Sessions & Speakers

Theme: USCALE Sustainability Cohort

Agro360 is a social impact startup dedicated to creating technological solutions based on exponential technologies to improve agricultural productivity and climate change resilience of small-scale farmers to support the fight against hunger and poverty worldwide in support of the fulfilling of the Sustainable Development Objective (ODS) of the United Nations by reducing the food loss due agricultural diseases.

Viridis Terra specializes in the field of ecosystem restoration and sustainable management to fight the global problem of land degradation. Its main activities focus on the restoration of degraded ecosystems, lands, and soils; and on the formulation, implementation and sustainable management of large-scale reforestation, afforestation and forest and agroforest landscape restoration projects.

FoodHero is a mobile app that connects grocery stores and consumers to quickly sell surplus food that would otherwise end up in the trash. FoodHero represents a rewarding way for its shoppers to save big on food, while helping supermarkets to massively reduce food waste and improve their bottom line.

Karoline Mortensen is Associate Dean of Business Programs and Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Miami Herbert Business School. She is Associate Residential Faculty at Stanford Residential College, Associate Director of the Center for Health Management and Policy, and was the founding Director of the Master of Health Administration (MHA) program at the University of Miami. She previously was a member of the faculty in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland, College Park. She earned her Ph.D. in Health Services Organization and Policy from the University of Michigan.

Wendy is part of the territory sales team at American Century Investments® dedicated to growing and deepening relationships with financial advisors in both southern Florida and Puerto Rico. She has been in the financial industry for over 35 years.  Prior to joining American Century Investments in 2008, Wendy worked for Calamos Investments, and John W Henry & Company and Citibank. Wendy is a graduate of The University of Virginia where she was an All-American swimmer.  She received her MBA from New York University. 

Dan (he/him) has 19 years of experience in the finance and sustainable investment industries. Throughout his career he has consulted with countless individuals and institutions to help them meet their financial goals while making a positive impact through their investment decisions. Dan holds an MS in Environmental Policy and Management and is a Certified Investment Management Analyst®.

Richard A. Fontes is an ESG Product Manager at State Street who conceptualizes and implements integrations of ESG data and frameworks into the various technology platforms and investment services that State Street offers to the world’s leading asset owners and asset managers.

As a member of the economics faculty at the Miami Herbert Business School, Daniel D. Hicks specializes in sustainable business and the media sector; designs & manages workforce development initiatives through applied career experience projects, and coordinates the undergraduate minor in sustainable business. He organizes the annual CSO Summit & Symposium (CSOSS) conference.

Erin Black is Vice President, Risk Management at CocaCola Beverages Florida. She leads the company’s strategy and execution of Risk Management and Sustainability with proven enterprise-wide strategy creation. Ms. Black has extensive risk management, process improvement, compliance and process modeling and analyst experience, having formerly served as Coca-Cola Refreshments’ Vice President of Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability. Prior to this, Ms. Black served as Senior Global Technical Director of Environmental and Safety at Kellogg Company. Ms. Black has also served as Director of Environmental, Health and Safety for Sara Lee as well as Burns Philip, Inc. She holds a MS from Drake University and undergraduate degrees from Keene State College.

Jennifer Jacquet is a visiting professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami, with an understanding of ESG as well as public health and animal-related issues in aquaculture systems.

David Letson is a professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami, where he has worked since 1995. His research focuses on the economics of extreme weather and climate variations. He is interested in the value of predictions from the geosciences and in how those predictions are interpreted and used. Letson obtained his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 and has over 40 publications to his credit. Specialties: Economics of climate variations and extreme weather.

Damien Claire is the Group’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. Prior to joining Atlantic Sapphire, Mr. Claire was the President of Platina Seafood, Inc. Mr. Claire’s experience includes positions in several industries around the world. From 2009 to 2014, he served as Sales/Analyst for South Pacific Specialties in Miami. From 2004 to 2008 he also acted as Vice President of Business Development for Global Outsourcing in Chile. Damien earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from Lander University in South Carolina.

Gabriel Diaz has 18 years of experience in financial services. He is a Senior VIce President at Everest Capital Partners serving high net worth individuals and corporations. He is also an early investor and board member of Open Blue Sea Farms. He  serves as board member of Latin America and Caribbean Initiatives (LACI) at Miami Herbert, Real Estate Development in Spain and Panama, and other Financial Institutions.