Founders
CEO & Co-founder - M.B.Admin
Guillaume Perben
Having grown up by the Mediterranean Sea, Guillaume has always been an avid sailor, enjoying both competitive sailing and holiday trips with his children and wife on the family sailboat. After studying business administration in Europe, the US and Japan, he joined the Ford Motor Company where he held positions in Sales, Finance, Marketing and Business Development in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, managing teams globally. He then founded his own consulting firms, first in New Caledonia and then in Switzerland, with a focus on business development and restructuring businesses across a variety of industries, including cleantech and waste management. His passion for sailing, his extensive network in the nautical industry, and his awareness of the lack of a viable solution for recycling the fiberglass hulls of end-of-life sailboats led him to co-found Composite Recycling in 2021
CSO & Co-founder - PhD Physics
Dr. Pascal Gallo
Pascal received his PhD in physics in 2006, specializing in quantum physics and crystal growth. He then joined EPFL in Switzerland as a research scientist, focusing on metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Using the fundamental principles of pyrolysis, he worked successively as operations planner from 2012 at BeamExpress, a telecommunication company developing low power consumption lasers, as chief business development officer from 2014 at Novagan, a company developing high-efficiency lighting solutions, and then in 2015 he co-founded LakeDiamond, manufacturing lab-grown diamonds. In 2021 he teamed up to co-found Composite Recycling, serving as chief scientific officer. During his career Pascal, who has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and patents, has always been inspired to pursue meaningful, cutting-edge technologies with the goal of reducing our environmental footprint.
CTO & Co-founder - PhD Physics
Dr. Mitchell Anderson
Mitchell grew up on a lake in a remote village in northern Canada travelling back and forth by boat to the marina where he worked. Winning several national scholarships enabled him to pursue an education in physics, working at national research facilities across Canada and the USA. After completing his PhD at Queen’s University in 2014, he moved to Switzerland as a research scientist at EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne). Mitchell has participated in the creation of startups in Canada and Switzerland. His passion for using technology to solve environmental problems led him to co-found Composite Recycling in 2021.
Advisors
R&D Advisor
Prof. Véronique Michaud
Véronique is currently Associate Professor and head of the Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites, and Associate Dean of Engineering for Education, at the EPFL. She graduated in 1991 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a PhD in Materials Engineering. Her field of research is fundamentals of composite materials processing.
Industrial Market Advisor
Dr. Paolo Manganelli
An avid sailor who has crossed the Atlantic Ocean on racing sailboats four times, Paolo holds a PhD from the University of Southampton in the field of fluid-structure interaction problems. As an expert in structural design and composite materials, Paolo has contributed to the structural design of many racing boats, including Maxis, IMOCA60s, Volvo 65’, TP52s, and sailing superyachts. He is now the Head of Engineering at the leading advanced composite solutions firm Gurit headquartered in Switzerland.
Marketing & Promotion Advisor
Mark Turner
Having spent his early career years as a Royal Navy Officer, Mark was a partner at Winning Winches in America’s Cup world 1992, and served as Marketing Director at Spinlock in late 90s. Mark subsequently spent 20 years building the sailing and sport business company OC Sport with Dame Ellen MacArthur. Mark was CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2016-17 and served more recently as non-exec and strategic advisor to a number of marine industry companies. As the Founder of Leman Hope, since 2019 he has been helping businesses and sports organisations find new purpose and leverage new technologies.
IP Strategy Advisor
Prof. Jim Hinton
Jim is an assistant professor at Western University. He is the founder of Own Innovation and a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, where he studies IP and innovation policy. Jim has a background in mechanical engineering and has significant professional experience in heavy truck manufacturing and fibreglass project management.