Event Recap: How Atlanta Companies - and Students - Are Cultivating a Greener World

Circular City: How Atlanta Trades Sustainability Innovations with the World

August 28, 2025
Atlanta International School – Sandy Springs

Set in a forest along the Chattahoochee River, Atlanta International School’s new Sandy Springs campus was the ideal place for a forum design to explore the city’s impact on global efforts to cultivate a greener world.

From innovative startups to international investors, experts shared how they’ve designed their business in such a way that sustainability is not something bolted on to a legacy business, but the main engine driving their profitability.

Their general argument: Climate idealism may inspire some, but good old-fashioned dollars and cents is what can entice the deployment of capital needed to lift world-changing ideas off the ground. And it’s the aggregate of these solutions, often enabled by new technologies, that can actually make a dent in the fight against global warming, deforestation, pollution and other hot-button environmental topics.

More than 80 attendees left with an optimistic take that business can be a force for good and, in fact, a driver of change, and that with the right viewpoint, companies can balance the needs of the planet with the imperatives of profit.

Before the panels of experts and entrepreneurs, guests heard from the new principal of AIS Sandy Springs, Rachel Hovington, who explained how the campus itself is becoming an educational tool. AIS is working with XNatura, a tech platform enabled by AI that helps monitor biodiversity on campus and create action plans for conservation and risk reduction.

AIS students, meanwhile, shared a startup idea that is just leaving The Nest, an innovation and entrepreneurship platform where students work with real-world mentors and pitch projects for startup funding. Their prototyped device, Elyco, harvests dew from the air at a household level, alleviating water shortages in drought-stricken areas. The solar-powered device aims to make accessible a technology that has heretofore only been available at industrial scale, benefiting families while advancing toward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 6: “Clean water and sanitation.”

Attendees were able to tour the new AIS Campus, which can be rented for corporate retreats, seminars and other gatherings, after the breakfast discussion.

Organized By:

Speakers

PANELISTS:

Christian Bokich,
Director, Government Relations & Public Affairs
SK Battery America

Christian Bokich has over 25 years of experience working in the auto industry. Having worked for VW, Audi, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, and now SK Battery America, his wide variety of experience includes brand and product management, advertising, accessories & parts, and communications. Christian joined SK Battery America in Commerce, GA in October 2024, and built up the company’s internal communications and culture-building strategy. He also strengthened communications amongst important stakeholders within Jackson County and the State of Georgia. He lives in the City of Atlanta with his wife Stephanie, daughter Alessandra who is in 6th grade at AIS, and a handsome Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Freddy. Last but not least, Christian is a proud product of Georgia’s Economic Development efforts, having moved to Atlanta from New York City with Mercedes-Benz USA in June 2015.

“We’re the old timers in the EV battery space. We opened our factory in 2021.”

-On how SK Battery America is still

Olivier Brauen,
VP Circularity Business Solutions Development and Transformation Americas
Michelin

Olivier Brauen holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPFL), complemented with Master Degree in Business Administration from the IMD Business School. Continuous executive education at IMD, INSEAD and MIT.

“When we compete, we compete for the consumer. When we talk about the environment, we talk together.”

-On European unity on sustainability issues versus American fragmentation

Emily Morris
Founder & CEO
Emrgy

“Ultimately, as any business does, you have to secure your own future.” On the double-edged sword of renewable energy dynamism and volatility in investment markets, and why Emrgy launched a water product to complement its power generation solutions

Ramtin Motahar
Founder & CEO
Joulea

With bachelor degrees in economics and industrial engineering from Georgia Tech, Ramtin Motahar has been involved in real estate development from an early age. His background in commercial real estate development, engineering and construction led him to identify silos in the industry and the lack of an integrated development ecosystem, resulting in higher energy usage and carbon emissions from commercial buildings. To answer these issues, he pursued a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech with the goal of creating a novel approach to commercial real estate’s energy use practices. After a couple of years of research and testing, He founded Joulea, the built environment’s most accurate energy assessment platform to empower building owners to maximize profitability and minimize carbon footprint.

“We call it Mother Earth. But I feel like we take better care of our children than we do our mothers. So maybe we should call it Child Earth. -On embracing innovations to save energy but also right-sizing consumption. “You can’t outrun a bad diet.”

Karlos Walkes
CEO & Co-Founder XiQ

“This is an invisible market. There’s not much known about this market. Because we’ve literally figured out how to touch this market with the hardware, we can move the data to enable governmental institutions to understand, ‘Well, how can we utilize these vehicles … to promote emissions reduction?'”

-On the sustainability impacts of XiQ’s replacement for keyed ignition in golf carts and other non-automotive vehicles