Explore Circularity Day 2026 – Conference Day Agenda

Maren Costa

As Amazon’s first Principal User Experience Designer, Maren helped shape human-centred design at scale and earned 16 patents.

After witnessing the gap between corporate climate commitments and action, she co-founded Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), mobilizing workers and helping secure landmark outcomes including Amazon’s Climate Pledge and the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund. 

Maren will share candid insights on consumerism, marketing influence, and the global environmental and climate impacts of the textiles industry. Her work sits at the intersection of design, corporate accountability, climate justice, and systems change.

Maren is featured in the Emmy Award-winning Netflix documentary Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy (more info on that below) and continues this work today as Board President of AECJ and U.S. Advisor to WorkForClimate.org.

Mortimer Capriles
Goodwill Industries of Alberta

Mortimer Capriles is the Director of Sustainability and Innovation at Goodwill Industries of Alberta since January 2018. His responsibility includes leadership of all sustainability projects, including sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement.

Capriles is also responsible for the Goodwill Impact Centres in Edmonton and Calgary. The Goodwill Impact Centre is an amazing concept where millions and millions of items are diverted from local landfills every year while providing training and employment opportunities to persons with disabilities in Alberta.

In his previous role as the Regional Director of Sustainability at Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, his responsibilities included leadership of the sustainability program for the four resort properties that form Fairmont’s Canadian Western Mountain Region.

Capriles holds an Executive MBA, a Bachelor’s degree in Geography, and several postgraduate certificates related to sustainability, the circular economy, environmental planning and leadership. He also holds the Environmental Professional Certification awarded by Eco Canada and the Global Sustainability Practitioner certification (CSR-P).

Capriles is fully committed to diverting as much as possible from the landfill and increasing community awareness about the positive environmental impact of reusing and shopping second-hand. As a result, he volunteers at the Emerald Foundation since 2018 to support the non-profit efforts to showcase the most relevant environmental achievements in Alberta, setting an example for all to follow.

Joel Chung
Environment and Climate Change Canada

Joel Chung has over 8 years of experience with Environment and Climate Change Canada. He has a bachelor’s degree majoring in Environmental Sciences at the University of McMaster. He is currently an Environmental Programs Officer in the Plastic and Marine Litter Division since 2021, within a team that develops sector-based solutions focused on research and assessing sectors to improve circularity and reduce plastic waste and pollution in Canada. He is the lead for developing solutions in the textile and apparel sector.

Tonny Colyn
NACTR and Salvation Army

As President and Co-Founder of the National Association for Charitable Textile Recycling (NACTR), Tonny is a leading voice in advancing textile waste diversion and circular economy initiatives across Canada. She also serves as National Director of Business Development and Sustainability for The Salvation Army Thrift Store National Recycling Operation, overseeing one of the country’s largest non-profit textile diversion programs.

With over 15+ years of experience in charitable retail and sustainability strategy, Tonny has played a key role in expanding national partnerships, strengthening operational efficiencies, and contributing to policy discussions surrounding textile waste and Extended Producer Responsibility. She actively collaborates with industry, government, and nonprofit stakeholders to drive scalable solutions and currently serves on multiple boards, including the National Zero Waste Council.

Tonny is recognized for her collaborative leadership style and unwavering commitment to building practical, impactful solutions for Canada’s growing textile waste challenge.

Kelly Drennan
Canadian Circular Textiles Consortium / Fashion Takes Action

Kelly Drennan is a systems thinker and fashion change-maker on a mission to accelerate circularity in Canada. She founded Fashion Takes Action in 2007 to tackle sustainability across the entire fashion system, from design and production to how we buy, wear, care for, repair, reuse, and responsibly manage textiles at end of life. Kelly has convened major multi-stakeholder initiatives, including the Ontario Textile Diversion Collaborative, and helped drive national progress through Canada’s textile recycling feasibility study and a mechanical recycling pilot. Today, she co-leads the Canadian Circular Textiles Consortium, mobilizing 120+ stakeholders to build the infrastructure, policy, and solutions needed for a circular textiles economy in Canada.

Charlotte Genge
EnsembleCo Consulting

Charlotte Genge is a Halifax-based consultant and social entrepreneur specializing in circular textiles. She works with the National Association for Charitable Textile Recycling and supports brands, municipalities, nonprofits, and social enterprises through her consultancy, EnsembleCo. Charlotte is the founder of The Great Swap, a grassroots clothing-reuse initiative growing across Nova Scotia, and the co-founder of By the Pound Thrift, an innovative pay-by-weight thrift pop-up. Her work bridges research and practice to advance practical, scalable solutions for textile reuse, recycling, and circularity.

Deanne Ferguson
Kuma Outdoor Gear

Deanne Ferguson is the Marketing Manager at Kuma Outdoor Gear, where she leads brand storytelling, campaign strategy, and community engagement focused on helping more people feel comfortable and connected outdoors. She was one of the creators of Kuma’s Re-Discover Project, an upcycling initiative that transforms retired and damaged outdoor gear into functional, one-of-a-kind products while challenging traditional product life cycles. Deanne brings a marketing-driven perspective to circularity, exploring how consumer behaviour, brand influence, and industry collaboration can help scale sustainable practices. She is passionate about using storytelling to encourage responsible consumption and deepen people’s connection to the outdoors.

Barry Friesen
Cleanfarms

Barry Friesen is Executive Director of Cleanfarms Inc., a national Producer Responsibility Organization operating coast to coast in Canada. In Quebec, Cleanfarms is known as AgriRÉCUP.

Barry is a professional engineer who has been deeply involved in solid waste issues since 1995, first as a government regulator for waste, a municipal waste operator servicing a half million residents and, since inception in 2010, running Cleanfarms. His range of expertise is in demand at international meetings such as the OECD Conference on Rural Development, the Conference on Canadian Stewardship, Agricultural Film Americas and other circular economy and policy conferences.

Barry currently serves as Chair of the Conference on Canadian Stewardship and as a member of the AGRI plastics working group of the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organizations. A recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal, Barry is the past chair of the Board of the Compost Council of Canada, past Board member of the Recycling Council of Ontario, past Board member of the Alberta Plastic Recycling Association, past Chair of the National Task Force on Packaging and past Board member and recent recipient of a Paul Harris award from the Etobicoke Rotary Club. He is also the recipient of CropLife Canada’s CD C.B. Davreux Stewardshipfirst™ Award that recognizes long-standing dedication and commitment to stewardship in Canada’s plant science (2022).

In relation to the fourth session of the International Negotiation Committee to develop an internationally binding instrument on plastic pollution (Ottawa, Spring, 2024) Barry contributed to Canadian government’s “Plastics Action Zone” by leading a sold out panel on creating a circular economy for agricultural plastics in Canada. He also spoke in the prestigious Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s panel Navigating the Future of Plastics Used in Agriculture.

JSheri Praski
SWANA Northern Lights Chapter

Sheri Praski is a Civil Engineer from Saskatchewan with over 25 years of experience in the environmental area.  Sheri currently works as an independent environmental consultant on projects related to waste, recycling and environment. As Executive Director of the Solid Waste Association of North America Northern Lights Chapter (SWANA NLC), Ms. Praski oversees education delivery, certification and program creation for the waste and recycling industry.

Sheri helped design and build an energy efficient home in 2005 which used about a third of the energy and water of a traditional house (and all electricity from solar), drove hybrid cars for 17 years and now has almost 5 years of experience with an all-electric vehicle. 

Katrina Hillyer
Earth Warrior

Katrina Hillyer is the founder of Earth Warrior, a Canadian social enterprise diverting textiles from landfill and transforming them into functional, low-waste lifestyle products. With over 13 years of hands-on experience in textile recovery and upcycling, Katrina helps individuals and businesses rethink waste as a resource. She is an educator who shares practical tools for circular design, waste reduction, and systems change. Through her work, Katrina demonstrates that circularity is not just an environmental solution, it’s a creative, economic, and community opportunity.

Dan King
Davey Textiles

Dan King is the Vice President of Production, Research & Development at Davey Textile Solutions Inc. in Edmonton, Alberta. With over 30 years of experience in the textile industry, Dan has been instrumental in the company’s growth and success since becoming a co-owner in 2000. He holds a diploma in Civil Engineering Technology and a degree in Computer Science, majoring in business applications. Dan’s expertise includes operational excellence, material production, contractor management, and new product developments. He is also passionate about IIOT developments, control systems, AI/ML, and blockchain applications within the textile industry.

Lelia Lawson
Zylotex

Lelia Lawson is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of ZyloTex®, a Canadian advanced-materials company developing regenerated cellulosic fibres from hemp. She holds a BSc and MSc in Human Ecology (Textiles & Clothing) and is completing a PhD at the University of Alberta focused on hemp-based regenerated cellulose. With over 20 years of experience across textiles, she brings deep expertise in fibre science, industrial applications, and commercialization, and serves in leadership roles within Canada’s hemp and textile sectors.

Russell McPherson
Gear re-Store / PLAEX

Russell went to school for a bunch of years, then worked for a bunch of different companies for a lot of years, and then discovered entrepreneurship!  He founded Gear re-Store in 2012, and built an international company with 85 employees, recognized as one of Canada’s Top Growing Companies four years and running.  Still dabbling with Gear re-Store, he is now also helping PLAEX develop a business that has created a sustainable building product, as well as starting up a new venture with his daughter introducing a fueling product for endurance athletes.  Not all who go to Vancouver Island go to retire!

Rachel McQueen
University of Alberta Dept of Human Ecology

Rachel McQueen is a Professor of Textiles and Apparel Science in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta, and the founder of the Human Ecology Clothing Repair Café. She earned her PhD from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 2007, where her thesis explored odour retention in apparel fabrics. Dr. McQueen’s interdisciplinary research investigates the physical and performance properties of clothing and textiles as they are worn, used and cared for. Her work also addresses consumer behaviour, examining how odour influences laundering and clothing disposal, as well as the motivators and barriers to clothing reuse and repair. Currently, Dr. McQueen’s research focuses on textile circularity in Canada: she is a co-investigator on a project mapping the flow of used textiles nationwide, and the principal investigator studying Canadians’ awareness of synthetic microfibres as environmental pollutants and their willingness to mitigate microfibre release during laundering.

Melanie Mok
Debrand

Melanie Mok is Director of Marketing & Communications at Debrand, North America’s most comprehensive textile sustainability and circularity hub for leading apparel and retail brands including lululemon, Everlane, Canada Goose, Target, and Calvin Klein. Debrand’s next-life logistics combine tech-enabled sortation with an ecosystem of solution partners to deliver impact at scale across reuse, recycling, responsible disposal, and circular textile innovation. Melanie works closely with teams to help clients make sense of North America’s textile waste infrastructure—translating how materials move today, where gaps exist, and how current and emerging end markets shape meaningful outcomes. With nearly 15 years of experience across consumer brands and agencies, she brings a practical, systems-level perspective grounded in what’s operationally and economically possible today, and what’s needed to drive the future of textile circularity.

Mehr Nikoo
Alberta Innovates

Mehr Nikoo is a seasoned professional engineer with dual master’s degrees and over two decades of experience in process and research engineering, as well as project management. Her career includes roles at EPCs, InnoTech Alberta, and various start-up companies. Since June 2018, Mehr has been with Alberta Innovates, where she manages projects focused on utilizing agricultural and forestry residues, diverting plastics and municipal solid waste from landfills, and advancing clean technologies.

In her current role as Program Director for Aerospace, Defence, and Advanced materials, Mehr leverages her expertise to drive impactful initiatives that promote sustainability and innovation.

Verena (Erin) Polowy
My Green Closet

Verena (Erin) Polowy is a slow fashion activist, content creator, and digital marketer who has been leveraging social media and online platforms for over a decade, educating and inspiring people to consider the impacts of their wardrobe. Erin is the creator behind My Green Closet, a YouTube channel and top-ranked sustainable apparel and lifestyle blog. She recently produced and directed Farm to Closet, a local docuseries exploring the process of making a garment entirely in Alberta.

Erin currently helps purpose-driven brands and organizations improve their communications and storytelling. She seeks to bridge the ‘say-do gap’ at all levels to encourage sustainable solutions and behaviour shifts.

Marc Puyuelo Huguet
Coleo

Marc Puyuelo is the Head of Strategy at the Coleo Group.

An architect from the Polytechnic University of Barcelona and MBA graduate from IESE Business School, Marc has over ten years of experience in the development of industrial projects.

He currently leads projects related to the expansion of Coleo’s industrial network of textile waste management and valorisation plants, building synergies with global retailers, industry, and government institutions.

Madeleine Shaw
everyware designs

Madeleine Shaw is a groundbreaking social entrepreneur, writer and designer based on unceded Coast Salish territory in Vancouver. She originally founded her label everyware designs in 1993, however set it aside in 2000 to co-found Lunapads, one of the earliest ventures in the world to commercialize reusable period products. Following her exit from the company in 2024, in 2025 she re-launched everyware to specialize in one-of-a-kind upcycled textile garments, accessories and workshops. She is the author of The Greater Good: Social Entrepreneurship for Everyday People Who Want to Change the World.

Claire Theaker-Brown
Theaker Co.

Claire’s work bridges industry, policy, and academia in pursuit of a scalable, inclusive Canadian circular textile economy. In her consulting practice, Theaker Co., she equips teams with internal and external circular textiles education, practice, and programming. Claire is also researching the viability of industry-scale textile repair practices, and maintains an advisory role at her B Corp-Certified brand, Unbelts.

Known for finding common ground among diverse stakeholders and for her multi-dimensional approaches to solving “wicked problems,” Claire is an Edify Top 40 Under 40 alumna, TEDxShanghai presenter, and Edmonton Community Impact Award recipient. She lives in Edmonton with her spectacular kiddos, Penelope and Theodore.