How do new ventures envision and shape a fair and sustainable world?

Joy Fairbanks

Professor Fairbanks teaches the H4H Impact Venture Incubator course at CBS and organized Columbia’s inaugural cross campus startup hackathon, Hacking for Humanity and the Planet. Professor Fairbanks is an experienced founder, investment evaluator, and advisor to innovative early stage companies across sectors. Prior to forming her own boutique advisory firm, Fairbanks Venture Advisors, she served clients at LEK Consulting and Mitchell Madison Group, where she was a founding member and engagement manager. She started her career as a securities analyst at Fidelity Investments. Professor Fairbanks has extensive experience advising companies across geographies from M&A and strategic planning to operations and supply chain management. She advises early stage companies on business modeling, MVPs/prototyping, go to market strategy, fundraising/investor presentations, partnerships, and financial forecasting. Professor Fairbanks is an active advisor across accelerators and university startup communities including: Blackstone Launchpad, Black Ambition, GACC-Step USA, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Venture Out, Inventor to Founders (I2F) Cyber NYC, NYU’s New Media Lab, and Stanford’s H4R Lean Launchpad. Joy helped launch the Long Beach Accelerator, a public-private partnership on the West Coast. She serves on its admissions committee.

Janice Tran,

CEO and Co-founder

Kanin Energy

Janice provides the leadership and financing strategy for Kanin Energy. Prior to Kanin, Janice was an early employee and Director at Generate Capital, a project finance investment firm that focused on investing in renewable energy projects. There she built North America’s largest portfolio of anaerobic digestion assets. Her role spanned across deal execution, origination, market development and asset management. Prior to Generate Capital, Janice worked at NRG, one of America’s largest power producers, to start their renewable microgrids business line. Janice also co-founded Student Energy, a nonprofit which is today’s largest global charity dedicated to educating and uniting post-secondary students on energy issues.

Janice is a licensed Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) in Canada. She also has a Masters of Science in Sustainability Management from Columbia University in New York, where she received an Earth Institute Fellowship. Janice also has a Masters in Accounting from the University of Saskatchewan, and double majored with a BA in Philosophy and BComm in Accounting from the University of Calgary.

Sylvain Massot, Founder

CFO

Impaakt

After almost three decades in international banking in London and Geneva, I have co-founded Impaakt and Foundation ReBin, two ventures that seek to bring innovative solutions for Impact Investing. Foundation ReBin operates in Benin in the field of waste recycling. Impaakt is a web-platform that leverages on the collective intelligence of a large community of members to assess the social & environmental impact of large listed companies.

Arne Halleraker

Partner

FJ Labs

A Norwegian native, Arne [├ï╦å├ëÔÇÿrni] is a partner with FJ Labs, the world’s leading marketplace venture capital firm. He co-leads the investment arm and oversees hundreds of investments each year, and a portfolio of 650 active startups. Arne led investments in companies such as Shipbob, Reibus, Mootral, and Pachama. Prior to joining FJ Labs, Arne was Director of Global Partnerships for Telenor (OSL:TEL) , a $33bn market cap Norwegian telco group.

Dr Sarah Qureshi

CEO & Co-Founder; Ambassador

Aero Engine Craft Private Limited; Solar Impulse Foundation

Dr. Sarah Qureshi is the CEO and co-founder of Aero Engine Craft Private Limited; Pakistan‘s first commercial engine and aircraft R & D company that is developing environmentally safe contrail-free aircraft engines for the global aviation industry. Sarah has a PhD degree in Aerospace Propulsion Engineering from Cranfield University, UK. Sarah has also recently co-invented and patented a supersonic commercial aircraft engine. In addition, she serves in the capacity of a Visiting Academic at Cranfield University. Sarah holds a Private Pilot License and has also learned acrobatic flying while at Cranfield. She is also an expert and ambassador at the Solar Impulse Foundation where she evaluates green solutions for the world. Sarah also volunteers occasionally to impart aviation lessons to school children

Prior to this, Sarah completed her master’s degree in the field of Aerospace Dynamics from Cranfield University, UK, working on the design of an autopilot for the mid-air refueling of drones. Sarah is considered to be a trailblazer for women in STEM and an inspiration for women leaders in Aerospace around the globe. She was awarded the Distinguished Aerospace Alumni Award by Cranfield University in. She is also a prominent voice on sustainable aviation in the media. Sarah has been listed among the Top 15 global aerospace professionals to follow on LinkedIn for her pioneering work on her revolutionary technology and is ranked among the top 10 most inspiring women of her country. She has recently been presented with a Recognition of Contribution for Global Awards by Women Tech Network USA and Laurels of Honor in Pakistan.