Beth Rattner

Executive Director, Biomimicry Institute

Beth Rattner believes that biomimetic design in products, cities, and agriculture can bring about a new level of resilience to our economy and ecosystem, which in turn spur new levels of social equity. Rattner directs the Biomimicry Institute’s strategic vision and manages the organization’s program development, fundraising, and marketing efforts.

Prior to this position, Rattner 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 first executive director and then vice president. An attorney by training, Rattner 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. The printer provided microfinance opportunities for women who brought paid photography to remote villages, allowing people to photograph their family events for the very first time.

Rattner is a graduate of U.C.L.A. and Loyola Law School and lives in Marin County, California.

Live Event Appearances

Podcast Guest Appearances

Can a Circular Economy Salvage the Climate?

May 7 2019 - 12:00pm

Produce, consume, discard: we all know the routine. Raw materials are extracted, produced into goods, and used – sometimes only once – before turning into waste. And believing that recycling that Starbucks cup or Smartwater bottle is the best we can do for the planet is the wrong way to think about it, says John Lanier of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation.

REWIND: Aligning Profits with Planet / The Circular Economy

Can trees and businesses get along? Business leaders know that consumers are concerned about the environmental footprint of the products they buy. Does that lead to greenwashing or meaningful improvements?

“There are many legitimate leaders out there deeply concerned at a personal level,” says Gretchen Daily, Professor of Environmental Science at Stanford. “And also recognizing their responsibility as leaders in this corporate enterprise that really governs the planet and trying to change it.”