Circular Economy 360 plus

The course is led by Naomi Johnson, SIS Associate. Naomi is passionate about the circular economy having started her career managing operations for a recycling social enterprise in 1997.

She has worked on UK Waste Policy, recycling, reuse and repair strategies and overseen business support services for social enterprise and charity waste and recycling enterprises. Chair of Circular Communities Scotland, she is also currently working on various upscale reuse, repair and alternative consumption initiatives.

Outside of the circular economy Naomi established a start-up social enterprise agency, Firstport, and its Social Entrepreneurs Fund developed the Buy Social Scotland initiative.

Hear from Naomi below!

Sophie is a Sustainability Policy Adviser at the British Retail Consortium, the go-to Trade Association for British Retail. Her work cuts across ethical labour and responsible sourcing, food waste and circular fashion, engaging and leading retailers on the latest policy developments, reactive issues, and sustainable initiatives.

Sarah is responsible for informing, enabling, and supporting SUEZ in its triple bottom line strategy, and ensuring it continually improves its social and environmental impact as a result. She also contributes her 15 years’ experience in the sector and expertise in service enhancement, innovation and behaviour change to SUEZ’s policy and circular economy activities.

She is a Level 1 Associate Practitioner with Social Value UK, the chair of the social working group for the Environmental Services Association, and in 2022 was named one of the Resource “Hot 100” for moving the social value and sustainability agenda forward across the industry.

Thami Schweichler is a social designer and entrepreneur and TeDx speaker who co-founded Makers Unite, an award-winning social enterprise providing a platform for the inclusion of refugees in The Netherlands and Turkey. 

In 2022, Thami founded United Repair Centre, a B2B repair business for fashion and apparel brands to put repair on the map, creating social and environmental impact collectively.

His focus is connecting to individuals, organizations, and stakeholders for a shared contribution to a sustainable and socially responsible future.

Eric is Director of Bryson Recycling (brysongroup.org)

• Over 30 years’ of experience in recycling
• Awarded MBE in 2006 for “Services to Waste Management
• Since 1992 he has led the social enterprise, Bryson Recycling, the leading provider in Northern Ireland, also making inroads in Wales 
• Became a serial entrepreneur who started his career in 1989 with cooperative, Bradford Waste Chasers
• Degree in Environmental Sciences, Bradford University
• Masters in Business Administration, University of Ulster, Jordanstown

Rachael is a SIS Associate and CEO of The Future Economy Company. The Future Economy Company’s focus is to enable creative and social impacts to be at the heart of our economy, something that is relevant now more than ever. Rachael is experienced in supporting purpose-driven businesses and creative enterprises to flourish and grow.

Rachael is an active female leader and is proud to lead an all-female team.

Ian McKechnie is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Advanced Services Group, part of Aston Business School.

ASG supports global clients to grow and succeed through the development of outcome-based services and business model innovation. As experts in ‘servitization’ they seek to work with manufacturing companies and support them to change their business model to compete through a mix of products and services rather than products alone. These advanced services focus on product usage rather than selling product ownership.

Dr Adam Read joined SUEZ recycling and recovery UK as Director of External Affairs in September 2017. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the waste sector as an academic, researcher, local authority officer and consultant.

At SUEZ, Adam is currently responsible for government liaison and working with UK and international trade bodies in the sector, sitting on a number of technical working groups In his previous role as a consultant, Adam supported local authorities (and their service providers) in reviewing their services, procuring solutions, and considering alternative partnering models. Adam is a regular contributor to trade journals, and a well-known conference speaker and workshop facilitator.

Lucy Danger has led the EMERGE Group from its inception in 1996, as a voluntary pressure group, to its unique position as a leading Social Enterprise. EMERGE provides services which help to improve the environment and the relief of poverty through food, work, and recycling activities. During the past 25 years they have been a pioneer in household kerbside collections and now operate commercial recycling services, a wood recycling enterprise and run Fareshare Greater Manchester as a partner with Fareshare.

Michael has been CEO at Circular Communities Scotland since 2018 having transformed this membership organisation to both improve membership services, develop new support programmes (sharing libraries, repair networks and bike reuse) and influence circular economy and third sector policy. He uniquely combines a passion and commitment for the voluntary sector with first rate skills and experience in finance, risk, IT, and change management from the private sector during his time with both PwC and Prudential.

Dr Lynn Wilson is an award-winning academic, interdisciplinary, social science researcher, with extensive national and international experience in circular economy and ethics for sustainable business practices, having worked in the field of the circular economy for 10 years. She is the founder of Circular DS International (Circular Design Scotland Ltd), a research and training consultancy practice, working with businesses, and non-profit organisations.