2024 Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit

Tom Steyer

Investor and Climate Champion

Sylvia Earle

Founder & Co-Chair

Mission Blue

Called “Her Deepness” by the New Yorker and New York Times, Sylvia A. Earle is a National Geographic Society Explorer at Large, Founder and Co-Chair of Mission Blue, Founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER), a Founding Ocean Elder, a Founding IUCN Patron of Nature, a Founding Director of the Deep Hope Foundation, Chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute, Advisor for the Earth Observatory of Singapore at NTU, and former Chief Scientist of NOAA. She is author of more than 230 publications, leader of more than 100 expeditions with years at sea and thousands of hours exploring under the ocean. A graduate of Florida State University with MA and PhD degrees from Duke University and 34 honorary doctorates, she has decades of service on corporate and non-profit boards. Her research focuses on the ecology and conservation of marine species and systems, and development and use of technology for access to the deep sea Her more than 150 honors and awards include Time Magazine’s first Hero for the Planet, a Living Legend by the Library of Congress, the U. S. Dept. of Interior Conservation Service Award, the Netherlands Order of the Golder Ark, the TED Prize, Tallberg-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, Princess of Asturias Prize for Concord, the Harris World Ecology Medal, National Wildlife Federation Robin Winks Medal, the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, the American Prairie Ken Burns award for Environmental Leadership, the Explorers Club Medal, the Royal Geographic Society Patrons Medal, and the National Geographic Society Hubbard Medal.

Bill McKibben

Author, Educator, Activist and Founder

Third Act

Bill McKibben is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, and a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 to work on climate and racial justice. He founded the first global grassroots climate campaign, 350.org, and serves as the Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. In 2014 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel,’ in the Swedish Parliament. He's also won the Gandhi Peace Award, and honorary degrees from 19 colleges and universities. He has written over a dozen books about the environment, including his first, The End of Nature, published in 1989, and his latest book is The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened.

Jared Blumenthal

President

Waverly Street Foundation

Pilar Cruz

Chief Sustainability Officer

Cargill

As Cargill’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Pilar Cruz is responsible for leading the company’s efforts to drive transformational change in delivering sustainable supply chains for customers around the globe, while making agriculture part of how we deliver on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This aim is core to Cargill’s purpose to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way.
Pilar also leads Cargill’s global Communications and Corporate Responsibility functions, which includes advancing partnerships focused on accelerating progress on climate, food security, human rights, and women’s economic empowerment.
Prior to her current role, Pilar served as president and group leader of Cargill’s global aqua nutrition business. Under her leadership, Cargill launched its SeaFurther Sustainability initiative, designed to help the company and the broader seafood industry reduce its carbon footprint.
With over two decades of business and operations experience, Pilar brings a global and diverse perspective to the Executive Team. Her career with Cargill – including leadership positions across the protein and animal nutrition businesses, as well as leading the global Corporate Strategy and Development function – has brought her from the plains of the south central United States, to Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, several European countries and the United Kingdom.
Outside of Cargill, Pilar serves on the Board of Donaldson Company Inc. – a Minneapolis-based public company, and a global leader in engine and industrial air, oil and liquid filtration solutions. Additionally, Pilar was appointed to the World Food Program USA’s Board of Directors, an organization Cargill has been working with for over 20 years. Together, Cargill and WFP USA will continue to work toward sustainable solutions that end hunger and malnutrition, so every family in need has access to safe, nutritious and affordable food.

Originally from Bogotá Colombia, Pilar is the first Latina promoted to Cargill’s executive team. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universidad de Los Andes and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Alex Knapp

Senior Editor, Science & Health

Forbes

As a Senior Editor at Forbes, Alex Knapp oversees the Science and Healthcare content across all Forbes platforms online, on social, in video and in print. His own reporting focuses on the intersection of science and business, particularly in the areas of healthcare, the commercial space industry, and quantum computing, where he explores new technology and their practical applications on daily life. In addition, Knapp manages the Science and Healthcare categories for Forbes’ signature Under 30 platform and helps drive editorial programing for multiple ForbesLive summits including: Under 30, Healthcare and AgTech.

Alan Ohnsman

Senior Editor

Forbes

Alan Ohnsman is Forbes Senior Editor for future mobility, covering tech-driven changes that are reshaping transportation. He’s written about advanced vehicles and environmental policy for more than two decades and squeezed in stints in the financial and corporate worlds. He spent the 1990s in Tokyo with news outlets including Asahi Evening News, NHK, Businessweek and Bloomberg–which transferred him to Los Angeles in 2001. Alan is an Ohio native with an English degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a master’s from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He lives with his wife, son and two cats in Glendale, California, and plays drums and sings for Combo Villains, an L.A.-based rock duo.

Janett Haas

SVP, Research & Insights

Forbes

Janett Kennedy Haas currently serves as SVP, Head of Forbes Research & Insights where she is responsible for leading strategy, thought leadership, product, and growth for Forbes’ two research divisions – dedicated to equipping global business audiences of C-Suite executives, high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, boards of directors and senior business leaders with actionable intelligence for a better future.

Before launching Forbes Research and leading the Forbes Insights team, Ms. Haas was the SVP of Strategic Partnerships with an emphasis on the Forbes CIO and CMO Networks. She has a proven track record of leading innovative, multi-platform research and content programs for the Forbes global business audience, which includes the Forbes State of Sustainability Survey, Forbes AI and the Forbes CxO Growth Survey, now in its fourth year.

Amy Feldman

Senior Editor, Manufacturing

Forbes

Amy is a senior editor at Forbes, where she covers manufacturing, industrial innovation and consumer products. She was previously a writer at BusinessWeek, Money and the New York Daily News. This is her second stint at Forbes, having started her career in business journalism there many years ago. Her work has also appeared in Fast Company, Inc., the New York Times, Barron’s and other publications. She has a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in journalism from Northwestern.