Transparency: A Valuable Industry Tool for Change

Webinar Previously Held

January 27, 2022

Increased transparency enables business leaders to enact meaningful change while also empowering consumers to make more informed decisions. Transparency can be a powerful tool for improving business and protecting people and the planet.

In this webinar, industry experts spanning furniture, food, fashion, and retail will discuss the value of material transparency and its implications for the future of these sectors.

Our Experts

Led by moderator and journalist Esha Chhabra, panelists Jane Abernethy (Humanscale, Chief Sustainability Officer), Tina Bhojwani (AERA New York, Co–Founder & CEO), Katie Clark (Happy Family Organics, Director of Sustainability), and Natasha Franck (EON, Founder & CEO) will unpack transparency and how it impacts each of their industries. Following the 45–minute discussion, there will be a 15–minute live Q–A.

Moderator: Esha Chhabra

Freelance Writer/Journalist

Esha is a journalist who covers the cross–section of business and impact (environmental and social). She has contributed to a number of international and national publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Fast Company, Forbes, Economist, Wired UK, and more. She has been awarded four grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting as well as two reporting fellowships from the UN Foundation. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and a Rotary Scholar from The London School of Economics. When not on the road, she's based in southern California, and often found gardening.

Jane Abernethy

Chief Sustainability Officer, Humanscale

As Humanscale's Chief Sustainability Officer, Jane leads the company's efforts to create a net positive impact through both its products and operations. Collaborating closely with company executives as well as designers and engineers, Jane guides the development process to help create the most sustainable products possible. An industrial designer by trade, Jane spent over a decade working and leading design teams through the development of new products prior to her role as CSO. Her experience ranges from sporting goods to medical devices to furniture. Jane often shares dialogue around sustainable product design and manufacturing at a variety of conferences and events globally, including Greenbuild, World Ocean Conference, and more. She recently applied her expertise as a curator for RECKONstruct, the US Pavilion at the XXII Triennale de Milano International Exhibition: Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival. Jane's work has also been recognized internationally, including the prestigious Red Dot award and the GB&D Women in Sustainability Leadership Award. Under her leadership, Humanscale has been recognized as the first manufacturer to achieve the complete Living Product Challenge and is a founding member of the Next Wave Initiative.

Tina Bhojwani

AERA New York, Co–Founder & CEO

Tina Bhojwani is the Co–Founder and CEO of AERA New York. Prior to that, she held key leadership roles at global brands Donna Karan and Theory where she played an integral part in international business development. Her most recent corporate role was as President – CEO of Dolce – Gabbana, North America. Throughout her 20–year career, she has seen the impact of the fashion industry on people and the planet and recognizes the need for change not only as a business imperative but more importantly a deeply human one. She built AERA as her contribution to address these environmental and social challenges, with the hope of making its practices the new normal in fashion. With AERA, she aspires to show consumers that style, design and quality can go hand in hand with sustainability. Most recently, Tina spearheaded the opening of a retail space in Soho called Figure Eight, inviting an array of eco–conscious luxury brands to showcase and sell products that share a similar vison and ethos. This vibrant collective of like–minded brands demonstrates the power of community, collaboration and conscious discovery. In addition, Tina has acted as a strategic advisor to a variety of brands including Kendra Scott, Augustinus Bader, Misa Los Angeles, CO, Yves Salomon, Boden and Sachin – Babi.

Katie Clark

Happy Family Organics, Director of Sustainability

Katie Clark is the Director of Sustainability at Happy Family Organics, the leading organic baby food company in the US. Knowing that the health of our planet affects the long–term health of our children, Katie has helped the company implement strategic sustainability initiatives across the entire supply chain to drive impact and engagement in the brand's mission to change the trajectory of children's health. Recently, Katie led the development of a new line of baby food products, made with ingredients from farms that incorporate regenerative agriculture practices that, when implemented at scale, can help to mitigate and even reverse climate change. She is also currently spearheading the development of a carbon reduction roadmap to meet the company's Net Zero by 2030 commitment. Katie holds an MBA in Sustainable Business Practices from the University of Oregon and a BA in International Development and Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Natasha Franck

EON, Founder & CEO

Natasha Franck is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of EON. Changing the way we buy, own, sell, use & connect with physical products, EON is the Operating Systems for physical products – turning each product into a connected asset to unlock sustainable systems and trillions in untapped revenue across retail. Retail's leading Connected Product Cloud, EON enables each product to connect to customers, new applications, business models and services – connecting products to an ecosystem to unlock the limitless potential of each asset and lay the digital foundation essential for Circular Commerce. EON pioneered industry's CircularID™ Protocol – creating a shared language for connected products to unlock global data exchange essential for the circularity of every asset. Before EON, Natasha was Vice President of Global Business Development at Delos – a sustainable real estate and smart cities technology start up. Natasha started her career in sustainable and mission based urban development at Jonathan Rose Companies. Natasha holds a Bachelor's Degree from Georgetown University.

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