Rebecca Hu

The daughter of Chinese immigrants who emphasized being responsible with the resources you have, Rebecca Hu developed a deep sense of "eco-anxiety" from witnessing wasteful habits in her hometown of Chicago. After roles at Bain & Company and Thumbtack, she learned that 50% of recyclables in the U.S. end up in landfills, and decided to dedicate her career to sustainability. She co-founded Glacier, a company revolutionizing recycling using robotics and AI, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.

As Glacier’s co-founder and CEO, Hu developed a proprietary AI-powered robot that can accurately identify and sort more than 30 different materials, achieving 45 picks per minute in recycling facilities — at less than half the cost of existing recycling methods. Glacier rescues 130 million items from landfills annually, and that number continues to grow. By increasing efficiency, reducing the need for new materials, and significantly lowering energy consumption, Glacier’s robot stands to decrease global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10 billion tons.