2022 Competition

Biodesign Sprint 2022

Biodesign Sprint 2022 ran September 28 - November 4.

Mars and Biodesign Challenge partnered on a month-long design exploration that asked for new ways to foster the physical, emotional, and social wellbeing of people with food systems that also support the health of the environment.

Congratulations to the Biodesign Sprint 2022 Winners!

Announcement of the Finalist Teams

12:00pm

Student Finalist Team Presentations

12:20pm

Keynote Speaker: LinYee Yuan, Founder and Editor, MOLD Magazine

1:00pm

Nonstudent Finalist Presentations

1:50pm

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Christakis, Director, Human Nature Lab, Yale University

2:30pm

Announcement of the Winning Teams

3:30pm

Finals Event Speakers

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University. His work is in the fields of network science, biosocial science, and behavior genetics. He directs the Human Nature Lab and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2006; the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2010; and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.

Dr. Christakis is the author of over 200 articles and several books. His influential book, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, documented how social networks affect our lives and was translated into twenty foreign languages. His most recent book, Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, was published in March 2019 and is slated to appear in German, Chinese, Dutch, and Greek, and other languages.

LinYee Yuan is the founder and editor of MOLD. Through original reporting, MOLD explores how designers can address the coming food crisis by creating products and systems that will help feed 9 billion people by the year 2050. In addition to the website and a self-published bi-annual print magazine, MOLD hosts events and exhibitions, works with next generation food brands, and commissions products from emerging designers.

LinYee was previously the entrepreneur in residence for QZ.com and an editor for Core77, T: The New York Times Style Magazine and Theme Magazine. She has written about design and art for Food52, Design Observer, Cool Hunting, Elle Decor and Wilder Quarterly. LinYee also contributed the foreword to Food Futures: Sensory Explorations in Food Design and Cooking Up Trouble.


Design Prompts

Harmonizing Human and Environmental Wellbeing

What if the wellbeing of people and the environment were recognized as parts of the same whole? How might we create virtuous cycles where the wellbeing of people (physical, emotional, and social health) contributes to the wellbeing of the environment (increased biodiversity, richer soil, healthier air and water, and less pollution and waste). Imagine a future where food and our relationship with it brings people and the planet together. Consider agricultural practices, supply chains, purchasing and eating habits, and the breadth of cultural and social activities around food. There are 2 billion overweight and 800 million undernourished people today (NCBI), while over a third of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by food systems (Nature).

Nurturing Wellbeing Experiences for All

What if wellbeing was a collective project where people came together to nurture each other and improve each other’s health? What if the metrics for wellbeing were measured by people’s connection to each other and a thriving environment? Imagine a future where people’s diets didn’t just provide nutrition, but also fostered physical, mental, emotional, and social wellbeing. Food is much more than fuel. It brings experiential moments to life and deepens our cultural connections. Consider the processes, values, experiences, and products that can help provide a future where everyone can thrive. In 2019, nearly a third of people worldwide felt stressed, worried, or in pain (Gallup) and today 85 percent of people have low self-esteem.

Student Winner: Coast-to-Coast, CandyCaps

Team Members: Muqing Bai, Shahnoor Shafqat, Madison Murray, Dyan Riffle, Bryan Wong

To provide a sustainable alternative to sugary snacks and combat micro-plastic pollution, Coast-to-Coast proposed a new confectionary of gene-edited candy cap mushrooms, CandyCaps, which secretes an enzyme to break down micro-plastics in the human digestive system.

Nonstudent Runner Up: University of Minnesota Biodesign Collaborative, FairFarms

Team Members: Michael Winikoff, Cecilia Xi Wang, Rose Lam, Nafisa Ali, Sarem Ayalewe

FairFarms builds upon the rich tradition of the County Fair to convert underutilized fairgrounds into community spaces for farm innovation, training hubs, and greenhouses.

Student Runner Up: 4.6692016

Team Members: Weiran Tao, Jiaze Geng, Carolyn Chiu, Shiyu Xu, Gabriel Bruce

Sugarware is a spoon designed with a bumpy shape to increase surface contact with taste buds and trigger the sweet-sensing response without any sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Sprint Finals Event

Nonstudent Winner: ChiTownBio, Sprouted

Team Members: Madison Burger, Peter Pissios, Manoli Vlachakis, Gabriel Tavas, Gabriel Licina, and Olivia Barrett

ChiTownBio developed a snack bar called Sprouted from native fruits, nuts, and berries indigenous to Chicago as part of an initiative to promote urban gardening in abandoned lots.

All of the material, work, and content of Sprint projects is owned solely by the Sprint participants.

Biodesign Sprint Judges

 

Onye’s work is transdisciplinary and has spanned science, engineering, art, and design. As the founder of Ikenga Wines, he uses biodesign to sustainably reimagine ancient wines with unique tropical flavors. His early work centered around energy generation and gradually broadened to architected materials and new approaches to making in the rapidly changing world. He holds degrees in Chemical Engineering and Material Science with a focus in product development, emerging technologies, and fabrication processes.

Paola De Almeida currently leads Corporate Innovation for Mars. She chairs the Mars Innovation Leadership Team, partnering with the Innovation Leads from business segments including Mars Petcare, Mars Wrigley, and Mars Food, to drive the transversal innovation agenda across the business. Her efforts ensure Mars continues to meet the evolving needs of people, pets, and the planet. De Almeida’s career with Mars started over 15 years ago. Her passion for innovation and business transformation, as well as her strategic mindset, can be seen throughout her career at Mars – her roles span M&A integration, Corporate Strategy, Consumer Trends and Competitive Intelligence, R&D strategy and capability development, External Partnerships.  De Almeida holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Anthropology from Rutgers University and graduate degrees in Project Management (Lehigh University), Negotiation and Strategic R&D Management (both from INSEAD).

Paola de Almeida

Global Director, Corporate Innovation, Mars

Dondeena has a PhD in Food Science from The Ohio State University and a Master of Science in Nutrition from Purdue University. In 2019, she published Living Full Circle: Simple Ancient Rituals for Modern Life (Tiller/Simon & Schuster), which identifies and translates wellbeing practices people can adopt in their daily lives. Dondeena joined Mars in Jan 2021 to drive strategic direction through the lens of Health & Wellbeing. She has a wealth of experience and thought leadership in the health and wellbeing space and has successfully delivered breakthroughs in human health and wellbeing at Fortune 500 companies, including Campbell Soup Company, McNeil/Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi.

Alis is a design and innovation leader and founder of Okra Design, an impact-focused design consultancy based in London. Alis brings 14+ years of industry experience working on human-centred challenges and having worked at design companies like frog design, Fjord, Method and IDEO her work has ranged across healthcare, energy, telecommunications, agriculture, banking, climate resilience and vulnerable communities. As a Service & UX designer, she is a firm believer in designing with people and applying a systems lens to create the most desired and sustainable solutions.

 

Jacob has been an integral part of building the most advanced food, flower, and medicine plant factories across the United States. In his current position with Bowery Farming he has helped actualize their new vertical farms from the ground up. Jacob has a passion for creating a world where food is not only produced more sustainably, but also has greater access and nutritional benefit. He has a BA in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and has grown up in the world of controlled environment agriculture. 

Jacob Carson

Senior Design Engineer, Bowery Farming

Carrie received their veterinary doctorate from Cornell University and earned a PhD at UC Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. They have done research around the world on infectious diseases, immunology, physiology, parasitology, and conservation. They have also worked in the biotech world as head of publishing, leading scientific writing efforts across disciplines including molecular biology, microbiology, marketing, data science, automation, and the social impacts of biotechnology.

Carrie Cizauskas

Scientist and artist

Janet joined Mars in 1993 as a Research Technician in Slough, UK. She has led teams responsible for product and process implementation in the Slough Chocolate factory, technology development and implementation in bitesize products, and recipe and technology development in liquid chocolate in Europe. In July 2017 she was appointed VP of Technology, R&D for Mars Wrigley and in late 2019 when the Science and Technology teams were combined she became VP of Science & Technology. In this role she leads the global teams of ingredient science; product discovery and application; foundational data science; cocoa science & technology; and the global pilot plant network. She has a Bachelor in Theoretical Physics (Trinity College Dublin) and PhD in Experimental Solid State Physics (Cambridge, UK).

Janet Dawson

Global VP of Science and Technology, Mars Wrigley

Beth Fontana

New Business Effectiveness Director, H&W Unit / KIND

 

Aarti has over 10 years of experience in the Food Industry in Strategy, Marketing, and Sales roles. She is passionate about sparking curiosity and driving purpose led change. She has a BS in Finance and Marketing from University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Currently, she is focusing on health and wellbeing within Mars Wrigley. In her role, she engages with external partners and future thought leaders to bring fresh ideas and expertise, and is creating the foundation for a ‘think tank’-like community and inspire meaningful societal action.

Aarti Gopal

Global Senior Director, Global Health & Wellbeing Strategy and Innovation, Mars Wrigley

Molly is the Global Senior Director of Human Intelligence for Mars Wrigley where she focuses on Growth, Innovation insights,  Foresight, and Insights Transformation.  She is an insights fanatic who has spent the last two decades harnessing her curiosity about people and culture to drive impactful growth strategies for some of the world’s most beloved brands.

Molly Hayes

Global Senior Director of Human Intelligence, Mars Wrigley

Greg is responsible for the innovation direction and commercialization outcomes in new business areas at Mars Wrigley. He has extensive experience in growing revenue and profitability by delivering consumer-centric, technology-based global innovation in CPG and biopharma industries. Greg holds an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from Columbia University, and an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Bowdoin College. 

Greg Hocking

VP, New Innovation Territories, Global R&D, Mars Wrigley

Mariliis is the Co-Founder and Partner of Sustainable Food Ventures, which invests in and supports founders developing sustainable food products and scaling profitable ventures, with a focus on companies replacing animal agriculture. Mariliis holds an MS in Food Innovation and Product Design from AgroParisTech, and previously worked as Head of Food Science at Finless Foods.

Mariliis Holm

Co-Founder and Partner, Sustainable Food Ventures

 

Vince brings more than 25 years of diverse CPG experiences. He’s led teams and initiatives across sales, category management, customer marketing, strategic planning, and advanced capabilities. He offers a unique organizational savviness and a One Demand perspective to solve long standing business challenges or unlocking latent demand via emerging business models. He has been a part of Mars Wrigley since 2018.

Vince Hummel

Global Senior Director, Customer Shopper Insights, Mars Wrigley

Ivan leads the SynBioBeta Race Against the Clock, a movement inspiring, uniting, and supporting the young leaders of the bioeconomy. In iGEM EPIC, he is America's ambassador and supports the community as a startup mentor. Moreover, Ivan is the CEO/Co-Founder of Dupla Bio, a startup decentralizing lab space. Previously, he worked as Head of Business Strategy in a spin-off Biotech company and as a Real Estate Financial Analyst in a family office.

Ivan Jaubert

Co-Founder/CEO, Dupla Bio

Verena is a scientist with a keen sense for converting entrepreneurial vision at the intersection of biomedical science, health care, business, and emerging technologies. She is Vice President for Omics and Precision Medicine and Senior Director for DILN Business Operations at Equideum Health. Verena has held leadership positions in support of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems at Houston Methodist Research Institute, Dell Medical School and the AI Institute at UT Austin. She received her PhD in Molecular and Human Genetics from Baylor College of Medicine and an MBA with a focus on healthcare administration from University of Houston.

Verena Kallhoff

Vice President, Equideum Health

Yanchun is a passionate global brand marketing and innovation leader who has over 10 years working with Mars. Yanchun has led multiple Mars intrapreneurial Health and Wellbeing innovation initiatives via agile process across the globe. She’s keen to translate good ideas into a great value-added business model for the right purpose – for people and planet! Multicultural and multilingual, Yanchun was born in China, worked in the UK, and now lives in the US. She’s personally interested in how cultural diversity can influence business and create ideas. She is currently an MBA candidate at Booth business school, University of Chicago.

Yanchun Liu

Global Senior Marketing Manager, Mars Wrigley

 

Akos is a former advisor on Biodesign at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art & Design and a former Media- and Bio-Artist. He has exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Prix Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, the Transmediale in Berlin, the Seoul Museum of Art, among others. Ákos completed an Artist-in-Residency at The Arts & Genomics Center in the Netherlands, established a DIY Bio-Lab in Budapest, and has worked with Philips Design on Bio-Design projects exhibited at the Milan Design Week.

Ákos Maróy

Engineering Manager, Meta and Bio-Artist

Sara is a designer, researcher, educator, biotech strategist, and ecosystem builder. Her work explores the convergence of design thinking, biology, and engineering to develop multispecies interfaces and closed-loop systems with applications on Earth and in space. She holds a Master of Science in Integrated Design and Media from New York University. In 2022, she joined NYU as an adjunct professor, teaching a graduate course in Biodesign. She built and now directs the prototyping biolab at Newlab, where she facilitates interdisciplinary innovation across the organization, and works on building a diverse and collaborative network of biotech innovators in NYC and beyond.

Winslow is an award-winning director, producer, and creative technologist specializing in virtual/augmented reality as well as large-scale immersive installations. Winslow formed the pioneering new media studio, the New Reality Company, in 2016 with Milica Zec, creating the critically-acclaimed cinematic VR experiences Giant and Tree. He is currently a Cultural Leader at the World Economic Forum, a seven-time mentor at the New Museum Incubator, a founding member of ONX Studio and an adjunct NYU Tisch professor. Winslow is also an artist in residence at the Smallhold Mushroom farm in Brooklyn, creating an immersive experience featuring the first volumetric time-lapse of mushrooms growing called Forager, featured at SIGGRAPH 2022 and Unreal Fest 2022.

Avani is the Global Senior Program Manager for Health & Wellbeing at Mars Wrigley with a focus on the interconnections between physical nutrition and sustainability. She has a Masters in Food Science and previously led the Innovation team for the CocoaVia® brand at Mars Symbioscience. She has experience in product, process, pack innovation and design, and development from idea to launch. She is based in Chicago and is passionate about food, animals, the beach and recently, the environment!

Avani Sanghvi

Global Senior Program Manager for Health & Wellbeing, Mars Wrigley

 

Dr Rubin is the Global Head of Nutrition for KIND ® and Nature’s Bakery ® , two recent acquisitions that extend the Mars Incorporated portfolio of businesses into wholesome snacking. Over 3 years, she has built the global regulatory and nutrition functions to enable the launch of KIND into 40 countries. Today, she is focused on delivering the nutrition strategy, communications and advocacy for the brands. Kristin food industry career began at Kraft Foods, where over 11 years she held various positions in Nutrition Research and Scientific and Regulatory Affairs leading the development and execution of health and wellness business strategies, and research innovation platforms focused on creating food and technology solutions. She earned a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Connecticut and currently serves as the Sustaining Partners Chair for the American Society for Nutrition.

Kristin Herron Rubin

Global Head of Nutrition, H&W Unit / KIND

Harpreet’s work sits at the intersection of material science, biology, and electronics and draws on the complementary abilities of the biological and artificial worlds. Harpreet is an Assistant Professor of Interaction and Media Design at Parsons School of Design, The New School in New York and Berggruen Fellow at the University of Southern California. He also directs the Synthetic Ecosystems Lab that focuses on biological futures, interaction design, and the cybernetics of organisms and materials.

Jessica is a Senior Insights Leader at Mars, currently leading their Strategic Foresight program globally. She has over 20 years of combined CPG “insights” and military “intelligence” experience with numerous roles both local and global across P&G and Mars. She is an extreme learner with a strong bias for action and is most known for her passion for applying behavioral and cognitive science to marketing, business, and driving change within an organization. She’s fascinated with the human brain and the illusive “why” behind human behavior, consistently applying both to convert “insights” into compelling recommendations that are distinct, memorable, and effective. Outside of work, she is an avid runner, and busy mom of three living in Nashville, TN.

Jessica Southard

Global Director, Mars Horizon Foresight and Innovation Labs

Ben is the Founding Partner of Chasing Rainbows, a pre-seed investment fund that invests in LGBTQ+ founded companies to ensure greater access to capital for underrepresented founders. An emerging fund manager with both startup and corporate experience, Ben has been a driving force in creating opportunities for LGBTQ+ founders to get early funding. He was named in the top 100 Investors for 2022 by Alumni Spotlight and was recognized by the NVCA as one of the top LGBTQ+ investors making an impact. Ben has spoken at the UN General Assembly on Living with Purpose, has been a guest speaker for the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Centre, and in 2021 gave the graduation address for his alma mater after being named Young Alumni of the Year by the University of Tasmania. He was a mentor at the Australian Landing Pad in San Francisco, assisting Australian founders who take their start-ups and scale-ups global. Ben has an Executive MBA and attended UC Berkeley’s Venture Capital Program. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur he worked at Oracle and Salesforce.

Ben Stokes

Entrepreneur and Mentor, Chasing Rainbows

 

Sabriya is currently the Chief Scientific Officer for IndieBioNY, the world's leading seed-stage life science and biotech company development program with the mission of training scientists to become entrepreneurs to solve the most pressing issues in human and planetary health. Previously, she was the Operations Director for Stellate Therapeutics, a biotech company developing gut microbiome-derived molecules to treat neurodegenerative disorders and prior to that, she was the founding Associate Director of the Master's in Translational Medicine (MTM) program at The City College of New York, a brand new type of graduate degree that educates and trains scientists and engineers in the hands-on process of medical technology commercialization and healthcare innovation. A microbiologist, educator and science communicator, her expertise is in working with individuals to identify unmet community needs, design sustainable and practical solutions, think critically about the world around them and craft compelling scientific narratives.

Sabriya Stukes

Chief Scientific Officer, IndieBio

Corinne creates programs and runs workshops that elevate and empower community voices in conversations centered on identity, place, science, and technology. She has served as a Board Member and the Program Director of the Salinas community biolab Xinampa and is the co-founder of BioJam Camp, a teen program anchored in the Stanford Department of Bioengineering. She has led four youth teams in the international Biodesign Challenge, is the 2019 Biodesign Challenge Outstanding Instructor, is a 2020 Global Community Biosummit Fellow, and a 2020 National Public Interest Technology Innovation Fellow. She holds a BA from Stanford University. 

Orkan’s work focuses on critical issues in social, cultural, and environmental responsibility. He is Associate Professor of Fine Arts—Emerging Design Practices at University of Pennsylvania and the Director of Foundry Engineering at Ecovative.

Tashia is the founder and CEO of pollination company Olombria. Her company motto is “pretty fly" and, indeed, she is all about the flies—the underrated pollinators of planet Earth. Olombria’s process uses advanced recognition technology, A.I., and modified behavior to lure flies to flowers needing pollination. Tashia is an alumna of Drexel University, where she received a M.S in Interior Architecture & Design, and the Royal College of Art, where she received a MRes in Architecture. In 2019, she was named one of the Top 10 Women in Tech by the Mayor of London’s TechInvest. Her work, which also builds pollination data for farmers, attracted the attention of King Charles III and Prince Albert II of Monaco and in 2020 Prince Albert presented her with the top prize at CleanEquity® Monaco 2020, the forum for sustainable technology innovation. Tashia's work has been featured in numerous outlets, including Forbes, WIRED and the BBC.

 

Nicole is an innovative Future Focused Global leader that loves to experiment, and brings more than 20 years experience across Global and Local Sales and Marketing roles. She is a passionate change maker that thrives on operating on the frontier and pushing the business into new places and spaces. Wellbeing is at the core of us thriving - both as humans working in innovation to be at our creative best and also as those charged with the responsibility and privilege of designing better solutions to help the world thrive.

Nicole Umana

Global Agile Innovation Human Intelligence Director, Mars Wrigley

Justice is a learning scientist and Assistant Professor of STEM education and biology at The University of Texas at El Paso. He is the principal investigator of the ABC Learning Lab, a group that conducts research at the intersection of advanced biotechnologies and computing for K-12 teaching and learning. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter currently teaches a Biodesign studio at RISD, and previously taught at Cornell University and the University of Toronto. Known for his pioneering research into new applications for advanced materials in architecture and design, he has received numerous awards for his work and frequently lectures on the topic of materials-driven innovation.

Elaine is an artist and designer with a background in bioethics and medical anthropology. Through STUDIOPHORIA, Elaine creates wearable objects that attract people to explore the effects of technology on how we know, define, value, and govern biodiversity, the body and bodies in real life and across realities—as a material, data, and souls.

Elaine Young

Founder, STUDIOPHORIA

 

Tracey is Vice President of R&D for the Chocolate CBU where she has successfully delivered global innovation such as Twix® Cookies & Cream, Twix Salted Caramel, Snickers Nut Butters and Brownie. Since 2019 she has been working in delivering next generation innovation though the agile innovation model with several new innovations coming to market shortly. Over her 27 years with the Mars network, she has worked across Europe, the Middle East, Canada and the USA.

Tracey Ziener

Global VP R&D Chocolate, Mars Wrigley

Francesca is a Design and Food Design researcher, consultant, teacher, and keen public speaker. Francesca founded the Online School of Food Design© in 2016, and she now works as a consultant and as a teacher bringing the Food Design Thinking methodology to companies and individuals. She is the founding editor of the International Journal of Food Design, the first and only academic journal of Food Design, the founder of the International Food Design Society, and she organized the first, second, and third International Conferences on Food Design. Francesca has taught Food Design and Design Theory at London Metropolitan University and Auckland University of Technology as a full time lecturer and researcher. For the last eight years Francesca worked on developing the Food Design Thinking methodology, as a food-specific branch of Design Thinking.

Francesca Zampollo

Food Designer/Strategist

 

Sprint Kickoff Orientation

September 28 (for participants only)

Sprint teams will come together for a half-day orientation and learn about biodesign, biotech, regenerative agriculture, and food ecosystems. Teams will learn more about the design prompts and hear directly from the Mars thought leaders.

Kickoff Schedule

Introduction to the Sprint from Mars thought leaders

12:05 pm

Andrew Carter, Founder and CEO, Smallhold

12:00 pm

Francesca Zampollo, Food Design Strategist

12:35 pm

Design Ideation Session with Alis Cambol, Founder, Okra Design + Meet Sprint Alumni team, Electric Eels

12:15 pm

Deep dive into the design prompts presented by the Mars team

1:05 pm

Sprint participant Q&A with the Mars team

1:45 pm

Kickoff Speakers

Dr. Francesca Zampollo | Food Designer/Strategist
Francesca is a Design and Food Design researcher, consultant, teacher, and keen public speaker. Francesca founded the Online School of Food Design© in 2016, and she now works as a consultant and as a teacher bringing the Food Design Thinking methodology to companies and individuals. She is the founding editor of the International Journal of Food Design, the first and only academic journal of Food Design, the founder of the International Food Design Society, and she organized the first, second, and third International Conferences on Food Design. Francesca has taught Food Design and Design Theory at London Metropolitan University and Auckland University of Technology as a full time lecturer and researcher. For the last eight years Francesca worked on developing the Food Design Thinking methodology, as a food-specific branch of Design Thinking.

Andrew Carter | CEO and Co-founder at Smallhold
Andrew is the CEO and co-founder of Smallhold, a company designing indoor urban mushroom farms in NY, TX and LA that is changing the way we eat. He has been a pioneer in the agriculture technology and indoor farming industries. An early employee for companies like Brightfarms, Windowfarms and Agritecture, he has designed, built, and operated technologically innovative growing systems that are still impacting the world of agriculture today. Andrew is widely regarded as a thought leader in indoor agriculture, with a focus on mushrooms, commercial hydroponics, and greenhouse production.

Alis Cambol is a design and innovation leader and founder of Okra Design, an impact-focused design consultancy based in London. Alis brings 14+ years of industry experience working on human-centred challenges and having worked at design companies like frog design, Fjord, Method and IDEO her work has ranged across healthcare, energy, telecommunications, agriculture, banking, climate resilience and vulnerable communities. As a Service & UX designer, she is a firm believer in designing with people and applying a systems lens to create the most desired and sustainable solutions.

2022 Co-Organizers

Dondeena Bradley has a PhD in Food Science from The Ohio State University and a Master of Science in Nutrition from Purdue University. In 2019, she published Living Full Circle: Simple Ancient Rituals for Modern Life (Tiller/Simon & Schuster), which identifies and translates wellbeing practices people can adopt in their daily lives. Dondeena joined Mars in Jan 2021 to drive strategic direction through the lens of Health & Wellbeing. She has a wealth of experience and thought leadership in the health and wellbeing space and has successfully delivered breakthroughs in human health and wellbeing at Fortune 500 companies, including Campbell Soup Company, McNeil/Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi.

Aarti Gopal has over 10 years of experience in the Food Industry in Strategy, Marketing, and Sales roles. She is passionate about sparking curiosity and driving purpose led change. She has a BS in Finance and Marketing from University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Currently, she is focusing on health and wellbeing within Mars Wrigley. In her role, she engages with external partners and future thought leaders to bring fresh ideas and expertise, and is creating the foundation for a ‘think tank’-like community and inspire meaningful societal action.

About Mars, Incorporated

For more than a century, Mars, Inc has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating, and evolving in ways that affirm its commitment to making a positive impact on the world. The Mars Five Principles—Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom—inspire its 133,00 employees to help create a tomorrow in which the planet, its people, and pets can thrive. For more information about Mars, please visit mars.com or visit Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.