4 minutes with…Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell

Tell us about your organization and it’s role in the advanced bioeconomy.

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. focuses on chemical product regulation, including renewable and biobased products regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), emerging chemical product technologies (bio, nano, and synthetic biology), and related international chemical regulatory programs.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.

As Managing Partner of B&C and President of our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group, my job is to identify emerging trends, evolving markets, and growth areas and align our services and professionals to meet these new challenges.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?

Enact and implement TSCA reform; define and reward more systematically sustainable business practices, particularly in the chemical sector; and reduce GHG emissions.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change?

I would resource federal agencies, EPA, USDA, DOT, USTR, with adequate funding to understand more deeply the interplay between evolving technologies, particularly renewable chemical products and sustainability. Federal agencies are committed to the goals of the Bioeconomy, but lack the resources to implement it.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?

The clear alignment between sustainable business practices and the importance of renewable feedstocks, which the Advanced Bioeconomy promotes better than any entity.

Where are you from? 

Grosse Point, MI

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway? 

Philosophy, MSU. A prequel to law school.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?

Never give up.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry? 

Hunter/jumper, Dressage riding, and maintaining a horse farm.

What 3 books would you take to read, if stranded on a desert island?

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Any John Grisham novel

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?

Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution, Laurence Tribe (enjoyed may be a bit generous).

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?

My farm.