John Shegerian: This edition of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by ERI. ERI has a mission to protect people, the planet, and your privacy, and is the largest fully-integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company in the United States and maybe even the world. For more information on how ERI can help your business properly dispose of outdated electronic hardware devices, please visit eridirect.com.

John: Welcome to another edition of the Impact Podcast. This is a really special edition because I’m so honored to have with us today, Judy Adler. She’s the Vice President of the ESG of the Gap, the iconic great American brand, the Gap. Welcome, Judy.

Judy Adler: Thank you, John. It’s just an honor to be on the show. Thanks for the invitation.

John: Of course. Judy, before we get talking about all the great brands that you represent, like Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta, and all the great work you’re doing there with your colleagues, can you just share a little bit of your background and how you even got here?

Judy: Yes, I’m happy to. Thanks for the question. I’ve always been drawn, John, to opportunities where I could have the biggest impact. I’ve had a really curvy career, going from the private sector, to government, to nonprofit, and now, I’m back to the private sector. It’s all been amazing. I don’t know about you. I just feel so grateful that I get paid to work on things that I’m just so personally passionate about. I, again, just have a lot of gratitude for that. Let’s see. Where did I start? I started off as an engineer. Or if you want to go way back.

John: Yes.

Judy: You can say that. I was really inspired by my involvement in girl scouting. I think that really influenced me in a big way, both in the importance of giving back to the community but also appreciating the outdoors as well. Those two things really had an impact to me as a child and I think really led me down this path that I’ve been on for… I don’t want to say how many years. That will take me.

John: When you were in the Girl Scouts, where were you growing up? Which part of the country?

Judy: I was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

John: No kidding?

Judy: Yes, yes. I obviously loved the ocean, but I spent a lot of time in the smoky mountains, too, going on camping trips.

John: Isn’t that interesting? Those kind of experiences can have everlasting impact on us all if we stay open to it.

Judy: Absolutely.

John: Like you said, when you start connecting the dots backwards and start thinking like, “How did I really get here?”, that makes tremendous sense. I agree with you. To have a chance to make an impact like you’re making every day, what a wonderful way to make a living.

Judy: Yes, we’re very lucky, for sure.

John: We’re going to talk about your great brand today. For our listeners and viewers, the Gap, again, like I said at the top of the show, for those who’ve grown up in this country, just one of the greatest brands, a great American iconic brand. To find the Gap, and Judy and her colleagues, and all that you’re doing in sustainability, you could go to gapinc.com/sustainability. I’m on your website now and I’ve read, of course, your ESG report which came out this April. Unbelievably impressive. Can you share… The two major pillars that I pulled out of your report when I read it, Judy, were inclusivity, and of course, sustainability. Can you share what that means to you and the great brands that you represent?

Judy: Yes, absolutely. I’m happy to. Our company purpose is inclusive by design and it really is weaved into the fabric of all of our brands from the beginning. John, I don’t know if you know about the story of how Gap was started. But it was started in 1969 by Doris and Don Fisher. At that time, Doris had an equal stake in the company. This was 1969. That was a really big deal back then, right?

John: Yes.

Judy: As you can imagine, women’s empowerment is such a big part of what we do, as well as racial and gender equity throughout the business. Again, that’s part of the fabric of the company. Same with sustainability, Gap Inc. has been at the table as a leading corporation for many, many years, and the beginning. It’s just an honor to work for the company.

John: Really, you’re saying genesis from birth. This was a DNA issue. This was a DNA. It was already… It was there from ’69. Think about it. Sustainability and chief sustainability officers, as you well know, is just a recent phenomenon of the last 15 or 17 or 18 years maximum. ESG in circular economy discussions are just the last four or five years that are catching fire in the United States, really. The fact that you go back to ’69, that’s impressive. That’s impressive. When you talk about empowering women and human rights, and enabling opportunity and enriching communities, flash that out a little bit for us in terms of those great headlines.

Judy: Yes, absolutely. With empowering women, all of our business is run by women. If you look at our leaders, they’re predominantly women. If you look at our customers, they’re predominantly women. If you look at who works in our supply chain, which is in 25 different sourcing countries, it is predominantly women. Again, it is so important for us to empower women in the work that we do. We do that in a number of ways. We have a program called P.A.C.E. We just reached a milestone of empowering 1,000,000 women, part of our P.A.C.E. program, which is a women’s empowerment and life skills program for women in our supply chain. We are super excited about that. We all still do a lot of work internally on empowering women in our owned and operated facilities as well. That’s our empowering women pillar. And then, we have enabling opportunity. An enabling opportunity is really focused on creating opportunity for underrepresented and underserved communities. That means opportunity for refugees, for Black and Latinx communities as well. We have a number of programs designed to make sure that there are not unnecessary barriers for moving up in your career and getting in the door that allow you to advance in your career. That’s enabling opportunity. And then, enriching communities is our other pillar, which is our environmental sustainability pillar. All of that makes up our ESG program and priorities.

John: Since, as a phenomena and as a trend, sustainability, circular economy and ESG, comparatively speaking to Europe and other parts of the world, is new to the United States. When did the journey get — how do we say it the right way? — codified at Gap? Even though it was part of your DNA and the fabric of Gap’s creation, when did it start becoming actually codified and your title created, and things of that such?

Judy: Yes. Well, like you said, I think circularity is a new word, but these are issues as, John, you know, like we’ve been working in this field for 20 years, that we’ve been working on for a long time. I just think we have different terminology, different semantics. For example, even in water, I started out as an environmental engineer designing water reuse systems. You could say that is a part of circularity. It’s a circular water strategy, right? If we’re talking about water resources and waste issues, that’s all about changing our business models. We’re working on multiple fronts as it relates to circularity. One, I do want to point out it can be a challenge because I just want to be candid with you. If you think about the clothes that consumers buy, we have limited control as far as what happens after that. We have a partnership with thredUP. I’m not sure if you’ve had thredUP on your show… [crosstalk]

John: No.

Judy: …before, but they’re a wonderful partner of ours. We make it very easy for consumers to… They can order a Clean Out Kit online or go to our stores and take clothes that maybe don’t fit anymore, and resell them to other consumers. It’s so important that we increase the life of apparel and clothing. That’s our number one priority. It’s to increase that life.

John: Let’s pause there because that’s great .That’s really important. You’re saying the encouragement of reuse of apparel has become a major initiative at the Gap.

Judy: Yes, [crosstalk] in partnership with thredUP.

John: thredUP is your partner in that? How old is thredUP? I’ve never heard of them, but I’m so excited that you’re bringing this up.

Judy: Yes. Well, John, I don’t know how old thredUP is, but I will say this. I have a teenager and I didn’t know about thredUP until my teenager told me about it right when the pandemic started because we are talking about getting clothing and at the time, we weren’t going to stores. We both love going to consignment stores. She’s like, “Well, Mom don’t you know about thredUP? It’s this huge online consignment stores. Like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It’s my teenage daughter that turned me on to it. I was thrilled when I came to Gap Inc. and learned that that was our big partner as it related to resale.

John: That’s so interesting. I’m so glad you brought that up because now, I’ve never heard of them. Thanks to your daughter and you. Now, I get to hear about them and I will reach out to them and try to include them now on a future episode, because what a great thing to be able to repurpose clothing and things of that such. I’ve heard of the high-end stuff. I’ve heard of Rent the Runway or whatever those kind of… I’ve heard of that.

Judy: Right. Poshmark is another one.

John: Right. [crosstalk] They sell and resell. That’s great. How does that actually work? Explain that again, the connection with Gap and your consumers.

Judy: Sure. If you go into an Athleta or Banana Republic or a Gap store, you can get a Clean Out Kit from thredUP, which is a big bag essentially. Or you can go online and you can order one through our website as well. You get this bag. You put all the clothing that you no longer want to wear for whatever reason anymore. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fit into a lot of my clothes after the pandemic. I have a number of clothes. I need to order another… I already went through two during the pandemic. I need to clean out my closet again. [laughter]

John: That’s my life, too. Don’t worry about it.

Judy: You get a Clean Out Kit, and then they send it to thredUP and then your clothing is put up for sale online. If, for some reason, your clothing can’t be sold, then it’s donated to nonprofit partners for other uses as well. If it can’t be worn any more, then they have textile recycling operations as well. We have programs for that, too, that we can talk about. That’s how it works. And then, the money that you get for selling your clothes, you actually then get a credit at any of our stores to be able to use that to buy more sustainable products.

John: That’s wonderful.

Judy: Yes, that’s how the partnership works. We try to make it as easy as possible for the consumer.

John: And everybody wins. I mean, everybody wins in that. That to me is truly circular. That’s true circularity right there. One of the things, Judy, I’ve seen along the way when I’ve had wonderful guests like you, that represent big brands like you represent, is the issue of big of being great, but then also the challenges of being big. Let me explain what I mean by that. Big means you get to really change the world in your actions and inspire so many others along the way. When you were talking about empowering women and human rights, and enabling opportunity, and enriching communities, which I love, I just suddenly think you’re so inspiring. How do you then get to message that and get buy-in from the size of your organization now, not only in the United States but around the world? How does that work at your organization?

Judy: That’s a great question, John. Thank you for that. You’re absolutely right. One of the reasons why I was drawn to Gap Inc. is because of the scale of the business and because of the company’s commitment to really leverage that scale for change, not only in our footprint but for the communities that we touch and for our global community. I love this question. It can be daunting. Like I said, we source our clothes in 25 different countries. If you think about the broad goals, the bold goals that we have of carbon neutrality of being a water-positive company, it can be overwhelming. Setting those incremental goals is incredibly important. Getting started, piloting things is incredibly important. Right now, we’ve worked with our suppliers for many, many years on energy efficiency to help reduce their climate footprint. What we’re doing more of is providing assistance to them and starting pilot programs for renewable energy implementation at their facilities as well. Can we do that with every supplier all at one time? No, we can’t. We need to try out things and see what works. Every country is different, so we have to work with different partners. But you just need to get started to get to that larger goal. I think there are some things though that you can do at scale. We have something called a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement for renewable energy to help offset our footprint at a very big scale. At the same time, it’s also important to work on community level projects as well. It can be incredibly daunting. You just need to get started, and you need a set incremental goals. At the same time, I’m a big fan of bold, audacious goals. I don’t know if you saw. I work for Ted Turner for many, many years. I think that is the thing, the number one thing that I learned from Ted is just the importance of having those bold goals because you’re going to go much, much further than you will if you start just having incremental goals. Again, that’s why I was attracted to Gap. It’s because they had those bold goals.

John: I’m glad you bring up Ted Turner. I had the pleasure years ago, at a conference, of meeting him. I found him not only to be, obviously, amazingly charming and inspirational, but he cared about the world and he cared about our environment way before it was cool to do so. Was he one of your major inspirations along the way of your journey?

Judy: Oh, absolutely. It was just a great honor to work alongside Ted for 15 years. I just… I don’t know if you saw, but I led the family foundation, Ted Turner’s family foundation for a number of years. Our mission was to protect and restore our natural systems. He was an inspiration, inspiration to so many. One of the things I know he is really proud of, everyone’s really proud of, is the importance for people of wealth to spend their money on making the world a better place while they’re still living. He inspired so many people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to do the same. Again, he’s one of my heroes and I pinched myself for being able to work with Ted for so many years.

John: So am I. This conference, now that I’m thinking back, is about ’07 or ’08 . I’m sitting in the audience in LA with my wife, who was then our co-founder at our recycling company and our CEO as well. He gets up in front of the audience at the lunch hour and he was the keynote speaker. What he put out there, which goes right to what you were saying at the top of this conversation, he said the world would be a better place if we had more women leaders of countries.

Judy: Yes, yes. [crosstalk] I remember when he said that, John. I have to say he was the biggest supporter of women’s empowerment. A lot of the work that we did focused on reproductive health and justice. He truly believed it and really inspired me. He was so supportive of me as a woman leader in the organization. He was very proud that all women led all of his philanthropic efforts, including the United Nations Foundation which was our sister foundation as well, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative as well, and the Captain Planet Foundation.

John: What a great conference.

Judy: Yes. That’s so cool that you were there to hear that.

John: That stuck with me. Those kind of things stay with you forever. Constantly, he inspire us, and boy, was he right? I think he continues to be right and so much of what he created continues to impact us all positively. That’s so wonderful that was part of your journey. You’re very humble, Judy. When I was reading your bio, you talked about a little bit off the air that you’re on the Advisory Board of Georgia Tech’s Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business. Early days when I only have 35 listeners on this show, Ray took the time and his energy to come on the show and explain everything that he had been up to in sustainability. Talk a little bit about that position, how you enjoy that, and how that continues to both re-inspire ou but also allows you to give back with all your experience.

Judy: Yes, well it’s an honor to serve on the Advisory board for the center. Like you, I was inspired by Ray Anderson many years ago. He’s one of my heroes. Back before I was with the Turner Foundation. I managed a technical assistance program, which was a sustainability division back when businesses didn’t have staff on sustainability. Basically, I let a technical assistance program that provided free sustainability assistance to businesses to help them get started on their sustainability journey. A lot of what we did was we took a few companies that were already leaders in Georgia, Interface being one of them, and ask them if they’re willing to mentor others. Interface and Ray and his team were always willing to mentor others on their journey. Again, he inspired me to get into this field, to stay into this field, and it’s just an honor to help continue his legacy. And then when I was with the foundation, I work with the Ray C. Anderson Foundation as well. His grandson, John Lanier, runs that. Yes, I think you would enjoy getting to know John Lanier on another show.

John: I’d love to.

Judy: But yes, he inspired so many people in this field. I think the field of sustainability and ESG as it relates to the private sector is what it is because of Ray.

John: For those listeners and viewers who’ve just joined us, we’ve got Judy Adler. She’s the Vice President of the ESG at the Gap. You can find Judy and her colleagues at gapinc.com. You can also read their very impactful sustainability report at gapinc.com/sustainability. Judy, you run ESG in this worldwide brand. Pre-COVID, was traveling and visiting other destinations and locations around the world part of your annual work?

Judy: Oh, absolutely. Again, we source in 25 countries. I have a team of about 90 people on our ESG team. Most of those are international because it’s really important for us to work in collaboration with our suppliers, with our supply chain on environmental and social issues. Yes, traveling internationally in those different countries is a big part of this. We assess our factories for performance. We have remediation and capability programs to ensure that they meet our standards and that they’re continuing to improve as it relates to sustainability performance, both social and environmental. As you can imagine, during COVID, it was really tough. It continues to be tough in some countries. We are traveling. Again, there are some limitations still in some countries, but that’s absolutely critical to the work. You can do some of this virtually, but if you think of going to a manufacturer, you have to be there on the factory floor to know what’s really going on. That part of our work on compliance and assessment, and we call it capability building with our supply chain, is incredibly important. We did have to put a pause, for example, on some of that work on energy and water efficiency, and renewable energy that I was talking about, which pained us to do that. We did as much as we could virtually, but I’m thrilled that now we’ve ramped u all those programs again.

John: Just a little bit of learning here, as a leader of these 90 people around the world, how often do you communicate with them and they communicate with each other in terms of sharing best practices and collaborating on pushing the greater good forward for the Gap?

Judy: Yes. On a regular basis, that’s the beauty of Zoom that we’re on, right?

John: Yes.

Judy: Things have changed a lot. Yes, we bring our teams together to talk about best practices and to share lessons learned. We have town halls on a regular basis so that we can all get together. But I will say I’m excited that I’ll finally be able to travel to Asia after we’ve had some travel limitations for obvious reasons here, soon to see some of these folks. Some people on my team, I haven’t actually met in person before since I’ve only been at the Gap for a little over a year now. I’m so looking forward to that.

John: Yes, I just came back from Asia. Like you said, things in person, is… Obviously, when there’s a COVID situation, Zoom is wonderful. As it starts to hopefully wind down and things get better, like you said, around the world, I found my… I’ve already done two trips to Asia this year and I’m going to have another one scheduled already. It’s invaluable to see people face to face.

Judy: It really is. I know, John, like me, you want to reduce your carbon footprint, right? We have to be really strategic in how we scheduled travel.

John: It’s so true. Let’s go back to all the great things you’re doing at the Gap. Talk about sustainability goals. I know you have bold goals. I know you said that that was inspired by Ted Turner himself. Talk about some of your bold goals and what you’re trying to accomplish in the months and years ahead, Judy.

Judy: Yes, happy to. Well, we talked about women’s empowerment. We have 2025 goals for women’s empowerment and we are talking about our supply chain and the factories. A couple of those bold goals are, one, that 100% of our strategic factories have these women’s empowerment programs, P.A.C.E and something we call Empower at Work, in place. And also, that 100% have gender parity at the supervisor level, which is a really bold goal that our company is committed to. Let’s talk about the environment. What’s most important? As you know, we are feeling the impact of climate change right now. It’s those shorter term goals that are super important. We have science-based target. We have a goal of 100% renewable electricity for owned and operated facilities by 2030. We also have a science-based targets as far as what we call our Scope 3, our emissions that relate to our supply chain.

John: Logistics.

Judy: Exactly. How are we handling that? Well, we talked about our efficiency and renewable energy programs that we have at our factories. We also… If you think about clothing, it has a climate impact, especially synthetics. You think about where to synthetics come from, those come from fossil fuels, from plastic. We have goals for 45% of our synthetic fabrics by 20… Sorry, I need to make sure I get this right. …2025 will be recycled polyester as an example, which also helps with our climate goals. Again, those incremental goals are incredibly important. As it relates to water, again, we have a goal to be a water-positive company and we have something called the Women and Water Alliance. We have a goal next year to increase access to water and sanitation for 2,000,000 people. We are really close to that goal, and I’ll be excited to celebrate when we reach that goal here soon.

John: Judy, you just brought up something that’s so important for our listeners, viewers, and others that are leadership positions or want to be leaders like you — the issue and the importance of incremental goals. My pet peeve is when I get an email from someone. They mean well. They work for well-meaning organizations. On the bottom, I’ve seen this just recently and I’ve said it to some friends and other colleagues, it says their goal is net zero by 2050. Net zero by 2050? Even though I’m grateful for that, that just seems like some corporate version of kicking the can down the road. The fact that you have goals that are incremental goals that are literally right upon us. We’re in 2022. 2024 and 2025 are right here. I think that’s so brilliant and so tangible in terms of making everybody buy-in at your organization.

Judy: Yes, it’s very important. You are so right, John. If we talk about our 2050 goals, I think folks are just their eyes are going to glaze over. We need to talk about what our goals are now. We’re all about embedding the work of ESG throughout the company. It’s really important that we help them understand what their role is in helping us achieve those short-term goals. Like those longer-term goals aren’t terribly effective in inspiring our employees.

John: That’s just incredible. When you go to bed at night or wake up in the morning and you think about challenges that you faced, your goals are one thing. Given where you are right now and the scale that you have, what are some of the bigger challenges that you’re facing that you’re still working through in your mind, yourself and with your colleagues, to try to achieve in the in the future?

Judy: Sure. Well, with women’s empowerment, I think a lot of these things that were working on are systemic. It’s going to be really important to work with partners as we implement that strategy. John, I think you know, this pandemic, we now have been sent back as far as our progress on women’s empowerment. Now, we have even more work to do. Those 2025 goals that we set before the pandemic, well now, we even have further to go. Honestly, this pandemic is a challenge as it relates to some of those goals. Climate change comes to mind, of course, because we need to make progress now. As you know, this next decade is incredibly important, and just like women’s empowerment, we have to do this in partnership with others. There are public policy barriers, for example, to convert to a clean energy grid in a lot of our sourcing countries. We’re going to need to work in collaboration with others in the industry, with government, with nonprofit organizations. We have the road map to get there and we know it’s through partnerships, but a lot of these challenges that we have are beyond Gap Inc. We have to leverage collective action to get to where we need to be.

John: We need a bigger tent.

Judy: Yes.

John: We need more stakeholders involved.

Judy: Exactly, exactly. The good news, John, I don’t know if you’re very familiar with the apparel and retail industry, but there is a lot of collaboration in our field, which is absolutely fantastic. It’s one of the things that I love about working in this sector, whether it’s through things like on energy. We work with the Apparel Impact Institute, who has been just an amazing partner for years on our climate goals. I would say on women’s empowerment, through Empower at Work, we work with others in the industry on those issues as well. We also partner with nonprofits. CARE, you may have heard of, is a nonprofit, as well as Business for Social Responsibility and Better Work are incredibly important partners as well. We’re building those tents. We have them, but you’re right. They need to be a lot bigger, John, and we’re working to do

John: You’re saying, in the fashion and retail industry, there’s a lot of cross-collaboration.

Judy: There is. There is. In the water space, too. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the CEO of Water Mandate, the Water Resilience Coalition that goes beyond the apparel industry. It really is across the private sector. Again, we couldn’t achieve these goals as far as addressing water risk and water stress in communities without partnerships.

John: A couple of things, Judy. As you said, the folks that are listening to you now that represent brands of your size or smaller, it’s a daunting thing to start a sustainability journey. Go back to some of the lessons learned that you shared earlier. How do we inspire more to follow your footsteps and Gap’s footsteps in terms of inclusivity and sustainability so we can actually accelerate making the world a better place?

Judy: John, thank you for that question. You bring up inclusivity and sustainability, and one of the lessons learned is to not think of these things in silos as you go on your sustainability journey. For example, our water strategy through the Women and Water Alliance is to address our water footprint of the company, but it’s also to empower women at the same time. As we’re looking at our climate strategy, we’re doing the same thing. How do we empower women? How do we enable opportunity for underrepresented communities? In our climate strategy, how do we intentionally create jobs for those that need it most in the clean energy sector, for example, through the actions that we take as a company? Again, not thinking of the social, the environmental, and the ESG in a silo is a big lesson learned. That’s one of the things that I so love about Gap. It’s the integrated approach to sustainability. Also, it’s just so easy to get overwhelmed very quickly. Focusing on what is most important to the business and what will have the biggest impact, those things that have shared value, shared value for the business and for society, is really important. I know you know all about materiality assessments. That’s a really great first step and something that you need to update every few years. That’s an important step as well.

John: I love your lesson of incremental goals. That is just so great. Besides bold goals but also having incremental, and finding the right balance between bold and audacious goals but also incremental goals so you can feel like you’re making progress along the journey. Man, that makes so much sense. That makes so much sense. Judy, who inspires you now? You’ve had access to so many wonderful people from Ted Turner to Ray Anderson and so many others. We all need to be re-inspired on a regular basis, recharge our batteries. Who really turns you on now to say [inaudible] has it right?

Judy: I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. Obviously, I’m inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. Just a reminder to integrate equity and justice in the work that we do on the environment and sustainability, I would say that’s someone who’s inspired me in my lifetime. I think it also is just young people in general that are really just standing up for what they believe in. I think we’re making the progress that we are on climate change because of young people’s leadership. They’re saying, “You, old people, are not doing enough. We’ve have it.” Yes, I would say, just young leaders, in general, are really inspiring me right now.

John: Judy, speaking of young leaders, one of the real purposes of this show is to inspire more young people, who want to be the next Judy Adler, to show them a path and there’s lot of them. We need more Judy Adler’s to make this world a better place. What advice can you have to our listeners? Not only here in the United States, but we have listeners obviously around the world because of the beauty of podcasts and technology. Really, what’s the right way to go now in terms of education and experience? Can you share some of your pearls of wisdom with regards to how do we create a world with more Judy Adler’s in it?

Judy: Well, that’s very kind, John. As far as advice, following your passion, thinking about what the world needs, figuring out what you’re really good at, and finding that intersection, I think, is incredibly important to get you on the path. It definitely is something that has guided my career. Also, just being open-minded. I never had an intentional career path. As I said, it’s been very curvy, but if something sounds like it’s fun and I could have an impact, I have an open mind to that opportunity. I would say don’t have too much tunnel vision as it relates to your path. Just be open-minded because you never know what opportunity could present itself.

John: Well, that’s wonderful. Judy, I really appreciate you taking the time to share some of your journey and the Gap’s journey with us today on the Impact Podcast. For our listeners and viewers, again, to find Judy and her colleagues, you can find them at www.gapinc.com. To read their very impactful and inspiring sustainability and ESG report, you could find it at gapinc.com/sustainability. Judy, I meant what I said. We do need a world with more Judy Adler’s in it to make a bigger impact. Thank you again for all that you’ve done throughout your career, and now, at the Gap. Thank you for your time today.

Judy: Thank you, John. We need a world with more people like you as well. It’s been an honor and a pleasure.

John: This episode of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by Closed Loop Partners. Closed Loop Partners is a leading circular economy investor in the United States with an extensive network of Fortune 500 corporate investors, family offices, institutional investors, industry experts, and impact partners. Closed Loop’s platform spans the arc of capital from venture capital to private equity, bridging gaps and fostering synergies to scale the circular economy. To find Closed Loop Partners, please go to www.closedlooppartners.com.