Katrin Ley

Managing Director, Fashion for Good

Katrin Ley is the Managing Director of Fashion for Good. She steers Fashion for Good’s global efforts to enable the daring invention and widespread adoption of good fashion practice. She does this by harnessing the power of innovation, practical action and cross-sector collaboration to drive the transition to a circular apparel and textile industry. Ley brings more than 20 years of relevant industry experience in fashion and impact investing with her. She joined Fashion for Good from Pymwymic, the ‘Put your Money Where Your Meaning Is Community’ of European wealth holders who invest for impact. Under her leadership as Managing Partner, Pymwymic launched the first-ever peer-to-peer impact holding company, welcoming mission-aligned families and individual investors as shareholders. Prior to joining Pymwymic, Ley was Managing Director within the adidas Group (U.S. and Netherlands) and a Principal within the Boston Consulting Group (Germany and Scandinavia) – with a focus on private equity, consumer goods and technology. Ley was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is the founding curator of the Amsterdam Global Shapers Hub.

Pascal Brun

VP Sustainability and D&I, Zalando

Pascal Brun is VP Sustainability and D&I at Zalando. He is responsible for driving the company’s strong commitment in the areas of Sustainability and D&I, pivotal for transforming both Zalando and the wider fashion industry. In his quest to achieve positive impact across the value chain, Pascal is currently also part of the Board of Directors of Cascale, IFC, and Circ. Before joining Zalando in September 2023 and relocating to Berlin, Pascal worked at H&M where his experience spanned across different continents and a variety of execution and strategic management roles over the last 16 years, focusing on Sustainability and Supply Chain Management.

Robert van de Kerkhof

CEO & Founder, PEPPER-i2

Robert van de Kerkhof is a distinguished authority in the fiber industry with over 25 years of experience and the founder of PEPPER-i2, a Swiss based impact advisory company on sustainability. After 10 years as Chief Commercial and Sustainability Officer and Member of the Board at Lenzing AG, Robert advises companies on Sustainability and Circularity. Among his esteemed clients are Syre, an exciting start-up from Vargas Holding and H&M to decarbonize and de-waste the textile industry through polyester textile-to-textile recycling, as well as ReHubs Europe, the collaboration hub in Europe to make the textile industry circular. Robert is also non-executive director and Chairperson at HeiQ PLC, a London listed innovation company, and the President of the Austrian Fiber Institute, organizers of the global fiber congress, Dornbirn GFC. Robert’s comprehensive expertise in the international fiber industry comes from his many years of experience at various international companies and business functions. He began his career as an Aeronautical Engineer at Fokker Aircraft, and since then, he has taken up roles in TenCate, DuPont, INVISTA and Lenzing. Besides his corporate career, Robert also served as Chairman of CIRFS, the European Man-made fiber trade association, as well as Chairman of the Business Council of ReHubs Europe. Robert is married with three children. He holds a B.SC. in Aeronautical Engineering and an MBA in International Management.

Jason Berns

Head of Sustainability, Product & Manufacturing Innovation, Ralph Lauren

Jason Berns heads the Sustainability and the Product & Manufacturing Innovation teams at Ralph Lauren. He is responsible for developing and implementing the Company’s global corporate sustainability strategy, spanning the entire value chain. Jason also oversees innovation, identifying unique, consumer-focused opportunities in key materials, product and manufacturing areas. His objective is to drive the Company’s impact reductions, enhance product performance and increase circular business models through responsible, ethical practices. His work in product innovation includes the launch of the world’s first scalable apparel serialization and authentication program – Digital Product IDs – which has been implemented on hundreds of millions of items globally. He was also responsible for the implementation of 3D design and development; the creation of a recycled, waterless version of the iconic Polo Shirt; and marquee innovative technologies for Team USA’s Olympic uniforms such as Intelligent Insulation, a first-to-market fabric that adapts to cooler temperatures by expanding and creating a layer of insulation. Jason has also led several investments in materials technology companies, including NFW and Tira. He was the recipient of the Don Percival Award in 2024, recognizing outstanding contributions to the application of automatic identification and data capture technologies. Before joining Ralph Lauren in 2016, Jason led the open innovation team at Under Armour Inc. and held roles at Salomon Sports, Arc’teryx Equipment and Fisher-Price. Jason holds a Bachelor of Science Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati, has served on several startup boards, acts as an advisor to several venture funds and is listed as an inventor on over a dozen patents.

Dr. Yuly Fuentes Medel

Program Director for Textiles, Climate Grand Challenges, Massachusetts Institute 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 on 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 a 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

Yaël Gairola is a highly experienced industry professional, working for the past two decades in the crossroads of technology, supply chain, sustainability, material science and fashion. Currently Gairola is involved in a multitude of sustainable businesses in several capacities – as a Board Member, an Advisor, and an Investor. She sits on the Board of PDS Limited, a global sourcing and manufacturing conglomerate, serving over 300 brands and retailers. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Finisterre, a B-Corp activist outwear brand, Refiberd, a deep tech start-up empowering textile to textile recycling, and Arda, a chemistry, technology and bio-material start-up. Gairola has a keen interest and a deep expertise in circularity, supply-chain tech and material innovation and is a Senior Advisor to PDS Ventures which invested in many innovators in this space. For the second consecutive year, PDS Ventures are continuing the partnership with Global Fashion Agenda, to highlight and support the most promising climate changing solutions. She previously held positions as CEO of Pangaia, as well as Managing Director of Coats Digital. Gairola was also a Management Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and holds an MBA from INSEAD, alongside a Law degree from Columbia University.