CLimateinnovation

With more than 15 years of experience across public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, Julia has dedicated her career to transforming ideas into impact, founding and leading organizations, strategies, and teams for equitable climate action. Julia served as Senior Principal at the global climate non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute, where she led a team of 20 direct reports, a grant team of 100+, and a budget of $16M+ to accelerate first-of-a-kind investments in decarbonizing industry, aviation, shipping, and trucking. She was Clean Industrial Hub Director for the non-profit Mission Possible Partnership, co-leading a 2-year, $24M grant from the Bezos Earth Fund.

Previously, she served as the Executive Officer of Economic Development for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, overseeing 8 City departments, including the Airports and Port, and disbursing $150M in financial assistance to businesses and NGOs during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also worked as a sustainability product manager and trusted advisor to 35+ cities globally at the top global infrastructure and technology firm Siemens.

Julia is trained as an economist and urban designer, and enjoys being a podcast host and conference emcee. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, L.A. Times, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CityLab, Vox, Governing Magazine, Quartz, and Curbed.

Francis Pollara is a serial entrepreneur and business strategist with over 15 years of experience across public, private, and non-profit sectors—building and scaling ventures in media, entertainment, tech, venture capital, transportation, and cleantech. With an MBA and a background rooted in industrial design, product innovation, and business strategy, Francis brings a rare blend of creative vision and analytical expertise to every challenge.

Today, Francis sits on the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Advisory Board, and advises several startup organizations like Bloom, a startup operations marketplace enabling sustainable onshore e-mobility manufacturing. Francis also serves as a Commissioner for the City of La Cañada Flintridge. His work has been featured in The Guardian, L.A. Times, The New York Times, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CityLab, Governing Magazine, Axios, and Curbed.

Previously, he served as Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, co-founding and launching Urban Movement Labs alongside Julia Thayne. In 2015, Francis founded Luma Launch, an early-stage venture capital fund that invested in 30+ startups, including such companies as Lensabl, Community, Trust & Will, Intro, LeaseLock, and Donut Media. He successfully exited his last startup in 2019.