawandel und Sicherheit. Sie ist Gründungsmitglied von Women in Global Health, Mitglied der Fachgruppe zur Aktualisierung des Sachstandsberichtes Klimawandel und Gesundheit am Robert Koch-Institut, Mitglied der Steuerungsgruppe des Zukunftsforums Public Health und wurde 2018 in die Lancet Commission for Synergies between Health Security, Universal Health Coverage and Health Promotion berufen. Voss lehrt an mehreren deutschen Universitäten, u. a. in Bremen, Bielefeld und der Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin und ist als freiberufliche Moderatorin tätig. Vor ihrem Wechsel zur SWP war sie wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Public Health und Pflegeforschung der Universität Bremen.

Maike Voss

Maike Voss (MPH) is managing director of the Centre for Planetary Health Policy (CPHP) in Berlin. Prior she was managing director for evidence-based policy-making at the German Alliance on Climate Change and Health (KLUG). Before her time with KLUG, she was the head of the Global Health Governance Research Team at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP). Her research focuses on governance for global and planetary health, sustainable development as well as the interdependencies between health, climate and security policy. She is a founding member of Women in Global Health, served on the Steering Committee of the German Alliance for Global Health Research 2021-2022, and was appointed to the Lancet Commission for Synergies between Health Security, Universal Health Coverage and Health Promotion in 2018. Voss teaches at several German universities, including Bremen, Bielefeld, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and is a freelance moderator. Before joining SWP, she was a research associate at the Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research at the University of Bremen.

Lisa Niederhaus

A civil engineer by training, I have already been involved in the circular economy and building in existing buildings during my studies. As project manager at the Landesgartenschau 2027 Neustadt an der Weinstraße gGmbH, I have been responsible for the conception and implementation of C2C from the very beginning.

Lisa Niederhaus

Von Haus aus Bauingenieurin habe ich mich bereits im Rahmen meiner Studienlaufzeit mit Kreislaufwirtschaft und für das Bauen im Bestand eingesetzt. Als Projektleiterin bei der Landesgartenschau 2027 Neustadt an der Weinstraße gGmbH bin ich von Beginn an für die Konzeption und die Umsetzung von C2C zuständig.

Felix Kröncke

Felix ist seit 2022 bei Ahrend für die Geschäftsentwicklung in der DACH-Region verantwortlich und verfügt über mehrjährige Erfahrung in der Büromöbelbranche. Ahrend zählt zu den wenigen Büromöbelherstellenden, die vollständig kreislauffähig sind. Das Unternehmen nimmt nicht nur eigene Produkte zurück, sondern revitalisiert auch Möbelstücke von Wettbewerbern, um sie erneut Kund*innen zur Verfügung zu stellen. Seit 2021 wächst dieses Geschäftsmodell kontinuierlich und erreicht im Jahr 2024 rund 70.000 revitalisierte Möbelstücke. Felix ist besonders motiviert, mit diesem Geschäftsmodell neue Lösungsansätze zu entwickeln und Diskussionen über Alternativen zur linearen Wertschöpfungskette voranzutreiben.

Felix Kröncke

Felix has been responsible for business development in the DACH region at Ahrend since 2022 and has several years of experience in the office furniture industry. Ahrend is one of the few office furniture manufacturers that is fully circular. The company not only takes back its own products, but also revitalizes pieces of furniture from competitors to make them available to customers again. This business model has been growing continuously since 2021 and will reach around 70,000 revitalized pieces of furniture in 2024. Felix is particularly motivated to use this business model to develop new solutions and drive forward discussions about alternatives to the linear value chain.

Jo Schück

Jo Schück is a journalist and presenter. After studying journalism, philosophy and business administration, he began an editorial traineeship at ZDF in 2007, where he has been presenting the culture and society programme aspekte since 2014 and the format 13Fragen since 2019. As an author and presenter, he has been honoured with the CNN Journalist Award, the Ernst Schneider Prize and the Bavarian Television Prize, among others.

Jo Schück

Jo Schück ist Journalist und Moderator. Nach seinem Studium der Publizistik, Philosophie und  BWL begann er 2007 ein Redaktionsvolontariat beim ZDF, wo er seit 2014 die Kultur- und Gesellschaftssendung aspekte und seit 2019 das Format 13Fragen moderiert. Als Autor und Moderator wurde er u.a. mit dem CNN-Journalist-Award, dem Ernst-Schneider-Preis sowie dem bayerischen Fernsehpreis ausgezeichnet. 

Magdalena Junker

During her studies, Magdalena Junker discovered the Cradle to Cradle approach, which has inspired her ever since. After graduating, this enthusiasm initially led her to Cradle to Cradle NGO, where she developed and implemented the handout “C2C in construction”, among other things. Today she is co-founder and board member of Sustina AG. She is responsible for operations and sustainability with the aim of building a company that creates a positive impact for people and the environment both through sustainable district evelopment and as an employer. Her approach combines ecological responsibility with people-centric corporate management to create a sustainable and inspiring organization.

Magdalena Junker

Im Studium entdeckte Magdalena Junker den Cradle to Cradle-Ansatz, der sie seither begeistert. Diese Begeisterung führte sie nach ihrem Abschluss zunächst zu Cradle to Cradle NGO, wo sie als Referentin u.a. die Handreichung “C2C im Bau” entwickelt und umgesetzt hat. Heute ist sie Co-Gründerin und Vorständin der Sustina AG. Sie verantwortet die Bereiche Operatives und Nachhaltigkeit mit dem Ziel, ein Unternehmen aufzubauen, das sowohl durch nachhaltige Quartiersentwicklung als auch als Arbeitgeber positiven Impact für Mensch und Umwelt schafft. Ihr Ansatz verbindet ökologische Verantwortung mit menschenzentrierter Unternehmensführung, um eine zukunftsfähige und inspirierende Organisation zu gestalten.

Philip Liebhold

Philip has been working as a carpenter, timber construction engineer and building biologist in ecological timber construction for more than 15 years. He has been passionate about Cradle to Cradle for around 10 years and is an active volunteer as founder and spokesperson for the Düsseldorf regional NGO group and the Building Alliance. After working in the construction and project management of ecological architect-designed houses at Baufritz and in the technical sales of non-glued solid wood elements at the South Tyrolean company holzius, he has been contributing his engineering and timber construction experience to technical project development at Sustina AG in Münster since summer 2024. Sustainable neighborhoods in NRW for living and working in cradle-to-grave and circular construction are his impact focus.

Philip Liebhold

Philip ist als Zimmerer, Holz-Bauingenieur und Baubiologe seit mehr als 15 Jahren im ökologischen Holzbau unterwegs. Seit ca. 10 Jahren Cradle to Cradle infiziert und ehrenamtlich aktiv als Gründer und Sprecher der NGO-Regionalgruppe Düsseldorf und im Baubündnis. Über berufliche Stationen in der Bau- und Projektleitung ökologischer Architektenhäuser bei Baufritz und im technischen Vertrieb leimfreier Massivholz-Elemente beim Südtiroler Unternehmen holzius, bringt er seit Sommer 2024 seine Ingenieurs- und Holzbau-Erfahrung in die technische Projektentwicklung bei der Sustina AG in Münster ein. Zukunftsfähige Quartiere in NRW zum Wohnen und Arbeiten in cradliger Art und zirkulärer Bauweise sind sein Impact Schwerpunkt.

Christoph Dörn

Als CEO der WIK Group, einem Full-Service-Entwicklungs- und globalen Produktionspartner für viele führende internationale Marken, strebt Christoph Dörn danach, ein Gleichgewicht zwischen den Anforderungen der modernen Wirtschaft und den ökologischen und sozialen Bedürfnissen zu schaffen. Seine Vision: die heutige Wirtschaft in eine Kreislaufwirtschaft zu verwandeln, die der Umwelt keinen Schaden zufügt und dem Planeten endlich Raum zur Erholung gibt. Innerhalb weniger Jahre hat Christoph die WIK Group zu einem nachhaltigen Entwickler und globalen Hersteller mit hohen Umweltzertifizierungen gemacht, der den Produkten der WIK-Kunden einen bedeutenden Mehrwert verleiht und gleichzeitig die führende Position von WIK bei Innovationen und operativer Exzellenz ausbaut. Indem er falsche Vorstellungen widerlegte und gegen gängige Vorurteile in der hart umkämpften Branche der Haushaltskleingeräte ankämpfte, machte Christoph WIK zu einem Vorbild, das zeigt, dass gelebte unternehmerische Verantwortung und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Hand in Hand gehen können.

Christoph Dörn

As CEO of the WIK Group, a full-service development and global manufacturing partner to many leading international brands, Christoph Dörn strives for creating equilibrium between modern economies demands and environmental and social needs. His vision is to transform todays economies into one fully circular economy which puts no harm to the environment and gives the planet finally the space to recover. Within a few years Christoph turned the WIK Group into a sustainable developer and global manufacturer with high grades on environmental certifications adding meaningful value to WIKs customers products while cultivating WIKs leading position with regards to innovations and operational excellence. By proving wrong misconceptions and fighting common prejudice in the highly competitive industry of small domestic appliances Christoph created WIK as a role model demonstrating that lived corporate responsibility can go hand in hand with being competitive.

Ana-Cristina Grohnert

Ana-Cristina Grohnert is a founding partner of the non-profit limited company score4impact as well as Managing Partner of the Berlin Advisors Group. She advises on and designs companies business transformation, ESG management and HR strategies from the business and HR manager perspective. Before working for BAG, Ana-Cristina was CHRO of Allianz and managing and restructuring partner of EY where she previously realigned the human resources strategy and advised clients in financial services in their restructuring and reorganization. She joined EY after 15 years of bank and industry experience in financial and risk management at DGHYP, ABB and Preussag. She is a member of various boards and sustainability advisory boards and wrote a book “The Hidden capital” with deep insights on transformational processes and management culture. Manager Magazin and the Boston Consulting Group named Ana-Cristina Grohnert one of the most influential women in German business.

Ana-Cristina Grohnert

Ana-Cristina Grohnert ist Gründungspartnerin der gemeinnützigen GmbH score4impact sowie Managing Partner der Berlin Advisors Group. Sie berät und gestaltet Unternehmen in den Bereichen Business Transformation, ESG-Management und HR-Strategien aus der Perspektive von Geschäfts- und Personalleitenden. Vor ihrer Tätigkeit bei der BAG war Ana-Cristina CHRO bei der Allianz und Managing und Restructuring Partner bei EY, wo sie die Personalstrategie neu ausrichtete und Kunden aus dem Finanzdienstleistungsbereich bei der Restrukturierung und Reorganisation beriet. Zu EY kam sie nach 15 Jahren Bank- und Industrieerfahrung im Finanz- und Risikomanagement bei DGHYP, ABB und Preussag. Sie ist Mitglied in verschiedenen Aufsichtsräten und Nachhaltigkeitsbeiräten und hat ein Buch mit dem Titel „Das verborgene Kapital“ geschrieben, in dem sie tiefe Einblicke in Transformationsprozesse und Managementkultur gibt. Das Manager Magazin und die Boston Consulting Group wählten Ana-Cristina Grohnert zu einer der einflussreichsten Frauen in der deutschen Wirtschaft.

Ralph Brinkhaus

Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU/CSU-Bundestagsfraktion) ist direkt gewählter Abgeordneter des Wahlkreises 130/Gütersloh I im Deutschen Bundestag. Er ist derzeit (20. Wahlperiode) Mitglied im Ausschuss für die Angelegenheiten der Europäischen Union und im Parlamentarischen Beirat für nachhaltige Entwicklung. Seine Themenschwerpunkte sind die nachhaltige Transformation der deutschen und europäischen Wirtschaft sowie die Staatsmodernisierung. Brinkhaus absolvierte ein Studium der Wirtschaftswissenschaften an der Universität Hohenheim und ist seit 2004 als selbständiger Steuerberater tätig. Er ist seit 2009 Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages und war von 2014 bis 2018 stellvertretender Vorsitzender der CDU/CSU-Bundestagsfraktion für Haushalts-, Finanz- und Kommunalpolitik sowie von 09/2018 bis 02/2022 Vorsitzender der CDU/CSU-Bundestagsfraktion.

Ralph Brinkhaus

Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU/CSU parliamentary group) is a directly elected representative of the constituency 130/Guetersloh I at the German Bundestag. He is currently (20th electoral period) a member of the committee on European Union affairs and of the parliamentary advisory council on sustainable development. His main topics of interest are the sustainable transformation of the German and European economy, as well as state modernisation. Brinkhaus graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Hohenheim and has worked as self-employed tax accountant since 2004. He is member of the German Bundestag since 2009 and has served as the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group at the Bundestag responsible for budgetary, financial and municipal politics between 2014 and 2018, as well as the chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group between 09/2018 and 02/2022.

Stefanie Zillner

After holding various positions in the Berlin cultural and environmental scene, Stefanie Zillner worked for a long time in a think tank for digital transformation before switching to marketing at the Swiss organic wine pioneer Delinat. The common thread running through her communications work – whether it’s educating people about tap water, AI or cycles in organic viticulture – is conveying content in an entertaining way while keeping an eye on complexity.

Stefanie Zillner

Nach verschiedenen Stationen in der Berliner Kultur- und Umweltszene arbeitete Stefanie Zillner lange in einem Think Tank für digitale Transformation, bevor sie ins Marketing des Schweizer Biowein-Pioniers Delinat wechselte. Der rote Faden ihrer Kommunikationsarbeit – ob bei der Aufklärung über Leitungswasser, KI oder Kreisläufe im Bio-Weinbau – ist die unterhaltsame Vermittlung von Inhalten, ohne dabei die Komplexität aus den Augen zu verlieren.

Kristina Jeromin

Kristina Jeromin ist Expertin für Transformationsfinanzierung. Sie arbeitet im Rahmen verschiedener Mandate an der Schnittstelle zwischen Finanzbranche, Realwirtschaft und Politik, mit Fokus auf deren effizienter Verzahnung zur erfolgreichen Gestaltung und sicheren Finanzierung des industriellen Strukturwandels.
Sie war von 2009 bis 2020 bei der Gruppe Deutsche Börse beschäftigt und verantwortet dort von 2015 bis Ende 2020 als Head of Group Sustainability das konzernweite Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement. Von April 2018 bis April 2024 war sie Geschäftsführerin des Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany. Seit Mai 2024 ist sie Co-Leiterin der von der Stiftung Mercator finanzierten Initiative Made in Germany 2030.

Kristina Jeromin

Kristina Jeromin is an expert in transformation financing. She works on various mandates at the interface between the financial sector, the real economy and politics, with a focus on their efficient interlinking for the successful design and secure financing of industrial structural change. She was employed by Deutsche Börse Group from 2009 to 2020, where she was responsible for Group-wide sustainability management as Head of Group Sustainability from 2015 to the end of 2020. From April 2018 to April 2024, she was Managing Director of the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany. Since May 2024, she has been Co-Head of the Made in Germany 2030 initiative funded by the Mercator Foundation.

Markus Johanning

Markus Johanning is co-founder and Managing Director of Protegg GmbH. At Protegg, everything revolves around the impact-driven transformation of unused waste materials from the egg processing industry into raw materials and the subsequent development of innovative bio-based materials and applications. Specifically: biogenic lime and the globally unique Protegg biomaterial. Their vision: Using innovative methods to turn waste materials into raw materials – new value chains for a circular bioeconomy!

Markus Johanning

Markus Johanning ist Mitgründer und Geschäftsführer der Protegg GmbH. Bei Protegg dreht sich alles um die impactgetriebene Transformation von ungenutzten Reststoffen aus der Ei-verarbeitenden Industrie zu Rohstoffen und der darauf aufbauenden Entwicklung von neuartigen biobasierten Materialien und Anwendungen. Ganz konkret: biogener Kalk und das weltweit einzigartige Protegg Biomaterial. Ihre Vision: Mit innovativen Methoden vom Reststoff zum Rohstoff – neue Wertschöpfungsketten für eine kreislauffähige Bioökonomie!

Holger Sasse

Holger Sasse studierte Bauwesen an der Ingenieurschule in Magdeburg. Nach seinem abgeschlossenen Studium arbeitete er als Betriebsleiter im Betonwerk Giersleben. Im Jahr 1990 gründete er die Firma Sasse & Junghanns GmbH Hochbau und wurde selbstständiger Bauunternehmer. Nach 15 Jahren im Hochbau suchte er nach neuen Herausforderungen. Mit der Entwicklung und Herstellung von polymergebundenen Holzwerkstoffen gründete Diplom-Ingenieur Holger Sasse 2005 die NOVO-TECH GmbH & Co. KG in Aschersleben, unter deren Marke megawood®️ seit 2007 Produkte aus dem innovativen Werkstoff GCC (German Compact Composite) produziert werden. Mittlerweile besteht die Unternehmensgruppe aus 6 Unternehmen mit rund 200 Mitarbeitenden. Holger Sasse ist verheiratet, hat 3 Kinder und 5 Enkelkinder.

Holger Sasse

Holger Sasse studied civil engineering at the engineering school in Magdeburg. After graduating, he worked as a plant manager at the Giersleben concrete plant. In 1990, he founded the company Sasse & Junghanns GmbH Hochbau and became an independent contractor. After 15 years in structural engineering, he was looking for new challenges. With the development and production of polymer-bonded wood-based materials, Holger Sasse founded NOVO-TECH GmbH & Co. KG in Aschersleben, under whose brand megawood®️ products made of the innovative material GCC (German Compact Composite) have been manufactured since 2007. Meanwhile, the group of companies consists of 6 companies with about 200 employees. Holger Sasse is married, has 3 children and 5 grandchildren.

Elwyn Grainger-Jones

Als Executive Director des Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute leitet Elwyn Grainger-Jones das Team des Instituts, um die Wirkung der Organisation und des Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ Products Program weltweit zu maximieren. Vor seiner Tätigkeit für das Institut war Elwyn Grainger-Jones mehrere Jahre bei der CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) und mehr als 20 Jahre in verschiedenen Regierungsinstitutionen und Entwicklungsbanken tätig, wo er verschiedene Führungs- und Change-Management-Positionen innehatte, u. a. als Director of Policy, Partnerships and Operations bei der Global Environment Facility der Weltbank und als Director of the Environment and Climate Department beim Internationalen Fonds für landwirtschaftliche Entwicklung der UN.

Doris Schoger

Doris hat Soziologie und Wirtschaftswissenschaften in Erlangen studiert. Nach einigen Jahren in der kommerziellen Modeindustrie, u.a. bei Puma, Adidas, Zalando und Bestseller, arbeitet sie seit 2016 als Markenstrategin. Eines ihrer Beratungsmandate brachte sie auf das Thema Re-Commerce. Sie entschied sich, dem Thema mehr Zeit zu widmen, startete 2020 ihren Blog Rebound Stuff und setzt sich seitdem für verantwortungsvollen Konsum ein. Seitdem prägte sie den Begriff Urban Sourcing, gründete 2021 ihr eigenes Re-Commerce-Unternehmen und übernahm 2022 als Interims-Mitgründerin das Marketing bei Circleback, einem Rücknahmesystem für Plastikverpackungen. Im Jahr 2023 war sie Mitgründerin des Startups Tildi mit dem Ziel, Circularity in den Kinderbereich zu bringen.

Doris Schoger

Doris studied sociology and economics in Erlangen. After a few years in the commercial fashion industry, working for Puma, Adidas, Zalando, Bestseller, she started working as a brand strategist in 2016.
One of her consulting engagements brought her to the topic of Re-Commerce. She decided to devote more time to the topic, launched her blog Rebound Stuff in 2020 and has been advocating for responsible consumption ever since. Since then, she coined the term Urban Sourcing, started her own Re-commerce company in 2021, and took over marketing at Circleback, a take-back system for plastic packaging, as interim co-founder in 2022. In 2023 she co-founded the start-up Tildi with the goal to bring Circularity to the kids segment.

Signe Marie Bakka Backhaus

Signe Marie Bakka Backhaus is a distinguished fashion product developer, designer, and industry expert based in Copenhagen. With a career spanning over two decades, she has significantly influenced the global fashion landscape, particularly in the realm of sustainable and ethical fashion. After attending Polimoda, a prestigious fashion institute in Florence, Italy, Signe Marie commenced her journey in the fashion industry in Tuscany, where she resided for 18 years, collaborating with international brands such as Shiatzy Chen, Charlotte Olympia, Aerin, Alaïa, and Ganni. In 2019, Signe Marie joined Danish slow fashion brand Roccamore, renowned for its commitment to sustainability and transparency. There, she has been instrumental in formulating and implementing the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies. Under her guidance, Roccamore achieved a groundbreaking milestone by obtaining the world’s first Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ high-heeled shoes, signifying a monumental advancement in eco-conscious footwear design.

Signe Marie Bakka Backhaus

Signe Marie Bakka Backhaus ist eine angesehene Modeproduktentwicklerin, Designerin und Branchenexpertin mit Sitz in Kopenhagen. In ihrer über zwei Jahrzehnte währenden Karriere hat sie die globale Modelandschaft maßgeblich beeinflusst, insbesondere im Bereich der nachhaltigen und ethischen Mode. Nach dem Besuch von Polimoda, einem renommierten Modeinstitut in Florenz, Italien, begann Signe Marie ihre Reise in der Modebranche in der Toskana, wo sie 18 Jahre lang lebte und mit internationalen Marken wie Shiatzy Chen, Charlotte Olympia, Aerin, Alaïa und Ganni zusammenarbeitete. 2019 wechselte Signe Marie zur dänischen Slow-Fashion-Marke Roccamore, die für ihr Engagement für Nachhaltigkeit und Transparenz bekannt ist. Dort war sie maßgeblich an der Formulierung und Umsetzung der CSR-Strategien des Unternehmens beteiligt. Unter ihrer Leitung erreichte Roccamore einen bahnbrechenden Meilenstein, indem es die weltweit ersten Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ Stöckelschuhe erhielt, was einen monumentalen Fortschritt im umweltbewussten Schuhdesign darstellt.

Fatma Deniz

Fatma Deniz ist Vizepräsidentin für Digitalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit an der TU Berlin, wo sie auch als Professorin an der Schnittstelle von Data Science, Neurowissenschaft und KI forscht. Ihre Nachhaltigkeitsarbeit konzentriert sich auf die Integration ökologischer Verantwortung in Hochschulbetrieb, Forschung und Lehre. Deniz setzt sich für datengestützte Ansätze ein, die IT-Fachwissen und Umweltbewusstsein miteinander verbinden. Mit ihrem Hintergrund – Promotion am Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin und Erfahrung an der UC Berkeley – ermöglicht es Fatma Deniz, komplexe Nachhaltigkeitsherausforderungen anzugehen.

Fatma Deniz

Fatma Deniz serves as Vice President for Digitalization and Sustainability at TU Berlin, where she is also a Full Professor at the intersection of data science, neuroscience, and AI. Her sustainability work focuses on integrating ecological responsibility across university operations, research, and teaching. Deniz champions data-driven approaches that merge computational expertise with environmental stewardship. Her background—with a Ph.D. from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin and experience at UC Berkeley—positions Fatma Deniz to address complex sustainability challenges.

Loredana Zafisambondaoky

In addition to her studies as a budding communication designer, Loredana Zafisambondaoky is a volunteer at FC Internationale. She has been a member of the club for ten years and has been part of the sustainability working group for four years. She has been actively involved in the transformation to a more sustainable amateur club and is primarily responsible for creative activities to communicate the club’s activities and represent the club externally. As part of her voluntary work, she qualified as a sustainability manager and works as a freelance photographer.

Loredana Zafisambondaoky

Neben ihrem Studium zur angehenden Kommunikationsdesignerin, ist Loredana Zafisambondaoky ehrenamtlich beim FC Internationale tätig. Seit zehn Jahren ist sie Mitglied des Vereins und seit vier Jahren Teil der AG Nachhaltigkeit. Sie hat die Transformation zu einem nachhaltigeren Amateurverein aktiv mitbegleitet und übernimmt dort vor allem kreative Tätigkeiten zur Kommunikation der Vereinsaktivitäten und repräsentiert den Verein nach außen. Im Rahmen ihres Ehrenamts qualifizierte sie sich zur Nachhaltigkeitsmanagerin und ist freiberuflich als Fotografin tätig.

Timur Sirman

Timur ist CEO und Mitbegründer von MAGNOTHERM. Er treibt die Geschäftsstrategie, Vertrieb und Marketing voran. Mit einem Hintergrund in Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen an der TU Darmstadt und der TU Berlin hat er umfangreiche Erfahrungen sowohl in größeren Unternehmen als auch in Start-ups gesammelt. Er ist erfahren in der Beschaffung von Kapital und hat erfolgreich für MAGNOTHERM mehrere Finanzierungsrunden gesichert.

Timur Sirman

Timur is CEO and co-founder of MAGNOTHERM. He drives the business strategy, sales, and marketing. With a background in industrial engineering and management from TU Darmstadt and TU Berlin, he has gained extensive experience in both corporate and startup environments. Timur has a proven track record in securing funding and has been instrumental in raising capital for MAGNOTHERM’s growth, successfully navigating the challenges of startup financing and investor relations.

Isabel Thoma

As Head of Impact, Isabel Thoma is responsible for sustainability, corporate communications and design at the Hamburg-based bioeconomy start-up traceless. She studied industrial design and previously worked as a freelance designer developing circular product innovations and brand spaces for European brands and start-ups. With this diverse background, she has developed a holistic understanding of materials and manufacturing processes and an enthusiasm for circular economy. Isabel helped build traceless as a founding employee.

Isabel Thoma

Isabel Thoma verantwortet als Head of Impact die Bereiche Nachhaltigkeit, Unternehmenskommunikation und Design im Hamburger Bioökonomie Startup traceless. Sie ist studierte Industriedesignerin und hat zuvor als Selbstständige Designerin zirkuläre Produktinnovationen und Markenräume für europäische Marken und Startups entwickelt. Vor diesem vielfältigen Hintergrund hat sie ein ganzheitliches Verständnis für Materialien und Herstellungsprozesse sowie eine Begeisterung für Circular Economy entwickelt. Isabel hat traceless als Gründungsmitarbeiterin mit aufgebaut.

Theresa Schuhmann

Theresa Schuhmann, wohnhaft in Berlin, ist eine erfahrene Führungskraft und Unternehmerin. Als Co-Founder der ReCircle Impact UG treibt sie Fundraising, Partnerschaften und Produktentwicklung voran. Zuvor leitete sie Recommerce-Operationen bei Zalando SE und war im Business Development bei Zalon by Zalando tätig. Mit fundierter Expertise in strategischem Management, Prozessoptimierung und Teamführung gestaltet sie innovative Geschäftsmodelle und trägt maßgeblich zur Skalierung von Unternehmen bei.

Theresa Schuhmann

Theresa Schuhmann, based in Berlin, is an accomplished leader and entrepreneur. As Co-Founder of ReCircle Impact UG, she drives fundraising, strategic partnerships, and product development. Previously, she managed Recommerce operations at Zalando SE and contributed to business development at Zalon by Zalando. Her deep expertise in strategic management, process optimization, and team leadership underpins her success in scaling innovative business models.

Anton Klischewski

Anton Klischewski is the coordinator for sustainability and engagement at FC Internationale Berlin 1980 e.V., the first sustainably certified amateur club in Germany. As project manager for DAS TRIKOT, he worked with the club to bring the world’s first football jersey made from Cradle to Cradle Gold-certified materials onto the pitch in 2024. He is also a sports consultant at the Action Alliance Fairtrade Berlin and advises sports clubs, sports associations, politicians and administrators on consumption and production. As part of the Germany-wide Sport handelt Fair campaign, Anton Klischewski offers networking opportunities and thematic training for amateur/professional sport.

Anton Klischewski

Anton Klischewski ist Koordinator für Nachhaltigkeit und Engagement beim FC Internationale Berlin 1980 e.V., dem ersten nachhaltig zertifizierten Amateurverein Deutschlands. Als Projektleiter für DAS TRIKOT brachte er 2024 gemeinsam mit dem Verein das erste Fußballtrikot weltweit aus Cradle to Cradle Gold-zertifizierten Materialien auf den Platz. Außerdem ist er Sportreferent beim Aktionsbündnis Fairer Handel Berlin und berät Sportvereine, Sportverbände, Politik und Verwaltung im Bereich Konsum und Produktion. Innerhalb der deutschlandweiten Kampagne Sport handelt Fair bietet Anton Klischewski Vernetzungsangebote und thematische Fortbildungen für Breiten-/Profisport an.

Frank Lenderink

Frank Lenderink ist bei Apple als Direktor für internationale Umweltinitiativen für die Region Europa, Naher Osten, Indien und Afrika tätig. Er ist seit 2010 Teil dieser Umweltabteilung von Apple und leitet ein Expertenteam, das sich intensiv mit einem breiten Spektrum von Themen im Zusammenhang mit Umweltvorschriften, -richtlinien und -standards in der gesamten Region befasst und zur Strategie 2030 von Apple beiträgt. Frank hat einen Master-Abschluss in Industriedesign und war vor seinem Eintritt bei Apple in Umweltfunktionen bei LG Electronics und HP tätig.

Frank Lenderink

Frank Lenderink is Apple’s Director of International Environmental Initiatives for the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region. Part of Apple’s environmental organisation since 2010, he leads a team of experts who are deeply involved in a broad spectrum of environmental regulatory, policy and standards topics across the region, as well as contribute to Apple’s 2030 strategy. Frank holds a Masters degree in Industrial Design Engineering and held environmental functions at LG Electronics and HP prior to joining Apple.

Tim Gräsing

Tim is co-founder and CEO of ValueGrain – a Hamburg based food tech startup – he is also the CEO of a Berlin based boutique F&B impact consultancy. He is specialized in strategic consulting and project management with focus on impact topcis. Therefore he took part in the executive programme ‘Circular Economy & Sustainability Strategies‘ of Cambridge University. For 15 years Tim is involved with the global beer industry. In the past years he was a project lead for the Carlsberg Group in Copenhagen and German Expansion Lead for the Finnish Restaurant Cooperate NoHo Partners. Later he incorporated those experiences into his own companies.

Tim Gräsing

Tim ist Co-Gründer und Geschäftsführer von ValueGrain – ein Hamburger Foodtech Startup – außerdem ist er auch Geschäftsführer einer Impact Boutique Beratung für Food & Beverage in Berlin. Spezialisiert hat er sich auf strategische Themen und Projektmanagement im Impact Bereich. Er absolvierte das Executive-Programm „Circular Economy & Sustainability Strategies“ der Cambridge University. Seit 15 Jahren beschäftigt sich Tim mit der globalen Bier-Industrie. Unter anderem war er als Projektleiter für die Carlsberg Gruppe in Kopenhagen und als German Expansion Lead für den finnischen Gastro Konzern NoHo Partners tätig. Diese wertvollen Erfahrungen hat er später in seine eigenen Unternehmen einfließen lassen.

Maria Mack

Maria Mack verantwortet das globale „Communication & Brand Management“ der Liebherr Hausgeräte GmbH. Diese ist Teil der Firmengruppe Liebherr, eines familiengeführten Technologieunternehmens mit breit diversifiziertem Produktprogramm. Die patentierte BluRoX-Technologie des Kühl- und Gefrierspezialisten ermöglicht erstmals in der Geschichte der Kühlgeräte ein kreislauffähiges Produktdesign. Die Bestätigung: der weltweit erste Gefrierschrank mit Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ Status in Bronze.

Maria Mack

Maria Mack is responsible for Global Communication & Brand Management at Liebherr Hausgeräte GmbH as part of the Liebherr Group, a family-run technology company with a broadly diversified product range. The refrigerator and freezer specialist’s patented BluRoX technology enables a circular product design for the first time in the history of refrigeration appliances. The confirmation: the world’s first freezer with Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ status in bronze.

Kamila Szwejk

Kamila Szwejk studied environmental and sustainability sciences as well as business administration at Leuphana University Lüneburg, where she now works as a researcher in the fields of circular economy, Cradle to Cradle (C2C), smart city and transdisciplinarity. She was part of the research team in the real-life laboratory “Zukunftsstadt Lüneburg 2030+” and was actively involved in the implementation of the “EcoCab” project, in which the C2C concept was introduced for the first time in a maritime context. She is currently involved in the follow-up project “ReCab” with Prof. Michael Braungart in the development of solutions for closing material cycles, the transformation of the maritime industry and the implementation of circular products and business models.

Kamila Szwejk

Kamila Szwejk absolvierte ein Studium der Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaften sowie der Betriebswirtschaftslehre an der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, wo sie heute als Wissenschaftlerin im Bereich Circular Economy, Cradle to Cradle (C2C), Smart City und Transdisziplinarität tätig ist. Sie war Teil des Forschungsteams im Reallabor „Zukunftsstadt Lüneburg 2030+“ und aktiv an der Umsetzung des Projekts „EcoCab“ beteiligt, bei dem das C2C-Konzept erstmals im maritimen Kontext eingebracht wurde. Aktuell ist sie im Rahmen des Nachfolgeprojekts „ReCab“ mit Prof.  Michael Braungart an der Entwicklung von Lösungen zur Schließung von Materialkreisläufen, der Transformation der maritimen Industrie sowie der Implementierung zirkulärer Produkte und Geschäftsmodelle beteiligt.

Juliane Kronen

Dr. Juliane Kronen is the founder, partner and managing director of innatura gGmbH, a social enterprise that places brand-new donations in the social sector. Before founding the company, Dr. Kronen, who holds a doctorate in business administration, worked for the Boston Consulting Group from 1994 to 2010, the last eight years of which as Partner and Managing Director. The focus of her work was on dovetailing corporate and IT strategy, particularly in the global telecommunications industry. From 2004 to 2008, she was also Head of Europe for the company’s global Women’s Initiative and was responsible for various social impact projects at national and international non-profit organizations. She is a board member of the Right Livelihood Award Stiftelsen, which awards the so-called Alternative Nobel Prize, and a member of the advisory board of Cradle to Cradle NGO.

Jürgen Schmidt

Jürgen Schmidt began his career selling “environmental protection paper” in the school playground. Over the years, this side business grew into memo AG, a mail order company for sustainable products that operates throughout Europe. In 2007, he was named “Eco-Manager of the Year” for his commitment and received the Bavarian State Medal for Services to the Environment and Health as well as the German Environmental Award. In 2012, he retired from his operational functions at memo AG in order to promote sustainable projects. He has been a member of the Supervisory Board of memo AG since 2019 and established the memo Foundation in the same year. He has been a member of the board of C2C NGO since 2019.  

Lilli Knodt

Lilli Knodt has been working as Senior Advisor for Strategic Partnerships at Cradle to Cradle NGO since September 2021. As a business radar and networker, the unit links partner companies and integrates them into C2C NGO’s projects. Lilli holds a degree in Cultural and Religious Studies (M.A.) and a degree in Sustainability Management from srh Fernhochschule.

Dominik Markward

Dominik Markward has been an advisor in the Cradle to Cradle NGOs Strategic Partnerships department since November 2022. As an economic radar and networking unit, the department links partner companies and integrates them into C2C NGO’s projects. Dominik has a degree in Sociology (B.A.) and Political Science and already worked part-time during his studies for a sustainable transformation of various economic sectors. 

Anne Pieper

Anne Pieper ist Geschäftsführerin der Landesgartenschau (LGS) 2027 Neustadt an der Weinstraße gGmbh. Als Diplom-Ingenieurin der Fachrichtung Stadtplanung hat sie umfangreiche Erfahrungen in der Revitalisierung von Flächen gesammelt. Sie ist fasziniert von der Entwicklung alter Flächen mit Geschichte und möchte mit zukunftsweisenden Projekten langfristige Mehrwerte für die Menschen in der Region schaffen.

Anne Pieper

Anne Pieper is Managing Director of the Landesgartenschau (State Garden Show) 2027 Neustadt an der Weinstraße gGmbh. As a graduate engineer specializing in urban planning, she has gained extensive experience in the revitalization of areas. She is fascinated by the development of old areas with history and wants to create long-term added value for people in the region with forward-looking projects.

Dominik Campanella

Dominik Campanella is one of the leading experts in the field of circular construction. Among other things, he is the initiator of DIN SPEC 91484 and the author of numerous publications at national and international level. He is also a member of various committees, such as the DGNB’s Circular Construction expert group and the EU Leadership Group for Circular Construction.
Construction.

Dominik Campanella

Dominik Campanella ist einer der führenden Experten im Bereich zirkuläres Bauen. Er ist u.a. der Initiator der DIN SPEC 91484 und Autor zahlreicher Publikationen auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene. Des Weiteren ist er Mitglied verschiedener Gremien wie z.B. der Fachgruppe Zirkuläres Bauen der DGNB oder der EU Leadership Group for Circular
Construction.

Wilhelm Mauß

Wilhelm Mauß ist Geschäftsführer der Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG, einem führenden Messtechnikhersteller und Pionier der Circular Economy. Die smarten Wasserzähler des schwäbischen Familienunternehmens ermöglichen Betrieb und Überwachung öffentlicher Versorgungsnetze und dienen zur Steuerung von Industrieanlagen. Der studierte Maschinenbau- und Wirtschaftsingenieur diente ursprünglich für zwölf Jahre bei der Bundeswehr. 1994 wechselte er in die Wirtschaft, wurde Vertriebsleiter eines weltmarktführenden deutschen Prüfmaschinenherstellers und 2000 als Geschäftsführer Asien nach Singapur berufen. Zurück in Deutschland übernahm er im Jahr 2003 die Geschäftsführung der Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG. Der Mittelständler hat sich seitdem auf Basis umfassender Digitalisierungsmaßnahmen und der ganzheitlichen Ausrichtung auf die Circular Economy mehr als verfünffacht. Seit 2024 ist Wilhelm Mauß Mitglied im Kuratorium der Deutschen Bundestiftung Umwelt.

Wilhelm Mauß

Wilhelm Mauß is CEO of Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG, a leading measurement technology manufacturer and pioneer of the circular economy. The smart water meters from the Swabian family business enable the operation and monitoring of public supply networks and are used to control industrial plants. The graduate mechanical and industrial engineer originally served in the German Armed Forces for twelve years. In 1994, he switched to the commercial sector, became Sales Manager of a world market-leading German testing machine manufacturer and was appointed Managing Director for Asia in Singapore in 2000. Back in Germany, he took over the management of Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG. Since then, the medium-sized company has grown more than fivefold thanks to comprehensive digitalization measures and a holistic focus on the circular economy. Wilhelm Mauß has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the German Federal Environmental Foundation since 2024.

Isabel Gomez

Isabel Gomez ist seit Januar 2020 bei Cradle to Cradle NGO und als Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung für die Bereiche Kommunikation sowie Politik & Gesellschaft verantwortlich. Zuvor war die Diplom-Volkswirtin zehn Jahre lang als Wirtschafts- und Finanzjournalistin tätig, unter anderem für die Financial Times Deutschland, das Wall Street Journal und die Börsen-Zeitung.

Bettina Storck

Bettina Storck ist seit 2020 für die Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie der Commerzbank AG verantwortlich. Zuvor war sie unter anderem als Projektmanagerin und Pressesprecherin für die Bank tätig. Sie ist Mitglied im Sustainable Finance-Beirat der Bundesregierung sowie Mitglied im Vorstand des Sustainable Finance Clusters.

Bettina Storck

Since 2020 Bettina Storck is responsible for the overarching sustainability strategy of Commerzbank. Previously she has been working as project lead and spokesperson for the bank. Bettina is a member of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee of the Federal Government as well as Board Member of the Sustainable Finance Cluster.

Björn Köcher

After studying sports science and economics, Björn Köcher began his professional career in management consulting with a focus on communication and marketing. After studying journalism while working and completing a part-time MBA in Communication & Leadership as well as several years on the management board of a communications consulting agency in Hamburg, he decided to become self-employed in 2018 with a focus on sustainability communication. Since 2024, he has held a management position as project coordinator of the PaludiAllianz / toMOORow joint project at the Environment Foundation Michael Otto. He has also been a volunteer with the associations Viva con Agua and Protect Our Winters for many years.

Björn Köcher

Björn Köcher begann seine berufliche Karriere nach einem Studium der Sport- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften in der Unternehmensberatung mit den Schwerpunkten Kommunikation & Marketing. Nach einem berufsbegleitenden Journalismus-Studium und einem MBA in Communication & Leadership sowie mehreren Jahren in der Geschäftsleitung einer Hamburger Agentur, entschied er sich 2018 für die Selbständigkeit mit Schwerpunkt Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation. Seit 2024 ist er in leitender Funktion als Projektkoordinator des Verbundvorhabens PaludiAllianz / toMOORow bei der Umweltstiftung Michael Otto tätig. Zudem engagiert er sich ehrenamtlich bei den Vereinen Viva con Agua und Protect Our Winters.

Ulli Häseler

Ulli Häseler betreut beim Berliner Hersteller von Farben, Bodenbelägen und Wärmedämmverbundsystemen, bito ag, seit 2000 als Prokurist unterschiedliche Key Accounts. In seiner Rolle hat er umfassende Erfahrungen mit C2C-zertifizierten Baustoffen gesammelt. Zuvor war Häseler nach Abitur und Berufsausbildung als Baufacharbeiter unter anderem rund 10 Jahre im Verkaufsaußendienst bei unterschiedlichen Baustoffproduzenten tätig.

Ulli Häseler

Ulli Häseler has been responsible for various key accounts as an authorized signatory at bito ag, the Berlin-based manufacturer of paints, floor coverings and external thermal insulation composite systems, since 2000. In his role, he has gained extensive experience with C2C-certified building materials. Prior to this, Häseler worked in field sales for various building materials manufacturers for around 10 years after completing his A-levels and vocational training as a skilled construction worker.

Dennis Pfeffer

Dennis Pfeffer is a business manager and real estate economist. In the first 14 years after graduating, he worked for various capital management companies. In fund management, he was responsible for the performance of a €4.8 billion European real estate portfolio. In asset management, he and his 18-person department were responsible for a German retail and logistics portfolio. At the beginning of 2023, he founded ModEstate GmbH with the aim of creating affordable, sustainable living space. With the building concept for the redensification of inner-city, sealed surfaces, he is declaring war on greenwashing and proving that honest, well-thought-out sustainability is also compatible with affordable new housing construction.

Dennis Pfeffer

Dennis Pfeffer ist Betriebswirt und Immobilienökonom. In den ersten 14 Jahren nach dem Studium arbeitete er für verschiedene Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaften. Im Fondsmanagement war er performanceverantwortlich für ein 4,8 Mrd. € umfassendes europäisches Immobilienportfolio. Im Assetmanagement war er mit seiner 18-köpfigen Abteilung für ein deutsches Retail- und Logistikportfolio verantwortlich.
Anfang 2023 gründete er die ModEstate GmbH mit dem Ziel leistbaren, nachhaltigen Wohnraum zu schaffen. Mit dem Gebäudekonzept zur Nachverdichtung innerstädtischer, versiegelter Flächen sagt er Greenwashing den Kampf an und liefert den Beweis, dass ehrliche, zu Ende gedachte Nachhaltigkeit auch mit leistbarem Wohnungsneubau vereinbar ist.

Ansgar Oberholz

Das Studium der Physik, Mathematik, Informatik und Philosophie hat Ansgar Oberholz nicht bis zum Abschluss geführt – viel zu ablenkend und interessant war das Berlin der 90er Jahre. Stattdessen widmete er sich der Musik, produzierte Software, gründete eine Agentur für visuelle Kommunikation und eine Modelagentur. Zusammen mit Koulla Louca eröffnete er 2005 das St. Oberholz. Das heutige St. Oberholz ist bekannt als Epizentrum der Berliner Startup-Szene in Berlin Mitte, das dem Coworking, wie wir es kennen, mehr als den Weg geebnet hat. Heute betreibt das St. Oberholz verschiedene Working Coffee Shops und Flex Office Center und hat eine Beratungseinheit. Ansgar gilt als Urgestein der Gründerszene und als Experte für die Phänomene rund um New Work. Er ist CEO der St. Oberholz Gruppe. Ansgar Oberholz war Berater in der Startup-Unit des Berliner Senats und Berater für verschiedene Corporates. Er war als Mentor für verschiedene Inkubatoren wie enpact und Tech Star Metro tätig.

Ansgar Oberholz

Ansgar Oberholz’s studies in physics, mathematics, informatics and philosophy did not see him through to a mortarboard—the Berlin of the 90s was far too distracting and interesting. Instead, he pursued music, produced software, and founded an agency for visual communication and a model agency. He opened the St. Oberholz together with Koulla Louca in 2005. The St. Oberholz of today is renowned for being an epicenter of the Berlin startup-scene in Berlin Mitte that more than paved the way of coworking as we know it. Today St. Oberholz operates various Working Coffee Shops and Flex Office Centers and has a consulting unit. Ansgar is considered a veteran of the entrepreneurial scene and an expert on the phenomena associated with New Work. He is CEO of the St. Oberholz group. Ansgar Oberholz was an advisor in Berlin Senate´s startup-unit and adviser for various corporates. He used to be a mentor for various incubators as enpact and Tech Star Metro.

Katja Hansen

Katja Hansen ist eine führende Expertin, Führungskräftetrainerin, Mentorin, Dozentin und Autorin für Produkt- und Prozessinnovation und Infrastrukturentwicklung unter Verwendung von Cradle to Cradle Design. Seit 1992 organisiert sie Innovationsprojekte mit Unternehmen, NGOs und internationalen Agenturen. Sie ist Beiratsmitglied bei Cradle to Cradle NGO, wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der TU München und Dozentin in den Masterclass-Kursen der Ellen MacArthur Foundation/Exeter University. Sie war leitende Beraterin beim Vergleich von Lebenszyklusbewertung und Cradle to Cradle durch die niederländische Regierung 2011. Anfang der 1990er Jahre war sie als Forscherin bei EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung und dem Hamburger Umweltinstitut e.V. Mitautorin prägender Studien zu Methoden des Intelligenten Produktsystems (IPS) für Agrochemikalien, Nährstoffrecycling sowie natürliche und synthetische Fasern, die den Grundstein für Cradle to Cradle-Produkte legten. Sie hat einen Abschluss in Umwelttechnik.

Julia Sickermann

Julia Sickermann ist seit vielen Jahren im Bereich C2C-Innendesign tätig und mit ihrer Agentur Gallonska strategische Partnerin für Unternehmen, die Veränderung als Chance sehen – für Innovation, Nachhaltigkeit und Markenwerte.

Julia Sickermann

Julia Sickermann has been working in C2C interior design for many years. With her agency Gallonska, she is a strategic partner for companies that see change as an opportunity for innovation, sustainability and brand values.

Sven Urselmann

Sven Urselmann is a trained craftsman and has worked for more than ten years as a project manager in interior construction. In 2018, he founded urselmann interior, a startup for sustainable interior architecture and interior construction (Design&Build). For five years, he and his team have been fully committed to a circular economy based on the Cradle to Cradle design principle. In 2025, Urselmann Interior was honored as a Top 3 finalist at the German Sustainability Award, recognized as a “Changemaker in construction sector”.

Sven Urselmann

Sven Urselmann ist gelernter Handwerker und hat mehr als zehn Jahre als Projektleiter im Innenausbau gearbeitet. 2018 hat er urselmann interior gegründet, ein Startup für nachhaltige Innenarchitektur und Innenausbau. Seit fünf Jahren setzt er mit seinem Team zu 100% auf Kreislaufwirtschaft nach Cradle to Cradle-Design. 2025 wurde urselmann interior beim Deutschen Nachhaltigkeitspreis Finalist Top3 ausgezeichnet, als „Macher der Bauwende“.

Jacob Sylvester Bilabel

Seit 2023 leitet Jacob Sylvester Bilabel den Aufbau der zentralen Green Culture Anlaufstelle des Bundes in Deutschland. Im Sommer 2020 startete er das Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit in Kultur und Medien, gefördert durch die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien. Das Netzwerk wuchs seitdem auf über 50 der wichtigsten kulturellen Institutionen aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Als Teil eines Konsortiums entwickelte er zudem die bundeseinheitlichen kulturspezifischen Klimabilanzierungsstandards KBK & KBK+ sowie das kostenlose, dazu nutzbare Tool der bundesdeutschen Kulturministerkonferenz. 2009 gründete Bilabel die paneuropäischen Green Music Initiative als eine branchenübergreifende Denkfabrik. Die gemeinnützige Initiative vereint heute mehr als 350 Festivals und 500 Veranstaltungsorte in ganz Europa und erreicht mehr als 3 Millionen junge Europäer*innen.

Jacob Sylvester Bilabel

Since 2023, Jacob Sylvester Bilabel has been leading the development of the central Green Culture contact point of the federal government in Germany. In the summer of 2020, he launched the Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit (Network für Sustainability in Culture and Media), funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Since then, the network has grown to include over 50 of the most important cultural institutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As part of a consortium, he also developed two standardized culture-specific climate accounting standards in Germany (KBK and KBK+), as well as a corresponding free tool for this purpose. In 2009, Bilabel founded the pan-European Green Music Initiative as a cross-industry think tank. Today, the non-profit initiative unites more than 350 festivals and 500 venues across Europe, reaching more than 3 million young Europeans.

Johanna Jaurich

Johanna Jaurich is an author, director and (impact) producer of sustainable cinema documentaries, TV reports and short documentaries. She studied media science at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, specializing in film sociology, media psychology and environmental communication. After gaining initial work experience as a video editor at Greenpeace and participating in independent film projects, she has been working at the sustainable film production company fechnerMEDIA GmbH since 2017 and founded a company branch in her adopted hometown of Dresden. For her TV documentary “My Future Without Coal” (2019), she was awarded the “European Solar Prize 2020” and “Best Woman Filmmaker”, among others. She is passionate about telling solution-based stories of role models and people who are committed to sustainability and socio-ecological transformation, and as a board member of Zukunftsgestalten e.V., she is committed to networking changemakers.

Johanna Jaurich

Johanna Jaurich ist Autorin, Regisseurin und (Impact-) Producerin von nachhaltigen Kino-Dokumentarfilmen, TV-Reportagen und Kurzdokumentationen. Sie studierte Medienwissenschaften mit den Schwerpunkten Filmsoziologie, Medienpsychologie und Umweltkommunikation an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Nach ersten Berufserfahrungen als Videoredakteurin bei Greenpeace und der Mitwirkung an freien Filmprojekten arbeitet sie seit 2017 bei der nachhaltigen Filmproduktion fechnerMEDIA GmbH und gründete einen eigenen Firmenstandort in ihrer Wahlheimat Dresden. Für ihre TV-Dokumentation „Meine Zukunft ohne die Kohle“ (2019) wurde sie unter anderem mit dem „Europäischen Solarpreis 2020“ und als „Best Woman Filmmaker“ ausgezeichnet. Sie erzählt leidenschaftlich gerne lösungsbasierte Geschichten von Vorbildern und Menschen, die sich für Nachhaltigkeit und die sozial-ökologische Transformation einsetzen und setzt sich als Vorstandsmitglied bei Zukunftsgestalten e.V. für die Vernetzung von Changemakern ein.

Thomas Heilmann

Thomas Heilmann ist seit 2017 Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages. Er gehört dem Ausschuss Klima und Energie an und ist stellvertretendes Mitglied in den Ausschüssen Inneres, Digitale Agenda, Europa sowie Arbeit und Soziales. Außerdem ist er seit Februar 2022 Vorstandvorsitzender des KlimaUnion e.V. Thomas Heilmann wurde bekannt als Mitgründer, Startfinanzierer und Kleingesellschafter verschiedener Startups – darunter mytoys, Xing, Pixelpark und Facebook. 1998 wurde der studierte Jurist Gastprofessor an der Universität der Künste. 1999 wurde er von Angela Merkel zum ehrenamtlichen Internetsprecher der CDU ernannt. Von 2009 bis 2017 war er stellvertretender Landesvorsitzender der Berliner CDU. 2012 wurde Thomas Heilmann Senator für Justiz- und Verbraucherschutz im Land Berlin, dessen Amt er bis 2016 ausführte.

Thomas Heilmann

Thomas Heilmann has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2017. He is a member of the Climate and Energy Committee and a deputy member of the Home Affairs, Digital Agenda, Europe and Labor and Social Affairs Committees. He has also been Chairman of the Board of KlimaUnion e.V. since February 2022. Thomas Heilmann became known as a co-founder, startup financier and small shareholder of various startups – including mytoys, Xing, Pixelpark and Facebook. In 1998, the law graduate became a visiting professor at the University of the Arts Berlin. In 1999, Thomas Heilmann was appointed honorary internet spokesman for the CDU by Angela Merkel. From 2009 to 2017, he was deputy state chairman of the Berlin CDU. In 2012, he became Senator for Justice and Consumer Protection in the state of Berlin, a position he held until 2016.

Patrick Hypscher

Patrick studied Business Economics and Philosophy of the Social Sciences before starting his career with arvato Bertelsmann. He ran his startup, provided management training and led the circular business model BlueMovement – a circular Product-as-a-Service business by BSH Group, the largest home appliance manufacturer in Europe with brands like Bosch, Siemens, Neff and Gaggenau. Patrick hosts the Podcast Circularity.fm, which spreads the word about understanding, building and managing circular business models.

Patrick Hypscher

Patrick hat Betriebswirtschaft und Wissenschaftstheorie studiert, bevor er seine Karriere bei arvato Bertelsmann begann. Er gründete ein Startup, bot Managementtraining an und führte das zirkuläre Geschäftsmodell BlueMovement – ein zirkuläres Product-as-a-Service-Geschäft der BSH-Gruppe, Europas größter Hausgerätehersteller mit Marken wie Bosch, Siemens, Neff und Gaggenau. Patrick ist Host des Podcasts Circularity.fm, der Interviews über den Aufbau und das Management von zirkulären Geschäftsmodellen berichtet.

Forian Augustin

Florian Augustin ist Gründer und Geschäftsführer der Finizio GmbH aus Eberswalde. Finizio entwickelt und verkauft Trockentoiletten und betreibt seit 2019 die erste Recyclinganlage für Inhalte aus Trockentoiletten, aus der eine Blaupause zur qualitätsgesicherten Schließung des menschlichen Nährstoffkreislaufs hervorgeht.

Forian Augustin

Florian Augustin is the founder and managing director of Finizio GmbH in Eberswalde. Finizio develops and sells dry toilets and, since 2019, has been operating the first recycling plant for dry toilet contents, which provides a blueprint for the quality-assured closure of the human nutrient loop.

Grit Bürgow

Dr.-Ing. Grit Bürgow is an urban and landscape designer with a background in food and biotechnology, ecological engineering and Cradle to Cradle design. She is co-founder of aquatectura – Studios for Regenerative Landscapes and of Roof Water-Farm. She is currently working in the presidential office of the TU Berlin, at StadtManufaktur – Real-World Laboratory Platform and part of the Science and Society unit. In strategic projects, she develops and manages real-world laboratories for water-sensitive, edible and climate-friendly neighborhood and campus developments, and she is committed to collaborative prototype designs in the field of lightweight farming/hydroponics, aquaponics, innovative research participation and cooperative operation in urban areas.

Grit Bürgow

Dr.-Ing. Grit Bürgow ist Stadt- und Landschaftsgestalterin mit Hintergrund in Lebensmittel- und Biotechnologie, Ecological Engineering und Cradle to Cradle-Design. Sie ist Co-Gründerin von aquatectura – Studios für regenerative Landschaften und von Roof Water-Farm. Aktuell arbeitet sie im Präsidium der TU Berlin, bei der StadtManufaktur – Reallaborplattform und Teil der Stabsstelle Science and Society. In strategischen Projekten entwickelt und leitet sie Reallabore zu wassersensiblen, essbaren und klimafreundlichen Quartiers- und Campusentwicklungen und engagiert sich für kollaborative Prototypgestaltungen im Bereich Leichtbaufarming/Hydroponik, Aquaponik, innovative Forschungsbeteiligungen und den kooperativen Betrieb im Stadtraum.

Carolin Schultz

Carolin Schultz has been managing the volunteer community of C2C NGO since November 2022. As the main point of contact, she supports, coordinates, and connects around 1,000 active members across the DACH region, helping them bring the C2C concept into the world with creativity and enthusiasm. Carolin holds a Master’s degree in Nutritional and Consumer Economics (M.Sc.). Before joining C2C NGO, she was actively involved – both professionally and voluntarily – with Berliner Tafel e.V., foodsharing e.V. and the start-up Too Good To Go, working to fight food waste.

Philip Elsen 

Philip Elsen studied among others political science in Cologne, Sydney and Berlin. After completing his studies, he gained a wide range of experience through internships and trainee positions in Geneva, New York and Berlin, the German Bundestag and at a public affairs company. He finally decided to become a teacher out of passion and has been leading the award-winning additional course ‘Economics & Politics’ for several years. 
Over the past two years, Elsen has worked closely with the Berlin Cradle to Cradle NGO and C2C representatives from the business world to implement innovative content and projects on the circular economy at school. 

Carolina Mojto

Carolina Mojto is an architect, founder and director of FREIRAUM in der Box. She studied architecture at ETH Zurich and South East University Nanjing and worked for Herzog & de Meuron on projects including the Olympic Stadium in Beijing. Since 2008, she has been revitalizing buildings in East Berlin and creating sustainable, local and cosmopolitan communities. In the FREIRAUM in the Box, studios and a lab for living, learning and working together have been created, as well as a co-creation space since 2021.

Carolina Mojto

Carolina Mojto ist Architektin, Gründerin, Leiterin des FREIRAUM in der Box. Sie studierte Architektur an der ETH Zürich und der South East University Nanjing und arbeitete bei Herzog & de Meuron unter anderem für das Olympiastadion in Beijing. Seit 2008 revitalisiert sie Häuser im Osten Berlins und schafft nachhaltige, lokale und kosmopolitische Communities. So entstehen im FREIRAUM in der Box Ateliers und ein Lab des Zusammenlebens, Lernens und Arbeitens sowie seit 2021 ein Co-Creation Space.

Tina Snedker Kristensen

Tina Snedker Kristensen leitet die Bereiche Nachhaltigkeit und Kommunikation beim dänischen Akustikplattenhersteller Troldtekt A/S. Sie blickt auf mehr als 25 Jahre Erfahrung in der Baubranche zurück und arbeitet seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt daran, Troldtekt Akustiklösungen nach Cradle to Cradle certified®️ zu optimieren. Zudem verantwortet sie die CSR-Berichterstattung an den UN Global Compact sowie die Erstellung der Umweltproduktdeklarationen (EPD) bei Troldtekt. Sie ist Mitglied in einer Reihe von Netzwerken und Ausschüssen, unter anderem dem Fachausschuss für Materialinhalt und Klimawirkung des Green Building Council Denmarks. Sie tritt regelmäßig als Speakerin zum Thema in Skandinavien, Deutschland und Großbritannien auf.

Tina Snedker Kristensen

Tina Snedker Kristensen is Head of Sustainability and Communications at the Danish acoustic panel manufacturer Troldtekt A/S. She has more than 25 years of experience in the construction industry and has been working for more than a decade in optimizing Troldtekt acoustic solutions according to Cradle to Cradle certified®️. She is also responsible for CSR reporting to the UN Global Compact and the preparation of Troldtekt’s Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). She is a member of a number of networks and committees, including the Green Building Council Denmark’s Technical Committee on Material Content and Climate Impact. She is a regular speaker on the subject in Scandinavia, Germany and the UK.

Frank Lenderink

Frank Lenderink is Apple’s Director of International Environmental Initiatives for the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region. Part of Apple’s environmental organisation since 2010, he leads a team of experts who are deeply involved in a broad spectrum of environmental regulatory, policy and standards topics across the region, as well as contribute to Apple’s 2030 strategy. Frank holds a Masters degree in Industrial Design Engineering and held environmental functions at LG Electronics and HP prior to joining Apple.

Frank Lenderink

Frank Lenderink ist bei Apple als Direktor für internationale Umweltinitiativen für die Region Europa, Naher Osten, Indien und Afrika tätig. Er ist seit 2010 Teil dieser Umweltabteilung von Apple und leitet ein Expertenteam, das sich intensiv mit einem breiten Spektrum von Themen im Zusammenhang mit Umweltvorschriften, -richtlinien und -standards in der gesamten Region befasst und zur Strategie 2030 von Apple beiträgt. Frank hat einen Master-Abschluss in Industriedesign und war vor seinem Eintritt bei Apple in Umweltfunktionen bei LG Electronics und HP tätig.

Lars Baumgürtel

Lars Baumgürtel ist seit 1992 geschäftsführend bei ZINQ tätig. Seit 1998 ist er geschäftsführender Gesellschafter und seit 2008 alleiniger Gesellschafter des Familienunternehmens in vierter Generation. Seine akademischen Schwerpunkte während des Studiums lagen in den Bereichen Entrepreneurship und Produktionswissenschaften. Lars Baumgürtel ist ein Experte für Fragen des industriellen Mittelstands und Familienunternehmen in der zirkulären Transformation sowie für klimaneutrale Industrie und wettbewerbsfähige Nachhaltigkeit. Er ist Mitgründer und Sprecher mehrerer Netzwerke und Initiativen (InDUstrie, Transform to Zero/Circular Performer, Klimahafen Gelsenkirchen) und unterstützt das Wirtschaftsministerium in NRW im Kernteam des Industriedialogs und des Industriepakts. Er begleitet wesentliche Politikvorhaben zur Umsetzung der Circular Economy als Experte und Sachverständiger in Bundestagsausschüssen und im EU-Parlament.

Lars Baumgürtel

Lars Baumgürtel has been managing director at ZINQ since 1992. He has been a managing partner since 1998 and sole shareholder of the family business since 2008, representing the fourth generation of the family to hold the position. His academic focus during his studies was on entrepreneurship and production sciences. Lars Baumgürtel is an expert on issues related to industrial SMEs and family businesses in the circular transformation, as well as climate-neutral industry and competitive sustainability. He is co-founder and spokesperson for several networks and initiatives (InDUstrie, Transform to Zero/Circular Performer, Klimahafen Gelsenkirchen) and supports the Ministry of Economic Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia in the core team of the industrial dialog and the industrial pact. He supports key policy initiatives for the implementation of the circular economy as an expert and expert witness in Bundestag committees and in the EU Parliament.

Thorsten Noll

Since 2017, Thorsten Noll has been the spokesperson for the voluntary regional group Mainz-Wiesbaden of C2C NGO. The chemical engineer is an active member of the C2C alliances Science & Technology and Product-as-a-Service. The Mainz-Wiesbaden region is known for its Fastnacht (Carneval) tradition and winegrowing. In collaboration with the aforementioned alliances, fundamental principles for applying C2C in the wine industry have been developed.
Thorsten served as an ambassador for the concert series Labor Tempelhof, which demonstrated how large events can be designed to be future-proof according to the C2C principle. As a result, he co-initiated the Mainz-based group Fastnacht – ’ne saubere Sach’, which advocates for a less wasteful and more sustainable Fastnacht – inspired by the Cradle to Cradle concept.

Thorsten Noll

Thorsten Noll ist seit 2017 Sprecher der ehrenamtlichen Regionalgruppe Mainz-Wiesbaden von C2C NGO. Der Chemie-Ingenieur ist aktives Mitglied in den C2C Bündnissen Naturwissenschaft & Technik sowie dem Bündnis Product-as-a-service. Die Region Mainz-Wiesbaden ist bekannt für ihre Fastnachtstradition und den Weinbau. Zusammen mit den oben genannten Bündnissen wurden Grundlagen zu C2C in der Weinbaubranche erarbeitet. Thorsten war Botschafter beim Labor Tempelhof, das zeigte wie Großveranstaltungen zukunftsfähig nach dem C2C Prinzip gestaltet werden können. Infolgedessen wurde er Mitinitiator der Mainzer Gruppe Fastnacht e Sauber Sach‘ die sich für eine „müllärmere und nachhaltigere“ Fastnacht – cradlelig gedacht – einsetzt.

Frieda Assel

Seit rund zwei Jahren bin ich ehrenamtlich als Regionalsprecherin für Cradle to Cradle in Köln aktiv. Mich motiviert es, mein direktes Umfeld für Cradle to Cradle zu begeistern und gemeinsam nachhaltige Veränderungen anzustoßen. Köln hat großes Potenzial – und mit unserer engagierten Gruppe bringen wir C2C auf vielfältige Weise immer mehr in die Stadt. Was wäre Köln mit einem Karneval nach Cradle to Cradle? Lasst uns groß träumen und es möglich machen!

Frieda Assel

For around two years, I have been volunteering as a regional representative for Cradle to Cradle in Cologne. I am passionate about inspiring my surroundings with C2C and driving sustainable change. Cologne has great potential – and with our dedicated group, we are bringing C2C into the city in many ways. What would Cologne be like with a Cradle to Cradle-inspired Carnival? Let’s dream big and make it happen!

Dr. Anette Winterl

Dr. Annette Winterl has been a project manager at EPEA since 2021 and supports companies on their Cradle to Cradle journey. Her focus is on material health and circularity as well as the challenges of the growing electronics industry. She previously studied chemistry in Leipzig, Saarbrücken and Erlangen and completed her doctorate at FAU Erlangen. Looking through chemical glasses at the molecular level of products forms the basis for her work in material assessment according to Cradle to Cradle.

Dr. Anette Winterl

Dr. Annette Winterl ist seit 2021 als Projektmanagerin bei EPEA und unterstützt Unternehmen auf ihrem Cradle to Cradle-Weg. Ihre Schwerpunkte liegen in den Bereichen Materialgesundheit und Kreislauffähigkeit sowie den Herausforderungen der wachsenden Elektronikbranche. Zuvor studierte sie Chemie in Leipzig, Saarbrücken und Erlangen und promovierte an der FAU Erlangen. Der Blick durch die Chemiebrille auf die molekulare Ebene von Produkten bildet die Grundlage für ihre Arbeit in der Materialbewertung nach Cradle to Cradle.

Mads Kogsgaard Hansen

Mads Kogsgaard Hansen is responsible for product innovation and circular business development at Bang & Olufsen, incorporating his passion for the circular economy and human-centered design within this role. Mads leads all strategic product circularity initiatives, including the Cradle to Cradle Certified and Recreated Classics Programs, which aim to demonstrate Bang & Olufsen’s commitment to circular thinking, longevity, and timeless design. With a background in product and service innovation, material engineering and design thinking, Mads is driven by developing new innovation and creating circular solutions to enable brands to make a positive impact on the world and enable people to live better lives.

Mads Kogsgaard Hansen

Mads Kogsgaard Hansen ist bei Bang & Olufsen für Produktinnovation und die Entwicklung des Kreislaufgeschäfts verantwortlich und bringt in dieser Funktion seine Leidenschaft für Circular Economy und Human-Centered Design ein. Mads leitet alle strategischen Initiativen zur Kreislaufwirtschaft, einschließlich der Cradle to Cradle Certified- und Recreated Classics-Programme, die Bang & Olufsens Engagement für Kreislaufwirtschaft, Langlebigkeit und zeitloses Design zeigen. Mit seinem Hintergrund in den Bereichen Produkt- und Dienstleistungsinnovation, Werkstofftechnik und Design Thinking ist Mads von der Entwicklung von Innovationen und der Schaffung von Kreislauflösungen angetrieben, die es Marken ermöglichen, einen positiven Einfluss auf die Welt zu nehmen und Menschen ein besseres Leben zu ermöglichen.

Nienke Steen

Nienke ist eine leidenschaftliche und erfahrene Nachhaltigkeitsexpertin in der Bekleidungs- und Textilindustrie. Als Direktorin für Bekleidung, Textilien und Schuhe am Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute treibt sie gemeinsam mit Unternehmen und Interessengruppen den Übergang des Sektors zu einer Kreislaufwirtschaft voran. Bevor sie zum Institut kam, arbeitete Nienke mehr als ein Jahrzehnt lang bei Modint, dem niederländischen Handelsverband für Bekleidung, (Innen-)Textilien und Teppiche. Nienke war Mitglied der Lenkungsgruppe für das Abkommen über nachhaltige Bekleidung und Textilien, der Responsible Denim Alliance und des Fair Wear Committee of Experts und ist Initiatorin und Mitautorin des Leitfadens für nachhaltige Materialien von Modint für Bekleidungsunternehmen. Sie ist Mitglied des Fashion Advisory Committee des World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Nienke Steen

Nienke is a truly passionate and experienced sustainability expert in the garment and textiles industry. As Director for Apparel, Textiles and Footwear at the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute she drives the systems change required to accelerate the circular transition in the sector together with companies and stakeholders. Before joining the Institute, Nienke worked for more than a decade at Modint, the Dutch trade association for garment, (interior) textiles and carpets. Nienke served in the Steering group for the Agreement on Sustainable Garment and Textile, the Responsible Denim Alliance, the Fair Wear Committee of Experts and is the initiator and co-writer of the Sustainable Material Guide by Modint for Apparel Companies. She serves now in the Fashion advisory committee of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Gabriele Willems

As a civil engineer, Gabriele Willems has been primarily responsible for the technical tasks of Bau- und Liegenschaftsbetrieb NRW since 2015. Willems started her career at an international building materials group. She then held management positions at Hochtief Construction and Hochtief Solutions, where her responsibilities included strategy, corporate development and key account management.

Gabriele Willems

Gabriele Willems verantwortet als Bauingenieurin seit 2015 vorwiegend die technischen Aufgaben des Bau- und Liegenschaftsbetriebes NRW. Ihre Karriere startete Willems bei einem internationalen Baustoffkonzern. Anschließend war sie in leitender Funktion für Hochtief Construction sowie Hochtief Solutions tätig, wo sie unter anderem für die Bereiche Strategie, Unternehmensentwicklung und Key Account Management zuständig war.

Maximilian Breidenbach

Maximilian Breidenbach, born in 1989, completed his studies in “Communications & Marketing” at the International School of Management (ISM) in Dortmund and at Haaga-Helia University in Porvoo, Finland. After completing his studies, he joined the family business ClayTec, which was founded by his father Peter Breidenbach in 1984. In the years that followed, he took on a number of different tasks and positions within the company. He managed the subsidiary in Austria and currently also Cellco GmbH and is now responsible for the company’s operations as part of the management team. He is Chairman of the Board of the Industrieverband Lehmbaustoffe e.V., which was founded in 2022.

Maximilian Breidenbach

Maximilian Breidenbach, geboren 1989, absolvierte sein Studium in „Communications & Marketing“ an der International School of Management (ISM) in Dortmund sowie an der Haaga-Helia University in Porvoo, Finnland. Nach seinem Studium stieg er direkt in das Familienunternehmen ClayTec ein, das 1984 von seinem Vater Peter Breidenbach gegründet wurde. Innerhalb des Unternehmens übernahm er in den folgenden Jahren vielfältige Aufgaben und durchlief verschiedene Positionen. Er führte die Tochtergesellschaft in Österreich sowie aktuell auch die Cellco GmbH und ist heute als Teil der Geschäftsleitung für den operativen Bereich des Unternehmens verantwortlich. Er ist Vorstandsvorsitzender des 2022 gegründeten Industrieverband Lehmbaustoffe e.V..

Christian Schlimok

Christian Schlimok is Managing Director and founder of Novamondo GmbH and founder of Novisio GmbH. He teaches marketing, strategic design and innovation relating to the challenges of corporate sustainability at HWR Berlin. He also conducts research on these topics at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. He advises international clients, regularly gives lectures and publishes articles in journals, scientific studies and his own books.

Dr. Jana Swiderski 

Dr. Jana Swiderski has been a placement officer, case manager and career advisor at the Federal Employment Agency since 2013. In her role, she aims to inspire young people with the idea of C2C and help them to incorporate ideas of a circular economy into their career choices. The educationalist completed her doctorate in 2008 on the topic of “The Formation of Needs” and, before joining the employment agency, she was a research assistant at Humboldt University Berlin and a lecturer in social assistance at educational institutions.

Dr. Jana Swiderski 

Dr. Jana Swiderski ist sei 2013 Arbeitsvermittlerin, Fallmanagerin und Berufsberaterin bei der Agentur für Arbeit. In ihrer Rolle möchte sie Jugendliche für die Idee von C2C begeistern und dabei unterstützen, Ideen einer Kreislaufwirtschaft in ihre Berufswahl einzubeziehen. Die Erziehungswissenschaftlerin hat 2008 zum Thema “Die Bildung der Bedürfnisse” promoviert und war vor ihrem Start bei der Agentur für Arbeit wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Humboldt-Universität Berlin sowie Dozentin für Sozialassistenz bei Bildungsträgern. 

Laura Scherer

Laura Scherer is the founder and owner of Circu:Culture, an educational service provider in the field of the circular economy and a lecturer in Circular Economy at Furtwangen University. She specializes in the circular economy job market in Germany and offers job and career coaching for people who want to advance the circular economy with their work. Before Circu:Culture, she worked for several years as a consultant for international corporate waste and recyclables management, most recently at Schwarz Group as a recycling consultant for Lidl France. She is a certified process manager and holds an M. Sc. in Operations Management from ESB Business School and a double degree Bachelor in International Business Management from Furtwangen University and Novancia Business School Paris.

Alexander Maak

Alexander Maak studied business administration at the University of Wales, Cardiff. He initially took on regional responsibility for Asia, the Middle East and the Near East for an appliance manufacturer. He then became CEO of a shipping company in which he held a majority stake. Following a successful sale, Maak moved into the plastics sector, joining Interzero in 2014 and heading up the Business Development division. From 2020 to the end of 2024, he was Managing Director of the national Circular Solutions business units at Interzero. Since October 2024, Maak has led Encory GmbH, a joint venture between the BMW Group and Interzero, which focuses on the core topics of the circular economy for the automotive industry.

Prof. Dr. Peter Saling

Peter Saling, Prof. Dr., is currently the Director of Sustainability Methods at BASF. He studied chemistry at the University of Göttingen and began his work in sustainability with the development of the Eco-Efficiency Analysis in 1997. He has been involved in conducting more than 600 life cycle assessments and eco-efficiency studies. He was responsible for developing sustainability assessment methods such as SEEbalance, AgBalance, ProScale, among others. From 2007 to 2013, he led the Eco-Efficiency Analysis group in the Sustainability Strategy department at BASF. Since 2014, he has been the Director of Sustainability Methods at BASF. He is an editor for the “International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment”. Since 2014, he has been the Chairman of the “Life Cycle Thinking and Sustainability Group” of Plastics Europe. Since 2017, he has been the Chairman of the ISO Committee TC 207 / SC5 Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment, and since 2021, he has been the Chairman of the DIN NA 172-00-03 AA “Life Cycle Assessments and Environmental Labeling”. At “Together for Sustainability (TfS)”, he has been responsible as Co-Chair since 2021 for developing methodological guidelines for PCF assessment.
Since 2014, he has been a board member of the PRISMA Center at the Technical University of Dresden and since 2021, a Professor of Sustainability Management at the TU Dresden.

Prof. Dr. Peter Saling

Peter Saling, Prof. Dr., ist derzeit Director Sustainability Methods bei der BASF. Er studierte Chemie an der Universität Göttingen und begann seine Tätigkeit im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit mit der Entwicklung der Ökoeffizienz-Analyse 1997. Er war an der Durchführung von mehr als 600 Ökobilanz- und Ökoeffizienzstudien beteiligt. Er war verantwortlich für die Entwicklung von Nachhaltigkeitsbewertungsmethoden wie SEEbalance, AgBalance, ProScale u.a.. Von 2007 bis 2013 war er Leiter der Ökoeffizienz-Analyse Gruppe in der Abteilung Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie der BASF. Seit 2014 ist er als Direktor für die Nachhaltigkeitsmethoden der BASF verantwortlich. Er ist Fachredakteur für das „International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment“. Seit 2014 ist er Chairman der „Life Cycle Thinking and Sustainability Gruppe” von Plastics Europe. Seit 2017 ist er Vorsitzender des ISO-Komitees TC 207 / SC5 Umweltmanagement – Ökobilanz, seit 2021 ist er Obmann des DIN NA 172-00-03 AA „Ökobilanzen und umweltbezogene Kennzeichnung“. Bei „Together for Sustainability (TfS)“ ist er seit 2021 als Co-Chair verantwortlich für die Entwicklung von methodischen Richtlinien zur PCF-Bewertung.
Seit 2014 ist er an der Technischen Universität Dresden Vorstandsmitglied des PRISMA-Zentrums und seit 2021 Professor für Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement an der TU Dresden.

Dr. Philipp Hummel

Dr. Philipp Hummel ist seit 2020 als Leiter für Nachhaltigkeit bei der Spielzeugfirma Schleich tätig und verantwortlich für die Initiierung, Umsetzung und Erweiterung der globalen Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie und des ganzheitlichen ESG-Programms von Schleich. Nach Abschluss seines Studiums der Betriebswirtschaftslehre erlangte er seinen Doktortitel an der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Sustainability Accounting und Reporting. Neben seinem Promotionsstudium sammelte Hummel bereits umfangreiche Erfahrungen in der Lebensmittelindustrie, zuletzt als Nachhaltigkeitsmanagers der Meggle Gruppe, einem internationalen Hersteller von Milchprodukten und Zulieferer der Lebensmittel- und Pharmaindustrie.

Sarah Harbarth

Kreislaufwirtschaft, Innovation und weibliche Führung ziehen sich wie ein roter Faden durch Sarahs Biografie. Sarah erwarb 2021 ihren Bachelor-Abschluss an der Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Basel. Anschließend arbeitete sie als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz in Brugg mit den Schwerpunkten Materialforschung und Verfahrenstechnik. 2022 bildete sie sich an der ZHAW in Zürich im Bereich Social Entrepreneurship weiter. Sarah begann ihre unternehmerische Laufbahn als Gründerin und CEO von KUORI und treibt die Transformation von Verbraucherplastik durch die Nutzung von Lebensmittelabfällen wie Olivenkernen und Walnussschalen voran, um die Verschmutzung durch Mikroplastik zu bekämpfen und eine Post-Öl-Wirtschaft zu fördern. 2024 nahm Sarah am UBS-Programm „Project Female Founder“ teil und wurde für die Forbes-Liste „30 unter 30“ ausgewählt.

Herbert Niederfriniger

Herbert Niederfriniger grew up as a nature boy on a South Tyrolean mountain farm. After training as a carpenter and wood technician, he worked as a forester and deepened his understanding of the cycles of nature. Building his own house changed his life and career fundamentally. To create a natural, healthy living space, he developed a glue- and metal-free solid wood construction system based on ancient craftsmanship techniques, and founded Holzius in 2007. Today, Holzius, based in Eyrs/Laas, is one of the market leaders in consistent ecological solid timber construction, with Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ Gold-certified products. The mission of creating a harmonious connection between nature and people is more relevant than ever.

Herbert Niederfriniger

Herbert Niederfriniger wächst als Naturbursche auf einem Südtiroler Bergbauernhof auf. Nach seiner Ausbildung zum Tischler und Holztechniker arbeitet er als Förster und vertieft sein Verständnis für die Kreisläufe der Natur. Der Bau seines eigenen Hauses verändert sein Leben und seine Karriere grundlegend. Um einen naturnahen, gesunden Wohnraum zu schaffen, entwickelt er ein leim- und metallfreies Vollholzbausystem, das auf uralten handwerklichen Techniken basiert, und gründet 2007 Holzius. Heute ist Holzius mit Sitz in Eyrs/Laas einer der Marktführer im konsequenten ökologischen Vollholzbau, mit Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ Gold-zertifizierten Produkten. Seine Mission, eine harmonische Verbindung von Natur und Mensch zu schaffen, ist aktueller denn je.

Alexander Eckert

Alexander Eckert is a producer and co-founder of the Hamburg- based film production company Rejell and sustainable advertising agency Vanduer. He runs Rejell together with his long-standing business partner Matthias Freier, with whom he started out as a directing duo in 2003. Together with Matthias, he directed various German and international advertising campaigns, known for their documentary style and ethical focus. Alexanders passion and commitment to a healthy environment and society were decisive for him to found Vanduer, in order to advance communication for the circular economy. As a producer, he has since made advertising films for companies with a positive impact and won a Gold Lion in Cannes 2018 for the documentary film series START YOUR IMPOSSIBLE for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 with Paralympic athletes and social entrepreneurs. He produced his first feature-length cinema documentary in 2022 with the documentary THE INVISIBLE ONES (director: Matthias Freier). THE INVISIBLE ONES premiered at the Hamburg Film Festival 2023, was released in German cinemas in spring 2024 and is distributed by Weltkino. THE INVISIBLE ONES is currently streaming on Amazon.

Alexander Eckert

Alexander Eckert ist Produzent und Mitbegründer der Hamburger Filmproduktionsfirma Rejell und der nachhaltigen Werbeagentur Vanduer. Er leitet Rejell zusammen mit seinem langjährigen Geschäftspartner Matthias Freier, mit dem er 2003 als Regie-Duo begann. Gemeinsam mit Matthias führte er Regie bei verschiedenen deutschen und internationalen Werbekampagnen, die für ihren dokumentarischen Stil und ihren ethischen Fokus bekannt sind. Alexanders Leidenschaft und Engagement für eine gesunde Umwelt und Gesellschaft waren ausschlaggebend für die Gründung von Vanduer, um die Kommunikation für die Kreislaufwirtschaft voranzutreiben. Als Produzent hat er seitdem Werbefilme für Unternehmen mit positiver Wirkung gedreht und in Cannes 2018 einen Goldenen Löwen für die Dokumentarfilmreihe START YOUR IMPOSSIBLE für die Olympischen Spiele in Tokio 2020 mit paralympischen Athleten und Sozialunternehmern gewonnen. 2022 produzierte er seinen ersten abendfüllenden Kinodokumentarfilm mit dem Dokumentarfilm DIE UNSICHTBAREN (Regie: Matthias Freier). DIE UNSICHTBAREN feierte auf dem Filmfest Hamburg 2023 Premiere, kam im Frühjahr 2024 in die deutschen Kinos und wird von Weltkino vertrieben. DIE UNSICHTBAREN ist derzeit auf Amazon im Streaming verfügbar.

Philip Elsen 

Philip Elsen studierte u. a. Politikwissenschaft in Köln, Sydney und Berlin. Nach seinem Studium sammelte er zunächst vielfältige Erfahrungen durch Praktika und Trainee-Stellen in Genf, New York, Berlin sowie im Bundestag und in einer Public-Affairs-Firma. Schließlich entschied er sich aus Leidenschaft für den Lehrerberuf und leitet seit einigen Jahren den mehrfach ausgezeichneten Zusatzkurs “Wirtschaft & Politik”.

In den letzten zwei Jahren hat Elsen eng mit Cradle to Cradle NGO sowie C2C-Vertreter*innen aus der Wirtschaft zusammengearbeitet, um innovative Inhalte und Projekte zur Circular Economy an der Schule zu realisieren.

 

 

Steffi Lemke 

Steffi Lemke, born on January 19, 1968 in Dessau, is a member of the Bundestag for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and has been Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection in the Scholz cabinet since December 8, 2021. In 1989, she was one of the co-founders of the Green Party in the GDR. She was already a member of the German Bundestag from 1994 to 2002 and then again since 2013. In her political career, she has served as, among other things, the spokesperson for nature conservation policy for her parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, the political federal business manager of BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN, and led the 2005, 2009 and 2013 federal election campaigns. Lemke is a trained animal technician, worked as a letter carrier from 1986 to 1988 and, after graduating with her Abitur in 1988, completed a degree in agricultural science at the Humboldt University in Berlin, which she completed in 1993 as a graduate agricultural engineer.

Steffi Lemke 

Steffi Lemke, geboren am 19. Januar 1968 in Dessau, ist Bundestagsabgeordnete von BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN und seit dem 8. Dezember 2021 Bundesministerin für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz im Kabinett Scholz. 1989 war sie eine der Mitbegründerinnen der Grünen Partei in der DDR. Von 1994 bis 2002 war sie bereits Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages sowie dann erneut seit 2013. Sie war in ihrer politischen Laufbahn unter anderem Sprecherin für Naturschutzpolitik ihrer Fraktion im Deutschen Bundestag, politische Bundesgeschäftsführerin von BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN und leitete die Bundestagswahlkämpfe 2005, 2009 und 2013. Lemke ist ausgebildete Zootechnikerin, arbeitete von 1986 bis 1988 als Briefzustellerin und absolvierte 1988 nach ihrem Abitur ein Studium der Agrarwissenschaft an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, welches sie 1993 als Diplom-Agraringenieurin abschloss. 

Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen 

Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen studierte Medizin und Wissenschaftsjournalismus in Berlin, London und Heidelberg. Seine Spezialität: medizinische Inhalte auf humorvolle Art zu vermitteln. Er gibt nachhaltige Impulse, die hängen bleiben: im Fernsehen, als Sachbuchautor, bei Kongressen oder als Keynote Speaker. „Planetare Gesundheit“ bedeutet für ihn, dem Schutz unserer Lebensgrundlagen und einer enkeltauglichen Zukunft oberste Priorität einzuräumen. Dafür gründete er 2020 die Stiftung Gesunde Erde – Gesunde Menschen und veröffentlichte das Buch „Mensch Erde – Wir könnten es so schön haben“. Für die ARD moderiert er „Was kann der Mensch?“, „Wissen vor 8 – Erde“ sowie zahlreiche Dokumentationen. Eckart von Hirschhausen ist Ehrenmitglied der Fakultät der Charité, Mitglied im Nachhaltigkeitsberat des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, im Club of Rome und Honorarprofessor in Marburg. 

Delara Burkhardt 

Delara Burkhardt (*3. November 1992 in Hamburg) ist SPD-Europaabgeordnete und seit 2019 Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments. Sie treibt die Transformation hin zu einer ressourcenschonenden, zirkulären Wirtschaft auf EU-Ebene voran. Schwerpunkte ihrer Arbeit sind Umwelt-, Klima- und Kreislaufwirtschaftspolitik, u. a. als Verhandlerin der EU-Textilstrategie und der EU-Verpackungsverordnung. Burkhardt ist Mitglied im Umweltausschuss sowie stellvertretend im Industrie- und Binnenmarktausschuss. Sie lebt mit ihrer Familie in der Zero-Waste-Stadt Kiel.

Dr. Peter Mösle 

Dr. Peter Mösle has been Managing Director of EPEA GmbH – Part of Drees & Sommer since 2019. He has been working for Drees & Sommer in the field of energy design and environmentally friendly construction since 1996, and as a partner for ESG, sustainability and innovation since 2012. Mösle was a member of the Executive Committee of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) until 2021, and an honorary member since then. He studied environmental sciences at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Tucson and received his PhD in sustainable construction in 2009.

Dr. Peter Mösle 

Dr. Peter Mösle ist seit 2019 Geschäftsführer von EPEA GmbH – Part of Drees & Sommer. Er ist seit 1996 im Bereich Energiedesign und umweltgerechtes Bauen für Drees & Sommer tätig, seit 2012 als Partner für die Themen ESG, Nachhaltigkeit und Innovation. Bis 2021 war Mösle Mitglied des Präsidiums der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen e. V. (DGNB), seither Ehrenmitglied. Er hat an der Universität Stuttgart und der University of Tucson Umweltwissenschaften studiert und 2009 im Bereich nachhaltiges Bauen promoviert.

Dr. Sonja Stuchtey

Sonja is an accomplished professional with a background in Business Economics and broad experience in entrepreneurship and technology. She started her career as a business consultant at Booz Allen and shifted her focus toward her own business ventures.
Sonja has founded SCIENCE LAB, an education platform and Alliance for Europe, a civil tech company. Sonja acted as a director in the business consultancy AlixPartners and focusing on enterprise improvement and innovation, is part of the Capitals Coalition supervisory board and the HeadBox advisory board. Sonja received her PhD from Technical University of Munich for empirical education research. Her most recent business endeavor is the Nature-Fintech company The Landbanking Group, which strives to put nature on the balance sheet, and fosters the idea of land stewardship.

Dr. Sonja Stuchtey

Sonja ist eine versierte Unternehmerin mit einem Hintergrund in Betriebswirtschaft und umfangreicher Erfahrung in Enterpreneurship und Technologie. Ihre berufliche Laufbahn begann sie als Unternehmensberaterin bei Booz Allen, bevor sie SCIENCE LAB, eine Bildungsplattform, sowie Alliance for Europe, ein Civic-Tech-Unternehmen, gründete. Als Direktorin bei der Unternehmensberatung AlixPartners konzentrierte sie sich auf Unternehmensoptimierung und Innovation. Zudem ist sie Mitglied des Aufsichtsrats der Capitals Coalition und des Beirats von HeadBox. Ihren Doktortitel erwarb Sonja an der TU München im Bereich empirische Bildungsforschung. Ihr jüngstes unternehmerisches Projekt ist das Nature-Fintech-Unternehmen The Landbanking Group, das sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, Natur bilanziell erfassbar zu machen und eine verantwortungsvolle regenerative Landnutzungpraxis zu fördern.

Tabea Kaplan

Tabea Kaplan is tour manager of the band Die Ärzte and Executive Director as well as Head of Beneficial Events at Loft Concerts GmbH. Loft Concerts has been successfully organizing concerts in Berlin since the 1980s and is now one of the city’s major local concert promoters, with around 250 concerts a year at Berlin’s most beautiful venues. Loft Concerts is a co-initiator of the “Labor Tempelhof” project and has since specialized in the area of organizing (large-scale) circular concerts.

Tabea Kaplan

Tabea Kaplan ist Tourneemanagerin der Band Die Ärzte und bei der Loft Concerts GmbH Geschäftsführerin und Leiterin des Bereichs Beneficial Events. Loft Concerts veranstaltet seit den 80er Jahren erfolgreich Konzerte in Berlin und zählt heute mit rund 250 Konzerten im Jahr an den schönsten Orten Berlins zu den großen, lokalen Konzertveranstaltern der Stadt. Loft Concerts ist Mitinitiator des Projekts “Labor Tempelhof” und spezialisiert sich seither auf den Bereich kreislauffähiges Veranstalten von (Groß)konzerten.

Anna Britz

Since January 2021 Anna Britz is responsible for the department of education of Cradle to Cradle NGO aiming to explain the C2C concept to as many people as possible and get them involved with the subject. Therefore, she develops educational material for schools, and holds workshops, talks, and guided tours in the C2C LAB in Berlin. Prior to joining C2C NGO, Anna has been gaining experience for more than ten years as a teacher in schools, at university, and in extracurricular educational projects.

Anna Britz

Anna Britz hat seit Januar 2021 als Bildungsreferentin bei Cradle to Cradle NGO das Ziel, das C2C-Konzept so vielen Menschen wie möglich näher zu bringen und sie dafür zu begeistern. Dafür entwickelt sie Bildungsmaterialien für Schulen, Workshops, Vorträge und Führungen im C2C LAB in Berlin für verschiedene Zielgruppen rund um das Thema Cradle to Cradle. Zuvor sammelte sie knapp zehn Jahre lang Erfahrungen als Lehrerin an Schule, Universität und in außerschulischen Bildungsprojekten. 

Prince Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje-Nassau

With a career spanning banking, technology, and military service, including his role as a colonel with the Dutch military police, Prince Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje-Nassau has worked with several large corporates before choosing a more entrepreneurial path, focusing on developing innovative business strategies. In addition to his professional endeavors, he has held leadership roles in nonprofit organizations, serving as Vice-Chairman of the Dutch Red Cross and Chairman of the Laureus Foundation Netherlands, where he supports projects aimed at helping disadvantaged youth. His philanthropic efforts include running for charity and originating social impact projects. Prince Pieter-Christiaan holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

Prinz Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje-Nassau

Die berufliche Laufbahn von Prinz Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje-Nassau reicht vom Bankwesen über die Technologiebranche bis zum Militär, wo er unter anderem Oberst bei der niederländischen Militärpolizei war. Er arbeitete für mehrere große Unternehmen, bevor er sich für einen unternehmerischen Weg entschied und sich auf die Entwicklung innovativer Geschäftsstrategien konzentrierte. Neben seiner beruflichen Tätigkeit hat er Führungsrollen in gemeinnützigen Organisationen übernommen und war stellvertretender Vorsitzender des Niederländischen Roten Kreuzes sowie Vorsitzender der Laureus-Stiftung Niederlande, wo er Projekte für benachteiligte Jugendliche unterstützt. Zu seinem philanthropischen Engagement gehören auch Läufe für wohltätige Zwecke und die Initiierung von Projekten mit sozialer Wirkung. Prinz Pieter-Christiaan hat einen MBA vom International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

Jörg Witthöft

Jörg Witthöft has headed the Bielefeld location of the automotive supplier ZF Group since 2008. He has worked for the company in various roles since 1998. Witthöft studied mechanical engineering and industrial engineering and gained professional experience at the Suttner company after his first degree before moving to ZF. He has also been a member of the Environmental Committee of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Bielefeld since 2018, as well as a member of the Board of ZAA Unternehmerverband Bielefeld. His Motto:
Future-oriented production does not generate waste, but infinite cycles of recyclable materials.

Johanna Jaurich

Johanna Jaurich (*1994) ist Autorin, Regisseurin und (Impact-) Producerin von nachhaltigen Kino-Dokumentarfilmen, TV-Reportagen und Kurzdokumentationen.

Sie studierte Medienwissenschaften mit den Schwerpunkten Filmsoziologie, Medienpsychologie und Umweltkommunikation an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar und schloss ihr Studium 2017 mit einem Bachelor of Arts ab.

Schon seit ihrer Jugend engagiert sie sich im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit und widmet sich diesem Themenfeld auch beruflich: Nach ersten Berufserfahrungen als Videoredakteurin bei Greenpeace und der Mitwirkung an diversen freien Filmprojekten arbeitet sie seit 2017 bei der nachhaltigen Filmproduktion fechnerMEDIA GmbH und gründete einen eigenen Firmenstandort in ihrer Wahlheimat Dresden.

Für ihre TV-Dokumentation „Meine Zukunft ohne die Kohle“ (2019) wurde sie neben verschiedenen internationalen Festivalpreisen auch mit dem „Europäischen Solarpreis 2020“ und als „Best Woman Filmmaker“ ausgezeichnet. Der Film erreichte in der Primetime der ARD mehr als eine halbe Million ZuschauerInnen.

Neben TV-Dokumentationen und Kinofilmen erzählt sie leidenschaftlich gerne in Kurzfilmen lösungsbasierte Geschichten von Vorbildern und Menschen, die sich für Nachhaltigkeit und die sozial-ökologische Transformation einsetzen.

Als Vorstandsmitglied bei „Zukunftsgestalten e.V.“ engagiert sie sich darüber hinaus für die Vernetzung von Changemakern.

Johanna Jaurich

Johanna Jaurich (*1994) is an author, director and (Impact-) producer of solution-oriented documentaries and series.

She studied media science with a focus on film sociology, media psychology and environmental communication at the Bauhaus University Weimar and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2017.

She has been committed to sustainability since her youth and has also dedicated herself to this topic professionally: after gaining her first professional experience in the video department at Greenpeace and freelancing on various film projects, she joined the sustainable film production company fechnerMEDIA GmbH in 2017 and founded her own company location in her city of choice, Dresden.

For her TV documentary “My Future Without Coal” (2019), she was awarded the “European Solar Award 2020” and “Best Filmmaker”, as well as receiving several prizes at international festivals. The film reached more than half a million viewers during prime time on ARD.

As a board member of “Zukunftsgestalten e.V.”, she is also committed to ecological and social sustainability beyond her film work.

Herwart Wilms

Mr Herwart Wilms, born on 11 June 1961, married, two sons, joined a medium-sized holding company of RWE-Umwelt AG after studying economics, social sciences and German language and literature in Bochum. There he was initially responsible for personnel development, then for sales, marketing and public relations. In 2002, he became Spokesman of the Management Board of RWE Umwelt Rhein-Ruhr GmbH, and in 2004 Head of Overall Sales and Dual Systems at RWE Umwelt AG. Since 2005, he has been managing director of REMONDIS Sustainable Services GmbH, the central holding company of the REMONDIS Group. Furthermore, he is president-elect of the European Waste Management Association (FEAD), vice president of the Federal Association of the German Waste, Water and Raw Materials Management Industry (BDE), chairman of the raw materials committee of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), member of the advisory board of the VDI Centre for Resource Efficiency (VDI ZRE) and member of the resource commission at the Federal Environment Agency.

Herwart Wilms

Herr Herwart Wilms, geb. am 11.06.1961, verheiratet, zwei Söhne, trat nach seinem Studium der Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften und Germanistik in Bochum in eine mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft der RWE-Umwelt AG ein. Dort war er zunächst verantwortlich für Personalentwicklung, dann für Vertrieb, Marketing, Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. 2002 wurde er Sprecher der Geschäftsführung der RWE Umwelt Rhein-Ruhr GmbH, 2004 dann Leitung Gesamtvertrieb und Duale Systeme der RWE Umwelt AG. Seit 2005 ist er Geschäftsführer der REMONDIS Sustainable Services GmbH, der zentralen Holding Gesellschaft der REMONDIS-Gruppe. Darüber hinaus ist er designierter Präsident der European Waste Management Association (FEAD), Vizepräsident des Bundesverbands der Deutschen Entsorgungs-, Wasser- und Rohstoffwirtschaft e.V. (BDE), Vorsitzender des Rohstoffausschusses des Bundesverbands der Deutschen Industrie e.V. (BDI), Beiratsmitglied im VDI Zentrum Ressourceneffizienz GmbH (VDI ZRE) und Kommissionsmitglied der Ressourcenkommission am Umweltbundesamt.

Lena Germscheid

Lena Germscheid joined Cradle to Cradle NGO in March 2023 as a consultant in the Municipal Development Unit. She connects actors at the municipal level who want to implement an economic, social and ecological transformation in their region. Lena holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Sciences and has worked as a municipal manager for climate adaptation before joining C2C NGO.

Lena Germscheid

Lena Germscheid arbeitet seit März 2023 als Referentin für Kommunale Entwicklung bei Cradle to Cradle NGO. Sie vernetzt Akteur*innen der kommunalen Ebene, die sich für eine wirtschaftliche, soziale und ökologische Transformation einsetzen wollen. Lena hat einen Abschluss in Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaften (M.Sc.) und war bis zu ihrem Einstieg bei C2C NGO als Klimamanagerin in einer Kommunalverwaltung tätig.

Bernd Tischler

Bernd Tischler has been Lord Mayor of the city of Bottrop since 2009. After graduating from high school in 1978 and studying spatial planning at the University of Dortmund, Tischler passed his main diploma examination in December 1984. After completing his legal clerkship at the district government of Cologne and the state examination for the higher technical administrative service in Frankfurt am Main, Tischler worked as deputy head of the Office for Urban Development and Economic Development of the City of Dormagen from December 1987 to 1989. In April 1989, he joined the City of Bottrop, where he initially headed various departments before being appointed Head of the Urban Planning Office in May 1995 and Senior Building Director in October 1996.

Bernd Tischler

Bernd Tischler ist seit 2009 Oberbürgermeister der Stadt Bottrop. Nach dem Abitur 1978 und dem Studium der Raumplanung an der Universität Dortmund legte Tischler im Dezember 1984 die Diplom-Hauptprüfung ab. Nach dem Referendariat bei der Bezirksregierung Köln und der Großen Staatsprüfung für den höheren technischen Verwaltungsdienst in Frankfurt am Main arbeitete Tischler von Dezember 1987 bis 1989 als stellvertretender Amtsleiter im Amt für Stadtentwicklung und Wirtschaftsförderung der Stadt Dormagen. Im April 1989 kam er zur Stadt Bottrop, wo er zunächst unterschiedliche Abteilungen leitete und im Mai 1995 zum Leiter des Stadtplanungsamtes sowie im Oktober 1996 zum Leitenden Baudirektor ernannt wurde.

Dr. Ken Webster

Ken Webster ist Gastprofessor an der Cranfield University und Fellow am Institute for Sustainability Leadership der Cambridge University. Von 2010 bis Ende 2018 war er Leiter der Innovationsabteilung der Ellen MacArthur Foundation, wo er dazu beitrug, die aktuellen Vorstellungen von einer Kreislaufwirtschaft auf der Grundlage von C2C-Erkenntnissen zu formen. In seinem Buch The Circular Economy: A Wealth of Flows beschreibt er die Zusammenhänge zwischen Systemdenken, wirtschaftlichen und geschäftlichen Möglichkeiten und dem Übergang zu einer Kreislaufwirtschaft. Er hat zum neuen Handbook of the Circular Economy (2023) beigetragen und war Mitwirkender und Herausgeber von Earth for All des Club of Rome. Er ist einer der Hauptautoren zum Thema Kreislaufwirtschaft für den GEO-7-Bericht des UNEP (in Entwicklung). In seinem nächsten Buch geht es um die Beziehungen zwischen einer Kreislaufwirtschaft und der potenziellen Rolle eines universellen Grundeinkommens basierend auf Ressourcenrenten.

Dr. Ken Webster

Ken Webster is a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University and a Fellow at Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership. From 2010 to end of 2018 he was Head of Innovation for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, where he helped shape current notions of a ‘circular economy’ around C2C insights. His book “The Circular Economy: A Wealth of Flows” relates the connections between systems thinking, economic and business opportunity and the transition to a circular economy. He contributed to the new Handbook of the Circular Economy (2023) and was a contributor and editor on Earth for All from the Club of Rome. He is a lead author on circular economy for UNEP’s GEO-7 report (in development). His next book is focussed on the relationships between a circular economy and the potential role of a Universal Basic Dividend based on resource rents.

Jan Philipp Albrecht

Since June 2022, Jan Philipp Albrecht serves as Co-President of the Berlin-based Heinrich Böll Foundation. Before, he was Minister for Energy Transition, Agriculture, Environment, Nature and Digitalisation of the State of Schleswig-Holstein in the Günther cabinet, since 1 September 2018.

As a Member of the European Parliament, Jan Philipp Albrecht represented the citizens of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein from 2009 to 2018. Jan Philipp Albrecht’s topics were home affairs and justice policy, including the reform of European data protection law, the right to legal assistance, the European Investigation Order, police policy and the fight against right-wing extremism. Particularly close to his heart are “civil rights in the digital age”.

As MEP, Jan Philipp Albrecht was a Member and Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Home Affairs and Justice and a Substitute Member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. During his first legislative term from 2009-2014, he was a member of the Committee on Home Affairs and a substitute member of the Committee on Legal Affairs. From December 2012 to October 2013, Jan Philipp Albrecht was also coordinator for the Special Committee against Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering. As the European Parliament’s negotiator for the planned Data Protection Regulation, he negotiated with the European Council Presidency and the European Commission on a uniform data protection law for the EU. In addition, Jan Philipp Albrecht was a member of the delegations for relations with Israel as well as Australia and New Zealand.

From 2003 to 2008, Jan studied law in Bremen, Brussels and Berlin, specialising in European and international law. Supported by a scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation, he completed his studies with the first state law examination. Until his election to the 7th European Parliament in 2009, Jan specialised in IT law at the Universities of Hanover and Oslo within the framework of a DAAD-funded postgraduate master (LL.M.).

Jan Philipp Albrecht

Jan Philipp Albrecht ist seit Juni 2022 Vorstand der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. Davor war er vier Jahre Minister für Energiewende, Landwirtschaft, Umwelt, Natur und Digitalisierung des Landes Schleswig-Holstein und neun Jahre als Abgeordneter im Europäischen Parlament, in das er 2009 als jüngstes deutsches Mitglied eingezogen ist.
Albrecht war von 2006 bis 2008 Bundesvorstandssprecher der Grünen Jugend und engagierte sich vor allem in der Umwelt- und der Bürgerrechtsbewegung. Als Abgeordneter im Europäischen Parlament verhandelte er zahlreiche digital-, handels- und rechtspolitische Vorhaben, unter anderem als Berichterstatter des Parlaments die EU-Datenschutzgrundverordnung. Er war stellvertretender Vorsitzender des Ausschusses für bürgerliche Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres und leitete mehrere Delegationen des Parlaments in die USA.
Ab 2003 studierte Albrecht Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität Bremen, der Université Libre de Bruxelles und der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin und absolvierte beide juristische Staatsexamina. Zudem führt er einen Doppel-LL.M. im Bereich des IT-Rechts der Universitäten Hannover und Oslo. Albrecht veröffentlichte zahlreiche Bücher und Beiträge, insbesondere zum Umwelthandelsrecht, zum Datenschutz und zu den Bürgerrechten im digitalen Zeitalter. Er war ab 2010 Lehrbeauftragter für Europäisches Informationsrecht an der Universität Wien.
Als Minister in Schleswig-Holstein vertrat er das Land im Bundesrat sowie in den Ministerkonferenzen der Agrar-, Umwelt-, Verbraucherschutz- und Digitalressorts. Zudem war er Mitglied einer Verhandlungsgruppe für den Koalitionsvertrag der Ampel-Bundesregierung. Der ehemalige Stipendiat der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung war auch Mitglied in deren Mitgliederversammlung.

Michael Kellner

Born in Gera on 8 May 1977, married, two children.
Study of political sciences in Potsdam, Canterbury (UK) and East Lansing (US)
From October 2013 to January 2022 Political Managing Director of ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS at federal level, member of the federal board
Since 2021 Member of the German Bundestag, since December 2021 also Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and since January 2022 Federal Government Commissioner for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Since
October 2022, Michael Kellner has also been the Federal Government’s contact person for the cultural and creative industries.

Michael Kellner

Geboren am 8. Mai 1977 in Gera, verheiratet, 2 Kinder
Studium der Politikwissenschaften in Potsdam, Canterbury/Großbritannien und East Lansing/USA.
Oktober 2013 bis Januar 2022 Politischer Bundesgeschäftsführer von BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN und damit Mitglied im Bundesvorstand.
Seit 2021 Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages, seit Dezember 2021 auch Parlamentarischer Staatssekretär beim Bundesminister für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz und als solcher seit Januar 2022 Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für den Mittelstand. Seit Oktober 2022 ist Michael Kellner außerdem Ansprechpartner der Bundesregierung für die Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft.

Junhua Li

Mr. Junhua Li was appointed the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs in September 2022. He advises the Secretary-General on issues related to the three pillars of sustainable development – social, economic, and environmental. Mr. Li heads the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), which delivers programmes on socioeconomic trends and policies, population dynamics, and environmental management in close partnership with governments, UN agencies and civil society organizations.

Junhua Li

Junhua Li wurde im September 2022 zum Untergeneralsekretär der Vereinten Nationen für Wirtschaft und Soziales ernannt. Er berät den Generalsekretär in Fragen, die mit den drei Säulen der nachhaltigen Entwicklung – Soziales, Wirtschaft und Umwelt – zusammenhängen. Li leitet die Hauptabteilung Wirtschaftliche und Soziale Angelegenheiten der Vereinten Nationen (UN DESA), die in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Regierungen, UN-Organisationen und Organisationen der Zivilgesellschaft Programme zu sozioökonomischen Trends und Maßnahmen, Bevölkerungsdynamik und Umweltmanagement durchführt.

Nina Eichinger

Nina Eichinger is an actress and TV presenter who discovered her love of nature at an early age. She studied environmental sciences and communication sciences and, among other things, completed a semester abroad in Australia focusing on rainforest ecology. Eichinger is involved in numerous organisations and juries for a better world and is a member of the advisory board of C2C NGO.

Florian Michaelis

Florian Michaelis is specialized in the topics of circular economy and transformative processes. He founded graadwies in 2017. Here, projects with a social, ecological or cultural background are realized. By linking the fields of society, technology and the environment, the company develops its own logics and applies them in projects. Graadwies provides services in the areas of development, general planning, consulting and research.
In 2021, he founded the company Urban Beta with other partners. As head of system development, he played a key role in developing the BetaPort circular building system. Florian’s vision is to generate regenerative impulses against the backdrop of finite resources using new logics.

Florian Michaelis

Florian Michaelis ist spezialisiert auf die Themen Kreislaufwirtschaft und Transformationsprozesse. Er gründete 2017 graadwies. Hier werden Projekte mit sozialem, ökologischem oder kulturellem Hintergrund realisiert. Durch die Verknüpfung der Bereiche Gesellschaft, Technik und Umwelt entwickelt das Unternehmen eigene Logiken und setzt diese in Projekten um. Graadwies erbringt Dienstleistungen in den Bereichen Entwicklung, Generalplanung, Beratung und Forschung.
Im Jahr 2021 gründete er mit anderen Partnern das Unternehmen Urban Beta. Als Leiter der Systementwicklung war er maßgeblich an der Entwicklung des BetaPort Rundbausystems beteiligt. Florians Vision ist es, vor dem Hintergrund endlicher Ressourcen mit neuen Logiken regenerative Impulse zu setzen.

Martin Krengel

Martin Krengel, Vorstandsvorsitzender der WEPA Gruppe, Jahrgang 1957, trat nach dem Abschluss des Jura-Studiums im Jahr 1985 in das Familienunternehmen WEPA ein. 1990 wurde er Geschäftsführer und im Jahr 2001 übernahm er den Vorsitz der Geschäftsführung. Krengel ist zudem Vorsitzender von PAPIER NRW, dem Verband der papiererzeugenden Industrie in Nordrhein-Westfalen e. V. Für die Unternehmerfamilie ist er Beiratsvorsitzender der Familienholding sowie Kuratoriumsvorsitzender der unternehmensverbundenen WEPA Stiftung.

Sebastian Schwanhäußer

Sebastian Schwanhäußer, born in 1963, has been CEO of the Schwan-STABILO Group since 2019 and is the fifth generation to take responsibility for the family business founded in 1855. From 1985 to 1992, he studied business administration at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. After graduating, he initially worked in corporate planning at Viag AG. In 1995, he moved to Hunt Manufacturing in Philadelphia, USA, as a product manager. Two years later, he returned to Germany and joined the Schwan-STABILO Group.

Prf. Dr. Geraldine Rauch

Geraldine Rauch has been President of TU Berlin since April 1, 2022 and Spokesperson of the Berlin University Alliance for two years since November 1, 2022. The mathematician taught and researched at Heidelberg University after graduating and took up a professorship in Medical Biometry at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in 2017. In the same year, she became Director of the Institute of Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology at Charité Berlin and Vice Dean for Studies and Teaching from 2020 to 2022. Also in 2022, she was appointed to the Federal Government’s Council for the Future by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. She is also a review board member of the German Research Foundation’s Department of Medicine and a full member of the German Medical Association’s Drug Commission.

Dr. Janez Potočnik

Dr Janez Potočnik (1958) is an economist graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He served as Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development in Ljubljana. He was appointed Head of ther Negotiating Team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU and served as Minister responsible for European Affairs. In 2004 he joined the European Commission as Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. In 2010 he became Commissioner for the Environment. After the mandate he was appointed as a Co-Chair of the United Nations International Resource Panel. He is also Partner at SYSTEMIQ.

Dr. Alexander von Niessen

Dr. Alexander von Niessen, CEO of Chocal Sustainable Packaging has 24 years of experience as a CEO and entrepreneur. He is deeply committed to sustainability and innovation. With a passion for reshaping industries, his journey has been defined by a relentless pursuit of creating positive impact in the packaging and automotive industry. He studied mechanical engineering at Technical University Hanover and completed his Ph.D. in the field of quality management.

Porf. Dr. Dirk Messner

Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner is President of the German Environment Agency and a sustainability expert. He previously served as Director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security of United Nations University (UNU-EHS) and of the German Development Institute in Bonn, Germany, and was co-chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).

Dagmar Fritz-Kramer

Dagmar Fritz-Kramer has a degree in interior design and joined her parents’ company Bau-Fritz GmbH & Co. KG in Erkheim after graduating in 1998 as an interior designer and partner. From 1999 to 2002, she studied industrial engineering at Biberach University of Applied Sciences while working. From 2002 to 2004, she was Head of Planning at Bau-Fritz. In 2004, she was appointed managing partner. In 2008, Fritz-Kramer was named “Entrepreneur of the Year 2008” by Veuve Clicquot and was also honored with the “Career of the Year 2008” award by Handelsblatt. In 2015, she received the Bavarian Order of Merit for her outstanding commitment to environmental and social issues. In 2023, Fritz-Kramer received the German Environmental Award.

Prof. Dr. Dodo Knyphausen-Aufseß

Born in 1959, studied business administration, gained his doctorate and habilitation in Munich. Professorships at the universities of Heidelberg (visiting professorship), Jena and Bamberg. Head of the Department of Strategic Leadership and Global Management at TU Berlin since winter semester 2008/09. 2011-2013 Dean of his faculty. Head of the “Sustainable Management” degree programme. 2011-12 Member, 2013-14 Chairman of the Board of the Association of University Professors of Business Administration e.V. Research interests: Sustainability management, mergers & acquisitions, diversification, ecosystems, grand societal challenges.

Tim Janßen

Tim Janßen is executive director and co-founder of Cradle to Cradle NGO. He majored in Business, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW). In 2012, he co-founded Cradle to Cradle NGO (C2C NGO) with Nora Sophie Griefahn. C2C NGO connects the fields of business, education, politics, and civil society by creating networking platforms and educational formats. In 2019, the NGO established the C2C LAB in Berlin: the world’s first renovation in an existing building based on Cradle to Cradle criteria. Serving as an educational center, NGO head office, and real-world laboratory, it is here where the C2C school of thought and design concept become reality. As co-executive director, Tim develops strategies to maximize the organization’s impact on society and actively shapes the growth of this young, ever-growing movement. He is a sought-after expert for Cradle to Cradle, Circular Economy and Social Entrepreneurship. He regularly holds keynotes and partakes as panelist at national and international conferences. Furthermore, Tim is a lecturer at DHBW, Leuphana University Lüneburg and TU Berlin.

Reiner Hoffmann

Reiner Hoffmann is Chairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) and Deputy Chairman of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. He studied economics at the University of Wuppertal. From 1983 to 1994, he worked at the Hans Böckler Foundation in Düsseldorf. From October 1994 to May 2003, he was Director of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) in Brussels. In May 2003, he was elected Deputy General Secretary of the ETUC. From May 2018 to May 2022, he was Chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).

Nora Griefahn

Nora Sophie Griefahn is co-founder and managing director of Cradle to Cradle NGO. For more than ten years, the environmental scientist has been a sought-after expert on C2C, the sustainable use of finite resources, and the need for materially healthy and recyclable products at political and economic podiums and events as well as in the media. With C2C NGO, she is driving forward a rethink in science, politics, education and society that aims for more than just climate neutrality. Griefahn also holds teaching positions at various German universities.

Dr. Giulio Bonazzi

Giulio Bonazzi has dedicated his career to evolving Aquafil S.p.A. into a leading player in the global carpet and textile materials industry. Aquafil was founded by Bonazzi’s parents 50 years ago in Arco, Italy. An innovator and disruptor, Bonazzi is transforming his family’s manufacturing business into a sustainable global enterprise. Aquafil developed a recycled nylon material by turning trash from landfill and oceans into high-quality fibers: ECONYL®️. Today, Aquafil is a sustainability leader, a stalwart example of the circular economy and an innovator within the synthetic textile industry. Giulio Bonazzi is a sought-after speaker and has shared insights on creating a circular economy at leading conferences.

Christiane Benner

Christiane Benner has been First Chairwoman of Europe’s largest industrial union, IG Metall, since October 2023. The trained foreign language correspondent and sociologist is responsible for the areas of general issues/social policy, target groups, organizational policy, company and co-determination policy, as well as internal auditing and the legal department of IG Metall.

Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner

Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner is President of the Federal Environment Agency and a sustainability researcher. He was previously Director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security at the United Nations University and the German Development Institute (DIE) in Bonn and Co-Chairman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).

Giulio Bonazzi

Giulio Bonazzi has dedicated his career to developing Aquafil S.p.A., founded 50 years ago by his parents, into a leading company in the global carpet and textile industry.
An innovator, Bonazzi is transforming his family’s manufacturing business into a sustainable global enterprise.
Aquafil developed a circular nylon material by turning landfill and ocean waste into high-quality fibers: ECONYL®️.
Today, Aquafil is a leader in sustainability, an exemplar of the circular economy and an innovator in the synthetic textile industry.
Giulio Bonazzi is a sought-after speaker and gives insights into the implementation of a circular economy at leading conferences.

Sarah Ryglewski

Minister of State Sarah Ryglewski is responsible for cooperation between the federal and state governments at the Federal Chancellery.
She is also entrusted by the Federal Cabinet with responsibility for sustainable development and heads the State Secretaries’ Committee for Sustainable Development.
She was previously Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance (2019-2021).
She has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2015.
She was a member of the Bremen Parliament from 2011 to 2015.
Sarah Ryglewski has been involved in the SPD since 2001.
First as state chair of the Young Socialists, then as deputy state chair of the SPD, and since 2017 as an assessor on the SPD party executive.
She has a degree in political science and worked as a district manager in Bremen after graduating from university.

Dr. Janez Potocnik

Dr Janez Potočnik (1958) is an economist graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He served as Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development in Ljubljana. He was appointed Head of ther Negotiating Team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU and served as Minister responsible for European Affairs. In 2004 he joined the European Commission as Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. In 2010 he became Commissioner for the Environment. After the mandate he was appointed as a Co-Chair of the United Nations International Resource Panel. He is also Partner at SYSTEMIQ.

Christiane Benner

Since October 2023 Christiane Benner has been First Chairwoman of IG Metall. The foreign language correspondent and sociologist is responsible for the areas of fundamental issues/social policy, target groups, organisational policy, works and co-determination policy as well as internal auditing and the legal department of IG Metall.

Dagmar Fritz-Kramer

Dagmar Fritz-Kramer has a degree in interior design and joined her parents’ company Bau-Fritz GmbH & Co. KG in Erkheim after graduating in 1998 as an interior designer and partner. From 1999 to 2002, she studied industrial engineering at Biberach University of Applied Sciences while working. From 2002 to 2004, she was Head of Planning at Bau-Fritz. In 2004, she was appointed managing partner. In 2008, Fritz-Kramer was named “Entrepreneur of the Year 2008” by Veuve Clicquot and was also honored with the “Career of the Year 2008” award by Handelsblatt. In 2015, she received the Bavarian Order of Merit for her outstanding commitment to environmental and social issues. In 2023, Fritz-Kramer received the German Environmental Award.

Alexander von Niessen

Dr. Alexander von Niessen, CEO of Chocal Sustainable Packaging has 24 years of experience as a CEO and entrepreneur. He is deeply committed to sustainability and innovation. With a passion for reshaping industries, his journey has been defined by a relentless pursuit of creating positive impact in the packaging and automotive industry. He studied mechanical engineering at Technical University Hanover and completed his Ph.D. in the field of quality management.

Sebastian Schwanhäußer

Sebastian Schwanhäußer, born in 1963, has been CEO of the Schwan-STABILO Group since 2019 and is the fifth generation to take responsibility for the family business founded in 1855. From 1985 to 1992, he studied business administration at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. After graduating, he initially worked in corporate planning at Viag AG. In 1995, he moved to Hunt Manufacturing in Philadelphia, USA, as a product manager. Two years later, he returned to Germany and joined the Schwan-STABILO Group.

Reiner Hoffmann

Reiner Hoffmann is Chairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) and Deputy Chairman of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. He studied economics at the University of Wuppertal. From 1983 to 1994, he worked at the Hans Böckler Foundation in Düsseldorf. From October 1994 to May 2003, he was Director of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) in Brussels. In May 2003, he was elected Deputy General Secretary of the ETUC. From May 2018 to May 2022, he was Chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).

Sebastian Schels

As a passionate family entrepreneur, sustainability and Cradle to Cradle are Sebastian Schels’ absolute focal points. With his company, he aims to initiate a successful construction revolution as the self-proclaimed ‘Chief Environmental Officer.’ Embracing a fundamentally honest approach and a commitment to implementation, RATISBONA Handelsimmobilien creates tangible references for transformation. The stated goal is to create attractive markets by combining the C2C design concept with architectural culture, thereby establishing sustainability and quality as the new standard. Ultimately, this endeavor leads to environmentally positive, circular, and architecturally valuable buildings.

Geraldine Rauch

Geraldine Rauch has been President of TU Berlin since April 1, 2022 and Spokesperson of the Berlin University Alliance for two years since November 1, 2022. The mathematician taught and researched at Heidelberg University after graduating and took up a professorship in Medical Biometry at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in 2017. In the same year, she became Director of the Institute of Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology at Charité Berlin and Vice Dean for Studies and Teaching from 2020 to 2022. Also in 2022, she was appointed to the Federal Government’s Council for the Future by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. She is also a review board member of the German Research Foundation’s Department of Medicine and a full member of the German Medical Association’s Drug Commission.

Pressreleases 2023 (in German)

08.09.2023
Cradle to Cradle ist in der Bundespolitik angekommen – 8. C2C Congress startet an der TU Berlin

08.09.2023

C2C Congress bringt Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik an der TU Berlin zusammen

Christian Schröder

Christian Schröder studied history and mathematics at TU Berlin. He was a member of the University’s Central Teaching Committee from 2003 to 2022, serving as head of the Committee from 2008 to 2022. During this time, he actively supported the further development of the University’s degree programs. A key focus of his work was establishing the Faculty of Engineering at the Turkish-German University in Istanbul.

From 2012 to 2022, Schröder was responsible for coordinating the MINTgrün pre-study orientation program, the largest program of its type in Germany.

Christian Schröder has been vice president for education, teacher training, and continuing education since 1 April 2022.

He is the spokesperson of the dghd network Orientation Study Programs in Germany, a member of the Round Table on Study Dropout, a reviewer for numerous applications for teaching innovations and teaching awards and has published articles on various aspects of the further development of studying and teaching.

Carolina Mojto

Carolina Mojto is an architect, founder and managing director of FREIRAUM in the Box. She studied at the ETH in Zurich and in Nanjing and worked for Herzog & de Meuron, among others. The topics of living and building in harmony with nature and appreciation of resources have been close to her heart since childhood. She started her own business in Berlin as an architect and sustainable project developer with a focus on the revitalization of existing buildings and biodiverse outdoor spaces. In the listed horse stable FREIRAUM in der Box she has created a free space in which she works with C2C NGO and other diverse actors for sustainable change.

Ana-Christina Grohnert

Ana-Cristina Grohnert is founder and Managing Partner of the Berlin Advisors Group. She advises on and designs companies business transformation, ESG management and HR strategies from the business and HR manager perspective. Furthermore, Ana-Cristina is Chairwomen of the Board of Directors of the Charta der Vielfalt (Charter of Diversity), Germany’s biggest business diversity network. Before working for BAG, Ana-Cristina was CHRO of Allianz and managing and restructuring partner of EY where she previously realigned the human resources strategy and advised clients in financial services in their restructuring and reorganization. She joined EY after 15 years of bank and industry experience in financial and risk management at DGHYP, ABB and Preussag. She is a member of various boards and sustainability advisory boards and wrote a book “The Hidden capital” with deep insights on transformational processes and management culture. Manager Magazin and the Boston Consulting Group named Ana-Cristina Grohnert one of the most influential women in German business.

Tobias Bandel

Tobias Bandel has been working in the field of sustainable agriculture for around 20 years and has been Head of Biome at The Landbanking Group, a platform for valuing and trading critical ecosystem services, since August 2022. After completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Hohenheim, Bandel worked for the Sekem Group, among others, and was Managing Partner and owner of Soil & More Impacts.

Stefan Gelbhaar

Stefan Gelbhaar, born in 1976, has been a member of the Bundestag since 2017 and was directly elected for the Pankow 76 constituency in 2021. He is transport policy spokesman for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group and a member of the extended parliamentary group executive committee. He is a member of the transport committees and also a deputy member of the budget committee and the digital committee. Gelbhaar has been a member of the Deutsche Bahn Supervisory Board since 2022.

Andreas Wittmann

Andreas Wittmann is co-founder and managing director of r3leaf, a tool platform for regenerative planning and building. He studied business psychology and sustainability sciences at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg and conducted research on plant carbon in construction and agriculture at the Ithaka Institute. He volunteered to support the establishment of the Building Alliance of C2C NGO as well as Architects for Future and contributed to the BAMB Buildings as Material Banks & PCDS Product Circularity Datasheets project.

Douglas Mulhall

Douglas Mulhall has been an independent consultant at EPEA GmbH since 2008. As an expert on environmental health, he advises companies, startups, cities and governments, works as an author and documentary film maker. During his life, he founded various companies and NGOs, including Elastrin Therapeutics. He is a thought leader on the Circular Economy and authored the first national concept for a Circular Economy in Europe. Mulhall has published several books, including 2002’s “Our Molecule Future” and 2019’s “Creating Buildings with Positive Impacts”, co-authored with Michael Braungart and Katja Hansen. His latest book “Discovering the Nature of Longevity: Restoring the heart and body by targeting hidden stress” was published in April 2023.

Max Ostermayer

Max Ostermayer is Policy Officer for climate, energy, and environmental policy at the Division “Analysis, Planning, and Consulting” of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Berlin. During his time with FES, he also worked on questions of social inequality, pension policy, and digitalization. While with the international department of FES from 2017 to 2018, he served at the FES Athens Office in Greece. He holds a Masters’s degree in Philosophy and Economics and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Economics.

Tore Waldhausen

Tore Waldhausen founded r3leaf in November 2019 with the goal of enabling regenerative building renovations through artificial intelligence. The civil engineer has been working in the field of ecological building and building according to C2C since completing his master’s degree at HTWK Leipzig, including at Sudop Germany, at Architekturbüro Wittmann, and on a freelance basis. He is voluntarily involved in the building alliance of C2C NGO, presides over the Association for Ecological Building Leipzig and founded the Bauzirkel as well as the Architects for Future Regional Group Leipzig.

Elwyn Grainger-Jones

As Executive Director of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, Elwyn Grainger-Jones leads the Institute’s team to accelerate adoption and maximize the impact of the organization and the Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ Products Program globally, providing overarching leadership, strategy, and direction. Prior to the Institute, Elwyn spent several years at CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) and more than 20 years working in a range of government institutions and development banks, where he held various leadership and change management positions, including Director of Policy, Partnerships and Operations at the Global Environment Facility in the World Bank and Director of the Environment and Climate Department in the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Dr. Monika Griefahn

Dr. Monika Griefahn was a founding member of Greenpeace Germany and the first female board member of Greenpeace International until 1990. From 1990, she was Minister for the Environment in the state of Lower Saxony for eight years and a member of the German Bundestag from 1998 to 2009. In 2012, she founded the Institute Media, Environment, Culture (IMUK) – a company with consulting services and educational activities in the field of sustainability. Griefahn has been managing director of the institute since then. As Chief Sustainability Officer, she accompanied, among other things, the realignment of the cruise company AIDA toward the use of LNG as an alternative fuel. Her voluntary activities include her long-standing involvement in the Right Livelihood Award Foundation (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) as well as serving as Chair of the Advisory Board of Cradle to Cradle NGO.

Wilhelm Mauß

Wilhelm Mauß is Managing Director of Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG, a leading metering technology manufacturer and pioneer of the Circular Economy. The smart water meters from the Swabian family-owned company enable the operation and monitoring of public supply networks and are used to control industrial plants. The mechanical and industrial engineer originally served for twelve years in the German armed forces. In 1994, he became sales manager of a world-leading German testing machine manufacturer, and in 2000 was appointed Managing Director Asia in Singapore. Back in Germany, in 2003 he took over the management of Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG. The medium-sized company has since grown more than fivefold on the basis of comprehensive digitization measures and a holistic focus on the circular economy. Lorenz has repeatedly received awards for R&D, sustainability and practiced corporate responsibility, including the Digital Leader Award and the German Innovation Award for Climate and Environment from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the BDI.

Kerstin Hochmüller

Kerstin Hochmüller is CEO and shareholder of the Marantec Group. Since 2013, she has been transforming the company into a network organisation. She is a pioneer and initiator of cooperative business models in the sense of the sharing economy. She developed the Open Champions methodology for the transformation of the Marantec Group. With the Best of Hidden Champions, Open Innovation, Cooperation and Leadership, she wants to rebuild the future of medium-sized businesses. With her team, she is working to develop new business models to make drives circular.

Ruth Prinzmeier

Ruth Prinzmeier is Sustainability Manager DACH at Interface, a sustainability pioneer for modular flooring that shapes the market with sustainable solutions. This includes CO2-negative and climate-neutral flooring as well as transparency initiatives and the consistent sustainable development of the company with a focus on measurable, positive effects. In her various professional positions, she has worked as a communications manager, product manager and project manager in the food, retail and mechanical engineering markets. She transferred strategic concepts into day-to-day business and drove change processes. As a business graduate, sustainability manager and DNK training partner, she has been committed to sustainable corporate development for many years. Since 2022, she has been supporting clients, architects and planners in their sustainable building projects in her role at Interface.

Laura Scherer

Laura Scherer is a circular economy enthusiast, entrepreneur and certified process manager.
She holds a bachelor degree in International Business Management as well as a masters degree in Operations Management. Her professional career kicked off as waste management and recycling consultant for GlobalFlow GmbH, GreenCycle GmbH and Nidisi gGmbH. In these various roles, she developed her perspective on and competencies with respect to Circular Economy in Germany, the EU and Nepal. Driven by a desire for broader impact, Laura founded Circu:Culture in 2022, an organization dedicated to promoting education and knowledge transfer in the circular economy field and motivating people to work in it. Through Circu:Culture, Laura conducts lectures, workshops, and teambuildings, to educate on circular economy and has also developed an online learning platform. In her podcast (the “Circu:Cast”) she gives insights on professions of the circular economy.

Prof. Dr. Florian Lüdeke-Freund

Florian Lüdeke-Freund is Professor for Corporate Sustainability at ESCP Business School Berlin and co-founder of ESCP’s Sustainability Transformation & Applied Research Centre. He studies sustainable business models for more than a decade and published several highly-cited articles, for example, in Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Industrial Ecology, and Organization & Environment. As Associate Editor of the Journal of Business Models and Academic Advisor of the International Conference on New Business Models he is passionate about developing a vibrant community of sustainable business model experts. His latest book is “Sustainable Business Model Design – 45 Patterns” (2022).

Holger Sasse

Holger Sasse studied civil engineering at the engineering school in Magdeburg. After graduating, he worked as a plant manager at the Giersleben concrete plant. In 1990, he founded the company Sasse & Junghanns GmbH Hochbau and became an independent contractor. After 15 years in structural engineering, he was looking for new challenges. With the development and production of polymer-bonded wood-based materials, Holger Sasse founded NOVO-TECH GmbH & Co. KG in Aschersleben, under whose brand megawood®️ products made of the innovative material GCC (German Compact Composite) have been manufactured since 2007. Meanwhile, the group of companies consists of 6 companies with about 200 employees. Holger Sasse is married, has 3 children and 5 grandchildren.

Anna Cavazzini

Anna Cavazzini is from Germany and has been a Member of the European Parliament for The Greens/EFA since 2019. She fights for a sustainable EU internal market and fair globalization – in short, for fair and sustainable economic structures inside and outside the EU. Since November 2020, she has been Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.She is also a substitute member of the Committee on International Trade and vice chair of the Brazil delegation. Her constituencies are Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Before becoming an MEP, she herself worked in the European Parliament, for the Federal Foreign Office and the UNO and was an advisor to various NGOs.

Lisa-Sophie Kinne

Lisa-Sophie Kinne joined the team at Cradle to Cradle NGO in 2022. During her academic journey in Cultural Studies and Transnational Studies, she found her way into educational work and gained experience in education for sustainable development. Her interest in the dynamics of social change and her passion for communicating topics relevant to the future inform her lectures, workshops and projects as an educator.

Anna Britz

As a teacher, Anna Britz has many years of didactic and methodical experience in Germany and abroad, from elementary school to university. Since 2021 she’s the head of the department of education at C2C NGO. She likes to work creatively with the development of target group-specific and action-oriented educational materials in order to convey the concept of C2C to people as a solution.

Chloé Demay

Chloé Demay joined Cradle to Cradle NGO in July 2022 as a trainee in the Municipal Development Unit. She connects actors at the municipal level who want to work for an economic, social and ecological transformation. Chloé studied German-French social and political sciences with a focus on urban policy in Stuttgart and Bordeaux. After her Master’s degree, she worked as an urban renewal officer in the municipality of Pau in France.

Lena Germscheid

Lena Germscheid joined Cradle to Cradle NGO in March 2023 as a consultant in the Municipal Development Unit. She connects actors at the municipal level who want to implement an economic, social and ecological transformation in their region. Lena holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Sciences and has worked as a municipal manager for climate adaptation before joining C2C NGO.

Victor Büchner

Victor Büchner is a master student in Management & Entrepreneurship at Leuphana University and an independent consultant. He is committed to Cradle to Cradle entrepreneurship and has already worked on several C2C product developments. During his bachelor studies, he founded the non-profit C2C consultancy Holy Shit together with Lea Lensky and Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart and co-developed, among others, the biodegradable Corona mask VivaMask.

Manja Schreiner

Manja Schreiner has been Senator for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment in Berlin since April 2023. A lawyer, she was a member of the Berlin-Pankow district council from 2016 to 2018 and a member of the economic committee, and has been a member of the Berlin CDU state executive committee since 2017 and its chairwoman since 2019. In her professional career, she has worked, among other things, as legal counsel for AIDA Cruises, was a legal officer at the Federation of German Industries, headed the legal department of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts and, until her appointment as Senator, was chief executive of the Fachgemeinschaft Bau Berlin und Brandenburg e.V. (Berlin and Brandenburg Construction Association).

Photo Copyright:

SenMVKU / Ralf Rühmeier (über: https://www.berlin.de/sen/uvk/ueber-uns/leitung/senatorin-manja-schreiner/)

Charles van Reij

Charles is global lead packaging, paper & printing at Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute (PII). He is driving sustainability by connecting and stimulating sustainable efforts in the value streams of packaging & printing. With his lifetime experience in packaging, he understands the industry and the difficulties which we collectively must overcome towards sustainable solutions. He works closely with companies and stakeholders to guide their efforts to apply circularity and sustainability principles and to scale uptake of Cradle to Cradle certification across packaging applications. Prior to joining the PII Charles worked at multinationals in the value chain of flexible packaging, from basic polymers till packaging concepts. Together with clients and suppliers he implemented changes towards more sustainable packaging solutions, such as reducing material use by changing packaging concepts or improving recyclability by shifting to mono-materials or compostable solutions.

Johannes Kohle

Johannes Kohle has been Head of the Building & Housing Department in the southern German municipality of Straubenhardt near Pforzheim since 2001. The municipality was the first C2C model region in Germany and has so far implemented, among other things, the construction of a fire station according to Cradle to Cradle. Kohle is a civil engineer and received his degree in Konstanz.

Sophie Treu

Since 2020, Sophie Treu and her team have been pursuing the goal of establishing and maintaining a good connection to those economic actors who work with C2C NGO for a transformation to Cradle to Cradle through partnerships and numerous threads of conversation. This includes the partner networks of Impact Partners, Congress Partners, and cooperations within the framework of major projects of the NGO. In addition to regular networking events, partner dialogues, and support for the annual International C2C Congress, she also organized a Summit on C2C Construction & Architecture. Sophie holds a degree in Political Science and completed her masters degree in Social & Cultural Psychology in London.

Sophie Pallaske

Growing up in Saxony-Anhalt, I went to Stuttgart in 2018 to study. There, I successfully completed my bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering for construction and real estate last year. After a short stay in Vienna, I was drawn back more towards home. For almost a year now, I have been working as a project manager for a construction project developer in Erfurt. In March 2023 I met the C2C NGO, where I am now an active member and since October 2023 also spokesperson of the regional group Thuringia. In October of this year, I will start my master’s degree in sustainable and resource-conserving construction at the University of Wuppertal.

Christian Schlimok

Christian Schlimok is founder and managing director of Novamondo, a creative consultancy based in Berlin, which has been supporting organisations on their way to more sustainability for over 20 years with effective strategies, inspiring design and value-oriented communication. He lectures and teaches at international universities and colleges – currently at the HWR Berlin – on topics such as circular design, marketing and sustainability communication.

Nono Leermakers

Nono is project manager at EPEA Benelux. She is an industrial designer and has great interest in materials and material flows, in product design, but also in systemic thinking and analyzing complex processes. She obtained a master’s degree in the field of sustainable cities and focused on circular material flows, like building materials, in metropolitan areas. Cradle to Cradle is a comprehensive design framework that can inform design processes at every level, from molecule to metropolis. At her work at EPEA Nono applies this framework on a broad range of projects working towards products, materials, buildings, cities and systems with positive impacts!

Jörg Witthöft

Jörg Witthöft has headed the Bielefeld location of the automotive supplier ZF Group since 2008. He has worked for the company in various roles since 1998. Witthöft studied mechanical engineering and industrial engineering and gained professional experience at the Suttner company after his first degree before moving to ZF. He has also been a member of the Environmental Committee of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Bielefeld since 2018, as well as a member of the Board of ZAA Unternehmerverband Bielefeld. His Motto:
Future-oriented production does not generate waste, but infinite cycles of recyclable materials.

Dr. Cordelia Koch

Dr. Cordelia Koch has been mayor of the Berlin district of Pankow since April 2023. Since 2021, she had been a city councilor there for the areas of social affairs and health. In 2016, she became parliamentary group leader of Bündis 90/Die Grünen and represented her party in the committees for urban development and green spaces as well as equality, gender mainstreaming, citizen participation. She has been involved with Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in Pankow since 2010. As district chairwoman, she headed their largest eastern German association for six years. As an administrative lawyer, she worked for 10 years in the administration of the Freie Universität Berlin. She taught law enforcement by police bodies for several years at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. In her studies and her doctorate she dealt with the effect of (constitutional) legal regulations on society. Before moving to Berlin in 2005, Cordelia Koch lived in Beirut, Frankfurt/Main and Paris, among other places.

Birgit Essling

With her interdisciplinary background in audiovisual media and sociology, Birgit Essling initially worked as a department head for international event management and as a freelance initiator in grant management. In this role, she has been bringing together European consortia in the context of grant applications since 2004. After her work as press officer for the cooperation of the International Cultural Program within the Varus Year 2009, she was seconded to the Landkreistag Nordrhein-Westfalen and took over the management of the EU liaison office in Brussels for seven years. Birgit Essling has headed the office of the Lippe Circular Consortium since 2019. The model project RE-BUILD-OWL was initiated by the Lippe zirkulär office and Birgit Essling is responsible for strategic coordination and press and public relations support.

Philip Elsen

As a political science teacher and head of the Social Sciences department at Beethoven-Gymnasium Berlin, Philip Elsen has been successfully reshaping the educational landscape for years through innovative learning formats, particularly in the realms of sustainability, democratic education, and digitalization, as well as through extracurricular and interdisciplinary collaborations. He is convinced that his teaching serves not only to promote a well-founded knowledge-based ability for judgment and action, but also to impart creative thinking “out of the box,” courage, optimism for the future, and the capacity for self-directed shaping. For a considerable period, Mr. Elsen has been closely collaborating with Cradle to Cradle NGO. His latest project involves the creation of a circular classroom of the future, effectively implementing the principles of a circular economy

Dr. Jan Schmidt

Dr. Jan Schmidt has been Chairman of the Executive Board of the steel company Peiner Träger, an operationally independent subsidiary of Salzgitter AG, since January 2023. After studying at the Technical University of Munich, the Technical University of Braunschweig and in Grenoble, Schmidt began his professional career in 2002 at io-consultants and joined Salzgitter Flachstahl in 2009 as General Manager Automotive Industry. In July 2019, he became Managing Partner of Cornils GmbH prior to his renewed move to Peiner Träger. Since February 2023, Schmidt has also been chairman of the board of bauforumstahl e.V. (BFS), the leading association for construction with steel in Germany.

Sarah Harbarth

Born in Heidelberg, Germany, and now residing in Switzerland, Sarah Harbarth is a dynamic leader, Founder, and CEO with a background in industrial design and specialized expertise in alternative plastics. Her skill set encompasses marketing, collaboration, and fundraising, all of which are vital to her role at KUORI, her second entrepreneurial endeavor. With a strong commitment to sustainability, Sarah is deeply aligned with the cradle-to-cradle philosophy.

Kamila Pasko

I discovered the minimalist lifestyle of the Tiny House movement in Oregon 14 years ago and saw it as the perfect complement to my interest in the Cradle to Cradle school of thought. Both motivate me to this day to apply circular thinking to all aspects of my life. Originally, I studied cultural studies and education for sustainable development and worked in the tourism industry for over 15 years. My tourism career took me through much of the world and everywhere I went I realized the importance of engaging people in the regenerative cycle of the biosphere. I believe in the power of self-efficacy in nature and want to encourage people to be active and engaged in creating a regenerative ecosystem. According to the principle: work SMART. with NATURE.

Martin Kyburz

After completing an apprenticeship as a machine mechanic and studies in electronic engineering at the HTL Winterthur, Martin Kyburz worked for Rieter as a research and development project manager in the field of sensor technology. He also built electric vehicles in his garage. After 4 years he ventured into self-employment and founded his own company for electric vehicles. His first Kyburz senior citizen vehicle quickly found favour, was further developed into a transport vehicle and conquered the postal market. The company Kyburz Switzerland AG grew strongly, today employs over 150 people and operates internationally with approximately 22.000 vehicles worldwide. Sustainability, efficiency and driving pleasure are Martin Kyburz’s concerns for all environmentally friendly Kyburz vehicles.

Alain Visser

In recent years, Alain Visser has been named one of the top 10 most influential CMOs in the world by Forbes magazine for his honest and open approach to transforming the mobility industry. Before joining Lynk & Co to redefine mobility globally, Alain was Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Customer Service at Volvo, where he was responsible for the international market. He also spent eight years at General Motors, as Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Aftersales at Opel/Vauxhall. Alain was also a member of the Board of Management of Adam Opel AG. Prior to that, he spent 17 years at Ford Motor Company. Originally from Belgium, Alain began his career in the automotive industry in 1986 and holds a Master of Science from the University of Antwerp and an MBA from Duke University in North Carolina. He speaks six languages, including Italian, English, French and German.

Christian Mehnert

Christian Mehnert is the managing director of Kreiswerke Barnim GmbH (KWB). In 2012, he took over the management of Barnimer Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH, which is responsible for waste disposal in the Barnim district. Since 2016, he has been managing director of KWB, which was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of the district in December 2016 as part of the zero-emissions strategy. As a company owned by the district, they pursue the goal of actively shaping the energy supply in the region, for example by investing in plants for renewable energy production and implementing measures for efficient energy production and use together with municipalities.

Dr. Philipp Hummel

Dr. Philipp Hummel has been Head of Sustainability at the toy company Schleich since 2020 and is responsible for initiating, implementing and expanding Schleich’s global sustainability strategy and holistic ESG program. After completing his studies in management accounting, Dr. Philipp Hummel obtained his doctorate from Leuphana University of Lüneburg, focusing on sustainability accounting and reporting. Alongside his doctoral studies, Hummel has gained extensive experience in the food industry, with his most recent role being the sustainability manager at MEGGLE, an international dairy product manufacturer.

Jens Nusser

Dr. Jens Nusser, LL.M. is a partner in the law firm Franßen & Nusser. He focuses on product safety and product environmental law as well as on corporate organization, compliance and ESG.

Tara Nitz

Tara Nitz works as Global Circular Economy Manager at Covestro, headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany. In her role at Covestro Tara leads strategic projects related to the CE implementation at Covestro and the advocacy and positioning on various regulatory matters in particular recycling and alternative raw material uptake. Tara is a German qualified lawyer with a focus on ESG related legal matters. Before joining Covestro she has worked in the climate and energy policy departments at the Federation of German Industries and at the German Chemical Industry Association as well as at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

Jörg Papenkort

Jörg Papenkort has been Head of Building Management at the Viersen district since 2019 and is driving forward the integration of sustainable and digital planning, construction and operation of municipal real estate. For example, the district of Viersen was awarded the title “Climate Active Municipality 2022” in the category of resource and energy efficiency for the new construction of the district archive. Previously, Mr. Papenkort worked as Head of Facility Management at Deutsche Glasfaser Holding and at Funke Mediengruppe in real estate and facility management. At Apleona he was responsible for the digitalization of services and at the software provider conject for product management in the FM sector.

Matthias Koller

Matthias Koller is Head of the Department of “Fundamental Aspects, Sustainability Strategies and Scenarios, Sustainable Resource Use” (ad interim) at the Federal Environment Agency. He also teaches at the TU Berlin on the topic of “Building Sustainability”. Koller is a member of the advisory board of the KI Ideas Workshop for Environmental Protection and a member of the extended steering committee of SDSN Germany. He previously worked as an administration officer in the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the State of Brandenburg and as a researcher in the Eco-Technology Research Group at the Centre for Environmental Sciences at the University of Potsdam. Koller is a chemical engineer and holds a degree from TU Berlin.

Michael Kellner

Michael Kellner has been Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action since 2021, and since January 2022 Federal Government Commissioner for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Since October 2022, Kellner has also been the Federal Government’s contact person for the cultural and creative industries. Since 2021, Kellner has been a member of the German Bundestag. He studied political science in Potsdam, Canterbury (UK) and East Lansing (US).

Bela B

Bela B is an artist and drummer as well as singer with the band Die Ärzte. Since 2018, he has been an honorary advisory board member of Cradle to Cradle NGO and in this role was a driving force behind the project Labor Tempelhof.

Max-Christian Lange

Max-Christian Lange is Deputy Head of Sustainability on the Executive Board of Deutsche Bahn AG and is also responsible for Public Affairs Sustainability. In his role, he drives Deutsche Bahn’s Green Transformation and Social Responsibility. Previously, he worked for over 15 years in management consulting with a focus on transformation and change processes, most recently as Managing Partner. Max-Christian Lange studied economics and social sciences in Germany and the USA.

Dr. Alexandra von Stosch

Alexandra von Stosch is managing director and spokesperson of the Artprojekt Group, a multi-sector developer in Berlin and Brandenburg with a focus on innovation and sustainability. In Berlin, four science parks are being built on innovation topics such as, in particular, the food of the future, the Food Campus in Tempelhof. In southeastern Brandenburg, Artprojekt develops tourism projects such as gastronomy and hotel businesses and operates Naturgut Köllnitz, Brandenburg’s oldest fishery with 130 hectares of agriculture and farm-to-table concept.

Honorary posts: Long-term board member of the EU funding LAG Märkische Seen and supervisory board member of Regionalwert AG Berlin Brandenburg (value chains of agricultural production).

Arne Stecher

Arne Stecher has 25 years of experience in leading functions at Holcim such as project management, change management, corporate development and as Head of Procurement. Since 2019, the registered authorized representative has been heading the decarbonization unit at Holcim Germany with the aim of transforming the German subsidiary of the Swiss Group towards climate neutrality.

Sebastian Daus

Sebastian’s mission is to accelerate circularity with scalable solutions. Helping out with repairs in school at his father’s craft business secretly laid the foundation for FixFirst. He later studied industrial engineering and technology entrepreneurship at ESCP among others and gained experience in the startup and tech world at various stations from Uber to Rocket Internet and consulting – but, he wanted to focus on impact, with FixFirst now being at the right time and place.

Dr. Florian Hofmann

Dr. Florian Hofmann writes, researches, and advices on the topics of circular economy, sustainability transitions, business model innovations, and degrowth. He worked for several years as a research fellow at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration and at the Technical University Berlin. He received his doctorate on the topic of Circular Business Model Innovations from the Technical University of Berlin.

Dr. med. Matthias Albrecht

Dr. med. Matthias Albrecht (MD), is a specialist in pediatric and adolescent medicine. He is managing director at KLUG and medical director of the Competence Center for Climate-Resilient Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities (KliMeG).
Previously, after his clinical work at Charité Berlin, he was most recently managing director of Evangelisches Krankenhaus Hubertus and the clinic for MIC in Berlin for 15 years. Krankenhaus Hubertus has made a name for itself throughout Germany as the first hospital certified by the BUND. His extensive knowledge of the healthcare system helps him to support healthcare facilities on their way to climate neutrality and climate resilience.

Dr. Markus Hennecke

Dr. Markus Hennecke received his doctorate in civil engineering from Prof. Konrad Zilch at the Technical University of Munich in 2000, after training as a carpenter and studying at the RWTH Aachen. He has been a managing partner in the ZM-I Group since 2000, a test engineer for structural analysis in Bavaria and a test expert for the Federal Railway Authority. In an honorary capacity, Dr. Hennecke is active as a board member of the Bavarian Chamber of Civil Engineers, vice president of the Federal Association of Testing Engineers and chairman of the Association of Testing Experts for Structural Engineering Verification in Railway Construction. He is a member of the BIM Germany advisory board and a fellow campaigner for “sustainable bavaria”. Hennecke has numerous publications in the field of digitalization and sustainability in the construction industry.

Florian Augustin

Since 2012 Florian Augustin deals with nutrient recycling and top soil production from dry toilets. After his Bachelor in Forest Management at the University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde he shared his knowledge in the start-up “Öklo”. 2019 he founded Finizio – Future Sanitation GmbH. Finizio is one of the leading innovators in dry toilets and recycling systems in Germany.

Dr. Ariane Krause

Dr Ariane Krause is an industrial engineer and has been coordinating the research project “REGION.innovativ – zirkulierBAR” as a postdoc at the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) e.V. since 2021. She has a keen interest in sustainable provision of basic human needs such as food, energy and toilets and researches and works in the fields of circular economy, inter-sectional resource management, soil fertility management, resource-oriented sanitation and renewable energy technologies. In her doctoral thesis at the TU Berlin, Krause conducted research on small-scale circular economy in a rural region in Tanzania.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Knie

Prof. Dr. Andreas Knie is a political scientist at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and a university lecturer at the Technical University Berlin. At the WZB, he leads the research group “Digital Mobility and Social Differentiation”. Before that he was research group leader of the team
“Science Policy”. Since June 2018, he has been Head of Scientific Development at Choice GmbH. In 2006, Knie founded the Innovation Centre for Mobility and Social Change GmbH (InnoZ). In addition, from 2001 to 2016, he was Divisional Director for Intermodal Offerings and Business Development at Deutsche Bahn AG. Knie is also active as a advisor for municipalities and organisations on the topics of transport, mobility, digitalisation & sustainability. He is the author of various books and an expert on mobility.

Charlotte Piller

Charlotte Piller is co-founder of the fashion start-up Lotta Ludwigson, which designs and produces clothes according to Cradle to Cradle. During her Master’s degree in Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Copenhagen Business School, Charlotte Piller deep dived into the field of Circular Economy as well as sustainable (material) innovations and business models in the fashion and textile industry. Her experiences in fashion & luxury management in Rome, as SDG ambassador & in the sustainability team of the Global Fashion Agenda in Copenhagen as well as Venture Architect at the Corporate Company builder Bridgemaker contributed to her vision of developing a circular fashion label for a more sustainable fashion industry.

Nhu-Ha Dao

Nhu-Ha Dao is co-founder of the fashion start-up Lotta Ludwigson, which designs and produces clothes according to Cradle to Cradle. Nhu-Ha Dao focused on Innovation & Entrepreneurship early on in her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Industrial Engineering with a specialisation in Electrical Power Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and embarked on the path into the sustainability and start-up scene later on. For over 3 years, she helped build several startups in various startup phases at the corporate company builder Bridgemaker in Berlin, where she also met Charlotte Piller. With the co-founding of Lotta Ludwigson in March 2023, she now combines her interests in entrepreneurship and sustainability to make a valuable contribution to a more sustainable textile industry.

Stefanie Voit

Stefanie Voit is tax accountant and fincancial auditor with more than 10 years experience in auditing and consulting of corporations and concerns as well as longterm experience as a manager in finance division of a major bank.
Today she works as a freelance business consultant for banks, financial service providers and industrial corporations and has dedicated herself to the task to the task of making the ecological advantages from the sustainability discussion, especially from C2C, also visible in business terms and evaluating them quantitatively. In this way, she wants to convince banks and investors of the economic added value of sustainability and C2C.

Virginijus Sinkevičius

Virginijus Sinkevičius is the present Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, at the European Commission. From 2017 to 2019, he has been Minister of Economy, and before he was leading the Committee of Economy at the Parliament of Lithuania. Sinkevičius was elected to the parliament in October 2016. Prior, he was a Team Lead for Regulatory Affairs at Invest Lithuania. Sinkevičius holds a BA in International Relations and Affairs from Aberystwyth University and Master‘s degree in European International Affairs from Maastricht University.

Photo: European Union, 2019/Georges Boulougouris

Stefanie Moser

Stefanie Moser has been responsible for the Digital Policy Unit in the Political Consultancy Department of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) since 2017. Prior to that, she worked in the Foundation’s international work, including five years as the FES country representative in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

Andreas Kunsmann

Andreas Kunsmann has been part of the Polycare management team since 2019. The company develops circular building solutions and building systems that are deconstructible, micro-modular and reusable. Kunsmann previously worked at Capgemini Invent, among others. His background in engineering, product design and business administration led him over time to the construction industry and to Polycare.

Dr. Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea

Dr Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea has been the Director for Circular Economy at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment since May 2022. He has worked for the European Commission since 2009. From 2014 to April 2022, he was Director for Enforcement, Cohesion and the European Semester in the Directorate-General for the Environment. Previously, Ciobanu-Dordea was Director for Equality in the Directorate-General for Justice and Director for Fundamental Rights and EU Citizenship. He holds a Master of Laws from the University of Illinois and a PhD from the University of Bucharest.

Niclas-Alexander Mauß

Niclas-Alexander Mauss is co-founder of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC at UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s largest center for innovation and entrepreneurship. A decade in the manufacturing industry, the mechanical engineer helped shape the substantial growth and fundamental transformation of the medium-sized German measurement technology company Lorenz Meters to a multi-award-winning circular economy pioneer. In the course of his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich, he initiated CirculaTUM, the now largest Circular Economy research hub in Germany, embedding circularity as a major strategic pillar of the entire university. Parallelly, he built up and led a new incubator at UnternehmerTUM, now counting +50 startups among its alumni. As Co-Founder of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, he is driven to contribute to large-scale industrial transformation.

Dagmar Schulz

As District Administrator of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in a C2C model region, it is very important to me to try out and implement the principles of a circular economy without waste in people’s practical everyday lives. I have been in local government for almost 40 years and have held many positions, including management positions. As role models, municipalities can make a significant contribution to finding solutions for the necessary climate impact adaptation processes. With the anchoring in our future development concept, a binding integration of C2C into the strategic action concept of the district and thus into the guidelines of our political bodies takes place.

Karen Rauschenbach

Karen Rauschenbach is President of the Board of Circular Clothing, a dynamic group of Swiss fashion and textile labels. Karen is passionate about sustainable and ethical practices in the textile industry and is committed to promoting the circular economy. As President of Circular Clothing, Karen is paving the way for other labels to enter the circular economy. With the cooperative, she was able to launch the first Cradle to Cradle Certified®️ collection with her own label, The Blue Suit, in 2022, making her one of the pioneers in the Swiss fashion industry.

Thomas Lamparter

Having grown up in a tannery Thomas Lamparter became an Engineer in Leather and Shoe Technology and holds an MBA in General Management. He has worked as Program Manager for Automotive Leather company Eagle Ottawa. In Finance at Mercedes-AMG and for Bader Leather as Key Account Manager. In 2014 Thomas joined wet-green as Head of Sales. wet-green has developed an award-winning, C2C GOLD Certified and globally patented tanning agent based on by-products of olive growing to make the so called „Olivenleder®️“. He is actively supporting brands and tanneries globally who aim to become more sustainable and circular.

Aaron Widdig

Aaron Widdig works at Loft Concerts GmbH in booking as well as in the project management of the “Beneficial Events” department. Loft Concerts has been successfully organizing concerts in Berlin since the 1980s and is now one of the city’s major local concert promoters, with around 200 concerts a year at Berlin’s most beautiful venues. Loft Concerts is a co-initiator of the “Labor Tempelhof” project and has since specialized in the area of organizing circular (large-scale) concerts.

Dr. Marike Kolossa-Gehring

Dr. Marike Kolossa-Gehring is a biologist and toxicologist, and Head of the Section “Toxicology, Health-related Environmental Monitoring” at the German Environment Agency. She is the coordinator of the European Programme HBM4EU, a joint effort of 116 partners from 30 countries, the European Environment Agency, and the European Commission. She also manages the German Federal Human Biomonitoring Program consisting of the German Environmental Survey, the Environmental Specimen Bank, the Human Biomonitoring Commission, and the HBM cooperation with the industry to enhance HBM. She co-leads the work packege “Exposure and Monitoring” of PARC, the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals, in which the HBM4EU work is continued.

Lewin Fricke

Lewin Fricke is a public relations expert with extensive experience in the construction industry. As Head of Public Relations at TRIQBRIQ AG, he is responsible for the company’s entire internal and external communication.

Claudia Roth

Claudia Roth (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) has been Minister of State for Culture and Media in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet since 2021. The former dramaturge and manager of the band “Ton Steine Scherben” has held political office since 1989, has been a Member of the German Bundestag since 2002, was federal chairwoman of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen from 2004 to 2013 and vice president of the German Bundestag from 2013 to 2021.

Hannes Geist

Hannes Geist is a research associate at the Walter-und-Ingeborg-Hermann-Chair for Power-Ultrasonics and Engineering of Functional Materials (EFM) of Professor Dr. Frank Balle at the Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering of the University of Freiburg. His research focuses on the engineering implementation of circularity strategies (Circularity Engineering), especially on Circular Material Selection, Remanufacturing and Cradle to Cradle Engineering. He is also the initiator and consortium co-lead of the first German cross-industry standard on remanufacturing (DIN SPEC 91472:2023).

Tabea Kaplan

Tabea Kaplan is tour manager of the band Die Ärzte and Executive Director as well as Head of Beneficial Events at Loft Concerts GmbH. Loft Concerts has been successfully organizing concerts in Berlin since the 1980s and is now one of the city’s major local concert promoters, with around 200 concerts a year at Berlin’s most beautiful venues. Loft Concerts is a co-initiator of the “Labor Tempelhof” project and has since specialized in the area of organizing (large-scale) circular concerts.

Isabel Gomez

Isabel Gomez started working at Cradle to Cradle NGO in January 2020. As a Member of the Managing Board she oversees the NGO´s departments of Communications and Politics & Society. Previous to that, she was a business and finance journalist for ten years, working for the Financial Times Deutschland, the Wall Street Journal, and Börsen-Zeitung. Isabel holds a Diploma degree in Economics.

Nina Eichinger

Nina Eichinger ist Schauspielerin und TV-Moderatorin und hat schon in frühen Jahren ihre Liebe zur Natur entdeckt. Sie studierte Umweltwissenschaften, Kommunikationswissenschaften und hat u. a. ein Auslandssemster in Australien zum Schwerpunkt Regenwald-Ökologie absolviert. Sie engagiert sich in zahlreichen Organisation und Jurys für eine bessere Welt.

Jens Timmerbeil

Jens Timmerbeil has been Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at Schwalbe since May 2023. There he is responsible for the climate strategy and greenhouse gas balancing of the manufacturer of bicycle tyres and tubes. Timmerbeil has worked for Schwalbe since 2019, including as a corporate development analyst. Timmerbeil participates in numerous CSR initiatives.

Claude Rieser

Claude Rieser has been CEO of Flawa Consumer GmbH (new name from the end of 2023: Step Zero AG) since 2019. For the past two years, the company has been focusing on circular approaches and the development of new products in the shoe and sole industry. Rieser has been working for Flawa since 2014, including as Business Development Manager and COO. Previously, he worked for the development organisation Pro Watschinger in Tanzania and as CEO of the construction companies Easy Bautechnik and Protektor Profil, among others. Rieser is a trained production engineer.

Dr. Michael Karrer

Michael Karrer has been Senior Vice President Sustainability & EHS at ZF Group since 2021. He has worked for the ZF Group since 2006 and initially spent five years in the field of strategic logistics, leading projects on inventory optimization, delivery performance and lean logistics in several of ZF’s global sites. For three years, he was project manager for the industrialisation of a truck transmission in Hangzhou, China. From 2014 to 2016, Karrer was responsible for supplier management in the ZF Group, focusing on supplier quality performance, risk management and sustainability in the supply chain. Before joining ZF, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Duisburg-Essen and completed his doctorate on supply chain performance management. Karrer studied International Business Administration in Innsbruck (Austria) and Louvain (Belgium).

Andreas Engelhardt

Andreas Engelhardt has been chairman of the management board of Schüco International KG since 2012 and was appointed general partner in 2014. Since 2020, he has also been general partner of the metal processor Otto Fuchs. In addition, Engelhardt is chairman of the supervisory board of Surteco SE and of the auditing company BDO. He is a member of the supervisory board of the insulation manufacturer Saint Gobain ISOVER and a member of the advisory board of Deutsche Bank Bielefeld. Engelhardt is also a member of the presidium and board of trustees of the Stiftung KlimaWirtschaft, a member of the ZIA presidium and a member of the board of trustees of the “Lebendige Stadt” foundation. From 1990 to 1995, Engelhardt was a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament. He is a trained industrial clerk and has more than 30 years of professional experience in management responsibility in various companies.

Prof. Daniel Aeschbacher

Daniel Aeschbacher has been responsible for professional training at Epea Switzerland since 2022. Previously, he worked as a design manager at Hewlett-Packard in France, at the headset manufacturer Plantronics in California, at the design studio Sottsass Associati in Italy and at the design agency Frogdesign in California. From 2005 to 2022, Aeschbacher was a lecturer in the “International Design Management” course at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. He studied architecture, industrial design, environmental technology and management as well as social transitions.

Prof. Dr. Erik Hansen

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erik G. Hansen is Full Professor and Head of the Institute of Integrated Quality Design (IQD) at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) Linz, Austria and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana University of Lüneburg. His research focuses on managing circular innovations at the level of technologies, product-service systems, and business models. He is founder of the MBA Sustainable Business & Circular Economy at LIMAK Austrian Business School. Hansen was member of the steering committee of Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland by acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering. He gained his doctoral degree at TUM.

Tim Gräsing

Tim Gräsing is co-founder of the food tech startup ReGood as well as owner of a restaurant in Berlin and an F&B business consultancy. He has been involved in the beer industry and gastronomy for over 10 years. Among other things, he worked as a project manager for the Carlsberg Group in Copenhagen and as German Expansion Lead for the Finnish gastro group NoHo Partners. Gräsing completed the executive programme “Circular Economy & Sustainability Strategies” at Cambridge University.

Daniel Venghaus

Daniel Venghaus leads the Urbanfilter project at TU Berlin, in which a modular filter system was developed to retain pollutants from the streets’ drainage water. He has been a research assistant in the Department of Urban Water Management at TU Berlin since 2013 and has already led several projects in the field of microplastics. Venghaus completed his apprenticeship as a specialist in water supply technology at the Barntrup waterworks and specialised in the field of urban water management in his subsequent mechanical engineering studies at TU Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart

Michael Braungart teaches at Leuphana University in Lüneburg. He is also the founder of EPEA – Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH in Hamburg, the cradle of Cradle to Cradle. In addition, Michael Braungart is co-founder and scientific director of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) in Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) as well as founder and scientific director of the Hamburg Environmental Institute (HUI). He is the co-founder of the Cradle to Cradle design concept, which is the basis for the European Union’s Green Deal and Circular Economy programs. Together with organizations and companies from different industries, Michael Braungart designs eco-effective products, business models and smart material pooling. In 2007, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Environment by Time Magazine, together with William McDonough.

Photo: Rapahel Gabauer

Prof. Eike Roswag-Klinge

Prof. Eike Roswag-Klinge, Dipl.-Ing. Architekt BDA is one of the initiators and managing directors of ZRS Architekten Ingenieure, Berlin and chair of the Natural Building Lab at the Technische Universität Berlin. He has been researching, teaching, designing and building climate- and resource adaptive, human architectures in different climate zones for 20 years. His projects range from schools made of clay and bamboo in the global south to the protection of monuments to residential buildings, production facilities and schools made of wood, clay and natural fibres in Europe. His research focuses on climate and culturally adaptive architecture and low-tech building systems. Projects Roswag-Klinge has been involved in received awards such as the Aga Khan Award 2007, the KAIROS European Culture Award 2015 and the Holcim Award 2011 Gold in Asia Pacific. He has been teaching at the Technische Universität Berlin since 2017.

Dr. Patrick Bergmann

Dr. Patrick Bergmann has been Managing Director of Madaster Germany since 2020. He has been working on sustainable construction and circular real estate for about 10 years. In 2018, Bergmann wrote his dissertation on the topic of “Life Cyle Management in the Built Environment” at the Technical University of Dresden. He then worked in real estate and business valuation at PwC in Berlin and Brussels.

Peter Bachmann

Peter Bachmann is founder, partner and managing director of Sentinel Haus Institut GmbH, which advises private and public building owners and tests and certifies healthier and sustainable building products and buildings. He has held leading positions in the building industry for more than 30 years and was the initiator and project manager of the Sentinel research project (funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation) from 2004 to 2006. Bachmann is also active as a speaker, author, coach, publicist and trainer. He has already published numerous articles and two books on the subject of healthy living.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lamia Messari-Becker

Professor Lamia Messari-Becker has been a university professor for building technology and building physics at the University of Siegen since 2013. She is also a policy advisor, a former member of the Federal Government’s Expert Council on the Environment (2016-20), a member of the Federal Ministry of Building’s Expert Group on Future Construction (since 2017), a member of the Convention of the Federal Foundation for Building Culture and a member of the Club of Rome (since 2020). Her areas of work in teaching, research and policy advice are in the fields of sustainable construction, sustainable urban development, climate protection concepts for municipalities and companies, energy transition, mobility of the future, resource efficiency and circular economy, neighbourhood approaches and life-cycle-oriented planning methods. She looks back on more than 50 building and consulting projects as well as more than 80 publications about practical implementations and policy advice.

Anna Trawnitschek

Anna Trawnitschek works as a project manager at DIN, the German Institute for Standardization, in the field of circular economy. Her work is about all topics that connect standardization with the circular economy. At DIN, Trawnitschek supervises a wide range of projects such as remanufacturing, reverse logistics or circular plastics. With an academic and working background in economics and product design she brings in different perspectives to the topic.

Maike Voss

Maike Voss (MPH) is managing director of the Centre for Planetary Health Policy (CPHP) in Berlin. Prior she was managing director for evidence-based policy-making at the German Alliance on Climate Change and Health (KLUG). Before her time with KLUG, she was the head of the Global Health Governance Research Team at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP). Her research focuses on governance for global and planetary health, sustainable development as well as the interdependencies between health, climate and security policy. She is a founding member of Women in Global Health, served on the Steering Committee of the German Alliance for Global Health Research 2021-2022, and was appointed to the Lancet Commission for Synergies between Health Security, Universal Health Coverage and Health Promotion in 2018. Voss teaches at several German universities, including Bremen, Bielefeld, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and is a freelance moderator. Before joining SWP, she was a research associate at the Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research at the University of Bremen.

Héloïse Le Masne

Héloïse Le Masne is the Director of Operations at Impact Hub Berlin. After a few years working in the corporate world, Héloïse brought her business perspective into an impact startup where she led customer management and business development. In 2018, Le Masne joined Impact Hub Berlin where she managed programmes such as investor circles and incubators before joining the leadership team, now leading a team of 35 changemakers in the largest space dedicated to impact entrepreneurship in Europe. Le Masne is a German-French Young Leader 2020 and co-initiator of WirVsVirus, a 25 000+ participants hackathon for Covid-19 solutions.

Verena Müller

Verena Müller has been head of sustainable residential and commercial real estate at GLS Bank since the beginning of 2023. She has held various positions at GLS Bank since 2009. With the establishment of the Competence Centre Sustainable Real Estate in October 2021 Müller has been focusing on the Cradle to Cradle principle in the construction and renovation of real estate.

Dr. Anne Lamp

Anne Lamp is co-founder and managing director of the Hamburg-based bioeconomy start-up Traceless Materials. The company produces a holistic sustainable material alternative to plastics and bioplastics that is made from food production residues and is fully degradable in nature. Lamp holds a PhD in process engineering and has experience in commercial product development and process scaling. She is also an expert in life-cycle assessments and Cradle to Cradle.

Alexander Maak

Alexander Maak has been Managing Director of Interzero Circular Solutions Germany since 2021, where he is building up and expanding new business units around the circular economy. Previously, he was Head of Business Development at Interzero. Maak has international work experience from the shipping and plastics industries. He has held positions including CEO of Maak Line, Commercial Director Europe of the Australian corporate Brambels/Chep and Chief Sales Officer of plastics recycler Capka. Maak holds a master’s degree in marketing and finance from the University of Wales, Cardiff.

Klara Geywitz

Klara Geywitz has been Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction since 2021. She has also been deputy SPD party leader since 2019 and a member of the SPD party executive committee since 2017. From 1998 to 2013, Geywitz was a member of the Potsdam city council, and from 2004 to 2019 a member of the Brandenburg state parliament. From August 2020 to December 2021, she worked as an audit area manager at the Brandenburg State Audit Office. Geywitz studied political science at the University of Potsdam.

Photo: Bundesregierung/Jesco Denzel

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2014 - 2025

Inhaltliches Kompendium 2025

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Pressemitteilungen 2023

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Kurzinformation C2CC21 und Etappen

Etappe 3 | Mönchengladbach
Kurzbios Speaker*innen 3. Etappe DE
04.11.2021 – Pressemitteilung Etappe 3
04.11.2021 – Fotos Etappe 3

Etappe 2 | Mainz
Kurzbios Speaker*innen 2. Etappe DE I EN
07.9.2021 – Pressemitteilung Etappe 2
07.9.2021 – Fotos Etappe 2

Etappe 1 | Freiburg
Kurzbios Speaker*innen 1. Etappe DE I EN
15.07.2021 – Pressemitteilung Etappe 1 – Freiburg
15.7.2021 – Press Release Series 1 – Freiburg
15.7.2021 – Fotos Etappe 1 – Freiburg

C2C Congress 2020 – Pressematerial C2C Congress

2020 – Pressemitteilung
C2C Congress 2020 – ENGLISH: Press Release
C2C Congress 2020 – Printprogramm

PM: C2C Congress 2020: Umweltschutz und wirtschaftlicher Erfolg schließen sich nicht aus, 03.02.2020

PM: C2C Congress 2020: EU-Klimapaket braucht Ergänzung um echte Kreislaufwirtschaft, 31.01.2020

C2C Kindercongress 2020

Pressefotos C2C Congress 2020

C2C Congress 2018 – Pressemitteilung

C2C Congress 2018 – ENGLISH: Press Release
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C2C Congress 2017 – Pressemitteilung

C2C Congress 2017 – ENGLISH: Press Release
C2C Congress 2017 – Printprogramm
C2C Congress 2017 – Öffentliche Teilnahmeliste
C2C Congress 2017 – Akteur*innen

C2C Congress 2016 – Pressemitteilung
C2C Congress 2016 – ENGLISH: Press Release
C2C Congress 2016 – Printprogramm
C2C Congress 2016 – Printübersicht Akteur*innen

C2C Congress 2015 – Pressemitteilung

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C2C Congress 2014 – Printprogramm & Akteur*innen

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