Matt Grigsby holds a BFA from RISD in Industrial Design. No stranger to sustainability, design consulting, and management, Matt started out as principal of Design Awareness, a strategic Industrial Design studio two years prior to launching Ecolect. Working with clients around the world in the consumer electronics, and medical industries, the consultancy supplied initial funding, research and support to get Ecolect off the ground. Today Matt runs Ecolect's East Cost office in Providence, Rhode Island where the design scene is booming and innovation is priority. Outside of Ecolect, Matt is Chapter Chair of IDSA Rhode Island and Co-chair of IDSA's Eco Design Section. You can reach him via email at matt@ecolect.net or over the phone at (877) 326-5328 x1.

Joe Gebbia is a quintessential designtrepreneur, graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design with a B.F.A. in Product Design and another B.F.A. in Graphic Design. During a RISD field trip to the state landfill, he was struck with the Ray Anderson 'spear in the chest'; that moment when a designer realizes their impact on the environment. As his career took off, Joe was soon developing products for corporate clients like LG, Intel and Staples, and his own product, CritBuns. In each project he longed for a central resource to identify, compare, and select sustainable materials. Taking matters into his own hands, he collaborated with classmate and advocate Matt Grigsby to fill this crucial gap in the design process. Ecolect is the result. Joe lives in San Francisco, where he runs Ecolect's West Coast office. He can be reached at joe@ecolect.net, by phone at (877) 326-5328 x2, or on Twitter.

Horace Ko was raised in a technology-rich environment, and so has harbored an interest in high-tech developments all his life. The increasing accessibility and pervasiveness of the Internet led him to rekindle an affinity for developing web applications that started in high school. Horace earned his B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of California at San Diego, and currently lives and works in San Jose.

Originally from a small town near Ann Arbor, Mich., Elizabeth Redmond earned her B.F.A. from the University of Michigan School of Art and Design. As a designer/inventor, she is inspired by physics, technology, social environments, ecological phenomena and any design that saves jaw-dropping amounts of energy, materials, time, transportation and other resources. With a keen eye for contemporary issues, she strives to combine radical concepts relating to energy and sustainability with function and practicality. Elizabeth currently lives in Chicago, where she is working on a semi permanent installation of her lifelong project, POWERleap: energy generating sidewalk tiles.

Andy Culter is the founder of Culter & Company, a communications counseling company based in Providence. Building on his twenty years of experience in the field of strategic communications, Andy has advised a number of leading institutions, including the Rhode Island School of Design and the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. Working extensively with leaders in design, science and technology, his firm helps clients tell others about their cutting-edge advancements and how they will improve the world.

Sally Kuchar is a native of San Francisco. She studied Interior Design and completed both residential and commercial projects. She is a board member of the Directors for the American Society of Interior Designers, where she focuses on sustainability. She is also a regular contributor for MoCo Loco, a contemporary design and architecture blog. Sally’s own website, called sallyTV, is a video blog about Sally and her world of design.

Than is an industrial designer based in New York City, with a passion for issues related to sustainable design, architecture, and clean technology. After graduating from Washington College with a with a BA in international affairs, he soon developed an interest in art, architecture and design, and went on to acquire an MS in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute in 2000. Having been struck by the more negative aspects of the industrial design industry during school and in his professional experience, Than is determined to make a long career of designing practical and sustainable products, and advocating for sound environmental stewardship and energy efficiency. He currently multi-tasks as communications director for o2NYC, and industrial design consultant in the realm of furniture, lighting, and tabletop.

Valentina is an industrial designer based in Italy who is passionate about research focused on sustainability. Her thesis project at Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA) focused on the LCA of retail displays - the materials, breakdown, and assembly. To extend ecological thinking into her project, she collaborated with the Laboratory in Sustainable Design at ISIA, and the fashion brand Sixty SPA. Following graduation, Valentina worked at Capellini Design studios in Italy. Her role was material search for the MATREC (MATerial RECycling) project in Rome, Italy. She was recently hired by printer company Océ N.V. in the Netherlands to consult on greener printers. When she's not studying eco materials, the bilingual designer enjoys reading, visiting museums, traveling, and biking.

For more than five years, Alberto Villarreal has been creating innovative products in fields as varied as sports equipment, consumer electronics, toys, medical equipment and transportation. A Mexican-born designer, he studied design in both Mexico and Sweden. His credits include such prestigious design awards as Red Dot—the Best of the Best; the Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award; the iF Hanover Product Design Award, and the IDSA/Business Week Industrial Design Excellence Award. Alberto currently works at Lunar Design in San Francisco.

Originally from Central Coast California, Alex grew up in Manhattan. Following three years in the military, he earned a B.F.A. at Parsons School of Design in Product Design. After five years of freelance graphic design work, he now works as an industrial design contractor in the New York office of one of the world’s leading innovation and design firms, IDEO. Working with several not-for-profit organizations—from the New York Therapeutic Riding Center to the American Red Cross—Alex believes “that we as designers are obligated to embrace our cross-disciplinary talents in order to focus a combined effort towards sustainability, and environmental awareness.”

Robert Girvin studied product development at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and industrial design at the California College of the Arts (CCA). After finishing at CCA, he moved to Southeast Asia, where he learned about industrial furniture manufacturing processes. He currently is working on his own line of sustainable furniture, basing his designs on what is sustainable, biodegradable, repurposed and recyclable.

Meredith Flannery received her degree in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University, where she focused on working on the solution side of environmental issues. A LEED accredited professional, she currently works as the Manager of Sustainability Programs for Forms+Surfaces. While assessing and improving overall environmental impact of products, she also researches sustainable materials / processes for possible inclusion in product lines and manages environmental compliance.