Among 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at 2021 Builders + Innovators Summit
Gilbert, AZ - October 13, 2021 -- Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is recognizing Footprint co-founder and CEO Troy Swope as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2021 at its Builders + Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California.
Goldman Sachs selected Swope as one of 100 entrepreneurs from multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event. Swope founded Footprint, a materials science technology company focused on creating a healthy planet, in 2014 with Yoke Chung, after meeting at Intel. He describes himself as an accidental environmentalist who discovered the damage plastic outgassing was causing on Intel’s products and began to test its impact on food coming home from the supermarket. He was surprised at the correlation between plastic in food and its impact on human health. Combined with the less-than 10% plastic recycling rate, the harmful impact of plastic on the environment, and the high CO2 emissions caused from manufacturing plastic, Swope founded Footprint to solve the plastic problem from multiple angles.
“We wanted to start a company focused on bringing together the best and brightest scientists, engineers, technologists and manufacturing process experts to solve the disaster that is plastic by inventing new plant-based solutions that could perform and even outperform plastic, at a competitive price,” Swope said. “Our customers now are some of the biggest food and supermarket brands in the world and we’re now scaling rapidly to meet demand driven by tailwinds from ESG goals, regulations and consumer demand for change.”
Footprint recently signed a long-term agreement with the Phoenix Suns, Mercury and RCD Mallorca to bring the fight against environmental waste and single-use plastics to the forefront and transform sports and entertainment venues in the US and Europe.
“Innovation doesn’t happen just anywhere; it thrives where there’s a wide range of thoughts and perspectives,” said David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO of Goldman Sachs. “One of our great strengths is our ability to bring together people from different walks of life and to spark conversations today that will lead to breakthroughs tomorrow. The leaders we’ve chosen to highlight at our Builders + Innovators Summit are truly remarkable, and we are pleased to recognize Troy Swope as one of this year’s most intriguing entrepreneurs.”
In addition to honoring 100 entrepreneurs, the summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders as well as resident scholars.
About Troy Swope
Co-founder and CEO Troy Swope leads world-class engineers, scientists, environmentalists and designers on a mission to create a healthier planet, with step one to provide sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics. Troy’s work as a self-titled “accidental environmentalist” has already led to sustainable, bio-degradable, and compostable packaging solutions that are implemented by its customers in nearly every U.S. grocery store.
Troy’s innovative expertise spans over 20 years, first as an award-winning engineer at Intel where he introduced new materials science methodologies that resulted in $350 million dollar manufacturing cost savings, and later as the founder of Unisource Global Solutions which disrupted the EPS and EPE foam packaging industry by creating sustainable molded pulp packaging alternatives for consumer electronics such as Dell Computers. He has been named a Business Intelligence Group Sustainability Hero of the year and Mountain Desert Finalist for E&A’s 2020 Entrepreneur of the year. Through his leadership, the team currently supplies millions of plastic-free units every year – leading Footprint to be named to the 2021 Disruptor 50 and Fortune’s 2020 Change the World lists.
About Footprint
Footprint provides sustainable solutions that eliminate single-use and short-term use plastics. Footprint uses material science and process engineering to design, develop and manufacture plant-based biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable products that compete with plastic’s cost and performance. These solutions, digestible by the earth, keep harmful chemicals away from consumers and have directly already led to a redirection of 61 million pounds of plastic waste from the environment. Footprint is rapidly expanding into new categories with differentiated solutions for customers and has 2,430 U.S and foreign issued and pending patent claims. Customers include Conagra, Sweetgreen, Beyond Meat, as well as Fry’s and other national and international food companies and retail chains.
Footprint was founded in 2014 by former Intel engineers, Troy Swope and Yoke Chung. The company employs more than 2,500 employees, with operations in the U.S., Mexicali, Europe, and Asia. Footprint was named to the 2020 Fortune “Change the World” list, is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovators Community and was named a CNBC Disruptor 50 company in 2021.
For more information on Footprint’s sustainable solutions visit www.footprintus.com. To find out more about Footprint Foundations Pledge 2050, committing to getting rid of plastic water bottles, utensils, bags and straws, look here: https://pledge2050.org/