• Apex Catalytic

    Guiding Leading Corporations, Impact Investors, and Growth-Stage Startups through Frontier Sustainability Challenges With Unmatched Speed and Rigor

  • Jon Powell, PhD founded Apex Catalytic to tackle the world's toughest sustainability challenges and equip others to do the same. He advises top corporations, impact investment funds, and growth-stage startups on Frontier Sustainability Challenges - problems without a playbook demanding a blend of expertise, innovation, and bold solutions.

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    Trusted Advisor

    300+ Novel project engagements supporting a range of impact-focused organizations spanning large corporations, startups, and impact funds

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    Tech Leader

    Developer of Impact Ignition tech-enabled workshops, Circular Economy Data Portal, EPR DataHub, and Former Co-Founder and Head of Salesforce's Global Sustainability Practice

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    Impact Investor

    Former Co-Head of the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group's $300M AUM Circular Economy Impact Investment Funds

  • Why Apex Catalytic?

    Partners work with us when they need exceptional and experience-driven results, delivered fast, without the friction or bloat common with other firms. Our radical enablement model goes beyond delivering best-in-class solutions. We leverage modern digital tools to teach your team how to sustain and build on our work long after our engagement ends, providing you long-term, durable value.

  • Our Offerings and Service Areas

    We richly and effectively support people at large corporations, impact investment funds, and growth startups in three ways: Impact Ignition Workshops, Access-Based Expert Advisory, or Project-Based Engagement.

    Our current focus areas are:

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    Sustainable Tech and Data Products

    Leveraging hard tech, ESG and complementary software, generative AI, big and small data, and other tools and technologies to help organizations achieve ambitious, sustainable outcomes. We also leverage our Circular Economy Data PlatformTM and EPR DataHubTM to accelerate your progress.

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    Impact Fund Support

    Operational and technical due diligence on investors or portfolio target companies, creating effective investment strategies, navigating regulatory and impact-focused frameworks, leveraging AI and digital tools to enhance operational capabilities and rigor.

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    Impact IgnitionTM Workshops

    Our proprietary tech-enabled workshop model delivers 20x insights and increases participation by 50% compared to traditional workshop models. We deploy three different workshop archetypes based on the group's makeup and goals: Brainstorming, Strategic Alignment, and Feedback.

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    Circularity

    We support innovators across the supply chain to develop programs and systems that result in lower-carbon, circular material outcomes that drive business value and unlock competitive advantage.

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    Research & Development

    Delivering a range of advanced R&D driving completely new innovations, or working hand-in-hand with your internal team to drive sustainable outcomes, articulate market differentiation, accelerate growth, and enhance your impact.

  • About Jon

    The toughest sustainability problems don't come with instructions, and Jon has spent most of his 20+ year career navigating uncertainty toward creating positive and sustainable outcomes for the environment while delivering business value.

    Jon's mission is to help companies tackle their biggest sustainability challenges - identifying high-leverage opportunities and solving them, and equipping teams with key frameworks, tools, and ways of executing to help them navigate the future with confidence. These elements are key parts of our goal to enable 10,000 sustainability professionals by 2030.

    Jon earned his PhD at Yale University and is the author of 20+ peer-reviewed research articles spanning leading-edge sustainability topics.

    His work has been featured on NPR's Science Friday, New York Times, Associated Press, IFL Science, and he is a frequently invited speaker at leading fora for sustainability and impact investment professionals.

  • We've Accelerated Many of the World's Leading Organizations, Including:

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  • Let's Work Together

    Click below to tell us more about your sustainability challenge to see if we may be a fit to work together.

    Although we decline far more opportunities than we choose to take on, we always work to provide you with helpful direction and other resources or people that may be a better fit to help you.

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