2026 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit

Jo Marini is CEO of Mothership Materials, recovering the molecules discarded by the food system and returning them as cost-competitive inputs for the next generation of food technologies. A 4× founder with two exits, MBA professor, and military veteran, Jo brings an unconventional advantage to legacy industry transformation: regenerative design principles applied with operational discipline. For the food system leaders working to close the gap between breakthrough technology and commercial viability, Jo is building the critical missing infrastructure: feedstocks that compete on economics, not ethics, a circular input supply chain that makes resilient food production possible, and a model that generates new economic value across the food value chain—from new revenues for farmers and food producers to new jobs in the communities where waste becomes resource. At this session, she shares lessons from Mothership's early pilots, the realities of building traction in the food waste space, and the conditions needed to unlock the next phase of scale.