OUR PEOPLE
When I joined the Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute in 2011, I knew that I was becoming part of an important movement. What I could not have envisioned was just how far-reaching our scope of work would become and how safer chemistry would become central to the circular economy.
This evolution highlighted a clear and specific need to create better, more accessible material health knowledge for designers and manufacturers across all industries. In 2017 our team began working on a new initiative called MaterialWise, to expand access to verified chemical hazard information as an accelerator for positive design. In 2018 we spun-out of C2CPII and engaged in co-design and proof-of-concept pilot alongside partners from Target, Google, Nike, Levis, Method, Steelcase, Environmental Defense Fund, C&A Foundation, ZDHC, and more.
To lead this innovative project, I am drawing from 25 years of experience encompassing management consulting, high growth start-ups, public-private partnerships, and an MBA from Duke University.
Dr. Lauren Heine works to protect human and environmental health by applying alternatives assessment, green
chemistry, green engineering and multi-stakeholder collaboration to the development of products and processes.
Lauren led the creation and development of GreenScreen® for Safer Chemicals and GS List Translator, increasingly
used for chemical hazard assessment worldwide. She also led the creation and development of CleanGredients™, a
web-based information platform for identifying greener chemicals in cleaning products in partnership with the USEPA
Safer Choice Program (formerly Design for the Environment (DfE)). This was the first database of ‘positive’ ingredients.
Lauren was executive director at Northwest Green Chemistry and continues to serve as Senior Science Advisor.
She co-chairs the Apple Green Chemistry Advisory Board, which is tasked with helping to integrate green chemistry into Apple’s products and supply chain. For the OECD, she drafted Policy Principles for Sustainable Materials Management and Considerations and Criteria for Sustainable Plastics from a Chemicals Perspective.
Lauren served on the California Green Ribbon Science Panel. For the US EPA, she helped develop criteria for the DfE Safer Choice Program and served on both Steering and Technical Committees for all of the Alternatives Assessment Partnerships. Lauren advised the technical development of the Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse Alternatives Assessment Guide and the WA Alternatives Assessment Guide.
She earned her doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Duke University. She was a Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in the Green Chemistry Program at the US Environmental Protection Agency and taught chemistry labs at Bowdoin College.
Lauren is currently adjunct faculty in the Center for Engineering Design & Entrepreneurship at Gonzaga University.
Heather McKenney serves as Director, Science and Safer Chemistry at ChemFORWARD, where she drives
efforts to enhance access to high quality chemical hazard data and amplify safer alternatives. She oversees
ChemFORWARD's Chemical Hazard Data Trust and plays a key role in science communication. Heather
collaborates with industry, NGO, and governmental stakeholders across all industry sectors that ChemFORWARD serves.
Heather previously led Toxicology and Product Safety for The Honest Company. In this role, she oversaw ingredient and product safety review and substantiation and clinical safety testing while supporting regulatory compliance, governmental affairs, and science communication for beauty and personal care, cleaning, and baby products.
Heather is a member of California's Department of Toxic Substances Control's Green Ribbon Science Panel (GRSP), which advises the Safer Consumer Products (SCP) Program on a variety of scientific and technical matters related to green chemistry, policy recommendations, and implementation of the SCP Regulations. She is also a member of the Chemical Hazard Data Trust's Steering Committee. She holds an MPH in Environmental Health from Boston University School of Public Health and BS in Environmental Science from Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI). Heather resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Dr. Christopher Lee Bartlett is an experienced toxicologist committed to designing safer products through the
application of toxicological methods and the promotion of safer alternatives.
Chris has a diverse background in assessing materials and finished consumer products, hazard and safety labelling,
maintaining product stewardship guidelines, and setting strategies for toxicology testing protocols, having worked for
biotechnology and consumer product companies, as well as multiple federal agencies.
He is currently focused on supporting the development of tools to aid in increasing the efficiency of toxicological assessments and to enable toxicologists to make clearer decisions about the safe use of materials. For the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he supported the development of Janus Nonclinical, a tool designed to utilize SEND (Standard for Exchange of Nonclincal Data) from the electronic submission of nonclinical study data allowing reviewers to analyze data and create summary tables more efficiently. He continues to support training of reviewers as the FDA goes through this paradigm shift in the review process.
At ChemForward, Chris serves as Lead Toxicologist, supporting assessors, verifiers, and developing associated guidances including topics such as botanicals and polymers. Chris works with brands on ingredient intelligence benchmark reports and with suppliers to achieve the SAFER designation.
He earned his doctorate in Toxicology from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill after receiving a BS in Biological Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University.
Gabrielle Rigutto joined ChemFORWARD after working as a Specialist at the Division of Environmental Health
Sciences at the University of California, School of Public Health and Researcher at the Safer Consumer Products
(SCP) Program at the Department of Toxic Substances Control. She has nearly a decade of experience advocating for
comprehensive approaches to chemical risk assessment and policy frameworks that protect the public from harmful
chemical exposures.Rigutto earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a Master of Science
in Environmental Science and Policy from Clark University. She also earned a second
Master of Science in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, School of Public Health.
Rachel Simon joined ChemFORWARD with a diverse background in advancing safer chemistry. With over 15 years
of experience in sustainability, Rachel specializes in evaluating the impacts of chemicals, materials, and products.
Her experience includes collaborating with brands, formulators, and chemical manufacturers to enhance the adoption
of green chemistry while serving at the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3, now Change Chemistry),
developing criteria for the electronics sector’s EPEAT ecolabel, as well as researching methodological topics in the
practice of alternatives assessment.
As Senior Manager, Safer Chemistry Collaboratives she leads strategic program development and stakeholder engagement across all ChemFORWARD Collaboratives. She works to identify and activate leverage points, facilitate collaborative goal setting, and embed science-based, data-driven tools and metrics in the supply chain to accelerate the transition to safer chemistry.
She has a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, after receiving a BS in Applied Mathematics from Sonoma State University.
Hong Lin joined ChemFORWARD with a wealth of knowledge in regulatory compliance, program development,
stakeholder collaboration, and science-based safer chemistry decision-making. She served as a Scientist at the
Environmental Working Group (EWG), where she led the design and launch of a cosmetic ingredient verification
program. Her work spanned scientific criteria development, ingredient evaluation, and collaborative engagement
with brands and suppliers to advance ingredient safety and transparency.
As Program Manager - Industry Collaboratives, Hong is a key leader in driving the growth and impact of our cross-sector collaboratives and plays a critical role in the implementation, growth, and success of ChemFORWARD’s Industry Collaboratives. As part of the Supply Chain Transformation team, she supports strategic program management, client delivery, and stakeholder engagement across key sectors, including Beauty & Personal Care, Consumer Electronics, Apparel, and more.
Hong holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and has applied her training to real-world chemical safety challenges.
Greg Hughes is an experienced software engineer specializing in forensic-like investigations within high-volume
software companies with a proven track record of delivering results on multiple projects. As a Software Developer
at ChemFORWARD, Hughes will play a pivotal part in the maintenance, enhancement, and development of our
software applications. These applications are critical, facilitating access to and utilization of our comprehensive
chemical hazard repository.
Grace brings to ChemFORWARD her experience in advanced PFAS research spanning science communication, exposure assessment, and safer alternatives. She most recently served as a Program Manager at the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, where she led efforts to embed environmental justice in California’s Safer Consumer Products alternatives assessment guidance, covering hazard assessment, life-cycle impacts, supply chains, and community engagement.
As Research Scientist for Data & Analytics, Grace transforms complex chemical hazard data into credible, scalable, and actionable insights that power ChemFORWARD’s Data Trust, analytics, and reporting tools, bridging hazard information, data infrastructure, and product delivery to support high-quality decision-making for ChemFORWARD’s external stakeholders.
Grace holds a Master of Science in Environmental Health Science from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering Science from the UC Berkeley College of Engineering.