Marck Højbjerg Matthiasen

Marck Hojberg Mathiasen is CEO and Owner of Dantoy A/S which is now one of the largest plastic toy manufacturers in Europe, having produced toys for more than five decades. With his strong track record in entrepreneurship, prior to leading Dantoy Marck was Co-Founder and Co-Owner of JuicOrganic for over five years. JuicOrganic is a Danish juice, smoothie and nectar manufacturer for food service and retailers under the brands ‘JuicOrganic’ and ‘House of Juice’. The company has the widest organic product range in the Danish foodservice sector. Marck shares in the business were sold to the existing owners in 2016. The first business that he co-founded and co-owned was Direct Promotion ApS – a Danish call centre providing business to business and business to customer outbound telemarketing, market research, appointment setting, lead generation and sales. Direct Promotion was successfully acquired by its competitor Partner Dialog A/S in February 2012. Marck holds an MSc in Business Administration, Auditing and Economics and was educated at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.

Beth Zonis

As Director of Cleantech Open Northeast, Beth is passionate about combating climate change, improving environmental equity, and growing the cleantech economy through innovation and entrepreneurship. The Northeast is the most active region of Cleantech Open, the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit accelerator and business plan competition. Beth has experience developing innovation hubs in the Northeast with Cleantech Open, as well as in India and Russia. She has worked at MIT and IBM, run her own marketing and sustainability consulting business, and led business development for a startup that grew from 10 to 1000 employees. Beth holds two prominent volunteer leadership positions: Board Member of ACTION Innovation Network, and Vice President of her graduating class at Wellesley College. She is a frequent speaker on cleantech innovation, as well as a judge and mentor. She’s been invited to speak at MIT, Wharton, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, and Boston University. An MIT Venture Mentoring Service (VMS) trained mentor, she has mentored and judged startups in various programs including Cleantech Open, MassChallenge, SBIR, Techstars, MIT $100k, and MIT Media Lab. She holds a BA, cum laude, from Wellesley College, an MBA from Boston University, a Certificat d’Etudes Politiques from Science Po in Paris, and a Certificate in Sustainable Business from the University of Southern Maine. She speaks French and Spanish. She plays squash, swims, kayaks and hikes, and enjoys spending time with her family.

Rania Elkalla

Rania Elkalla is an integrated designer with product & graphic design educational background with an experience in material science and production techniques.

She is skilled in visual communication, spatial imagination, branding, designing 2D & 3D products, illustrations, patterns, experimenting with materials, and integrating between different design groups.

Her designs are mostly eclectic, derived from different cultures and styles. She likes to merge between different disciplines.

The main aim is to keep on improving, present the best of herself and most authentic version of who she is.

Designers should always remember the word “FUN” that exists in Function. She tends to design things with humor and interaction with users

Özak Durmuş

Özak Durmuş, completed B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering at Hacettepe University and has been working in Ford Otosan since 2013. He has 6.5 years experience as Senior Engine Mount Design Engineer and 0.5 years as Sustainability Senior Engineer. He is also the co-founder and lead of company internal initiative ReCube(Recycle,Reuse,Reduce) project. He has experience in anti-vibration systems, engine mounts and brackets, sustainable material development & applications, circular economy and life cycle assessment.