Lucas J. Daniel Lecture in Sustainable Systems

Inaugural Lecture

Systems, Stomata and Serendipity: Accelerating the Sustainability Revolution
How can designers and entrepreneurs lead and generate ‘systems innovations’ that rapidly address the world’s most pressing social and ecological problems? Special guest lecturer, William Rosenzweig illuminates novel practices and innovative collaborations that are producing positive impact at scale.

About the lecturer
Will Rosenzweig
Founder and Chair, Food Venture Lab, Senior Advisor, Generation Investment Management, Social Impact Fellow, UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Recipient of the 2010 Oslo Business for Peace Award, William Rosenzweig is an internationally recognized entrepreneur, educator and an avid gardener. Will has spent over 25 years cultivating thriving startups while teaching and mentoring mission-driven entrepreneurs around the world. Will serves as a Senior Advisor to Generation Investment Management, a public and growth equity practice chaired by Al Gore. Will was founding CEO (and Minister of Progress) of The Republic of Tea and co-author of The Republic of Tea: How an Idea Becomes a Business, which was named one of the 100 Best Business Books of All Time. Will has served on the professional faculty of the Haas School of Business at UC, Berkeley, since 1999 where he is a Social Impact Fellow. He currently leads Food Venture Lab, a cross-disciplinary graduate innovation course, and Edible Education 101 with Alice Waters. Will is also managing partner of Physic Ventures. In 2015, Will founded and was named Dean of The Food Business School at The Culinary Institute of America and in 2016, he was named one of seven people shaping the Future of Food by Bon Appetit magazine.

About the Lucas J. Daniel Lecture in Sustainable Systems

The Lucas J. Daniel Lecture in Sustainable Systems was endowed in 2018 by family, friends, colleagues, and classmates of Lucas J. Daniel (1974-2017). The focus of the lectureship is to drive thought leadership and discourse at IIT Institute of Design around Lucas’ passion for sustainability and systems design. Lucas was a 2005 ID graduate and spent eleven years at Chicago design and innovation consultancy, gravitytank. It was there he built a Food Experience Design practice, which applied holistic, systems-level thinking to food innovation. At the time of his passing, Lucas was Senior Director, Strategic Innovation, with Salesforce, Inc., where he managed innovation teams and advised customers within the Ignite Business Unit Group.