Laure Abourachid is a Swiss-American graduate of École Hôtelière de Lausanne. Since the age of 15, she has dedicated her career to hospitality. After graduating, she moved to the United States and went on to work for some of America’s most renowned chefs and entrepreneurs, such as Joel Robuchon, Dominique Crenn, Danny Meyer, Eric Ziebold, and Ryan Ratino. Over 10 years of restaurant management, she has accumulated a wealth of experience building teams, managing small businesses, and fostering community.

She eventually settled in the North Bay and focused her hospitality skills on an environment that would allow her to touch more souls. In 2023, she started working at Hog Island Oyster Company as the Assistant Director of Restaurant Operations. Hog Island’s long history of raising the best quality, sustainable shellfish and its tremendous impact in safekeeping the health of coastal ecosystems has taught Laure a lot about how keystone species are the key to our planet’s and communities’ health. Laure believes that much in the oyster’s ecosystem can relate to human society.

Greg Thouvenin is a biotech operator and EPFL alum (BSc Life Sciences Engineering) based in San Francisco. After earning his PhD at UC San Diego engineering bacteria and microfluidics for environmental sensing, Greg bridged academia, management consulting, and biotech startups to bring new technologies to market. At Loyal, a startup developing drugs to extend dogs’ healthy lifespans, he supported operations and strategy through a $50M+ Series B. Currently, as Director of Strategy and Business Development at BBOT, he drives strategic initiatives to develop precision cancer therapies. When not deep in biotech, you’ll find Greg cycling, climbing mountains, or hunting for great cheese.

Natalia Guecheva is a production manager for events with a personal affinity for arts, performances, and civic engagement. She has a successful track record in managing a unique range of programs and events in San Francisco and Zurich. She worked many years for the SWISS FILMS foundation organizing the Swiss Film Prize, and the Swiss Cinema Day at the Film Festival Locarno.
She was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and has a Master’s Degree in science of the media, science of the cinema, and criminology from the University of Zurich. Since autumn 2010, she has lived on and off in San Francisco and enjoys the rich diversity of people and cultural events in the city.