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Montreal

2024 SPESA Executive Conference

Montréal, QC | October 8-10, 2024

Speakers Information

Get to know our amazing lineup of speakers for the 2024 SPESA Executive Conference! 

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Diarra Bousso 

Founder, DIARRABLU 

Diarra Bousso is an entrepreneur, creative mathematician, and multidisciplinary artist. She is the founder of the fashion tech company DIARRABLU, focused on weaving sustainability seamlessly into a unique design and manufacturing process known for thoughtfully merging the worlds of artisans and algorithms with the goal to reduce waste.

 

Profiled by Forbes, Reuters, CNN, and Vogue for its innovations, DIARRABLU uses traditional craftsmanship, algorithmic design, flexible sizing, and circular manufacturing to reduce textile wastage by over 60%. 

 

Diarra was born in Dakar, Senegal, grew up in Norway, and later on moved to the U.S. where she started her career on Wall Street. She resigned to follow her passion in art, mathematics, and design, and completed her Master's in Mathematics Education at Stanford University with stints at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Center for Computational Research in Music and Acoustics. 

 

Diarra is focused on thoughtfully merging the worlds of math and arts for a multi-disciplinary approach to innovation in design and learning. Her mission is to leverage technology for a more inclusive and sustainable fashion future.

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Navi Cohen

Vice President of Advanced Materials, SRTX

Navi Cohen, VP Advanced Materials at SRTX. SRTX is working to power the future of textiles by developing sustainable high performance materials and circular solutions. Navi has developed innovative materials and manufacturing processes that enable exceptional user experiences while simultaneously reducing waste and carbon footprint. Previously co-founder of Revol Technologies where he developed the first quick custom-moldable earphones, he strongly believes in the power of material science to transform industries.

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Justine Decaens 

Research & Development Manager, CTT Group 

Justine Decaens is the Research & Development Manager at CTT Group. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Textile Engineering and a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering. She started her career at CTT Group as a project leader specialized in smart textiles. She has worked on many R&D projects related to the development of heating textiles and the integration of various textiles sensors such as ECG, respiration rate for biomonitoring, pressure, temperature, humidity, and so on.

 

In her current role, she supervises R&D projects that extend beyond just smart textiles, encompassing areas such as protective textiles, sustainable textiles, and more. While she remains engaged in certain technical aspects of these projects where her expertise in textile engineering is essential, her primary focus is on managing public funding to support these initiatives.

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Holli Markwald 

CEO, Prairie Wear 

Holli is all about creating positive global impact and communities of support through her role as CEO. Prairie Wear is a global leader in versatile sustainable bras powered by science to be better for your body and the planet. 

 

From the company’s first sale (November 2017) its intention was always to help people feel better, get better, and make decisions that are better for the planet. 

 

As a thought leader, Holli has focussed on sustainability as a core value in start-ups and small businesses, a topic she spoke on at Techtextil last year and has championed for many years. 

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Leonard Marano 

President of the Americas, Lectra 

Leonard Marano has been President of the Americas at Lectra since June 1, 2021, and a member of the Executive Committee since July 16, 2021.

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Prior to joining Lectra, Leonard Marano spent seven years in various positions at Gerber Technology with his most recent being Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to Gerber Technology, he spent 10 years in senior product management and marketing roles for advanced technology organizations. From 2006 through 2012, he led FujiFilm’s kiosk equipment, software, and consumable businesses. Following FujiFilm, he worked at Jensen Dental where he launched and managed their line of CAD/CAM digital dentistry equipment, software, and consumables.

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Leonard Marano holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Central Connecticut State University.

 

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Michael Mayr 

Founder, silana 

Michael Mayr is the founder of silana, a pioneering DeepTech startup that is transforming the fashion industry through automation. Silana has developed the first robot capable of fully automating the manufacturing process, from fabric roll to finished garment, with no human intervention. This innovation addresses the longstanding challenges of manual sewing, enabling a high-quality, cost-effective production even in high-wage countries like the United States and Canada: “Made in USA” at lower prices than “Made in China”

 

This not only enables a reshored supply chain that creates local value and high-quality jobs but also significantly reduces CO2-emissions and overproduction.

 

Before starting silana, Michael gained valuable experience working at Austria's largest fashion retailer, Fussl Modestraße, as well as with several fashion producers across Europe.

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Jessica Ramey

Founder, Mercantilia Consulting 

Type-A Wanderer, conversation seeker, champion of the underdog. 

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Jessica Ramey is the founder and boots on the ground for Mercantilia Consulting. With more than a decade of experience, she and her team collaborate with some of the most exciting and adventurous global fashion brands working in Africa. Founded in 2014, Mercantilia provides a hands-on approach to helping brands source and develop healthy and ethical partnerships with the continent’s most remote and marginalized communities. 

 

After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2008 with a BFA in Fashion Design, Jessica worked for Edun, Bono and Ali Hewson’s pioneering brand. Cutting her teeth in product development and production directed her journey to Nairobi, where Mercantilia was born. Splitting her time between the recently opened Casablanca, Morocco, and Paris, France, Jessica continues to expand awareness about the opportunities in Africa. Mercantilia is committed to building partnerships between brands and artisans that are meaningful, uplifting and beautiful. 

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John Robinson
Senior Strategic Account Manager - Apparel, Aptean​

John Robinson is a sales, marketing, and business development executive with a 30-year history of record setting revenue generation and successful new technology product launches in retail, apparel, footwear, accessories, home, and other sewn-products industries. Core competencies include sales management and leadership, strategic account sales and management, international sales (Latin America, Asia, Europe, Eastern Europe and the Middle East), marketing and promotion, operations management, field sales, inside sales, and CRM implementation.


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Lila Rousselet

CEO, Montloup 

Passionate about fiber, colour, and knitting, Lila has built herself in a universe where fabric has always played a decisive role.

 

Lila Rousselet has a background in textile design and construction, which she obtained in France and Quebec. In addition to her expertise, she has three years of experience as a production manager and knitting machine operator at a Montréal textile company. In 2018, she founded Montloup, a company specialized in the manufacture of knitted fabrics in Montréal, respecting both people and the environment. Her training and passion constantly push her to research the latest trends and new materials in order to offer ever more environmentally friendly alternatives.

 

Lila is also very active in the Montréal fashion ecosystem. She is part of the Concertation Montréal fashion, textile, and clothing community of practice, whose mission is to promote best practices in eco-responsible and circular manufacturing. She is a member of Mmode, which allowed her to present her fabrics at the last Première Vision trade show in New York. Lila also supports the Fibershed Quebec initiative to promote and enhance Quebec's regional textiles. On an international level, Lila is a member of Textile Exchange, which notably allowed her to participate in COP15, the UN World Summit for Biodiversity Preservation, in December 2022.

 

In addition to her business activities, Lila also volunteers at the Repair Café, whose mission is to extend the life of clothing by repairing it, and teaches knitting at the Montréal Centre for Contemporary Textiles.

 

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Rickey Ruff

Founder & Managing Director, Global Nuclear Concepts

Rickey Ruff began his career in fashion with Ralph Lauren Corporation in New York City successfully carrying out roles on the international scale in product development, global manufacturing and sourcing, costing, technical design, and global business process. He has lived in Switzerland, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, and has traveled for Global Nuclear Concepts  pilot projects throughout Europe, the UK, the Middle East, and Asia.

 

With a multilateral, multinational, and multisectoral approach, his mission is to decarbonize manufacturing in the fashion industry with nuclear power. Rickey recognized an opportunity to bring two very unlikely yet very exciting sectors together creating an onramp for broad and significant global participation in the fight against climate change.

 

He also created the 1st ever Nuclear-Powered Carbon Offset for the fashion industry and currently works for adidas in product operations to accelerate and expand product creation, profitability, visibility, alignment, and brand impact.

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Marine Savard

Project Coordinator - HR, Export + Innovation, mmode

Marine Savard has been a project manager at the Montréal Fashion Cluster since February 2022. Her role at mmode is primarily to ensure the development, attraction, recruitment and retention of talent, in line with the fashion industry's current and future needs. It also ensures the development of a culture of innovation at all levels of the corporate value chain, and promotes Montreal as a fashion metropolis on international markets.

 

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Krista Schreiber

Apparel and Textile Industry Advisor

Krista Schreiber is an accomplished leader with over 25 years of expertise in apparel and textile development, product operations, supplier strategy, and quality production for world-renowned brands such as Nike, Lululemon, Cotton Incorporated, and Arc’teryx. With a passion for fit, form, and functional engineering, she values quality textile attributes and digital technology in creating high performance products efficiently and accurately. Her empathetic leadership style centers around cultivating curiosity, clarity, and communication, resulting in high-performance results.

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Krista is known for defining innovative solutions with integrity. She has elevated production operations, streamlined product processes, and built strong global partnerships. Her time living in Asia for 9 years was instrumental in her growth, where she led Apparel Developers for the Asia Pacific Market and later managed a Production Liaison Office, working with factories, mills, service providers, and government organizations to drive successful operations.

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Outside of her professional achievements, Krista finds inspiration in the great outdoors, embracing life 'on the mountain' in Washington State with her husband. They enjoy cycling, hiking, kayaking, and woodworking. Krista also dedicates volunteer time to inspiring youth to pursue careers in the Apparel and Textile Industry, sharing her wealth of experience to guide the next generation of innovators.

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