SXSW Eco adds names: Venture capitalist Nancy Pfund, market pioneer Andrew Chung, Scientific American editor Mark Fischetti, and GreenLatinos CEO Mark Magaña all join 2015 roster

The South by Southwest announcements keep coming. Hot on the heels of major names for SXSW Interactive and SXSW Sports, now SXSW Eco, the environmentally responsible leading edge of the festival, has added more speakers to its roster, including a rare opportunity to grill a Monsanto executive.

Last month, the organizers confirmed that #BlackLivesMatter creator Alicia Garza, multi-Emmmy winning documentarian Solly Granatstein (Showtime’s Years of Living Dangerously), and actor/author Evan Handler were part of the first round of speakers. With this latest round, the bookers show their commitment to exploring the links between business and the environment.

Nancy Pfund of venture capital group DBL Investors was one of the first financial backers of electric car pioneers Tesla, while Andrew Chung of Khosla Ventures has built a career helping eco-savvy firms thrive in Chinese markets. Anica Landreneau is the global director of sustainability for architectural firm HOK, and since environmentalism is built into their business model, that’s a big task. Former Clinton White House senior staffer and House Democratic Caucus Senior Policy Advisor Mark Magaña definitely knows DC (he also founded National Latinos for Obama), and he’s parlayed that experience into his position as CEO of nonprofit GreenLatinos. Finally, rounding out the latest list, United Nations Foundation Vice President of Global Partnerships Jennifer Kim Field has lead on both international corporate citizenship, and grassroots fundraising awareness through the foundation’s Girl Up campaign.

This morning’s list also adds what could be one of the most controversial panels any iteration of SXSW has ever hosted: Dr. Robert Fraley, chief technical officer for biotech giant Monsanto, will hold a conversation with Scientific American senior editor Mark Fischetti. Expect a lot of discussion of GMOs and gene patents.

And while you have to wait until next year to catch the speakers for all the other strands of SXSW, Eco is a little over two months away, running Oct. 5-7 at the Austin Convention Center. More details and info atwww.sxsweco.com.

This article appears in July 24 • 2015.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.