Jason Berns

Head of Product & Manufacturing Innovation, Ralph Lauren Corporation

Jason Berns is the Head of Product & Manufacturing Innovation at Ralph Lauren Corporation. Berns leads a team that identifies unique, consumer-focused opportunities in key product areas. Notably, this includes the launch of the world’s first scalable apparel serialization and authentication programme – Digital Product IDs – which has been implemented on hundreds of millions of items globally. At Ralph Lauren, Berns has led the implementation of 3D design and development, the creation of a recycled, waterless version of the iconic polo shirt, and marquee, innovative technologies for the U.S. Olympic team uniforms – such as Intelligent Insulation, a first-to-market fabric that adapts to cooler temperatures by expanding and creating a layer of insulation. He has also supported Ralph Lauren’s investment in NFW, a leading sustainable material science startup. With his leadership, the Company has used NFW’s CLARUS® and MIRUM® technologies in its products. In August 2020, Berns was appointed to serve as an NFW Board Member. Through his work at Ralph Lauren, he continues to drive initiatives in recycling technologies and on-demand manufacturing to support a circular economy. Prior to joining Ralph Lauren in 2016, Berns led the open innovation team at Under Armour Inc. He has also spent part of his career at Salomon Sports, Arc’teryx Equipment, and Fisher Price. He holds a Bachelor of Science Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati. In addition to serving on NFW’s Board, he is an advisor at Sway Ventures.

Jonas Eder-Hansen

Chief Operating Officer, Global Fashion Agenda

Jonas Eder-Hansen is the Chief Operating Officer at Global Fashion Agenda (GFA). Jonas is responsible for designing and implementing policies that drive GFA and its stakeholders to reach a net positive fashion industry. Jonas oversees GFA’s operations, public affairs and educational activities, including Global Fashion Summit - the leading international forum for sustainability in fashion. With more than ten years of tenure at GFA, Jonas has deep insights in driving industry change. Recently, Jonas spearheaded GFA’s increased strategic focus on engaging policymakers to accelerate the fashion industry’s urgent transition to a circular economy. Since 2017 Jonas sits on the Board of Directors of Sustainable Apparel Coalition representing affiliate members of the industry-wide multi-stakeholder initiative. Jonas was formerly Development Director for Danish Fashion Institute. Prior to that, he was Research Director at Copenhagen Business School’s Centre for Sustainability.

Dr. Yuly Fuentes Medel

Program Director for Textiles, Climate Grand Challenges, Massachusetts Insitute of Technology

Dr. Yuly Fuentes-Medel is a catalyst of creative ideas and ecosystem builder and pioneer in the intersection of Fashion, Technology, Climate change and business. Now working as Program Director of Climate Grand Challenges & Fabric Innovation lab at the Massachusetts Institute of technology and Founder of the Footwear Collective, a non profit network of companies dedicated to solve systemic change with circular solution powered by EarthDNA Inc. As founder of Value of Science LLC she created DESCIENCE, a global collective of designers, scientists & technologists, connecting the world of science and Design as one. She was selected as Human of the year by motherhood Magazine in 2018 and received the 2015 Boston Business Magazine “Woman to Watch” Award. She graduated with a PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Postdoctoral trained at the MIT Sloan School in Technology Innovation & entrepreneurship (TIE). She currently serves as emeritus President of the board of the Chile-Massachusetts Alliance to support international exchange of investment, technological business, talent and social impact. She is a past board member of FIT Lab and a current board member of Aji Challenge, a chilean accelerator that fosters the success of technological companies in global markets. As a member of Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology (WEST), she received a Volunteer Giving back award. She is also an advisor to MIT Delta students’ start ups and venture Partner to Closed Loop Partners. During her time as a Ph.D. student, she helped pioneer the International workshop called “Small Brains Big Ideas”. So far, this initiative has successfully trained almost a hundred Latin-American students. Trained as a biochemist at University of Concepcion in her native Chile, she is constantly in search of opportunities to support young talent and technologies to make an impact in global markets.

Yael Gairola

Non-Executive Director, PDS Limited and Senior Advisor, PDS Ventures

Erik Karlsson

Head of H&M Group Ventures

Erik Karlsson is Head of H&M Group Ventures, the venture investment arm of the H&M Group. H&M Group Ventures is a strategic investor in the fashion and retail industries and has companies such as Klarna, Sheertex, Instabee and Colorifix in the portfolio. Before taking on responsibility for the team and portfolio, Karlsson was heading up investments in sustainable practices for H&M Group Ventures. Prior to becoming an investor, he held various positions in H&M Group’s Sustainability Department. Before joining H&M Group, he worked as a sustainability consultant in the oil & gas and shipping industries. Karlsson holds a MSc in Environmental Engineering and is looking to transform the industry through investing in innovative technologies that will drive positive impact.

Georgia Parker

Innovation Director, Fashion for Good

Georgia Parker is the Innovation Director at Fashion for Good, the global initiative that convenes stakeholders in a pre-competitive space to support and embed breakthrough technologies into the fashion supply chain. She focuses on orchestrating multi stakeholder projects and pilots across the supply chain as well as running the Innovation Programme. Previously she worked at adidas in their Brand Sustainability team and was also part of the Ellen MacArthur Fellowship Programme. She has a background in business having started her career at Deloitte.