Beth Rattner
Executive Director of the Biomimicry Institute ~ Mill Valley, CA, U.S.A.
Beth Rattner has been working in sustainability since 2000 and is currently the executive director of the Biomimicry Institute. The Institute brings the practice of bioinspired design to hundreds of thousands of people a year through its education and entrepreneurship programs. Beth speaks publicly on how biomimetic design of human products and systems can restore our economy and environment, which in turn spur new levels of social equity.
Prior to this position, Beth worked with William McDonough and Michael Braungart on The Upcycle, the sequel to Cradle to Cradle, before she helped co-found the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and became its executive director.
An attorney by training, Beth was also a managing director for one of the first sustainability business consultant firms, Blu Skye, and business manager for Hewlett Packard’s Emerging Market Solutions (EMS) group. This HP internal “start-up” championed a new lens on providing technology solutions to those who earn less than $2 a day. The team launched HP’s first multi-user, daisy-chained computer for poorly funded schools and a solar-powered printer, providing microfinance opportunities for women who could bring photographs to remote villages for the very first time.
Beth lives amongst the redwoods and ceanothus in Marin County, California, and is endlessly amazed by the region’s natural beauty.