Marcus Carpenter ’00
- Founder, Route 1
Marcus Carpenter is the founder of Route 1, a Minnesota resource hub for Black, Brown, and Indigenous farmers. From agribanking to equipment, land acquisition and farm share distribution, Route 1 helps clients develop profitable farming enterprises while also increasing food access within communities of color. Route 1 strategic partners include some of the world’s largest brands and food distribution partners such as the American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation, the UCare Foundation, The Toro Company Foundation, The Good Acre, Freight Farms, the YMCA of the North, the National Marrow Donor Program, the Bush Foundation, the USDA and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Marcus’ passion for cultivating emerging farmers comes from his family roots as the great-grandson of one of the first Black, multi-acre landowners and farmers in Poinsett County, Arkansas.
Marcus holds a B.S. in Sociology and Behavioral Sciences and Law with a certificate in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he had a successful career as a fullback for the Wisconsin Badgers during their back-to-back Rose Bowl run in the late 90’s.
A values-focused leader, Marcus has more than 20 years’ experience leading top sales organizations and implementing strategic development initiatives for companies including Philip Morris USA, the National Basketball Association (NBA), CA Technologies, Jostens, and Rewriting the Code, a tech non-profit focused on supporting Women in Tech.
Marcus was a 2023 Finnovation Lab Fellow. In 2024, he was named as one of the Top 50 Black Leaders to know in Minneapolis/St. Paul by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and was recognized as a Community Hero on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
Heather Hasson ’04
- CEO & Co-Founder, OOG.Health
- Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, FIGS
Heather Hasson is the founder and CEO of OOG.health, a cutting-edge medical education platform. She also serves as the Executive Chairman and co-founder of FIGS, the global leading healthcare apparel and lifestyle brand.
In 2013, Heather co-founded FIGS as an e-commerce brand. FIGS reimagined scrubs, bringing style to medical professionals and revolutionizing the healthcare apparel industry. Under Heather’s leadership and vision, FIGS disrupted its industry by creating the most innovative products for healthcare professionals, offering a first-of-its-kind, direct-to-consumer online platform, and, most importantly, building a community around a profession.
When FIGS went public in 2021 at a valuation of over $5 billion, it was the first company led by two female co-founders to ever be taken public.
FIGS also works to improve the lives of healthcare workers, from advocacy on policy to the Threads for Threads initiative, which donate scrubs to healthcare professionals who work in resource-poor countries.
Heather’s latest venture, OOG.health, is transforming how knowledge is shared and consumed by healthcare professionals through an AI-powered, multi-disciplinary education platform.
Heather’s accolades include being recognized as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs at the 2024 Builders and Innovators Summit; 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs (Goldman Sachs, 2018 & 2019); Endeavor Entrepreneur (Endeavor, 2015); Entrepreneur of the Year (Ernst & Young, Los Angeles Region, 2018); Forward under 40 Award (UW–Madison, 2011); Innovation Award (RxArt Foundation, 2019); and Top 100 Female Founders (Inc. Magazine, 2019). FIGS was ranked Number 21 on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing companies in 2018.
Heather received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Greg Peifer ’99, MS’04, PhD’06
- Founder & CEO, SHINE Technologies
Greg Piefer is the founder and CEO of SHINE Technologies, a leader in next-generation fusion solutions.
Greg has a PhD in nuclear engineering and engineering physics with a minor in medical physics, and a BS in physics and electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An accomplished inventor with multiple patents, he received UW’s Engineering Early Career Award. With two decades of experience in advancing growth-stage technology companies, Greg’s mission is to commercialize scientific breakthroughs that serve society and improve the world.
Founded in 2005, SHINE is a UW-Madison spinout helping to make Wisconsin a global hub for fusion energy research and commercialization as well as for the precision medicine field of theranostics. With a unique phased approach, SHINE leverages fusion technology to address urgent needs in healthcare and industry while progressing toward clean, sustainable fusion energy.
The vision for SHINE’s technology began when Greg was an engineering graduate student at UW. First, he founded Phoenix Nuclear Labs to produce the neutron generator that he invented. Then he founded SHINE to develop, deploy and scale nuclear fusion, with technologies patented through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). SHINE partnered with WARF and the Morgridge Institute for Research to advance development of medical isotopes for diagnosing and treating cancer and heart disease, for which SHINE produces materials with fusion versus sourcing from nuclear reactors.
Headquartered in Janesville, Wis., SHINE now employs 300 people, producing medical isotopes and developing solutions for nuclear waste recycling, all while moving toward commercialization of fusion energy.
QUESTIONS?
Contact Mary Carbine at UW–Madison Discovery to Product (D2P) at mary.carbine@wisc.edu or 608-262-5310.