Aaron Di Silvestro is the Senior Director of Higg Products at Cascale, the apparel, footwear, and textile industry’s leading alliance for sustainable production. He liaises between the Higg Index subject matter experts and the Higg Co technical teams, develops roadmaps for tool integration, and eases the transition from expert insights to implementation. He works out of Portland, Oregon.

Before joining Cascale, Aaron worked for Nike’s Global Sustainability organization implementing and delivering the tools required to make more sustainable business decisions. Often working in collaboration with Cascale and Higg, Aaron managed the development of the internal Higg MSI implementations and corporate footprinting applications.

In his free time Aaron is a passionate back-country skier and an unapologetic fan of the Seattle Sounders.

Angie Kenny is serving as Cascale’s Manager, Sustainable Furnishings Council. She has a degree in interior design and has worked in the field in NYC and in Greensboro, NC, where she was part of the design team building Proximity Hotel as the first LEED Platinum hotel in the U.S.

Betty is the Senior Manager of Membership Engagement – Manufacturing at Cascale. She ensures that members have the guidance and support needed to reach joint goals and to utilize the Higg Index tools to drive their sustainability strategies forward. She is based in Hong Kong.

Before joining Cascale team, Betty was part of the K11 sustainability team with a dual role as the Community Manager at K11’s Nature Discovery Park – Hong Kong’s first urban biodiversity museum to inspire action towards the UNSDGs. With a focus on stakeholder engagement, she launched the K11 Sustainable Tenancy Pledge to engage and empower tenants on adopting sustainable retail and F&B practices while supporting internal teams on improving operational practices and communications around sustainable building. She graduated as a Marketing major at UBC and completed her MBA at HKUST.  

Outside of work, Betty hosts meet-ups to connect like-minded people as the founder of the Hong Kong Sustainability Club, and co-organiser of the local chapters of Green Drinks and Podcast Brunch Club. She also enjoys solo traveling, climbing and has most recently picked up sailing.

Carolina van Loenen is the Director of Stakeholder Engagement at Cascale. She leads the global Stakeholder Engagement team and develops stakeholder and policy engagement strategies. Hence, she also ensures integrated and aligned strategy delivery by overseeing the implementation of related internal and external policies and processes. As a key senior stakeholder engagement contact, she fosters proactive engagement and cooperation among Cascale’s international stakeholders and represents Cascale at international external stakeholder events. Carolina is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which is also her country of residence.

Before joining Cascale team, Carolina as Public Sector Partnerships Manager at WWF-Netherlands and contributed to realizing food, forestry and governance objectives within conservation goals by initiating and developing multi-stakeholder public sector partnerships and advising on complex frameworks, guidelines and standards. Carolina has ten years of experience managing programs and projects, complex processes and customer operations, mostly in sustainable value chains and governance at international NGOs, as well as public and private sector organizations. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Human Rights.  

In her free time, Carolina enjoys music concerts, restaurants or cultural events in the Netherlands or when traveling abroad. She loves to explore nature by bike or foot and loves to discuss current international affairs, technology and South American culture.

Christina Fleming is the Senior Manager, Event Content and Programming at Cascale. She oversees the development of all event programs, content and marketing. She is based in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Christina started her career at Cascale as the Executive Assistant to the CEO and Executive Operations Manager to the Executive Team and Board of Directors. Prior to Cascale Christina worked as the Communications Specialist and Marketing Manager for an ecosystem of organizations known as Orlando Opportunity Fund, Brand Advance, Orlando Entrepreneurs and Bright Impact. During this time she led their public relations, marketing, communications and administrative initiatives across all organizations.

Alongside her communications career, Christina is a certified yoga and meditation instructor and violinist. She loves spending time outdoors – especially if she can bring along her lovely pup, Cleopawtra.

Deepak Kashyap is the Senior Manager, Higg Facility Tools at Cascale. His key responsibilities include: project management of the Higg FEM and FSLM, collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders, and facilitation and coordination of Cascale members’ involvement. This role will also continue the development of adoption resources that support the global scaling of the Higg Facility Module, QA testing in cooperation with technical teams, and coordination of communications and case studies. He is based in New Delhi, India.

Prior to joining Cascale team, Deepak was a senior member of the sustainability compliance team at IKEA, India, where he led the development and maintenance of Social & Environment requirements and more sustainable agenda at South Asia supply chain. He has been a key contributor to sustainability projects and Supplier Sustainability Index for textile supplier at South Asia level working together with business partners. Deepak was also responsible for tools related to risk mapping, planning, supplier review at South Asia level and a tool related to supply chain traceability and impact assessment at the global level in IKEA. He studied Environment Law and Policy at National Law University, Delhi.

In his free time Deepak enjoys watching movies and exploring sustainability initiatives around the world.

Dhawall works at Cascale as the Director for Verification, Training & Insights. Dhawall joined Cascale in July 2019 as the Senior Manager for Training and Verification. He is responsible for building, maintaining, and improving verification and training programs for the Higg Index suite of tools and ensuring that the Higg Index and its related tools are trusted and credible measures for sustainability performance and benchmarking.

Prior to joining Cascale, Dhawall worked with C&A’s Sustainable Chemicals Management team as a Senior Specialist. His role involved working with manufacturers of varying complexities and building their capacity to implement environmental management systems. He has worked with vertically integrated textile manufacturer Pratibha Syntex as a Sustainability Manager and was responsible for executing sustainability projects like GHG accounting and reporting and Life Cycle Analysis, as well as internal and external sustainability communications.

Dhawall holds a Masters in Fashion Technology (Apparel Production) from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi and a Bachelor of Engineering in Textile Technology from the MS University of Baroda.

Dhawall has been recognized in the 2017 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 cohort of global sustainability professionals. Through Sustainability Drinks Bangalore, he convenes the city’s sustainability community for networking and collaboration opportunities.

Emily Croneberger is the Senior Manager of Higg Index Communications for Cascale. She reports directly to the Sr. Director of Marketing & Communications, Lee Green. She is responsible for communicating news and updates about the Higg Index tools for the organization. She also ensures collaboration between relevant stakeholders, internal teams and external partners as it relates to the Higg Index. She is based in Cary, North Carolina in the United States.

Before joining Cascale team, Emily was the Manager of Marketing & Industry Programs at Cotton Incorporated. In this role, Emily was responsible for marketing strategy and worked closely with internal and external teams to coordinate and implement brand messaging and strategies across global brands and retailers. Emily also served as the liaison between the technical and marketing teams at Cotton Incorporated. Emily is a graduate of North Carolina State University’s College of Textiles and holds a B.S. in Fashion and Textile Marketing. She continued her education at North Carolina State University by earning a M.S. in Textiles, focusing her research on sustainability.

In her free time, Emily enjoys hiking and exploring new places with her husband and two boys. She also enjoys painting, listening to audiobooks while walking her dogs, and volunteering at a local cat shelter.

Erwan Berthou is the Director of Membership Intelligence & Community at Cascale. He is responsible for implementing mechanisms to capture Cascale members’ needs, ensure an inclusive decision-making process, and provide engaging community activities that enable our members to accelerate their progress on their Social and environmental goals. Erwan is  based in Amsterdam.

Erwan brings 15+ years of marketing and merchandising experience with the Apparel and Footwear industry in brands such as Nike, Burton, G-Star Raw and ASICS. In the last 5 years, he led the global customer success team at Myagi in driving user engagement on their (Saas) Digital platform that enables 200+ brands to remotely train at scale with their retailer’s front line associates.

Erwan is French, has been based in the Netherlands for a long time, and is the father of a 5-year-old son. Outside of work, Erwan’s interests include exploring planetary health solutions, studying human psychology, following global affairs, and being active outdoors with his family and friends.

As the  Senior Manager for Member Engagement, Brand & Retail, Hamza is primarily focused on driving a better member experience, supporting member adoption of the Higg Suite of Tools, and assisting in member roadmaps all while cultivating a positive member relationship from onboarding forward. He is based in the Berkshire County of the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining Cascale , Hamza worked for 10 years at Primark. In his last role he led Primark’s Compliance and Reporting efforts globally through developing Primark’s environmental due diligence criteria for suppliers, significantly advancing adoption of industry tools and pioneered novel solutions in the supply chains. Hamza was also involved in shaping Primark’s environmental sustainability strategy and creation of the ambitious sustainability goals under their flagship programme called “Primark Cares”.

Hamza grew up in Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh where he completed his BSc on Environmental Management from Independent University of Bangladesh and moved to the UK in 2017 to complete his MSc on Environmental Management from Coventry University. He is a proud father of a boy and a girl who were born 18 months apart. In his free time, he loves to cook, cycle, and spend time looking after a local nature reserve.

Hilary Strickland is Chief of Staff at Cascale. She reports to the CEO and is their right-hand in managing the Board, and organization-wide projects, and initiatives, such as the strategic plan. In addition, she serves as a thought partner to the executive team. Hilary is based in the US in the Washington, DC area.

Prior to joining Cascale, Hilary was VP and Chief of Staff for the March of Dimes President and CEO for more than five years. In this role she served as a strategic executive advisor, managed the Board, and oversaw the strategic plan, and many other projects and initiatives. Before this role, she held various roles touching on internal communications and change management, as well as advocacy positions focused on maternal child health and early childhood education policy issues.

Hilary is mother to two amazing daughters, who make sure there is never a dull moment for her and her husband, Erik. When not running her daughters around, she enjoys audible books, walking, gardening, cooking, and any opportunity for live theater.

Isha Agnihotri is the Manager, Higg Facility Tools at Cascale. Her key responsibilities include project management of Higg facility tools, in collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders, and facilitation and coordination of Cascale members’ involvement. This role also continues the development of adoption resources that support the global scaling of Higg facility tools and QA testing in cooperation with technical teams and coordination of communications and case studies. She is based in India.

Prior to joining the Cascale team, Isha spent 13 years at Vardhman Textiles Limited, where she was Sustainability and Compliance Manager, developed and implemented sustainable practices and innovative solutions, driving business growth while minimising environmental impact. Her technical skills include expertise in sustainable textile practices, innovative solution development, and project management.

In her free time, Isha enjoys driving, exploring new places, and trying different cuisines. She also enjoys painting and exploring her creative side. Additionally, Isha has a passion for continuously studying sustainable practices and formations across the globe, staying updated on the latest trends and innovations in the field.

Joël Mertens is the Director of Higg Product Tools at Cascale. He is responsible for managing the Higg Product Tools, including the Higg Product Module, Higg Material Sustainability Index (MSI), and MSI Contributor. He is based in British Columbia, Canada.

Before joining Cascale team, Joël was the Manager of Product Engineering and Compliance at Mountain Equipment Co-op where he worked on embedding product sustainability and product safety compliance into the development process. Among these responsibilities, he developed Preferred Fiber Strategy and Supplier Environmental Assurance programs for the MEC label. Joël holds a Master’s degree in Materials Engineering and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.

In his free time Joël enjoys hiking and camping in the fantastic wilderness of the Purcell and Rocky Mountains. He also spends his time gardening during the (short) summer growing season and developing his “green thumb”. Joël is involved with the East Kootenay Climate Hub, an organization focused on helping local communities take meaningful action on climate change.

Kaley Roshitsh is the first-ever editorial director at Cascale where she will be responsible for guiding the organization’s distinctive voice across content and live media operations. This includes the development and execution of the organization’s editorial strategy as well as the streamlining of existing reporting, storytelling, external communications and collaborations for a future-positive industry.  

Joining Cascale’s rapidly growing communications team at a pivotal point in its evolution, Kaley is excited to leverage her journalistic expertise to do what she knows best – shine a light on progress, tell stories that matter and inspire systemic change. Prior to joining Cascale, she built the sustainability beat at WWD including the novel “Sustainability Scene” section, live sustainability summits, newsletters and the like. An activist inside and outside of the workplace, she’s written for U.N. Women USA NY, served as an advisory member for the 2023 U.N. Conscious Fashion Campaign & Lifestyle Network and shared her perspective on various media outlets (Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, The Associated Press and TEDx “Countdown,” among others). Before joining the fashion bible, she spearheaded an award-winning chapter of Her Campus Media where she led a team of 55 writers and founded an independent magazine called “ThriftEd Mag” at her alma mater Virginia Tech. 

Though she’s forever indebted to a fast-paced career of purpose (and New York City for its lasting spark), her sense of equilibrium comes from the simpler things in life: gardening, running, thrifting and whatever her latest curiosity.

Kelsey Cashman is the Senior Project Manager at Cascale. In her role, she is responsible for standardizing and promoting best practices for project management across Cascale, developing internal operations, and providing guidance, support and tracking of multiple cross-functional projects across the entire organization. Kelsey has managed large org-wide projects including the SAC rebrand and establishing the SLCP’s independence from Cascale.

Before joining Cascale, Kelsey has spent her career leading product development and merchandising projects for both large corporations and start-ups, including EO Products, Brandless, Mattel, and Target. Kelsey has a passion for sustainability and has led initiatives to drive more sustainable business practices, including launching the How2Recycle® program at Brandless to help simplify the recycling process for consumers.

Kelsey holds a Bachelor’s degree in Retail Merchandising from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors, and watching live music. She is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Lee Green is the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Cascale. He is responsible for overseeing all communications and marketing activities at the organization, ensuring the work of Cascale is effectively communicated to all stakeholders and that Cascale is regarded as a key partner for transforming the industry to positively impact people and planet. Lee is based in the historic city of St Albans in England, UK.

Before joining Cascale team, Lee was Director of Communications at The Consumer Goods Forum, where he spent 10 years. During his time there, he led the re-branding of the organization and oversaw all communications related to the organization’s eight Coalitions of Action and five global events. This included building narratives on the industry’s approach to sustainable supply chains, plastic waste, deforestation, forced labor and consumer health, amongst others, and working with consumer goods retailers and brands to communicate about their positive actions.

In his free time, Lee enjoys playing and watching sports, especially football (soccer) and darts. Lee also enjoys watching movies and going for trail walks and runs. Lee loves to travel and has spent most of his adult life living outside of the UK; having lived in China for over 10 years and France for eight years.

Lindsay Wright is Director of Affiliate and Partner Communications at Cascale, leading communications with key partners, and serving as a primary liaison to build trust and alignment on shared goals, and ensuring seamless, transparent, and impactful interactions.

Lindsay works with the wider Marketing and Communications team to ensure affiliate and partner messaging aligns with Cascale’s brand values and core mission, and with the Stakeholder Engagement team, providing strategic communications support on special projects, partnerships, reports, and co-branded initiatives. Lindsay also handles communications for Better Buying, developing and promoting Cascale’s key narratives around responsible purchasing practices as a key driver of decent work across the consumer goods industry.

Outside of work, Lindsay enjoys long walks with her cockapoo, Rosie—occasionally seen in the background in meetings—attempting to keep up with her teenage kids, half-hearted jogs around the park, and trips to largely unknown and frequently unremarkable UK towns and villages in her recently acquired campervan.

Mackenzie Roach is the Director, Legal for Cascale. She is part of the Global Operations team. She oversees the full contract lifecycle, including preparation, review, and negotiation of a range of agreements. Additionally, she manages the company’s trademark portfolio, and supports M&A activities, collaborating with internal teams and external counsel. Mackenzie is located in New York City.

Prior to joining Cascale, Mackenzie was an attorney working mostly in civil litigation. Work included cultural heritage and art law cases, the representation of non-profit organizations in their compliance, litigation, and lobbying matters and representation of small business owners in contractual and litigation matters.

Mackenzie received her juris doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Law School and her bachelor’s degree in business marketing from Edgewood College. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling and exploring the city with her small rescue dog.

Maravillas Rodriguez Zarco is the Senior Director, Higg Index Strategy & Operations, at Cascale. As part of her role, she ensures that the Higg Index tool strategy and tool development roadmap are aligned with Cascale’s overall impact strategy and priorities, and that the different tool development roadmaps are integrated with each other and with other external programs. She also coordinates the Higg Index team’s internal operations to ensure the effective delivery of the team objectives across the different Higg Index teams. She collaborates across the organization to ensure coherent strategy execution, fostering alignment and operational effectiveness.

Before her current role, Maravillas was the Director, Higg Brand & Retail at Cascale. Her responsibilities included managing the Higg Brand and Retail Module and coordinating with Coalition members, facilities, and stakeholders to scale the implementation of this tool globally. Prior to her time at Cascale, she served for 10 years as the CSR & Sustainability Manager at Desigual, where she managed key projects aimed at minimizing the company’s environmental impact, while promoting ethical trading and human rights. This ensured the company operated responsibly across all facets. She also built strong relationships with stakeholders, fostering transparency in the company’s sustainability initiatives.

Prior to her tenure at Desigual, Maravillas worked as a Sustainability & CSR consultant, and she is a professional with over 15 years of experience.

Maravillas holds a degree in Biology from University of Seville and a Masters in Environmental Impact Assessment from University of Barcelona. In her free time she enjoys combining her two favorite hobbies: traveling and trying new food from all around the world. She also teaches Sustainability classes to Business and Communication masters degree students.

Melissa O de León is the Higg Index Product Tools Senior Manager at Cascale, the apparel, footwear, and textile industry’s leading alliance for sustainable production. Melissa ensures that the methodology and content of the Higg Product Tools are meeting member needs. She supports industry stakeholders in submitting data through the MSI Contributor, and works with members to identify data gaps and opportunities to solicit high-quality life cycle assessment data. Melissa is based in the US in Austin, Texas.

Before joining Cascale team, Melissa co-founded Regenerate, where she worked as sustainability consultant for fashion SMEs to some of Brazil’s largest textile producers. In her role she developed the training tool ‘Sustainable Fashion Cards’, and co-authored the research report ‘Fashion Threads’, funded by the Laudes Foundation.

At a previous role at the Hessnatur Stiftung in Berlin, Melissa conducted ESG assessments for several european companies, and evaluated the textile industry’s criteria of the ‘Siegelklarheit’ platform from the German International Development Agency (GIZ).

Melissa believes in the power of education, and has volunteered in adult literacy, ESL, and community education projects. Most recently she developed a learning module about Sustainability in Fashion for the social entrepreneurship program Yunus&Youth. In her free time, Melissa enjoys sewing and learning traditional Mexican weaving techniques.

Olga leads the Strategic Design work at Cascale. As part of the Higg Index Strategy and Operations team, she is in charge of supporting the Higg Index team, and other teams as needed, in discovering and realizing opportunities for continuous improvement in our organization’s services and offering. Prior to this role, Olga was the Service Design Manager for the Higg Brand & Retail Module (BRM), where she played an active role in the design and rollout of the BRM 2022 Major Update. She is based in Barcelona, Spain.

Before joining Cascale, Olga was Business Designer at NOBA Ventures, an innovation agency with a global outlook, and Service Designer within the Group CX Innovation & Strategy team at Zurich Insurance. In these roles, through the launch of new and improved value propositions and capability building programs, she supported corporates in accelerating their transformation and innovation journeys towards becoming more human-centric, nimble, and innovative organizations.

Olga holds a postgraduate degree in Strategic Management from HEC Lausanne. In her free time, she enjoys spending time in nature, practicing yoga, reading a good book, supporting purpose-driven projects, and definitely traveling around the world to discover new people, places and cultures.

Prasanth Nandakumar is the Stakeholder Engagement Manager for APAC at Cascale. He is responsible for developing the right network of relationships to support the delivery of Cascale Strategic Plan and implementation of the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy. As one of the key Cascale contacts for identified stakeholders, he ensures proactive engagement and cooperation among Cascale’s members, the broader industry, and strategic stakeholders. He is based in Bangalore, India.

Prior to joining Cascale, Prasanth worked as a Research Specialist for ESG rating providers such as Sustainalytics (Morningstar) and S&P Global. During this time, he supported investors and NGOs with the ESG performance analysis of global companies. Overall, he brings more than eight years of experience in ESG risk assessment, human rights due diligence, and stakeholder interviews. Prasanth has an academic background in Journalism, and he worked with a newspaper for five years before moving into ESG Research.

In his free time, Prasanth enjoys travelling and listening to podcasts and music. He also enjoys long walks and playing badminton.

Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff is the director of communications at Cascale. She is responsible for all member-focused communications, developing Cascale- and member-led content that successfully weaves together the organization’s past, present, and future into a clear, cohesive narrative. As one of Cascale’s key brand ambassadors, Rachel maintains relationships with members, stakeholders, influencers, and academics and helps to spread Cascale story to external audiences, supporting the organization’s strategic goals. She is based in Los Angeles.

Prior to joining Cascale, Rachel was the communications director at the Product Stewardship Institute, where she worked on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). She was executive director of the nonprofits Healthy Child Healthy World and the 5 Gyres Institute and gave two TEDx talks on plastic pollution. Rachel co-led a microfibers legislation project with Jared Blumenfeld, now California’s Secretary of Environmental Protection. She holds a MA in journalism from USC and annually teaches communications at UCSB, her alma mater.

Also known as the blogger Mommy Greenest, Rachel appeared on “CNN” and established the Shop Drop Challenge, sponsored by ThredUp, to raise awareness about fashion’s environmental impact. In her free time, Rachel is pursuing an MFA and completing her second novel, which imagines a less dystopian and more hopeful future.

Samra is the Coordinator for Higg Index Verification team. She is responsible for supporting smooth and efficient operations of the verification services and ensuring that the Higg Index and its related tools are trusted and credible measures for sustainability performance and benchmarking.

Prior to joining Cascale, she was the Sustainability Associate Manager at rePurpose Global where she was responsible for sustainability consulting, plastic accounting and product development. She has worked on developing standards and methodologies related to plastic credits and foot printing, as well as developing 3 major sustainability products. She served as a Sustainability SME for over 250 global brands including Hilton Hotels, Saie Beauty and Colgate, where she evaluated compliance and disclosure assessments leading plastic measurement, analysis and mitigation strategies. She holds a Master’s in Environmental Engineering.

She is a cinema buff, animal lover and enjoy exploring new cuisines. She constantly look for ways to incorporate sustainability into her personal life and always seeking inspiration from other climate conscious folks.

Shelby is the Finance Manager for Cascale, and is responsible for accounts receivable, grant management, revenue recognition, and financial reporting for the organization. She oversees the financial aspects of all grants, including compliance and budgeting. Shelby manages and maintains member and stakeholder accounts for Cascale and supports accounts payable, budgetary planning, audits, and other accounting processes across the organization. She is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Before joining the Cascale team, Shelby was the Vice President of Finance & Human Resources for an industry leading provider of diagnostic healthcare services for over 13 years. She was wholly responsible for all accounting, financial, and human resources functions for the company and successfully streamlined their accounts receivable and cash flow processes, enhanced benefits structure, and improved the culture of the organization during her tenure. Shelby began her career in the nonprofit industry and supported organizations with mission work ranging from animal welfare to human services.

Shelby holds Bachelor’s Degrees in both Psychology & Sociology and has a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology with a specialization in Nonprofit Management. As a nature and animal lover, Shelby enjoys hiking, spending time with her pets, and sustainable living. She loves walking her dog, working out, and traveling somewhere new every year.

Sophie is Partnerships Coordinator for Cascale. She coordinates the apparel alliance, a partnership of four organizations (Apparel Impact Institute, Textile Exchange, ZDHC and Cascale), which involves keeping up to date the alliance workplan and tracking its deliverables as well as coordinating progress reporting and the alliance budgets. Additionally, she provides further support to the Stakeholder Engagement team. She is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Before joining Cascale, Sophie was Project Officer for Euclid Network, a European network for social enterprises, where she led two European projects related to social enterprise internationalisation. During her studies, Sophie fulfilled various part time roles such as working for the Fashion For Good Museum and the VU Sustainability Leadership Hub, a platform for sustainability education at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Sophie is a graduate from the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and holds two MSc degrees; in Environment and Resource Management and Leadership and Change Management.

In her free time, Sophie likes to go to dance classes, particularly ballet and contemporary dance. She is also an enthusiastic baker, frequently explores new hotspots in Amsterdam with her friends and loves to break away from the city to recharge in the green.

Tessa Hahn is the Manager of Member Engagement for Brand & Retail at Cascale. She works to provide Cascale members with the support they need to achieve their impact goals with the Higg Index tools and to contribute to their success within the broader industry. She is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Before joining the Cascale team, Tessa led Sustainability at Parachute Home, directing the company’s carbon reduction efforts focused on growing its sustainable material portfolio and developing Parachute x SuperCircle,  a first of its kind consumer home linens recycling solution. Previously, Tessa was part of the Responsible Sourcing & Sustainability team at Target, engaging her supplier network to advance social and environmental standards in the home textiles industry.

When not at her desk, Tessa can be found taking her very cute dog around the neighborhood, en route to a good coffee + pastry date, intensively thinking about interior design, and formulating opinions about the world of Bravo (she’s a recent convert).

Yasotharan Manivel is the Manager of the Decarbonization Program at Cascale. He is based in Chennai, India. He ensures that to drive large-scale, industry-wide environmental and social sustainability programs aimed to deliver exponential positive impacts to people and environment in the value chain. He will play a key role in setting Science Based Target and developing GHG/ carbon reduction roadmap, facilitating dialogue among stakeholders with diverse perspectives, build key short to mid-term plan based on consensus collected from the apparel, footwear, and textile industry.

Before joining Cascale team, Yasotharan was the Operation Process Manger – Sustainable Development at Decathlon for India. Where he is responsible for the implementation of Decathlon’s overarching Sustainability Strategy with a special focus on Labour, Health & Safety, Worker Well Being, and Environment management to the supply chains. He responsibly implemented decarbonized supply chain programs to identify useful solutions and develop strategy to deploy plans for textile & Footwear industries such as CO2 Measurement, Target Set, and Energy efficiency Project & Renewable energy procurement. He developed and monitor the Supplier Autonomy Projects (Human Rights & Environment) and adopt the programs based on regional.

He holds a Master Degree (MBA) in Environmental Management from Bharathidasan University. He is certified ISO 140001 Lead Auditor and he recently completed Strategy & Sustainability course from IESE Business School, University of Navarra. He enjoys spending time with family and kids and running.