2050

Ed Zimmerman co-founded and chairs the Tech Group at law firm Lowenstein Sandler, where he began working in 1991. He has taught venture capital and angel investing to MBAs at Columbia Business School since 2005, and previously taught startup and internet law at Rutgers Law School. He co-founded First Close Partners and the VentureCrush event series, has invested in over 160 startups and 200 VC funds, and writes as a Wall Street Journal Expert Panelist, with a focus on diversity in venture capital.

Éric Carreel is an engineer who earned a PhD in radiocommunication engineering in 1990 and launched his first company, Inventel, with Jacques Lewiner that same year. In 2008 he co-founded Withings, a connected health device company, with Cédric Hutchings and Frédéric Potter; he sold it to Nokia and reacquired it in 2018. He has authored more than 50 patents and joined the French Academy of Technologies in 2017.

Fabrice de Gaudemar spent 14 years as an investor at Eurazeo, where he created and led Eurazeo Growth, one of France's first growth funds, before leaving the Eurazeo Executive Board in 2015 to become an entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO of Qotto, which designs and distributes essential services such as stand-alone solar kits for rural families in Africa. He has been involved in structuring 2050 from its early stages and chairs its Management Committee.

Jane Walerud is a serial deep tech entrepreneur and investor who, since 2016, has focused with her family on deep tech for the living planet. She typically invests around 1M€ plus her own operative time in very early-stage companies, then moves to a board role as they grow. Her earlier ventures include co-founding and leading Bluetail and Teclo Networks as CEO, and serving as executive chair at Klarna, Lensway, and Satcube. She holds a BA from Stanford and an honorary doctorate from the Royal Institute of Technology.

Kimo Paula is Co-Founder and CCO of Settly. He has an international (LatAm) background and began building small businesses at an early age, including a DJ-booking agency and an international housing company. He previously worked at companies including Booking.com, Uber, TomTom, and Adyen before co-founding Settly, a company focused on relocation.

Marie Ekeland is the founder and CEO of 2050. A veteran of French Tech, she began at Elaia Partners where she backed Criteo, co-founded France Digitale, became the first woman in Europe to create a €150M fund, and launched daphni in 2015 before founding 2050. She also served as head of the French Digital Council in 2017.

Marieke van Iperen is the co-founder and CEO of Settly. She left school at 16 and spent nearly 15 years traveling across multiple continents, working in recruitment and later holding HR leadership roles at companies including Uber, Starbucks, Manpower, Nike, Adecco, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She founded Settly with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Marta Sjögren is Co-founder and Co-CEO of Paebbl, a company focused on repurposing captured CO2 into widely used raw materials. Before founding Paebbl in 2021, she spent over a decade in venture capital, serving as a Partner at Northzone and beginning her career at DN Capital, with investment experience across B2B SaaS, gaming, and edtech. She is a member of 2050's first stewards' board.

Perry Chen is an artist and the founder of Kickstarter, which he launched in 2009. He led Kickstarter's conversion to a Public Benefit Corporation in 2015, and his work spans both art and technology, including exhibiting "Computers in Crisis" for the New Museum's First Look program in 2014. He was named to Time's 100 most influential people in 2013.

Rachel Delacour is a repeat entrepreneur with a finance background and co-founder and CEO of Sweep, a climate-focused company started in 2020. In 2009 she co-founded BIME Analytics, a business intelligence SaaS acquired by Zendesk in 2015, where she then served as General Manager. She was elected co-President of France Digitale in 2018 and has backed several female-founded US and French startups.

Raphael Gueller is co-founder and Chief Design Officer at Sweep, a company focused on helping businesses reduce their environmental impact. He previously worked as Creative Director at Zendesk, where he helped build the brand team, and at the creative studio Winkreative. He holds a degree in business administration from the University of St Gallen (HSG) and is a self-taught designer.

Yannick Chaze is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Sweep, a data platform focused on carbon and ESG. He has more than 10 years of engineering experience and was one of the earliest team members at BIME Analytics, a business intelligence SaaS acquired by Zendesk in 2015, where he later led engineering teams. He holds an engineering degree.

Diana Krantz is an investor at 2050 with a background spanning venture capital, fund-of-funds investing, capital fundraising, and operational startup experience. She previously spent four years at Molten Ventures (formerly Draper Esprit) in London, working on seed and growth-stage tech investments across Europe and building the firm's presence in the Nordics. Her investing has covered sectors including food, impact, and mobility.

Christian Couturier is an energy engineer and director (later CEO) of Solagro, which he joined in 1989 after studying at ENSEEIHT. He works on bioenergy, biomethane, and local energy strategies, and co-authored the Afterres2050 land-use scenario for France. He is a member of the négaWatt association's group of energy experts, serving as its president from 2014 to 2022, and joined the board of the energy transition network CLER.

Laura Beaulier is an entrepreneur focused on climate impact. In 2016 she co-founded Kobus, a digital assistant for physiotherapists, which was acquired by Cegedim in 2021. She later took over the Climate Dividends initiative to structure and expand it internationally.

Aude Duprat is General Secretary at 2050. She previously served as General Secretary at Elaia Partners, which she joined initially as an assistant, and before that worked as an Operational Manager for Ikea's purchasing office in France, overseeing the stores' supply chain. She later ran her own business as an independent real estate negotiator.

Cédric Malengreau began his career in consulting before joining Crédit Mutuel Arkéa in 2007, where he has held a range of roles across the group. Named Secretary General in 2020, he has worked on the group's transformation, including its sustainability roadmap and its adoption of purpose company status.

Emmanuelle Hoss joined the Mairie de Paris in 2001, working on economic development, finance, employment, and innovation. She later served as deputy director of the health and new therapies innovation competitiveness cluster at Medicen Paris Région before returning to the Mairie de Paris, where she has led the SEMAEST public-private company since 2014, overseeing the Connected Store (CoSto) and "Commerce Tester" programs for small Parisian retailers. She is also president of Foncière Paris Commerce.

Flore Vasseur is a writer, film director, and journalist whose work examines finance, technology, and power. Her documentary "Meeting Snowden" and her book on Aaron Swartz ("Ce qu'il reste de nos rêves") stem from long-term reporting on human rights defenders and whistleblowers. Her film "Bigger Than Us," produced with Marion Cotillard and Denis Carot, follows young change makers around the world.

Guillaume Bregeras spent 25 years working as a journalist in the media industry. Most recently he led the startups section at Les Echos, the French economic daily, where his coverage helped raise the profile of the French tech ecosystem. He created the "TechOff" podcast and joined 2050 to build and develop its knowledge function.

Hervé Naerhuysen is CEO of PRO BTP Group, a non-profit insurance company serving the building and public works sector in health and life insurance, and chairs the PRO BTP Health Observatory. He previously worked as a tax inspector, attended ENA, held roles at the French Treasury, Agence France Trésor, and the ACPR, and advised the French President on fiscal and digital matters until 2015, where he contributed to initiatives including the Employment Competitiveness Tax Credit and the launch of French Tech.

Hicham Kochman, also known as Axiom, is a rapper, beatmaker, producer, sound engineer, artist manager, activist and entrepreneur. In 2017 he founded KEAKR, a platform for music artists and fans.

Matthieu Scetbun is the Chief Financial Officer at 2050. He spent over 20 years in market finance, beginning in 2001 on the Credit Derivatives desk at Crédit Agricole Indosuez in Paris, then working as a trader/quant on credit derivatives at BNP Paribas and Merrill Lynch across Tokyo and London. From 2007 he was at BlueCrest Capital Management, where he built the Credit Relative Value Fund as Portfolio Manager and later led a fixed income rates strategy until 2022.

Meyha Camara is the knowledge officer at 2050, working on communication strategies for the firm. She studied communication and earned a master's degree at an advertising school, and spent a gap year volunteering in Asia. She joined 2050 after meeting Marie and connecting with the firm's mission around topics such as education and culture.

Olivier Mathiot co-founded PriceMinister in 2001, a French e-commerce platform sold to Japan's Rakuten in 2010, and served as its CEO from 2014 until 2019. He then became president of thecamp, an innovation center focused on positive corporate growth, and has invested in and mentored more than 40 startups across sectors including foodtech, fintech, marketplaces, and mobility. He co-chaired France Digitale and has remained a board member and vice-president of the organization since 2017.

Rashid Sumaila is a University Killam Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the University of British Columbia, affiliated with the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. His research covers bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation, and global issues including fisheries subsidies, illegal fishing, climate change, and oil spills. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Bergen and a B.Sc. in Quantity Surveying from Ahmadu Bello University, and his honors include the 2022 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and fellowships in the Royal Society of Canada and AAAS.

Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou is a Togolese architect and anthropologist. He is the founder and CEO of l'Africaine d'Architecture and Hubcity, through which he develops his concept of the "African neo-vernacular city."