Indiana Circular Economy Conference

William McDonough is a globally recognized leader in sustainable design and development. He co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002), widely recognized as a seminal text of both the sustainability and the Circular Economy design movements, followed by The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability–Designing for Abundance (2013).   Through McDonough Innovation, McDonough advises commercial and government leaders worldwide on ESG, sustainability, the Circular Economy, and product and facility design. He has worked with CEOs from companies such as Ford Motor Company, Gap, Google, Herman Miller, Hero MotoCorp, Proctor & Gamble, Starbucks, Unilever, and Walmart.  He is also an architect with William McDonough + Partners, a firm known for designing notable landmark buildings in the sustainability movement. Through his third firm, MBDC, he co-created the original Cradle to Cradle Certified® Products Program and co-founded the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, which administers the program today. The product standard is recognized by the world’s leading retailers, including Amazon, Home Depot, Walgreens and Walmart.
In 2016, McDonough articulated a "New Language for Carbon" for human use as living, durable and fugitive carbon in the journal Nature as "Carbon is Not The Enemy." He articulated the Circular Carbon Economy as a design framework at G20, 2020, and is developing a granular approach to applying Circular Carbon Economy principles to products.  McDonough received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development (1996), the first U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (2003), the National Design Award (2004) and the Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership (2017).Time magazine recognized him as a “Hero for the Planet,” noting: “His utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world," and in 2019 Fortunemagazine named him #24 of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders. Recently, McDonough was named to the inaugural TIME100 Climate List of the 100 Most Influential Leaders Driving Business Climate Action.