Ken Alston & Kevin De Cuba
Co-founders, Circularity Edge, LLC.
Sustainability Raised Awareness
Now It’s Time For Transformation
Most businesses today feel caught between growth pressures and sustainability expectations.
* ESG reporting increases.
* Efficiency improves.
* Circular initiatives multiply.
Yet something deeper isn’t shifting.
Circularity Edge helps business leaders move beyond “doing less harm” — toward redesigning how value is created, so growth and long-term viability finally align.
Why Sustainability Feels Stuck
Over the past 30+ years, sustainability has succeeded in making environmental and social challenges visible.
But visibility alone does not change systems.
Many leaders now find themselves navigating:
- ESG requirements that feel disconnected from strategy
- Circular economy initiatives that don’t translate into real business value
- Efficiency gains that don’t increase resilience
- Sustainability efforts that feel fragmented and reactive
The issue isn’t effort.
The issue is that most approaches focus on optimization — not redesign.
A Different Starting Point
At Circularity Edge, we work upstream of metrics and frameworks.
We start with a simple premise:
Business systems produce exactly the results they were designed to produce.
If outcomes feel misaligned, the opportunity isn’t better reporting.
It’s better design.
That means looking at your organization through a wider lens:
- Where growth may be quietly eroding future capacity
- Where efficiency masks deeper structural risk
- Where circularity lacks connection to life-support outcomes
- Where untapped value already exists inside your system
This is not about adding another sustainability layer.
It’s about seeing your business differently.
I’m Ken Alston — a life-centered business architect and strategic advisor with over 40 years of experience working inside corporate sustainability, circularity, and regenerative design.
I was present at the beginning of modern corporate sustainability. I helped translate Cradle to Cradle thinking into business practice.
I’ve advised organizations navigating ESG, circular economy, and transformation.
What I’ve learned is simple:
Sustainability doesn’t stall because leaders don’t care.
It stalls because we’ve been working inside incomplete belief systems.
Today, my role is to help founders, CEOs, and executives realign the beliefs that shape their organizations — so profitability, resilience, and stewardship of life-support systems reinforce each other rather than compete.
I don’t work at the level of metrics.
I work at the level of beliefs that create systems.
Abundance Reframe Strategy Session
If you sense that traditional sustainability approaches aren’t getting you where you need to go, this is your entry point.
Private Executive Coherence Review
A focused 60–90 minute strategy session where we explore your business through a life-aligned, value-centered lens.
Together we’ll identify:
- where current strategies may be creating false progress
- where efficiency or growth may be masking deeper risk
- where real abundance already exists inside your organization
- practical opportunities for redesign that support both profitability and long-term viability
You’ll leave with:
- a clearer view of your business system
- priority insights tailored to your situation
- concrete next steps — not theory
This is not consulting theater.
It’s a real conversation about how your business works — and how it could work better.
Who This Is For
This session is designed for:
- Founders and business owners
- CEOs and senior leaders
- Executives responsible for strategy or transformation
Especially those who:
- feel ESG has become bureaucratic
- want growth without compromising the future
- sense that “doing less harm” isn’t enough
- are ready to think structurally about their business
Get strategic clarity in one session
You don’t need to learn another framework.
You need clarity.
Circularity Edge exists to help business leaders redesign value creation — so organizations can thrive economically while actively supporting the conditions that make thriving possible.
If you’re ready to explore what that looks like for your business, start with an Abundance Reframe Strategy Session
After 40 years of building circular systems—from starting up the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to 17 years implementing Cradle to Cradle design principles, and managing the creation of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and its product certification program—I’ve learned this: The executives who transform their industries aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones with the most clarity
“We’re making rational decisions quarter by quarter, but I’m not sure they add up to a resilient business.“
Most leadership teams don’t say this out loud.
But many feel it.
Before you invest in change, know where to intervene and what actually matters.
We help business leaders see their leverage points, reduce wasted effort, and redesign for sustainable circularity.
Circularity Edge works with executives who sense misalignment early and want clarity before costs, constraints, and consequences harden.
💭 “I lie awake thinking about what my grandchildren will inherit. But board meetings are about quarterly targets. Am I living two lives?”
💭 “We’re ‘doing sustainability’ but nothing feels deep enough for the transformation I know we need.”
💭 “I have the commitment. I lack the frameworks to turn it into strategy my board will fund.”
You’re not alone. And you don’t need more commitment—you need clarity.
Ready to Bridge the Gap?
I work intimately with a small number of executives each year. The exploratory call is free, confidential, and pressure-free. We’ll discuss your situation, explore if these frameworks fit, and determine if working together makes sense.
Book an exploratory call with Ken Alston
Most executives fail not from lack of commitment, but from imprecise thinking. Imprecise language creates an imprecise strategy. I’ve spent 40 years developing frameworks that bridge regenerative vision and quarterly reality.
The Tactical TetrahedronTM
See where you actually are. Most companies apply the wrong strategy to the wrong phase. This 3D model shows you: Creation, Maturity, Death, or Sustainability—and which moves work in each.
Design Like NatureTM
Seven regenerative principles that create value. Not a linear checklist. An iterative system that finds opportunities others miss—from waste elimination to new revenue.
Vitacide RiskTM
Business intelligence on existential threats. When regenerative capacity degrades, it shows up as operational risk. Identify it early, when options still exist.
Why Precision Matters
📊 “A manufacturing CEO spent $2M on ‘circular economy’ initiatives that failed—because they never defined what ‘circular’ meant in their specific system.”
📊 “A CPG company applied Maturity-phase optimization strategies while entering Death phase. It accelerated their decline instead of preventing it.”
📊 “An executive told me: ‘We’ve been using the word sustainable for three years. Last week I realized no two people on my team define it the same way.'”
Transition: These aren’t theoretical failures. These are patterns I’ve seen repeatedly over 40 years—and they’re all preventable with precise frameworks.
How We Work
For You as an Individual Leader
Executive Coaching
Monthly partnership for leaders navigating transformation
What you get:
- 2 sessions/month + quarterly intensives
- Framework tools and application guidance
- 40 years of pattern recognition
- Accountability to your deepest commitments
Who this is for: CEOs, VPs, founders feeling the weight of legacy—ready for precision and depth.
Book Exploratory CallFor Your Leadership Team
Full Day Leadership Intensive
Keynote + hands-on workshop where your team learns and applies frameworks
What you get:
- Morning: Framework keynote (what took me 40 years to learn)
- Afternoon: Apply to your specific challenges
- Team alignment + 90-day action roadmap
- Tools to continue using
Who this is for: Teams needing shared language, clear priorities, and consensus on regenerative strategy.
Request Workshop ProposalThe Gap Is Costing You
📉 Strategic drift: Every quarter without frameworks, the gap between vision and execution widens
💸 Missed opportunities: Circular economy value sits uncaptured while competitors move
⏰ Time you don’t have: Transformation requires years. Starting in 2027 instead of 2025 changes everything.
The executives who transform their industries start before they feel “ready.” They start when they feel the weight.
Strategic Clarity Session
Half-day intensive on your most pressing strategic challenge
What you get:
Pre-session: You send context; I spend 3-4 hours preparing framework analysis
The session: 3-4 hour working session (virtual or in-person) Deep dive on your challenge
Apply all three frameworks to your situation
Develop 90-day action roadmap
Translation coaching: how to present this to your board
Deliverable: 8-10 page summary document with analysis and recommendations
Who this is for: Executives facing a major decision, stuck on a strategic challenge, or needing outside perspective with precision frameworks—fast.
Timeline: Book to delivery in 7-10 days
Investment: $3,500
What 40 Years Teaches You
“After starting the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, working 17 years on Cradle to Cradle, and developing circular economy roadmaps for five governments, here’s what I know for certain:”
Three “certainties” based on pattern recognition:
✓ “Most ‘sustainability’ initiatives fail because of imprecise language, not lack of commitment. When no two executives define ‘sustainable’ the same way, strategy becomes incoherent.”
✓ “Companies routinely apply the wrong strategy to the wrong phase. I’ve watched this pattern destroy value hundreds of times—and it’s always predictable in hindsight.”
✓ “The executives who transform their industries don’t wait until they have all the answers. They start when they feel the weight—and they find frameworks that give them precision.”
The frameworks I use today are the synthesis of every mistake I’ve seen (and made) over four decades. You don’t have 40 years to learn this. But you can access what those 40 years taught me.
For leaders in early evaluation mode. Download the free report on this page.
“Sustainability is not a reporting exercise.
It is a design challenge.“
Clarity before action
Circularity Edge helps leaders:
- See where their system is misaligned
- Identify leverage points for change
- Focus on what truly matters
- Avoid wasted time and resources
We start with understanding — not hype.
A focused, honest conversation about:
- Where you are
- What questions matter most
- What next steps make sense
No hype.
No obligation.
Just clarity.
Experience that spans decades
Circularity Edge brings:
- 40+ years in business sustainability
- Early corporate sustainability leadership experience
- Work across strategy, design, and systems change
- Practical understanding of how decisions really get made inside companies
This is not theory.
It is grounded, real-world insight.
Ken Alston — Strategy Lead (North America & Global)
Formed the Sustainable Packaging Coalition | 17 years Cradle to Cradle | Published: Corporate Environmental Strategy (Elsevier) | Co-author, “Real Circularity”
Ken brings more than four decades of experience working inside corporate sustainability, circular economy transformation, and executive decision-making. For more on Ken’s background and extensive experience, click here.
Ken leads the Sustainable Business Diagnostic and works directly with CEOs, boards, and senior teams.
Kevin De Cuba — Americas Lead (Latin America & Caribbean)
Founder of the Americas Sustainable Development Foundation and the Circular Economy Platform of the Americas.
Kevin De Cuba leads work across Latin America and the Caribbean, bringing deep regional knowledge, operational experience, and long-standing relationships throughout the Americas.
His role is to:
- ensure regional context and cultural intelligence are fully embedded
- implements diagnostics and follow-through in Spanish-speaking markets
- bridges strategy with local execution realities
HOW WE WORK TOGETHER
Ken leads the strategic architecture and diagnostic insight.
Kevin ensures regional relevance, continuity, and execution intelligence.
Clients benefit from:
- a single strategic lens
- clarity at the decision level
- regional depth without fragmentation