Business Not as Usual: Stewards of a Sustainable Circular Economy

Room 1310.

press release: The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Grainger Center for Supply Chain Management invite you to explore the financial and environmental benefits of a circular economy. The latest in sustainable resource management, a circular economy lengthens the life-cycle of products and resources by embracing the age-old adage reduce, reuse, recycle. A circular economy essentially explores the idea that economic growth is not tied directly to the use of finite natural resources, but that instead, material and resources can be reused and recycled in innovative ways that promote progress and economic growth. Join us for an enlightening discussion of this model and its benefits with invited speakers:

Mathy Stanislaus

Circular Economy Fellow-World Resources Institute

Senior Advisor – Platform for Accelerating Circular Economy (World Economic Forum)

Jeff Zeman

Principal Environmental Engineer, Kohler Company

Brian Wycklendt

Director Lead and Recycling Strategy, Johnson Controls Inc

Mathy Stanislaus serves as a Circular Economy Fellow with the World Resources Institute (WRI), where he works to advance WRI’s consideration of circular economy in its programs while assisting its partners in the development of strategies that accelerate the transition to a circular economy. The underpinning of this effort is to decouple material intensity from economic growth as a critical strategy to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, while achieving the targets of international environmental conventions (e.g. on climate change, biodiversity, etc). Stanislaus also serves as a senior policy advisor to the World Economic Forum to establish the Platform for Accelerating Circular Economy, a global a private-public platform, of which WRI is a member.

Prior to his current role, Stanislaus served in the Obama Administration as Assistant Administrator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Office of Land and Emergency Management. At USEPA, Stanislaus led programs that revitalized communities through the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated, hazardous and solid waste materials management, chemical plant safety, oil spill prevention, underground storage tank program, and emergency response. Stanislaus also led the effort to advance the transition to a circular economy through a life-cycle based sustainable materials management approach. He also represented the United States at the G7 deliberations and in the G7 Alliance for Resources Efficiency. Through these efforts, Stanislaus advanced President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, integrating climate change strategies into the Office of Land and Emergency Management programs. For example, the Office developed adaptation plans to mitigate greenhouse gas emission by advancing policies and funding programs to shift towards a life-cycle based sustainable materials management approach and the restoration of land in urban centers.

Stanislaus has a Juris Doctorate with an Environmental Law Program Certificate from Chicago Kent Law School and a Bachelor’s of Engineering Degree in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in materials science from City College of New York. He was born in Sri Lanka and immigrated to the US. He lives in Herndon, Virginia with his wife Suganthy.