Skip to main content

Climate Rise 2021 Featured Speakers

Kate Williams is CEO of 1% for the Planet, a global movement that inspires action and commitment so that our planet and future generations thrive. 1% for the Planet engages businesses and individuals to support environmental nonprofit solutions through membership and everyday actions.  Started in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, 1% for the Planet’s global network of thousands of businesses and individuals have given hundreds of millions to environmental partners to date. Kate has led significant growth in the community’s scale and impact, as well as deep work on best practices for implementing high-impact giving strategies, growing a network brand, and operating a highly effective and innovative enterprise. Kate earned a BA at Princeton University and an MS at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She has served on several nonprofit Boards, currently BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont and Shelburne Farms. Kate is a trail runner, active dog walker, and kitchen gardener. Kate lives in Vermont with her husband and two children.    
Larissa Conners is a lover of all things bikes, from commuting to work to racing XCO world cups. Larissa’s career started in triathlon and has arched through racing road, cross country mountain bike, ultramarathon mountain bike, and gravel. Bike racing has taken her all over the world, but this adventure junkie is now embracing the journey of motherhood and staying a bit closer to home, mainly commuting to teach high school math at Petaluma High School and racing gravel for the Voler Factory Gravel team! Larissa is a two-time winner of the Leadville 100 MTB race.
        Meg Shutzer is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She has a BA from Harvard and a Master’s from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism where her work was recognized with the Reva and David Logan Prize for Excellence in Investigative Reporting. Her documentaries have screened on five continents and have won numerous awards at film festivals, including the PBS Reel South Award at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2019. This year she is part of the first-ever IF/Then Short Film Distribution Fellowship for her forthcoming film 8 Days at Ware. When she isn’t chasing down a story, you can find Meg teaching video classes at San Quentin State Prison or spin classes at the 17th Street Athletic Club.