Franziska Trautmann is CEO of Glass Half Full, where she’s helped keep over 12 million pounds of glass out of landfills by turning it into sand for coastal restoration and cullet for new bottles. A chemical engineering graduate from Tulane University, Franziska leads NSF-backed research and has completed six major coastal restoration projects. She also shares climate and recycling tips on TikTok, reaching over 300,000 followers and millions of viewers.  Learn more here.

Dr. Lonnie Johnson is president and founder of Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., and its spin-off companies, including Excellatron Solid State, LLC, Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems, LLC, and Johnson Battery Technologies, Inc. Johnson worked as a research engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, served in the U.S. Air Force, and contributed to NASA’s Galileo and Mars Observer missions, among others, earning multiple achievement awards for spacecraft system design. Johnson is best known as the inventor of the Super Soaker®, which has sold nearly one billion units worldwide. He currently holds over 100 patents and is leading innovations in energy technology through his companies, including advanced rechargeable batteries and thermodynamic energy conversion systems. Learn more here. 

Dr. Dedric Carter is Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development and Chief Innovation Officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he leads Innovate Carolina and oversees the university’s innovation, commercialization, and economic development portfolios. He previously served as Vice Chancellor for Innovation at Washington University in St. Louis and as a senior advisor at the National Science Foundation, where he helped launch the NSF I-Corps program. A VentureWell Board Member, Dr. Carter brings experience as a venture-backed entrepreneur, educator, and national leader in research commercialization and economic development. Learn more here.