TCL alum takes advantage of leadership opportunity in biotech
by Owen Yancher
Leadership applications might not spring to mind when you ponder the conversion of waste into renewables.
But Transformative Coaching and Leadership graduate Alex Peros thinks about things a bit differently.
The Laguna Beach native, who recently started a project management role with startup Carbon Conversion Group (CCG), says leadership guiding principles have factored heavily into her first several months on the job. Centering her work on the core values of integrity, competitive grit and building authentic connections with team members, she’s spearheading an effort to partner with refuse-producing corporations across the country, promoting CCG’s patented catalyst technology. The revolutionary process transforms unrecyclable industrial and commercial plastic waste into carbon creating by-products such as synthetic graphene, graphite, hydrogen gas, EV batteries and other valuable commodities.
“Everything we do relates back to our mission and core values,” Peros explains.
Put succinctly, she says that pursuit involves decreasing landfill waste and generating essential bi-products to reduce foreign imports and boost the US economy.
The former UCLA Women’s water polo player and three-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Academic Team member has brought the same aggressive mindset from the pool to the boardroom, networking with colleagues in England at Oxford University to further CCG’s reach.
This past month, she helped lead a project in Hawaii, meeting with one of the Aloha State’s recycling companies in Maui.
“As a society, we’d love to eliminate all plastic waste,” Peros says. “But the reality is that’s nearly impossible based on modern industry.”
Almost 40 percent of that plastic waste, Peros adds, can’t be broken down. Sadly, the majority of it ends up in the largest trash bin on Earth, the Pacific Ocean, which currently contains almost 150 metric tons of littered plastics.
CCG steps in by collecting that waste from producers, at a lower cost than traditional garbage collection services, and using innovative refining technology to fabricate reusable materials. Working with state governments and large corporations, they break the trash down to create products like lithium batteries and nanotubes.
In a one-day purification process with five machines, Peros says CCG can transform roughly ten tons of plastic waste into four tons of usable carbon, helping companies save money while supporting a cleaner environment.
On a day-to-day basis, Peros finds herself meeting with new clients, directing sales pitches and even assisting with the launch of new plants. This spring and summer, CCG plans to open facilities in Tennessee, Ohio, and Wisconsin, with each site supporting between 25-50 employees. Expansion plans for Colorado are also in the works.
Undoubtedly, it’s a new adventure for the Bruin aquatics maven. But Peros explains she’s discovered an exhilarating challenge in the field of business development not dissimilar to the one she fell in love with as a prep water polo star.
“It’s all about exploring the unknown,” she says. “There’s plastic in fashion, plastic in education, plastic in sports…there’s plastic everywhere.
“The possibilities for this venture are endless.”
A former girls water polo State Champion at Laguna Beach High, Peros majored in Political Science at UCLA, while minoring in Disability Studies. She later earned her Project Management Certification in Westwood prior to beginning her Master of Education studies. Her biggest role models? UCLA Water Polo head coach Adam Wright, who she says taught her the importance of a humanistic approach to life and seeing her for being more than just an athlete. And her dad, Mike, who encouraged her to strive for greatness and to believe in herself via gentle ridicule: “He always used to say Bs are for Burger King, where you will work.”
Learn more about UCLA’s Transformative Coaching and Leadership Master of Education program.