Dame Ellen MacArthur made yachting history in 2005 when she became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. She remains the UK’s most successful offshore racer, having won the Ostar, the Route du Rhum, and finished second in the Vendée Globe. Having become acutely aware of the finite nature of the resources on which our linear economy relies, Ellen made the difficult decision to end her professional racing career and focus on a still greater challenge: In 2010 she launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to develop and promote the idea of a circular economy. The foundation works with business, academia, policymakers, and institutions across the globe. Not surprisingly - this is the most exciting project that Ellen has worked on to date, and, like with her sailing she is totally immersed in it. Since the publication of its first economic report in 2012, the Foundation has launched global initiatives on plastics, fashion, food and finance, developed innovation networks with educators, businesses, cities and governments, and published more than 20 reports and books. Ellen MacArthur received the French Legion of Honour from President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, three years after having been knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth II. Dame Ellen MacArthur is a World Economic Forum Global Agenda Trustee for Environment and Natural Resource Security and board member of its Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy and she sat on the European Commission’s Resource Efficiency Platform between 2012 and 2014.