Industrial hemp is poised to proliferate across many verticals in the construction materials marketplace. It’s a raw material with an unfortunately politicized history and so many potential applications it’ll make your head spin. Join Kristof and M. Walker in conversation with Mattie Mead and Henry Valles as we explore the many intersections of industrial hemp, the built environment, and a sustainable future.

Mattie Mead

Mattie Mead is an adventure seeking entrepreneur who has a passion for building a better world. Through his venture Hempitecture, he is a builder, an innovator, and is dedicated to seeing the use of sustainable, healthy building materials in our built environment. Outside of Hempitecture, Mattie serves on the Board of Directors of Idaho BaseCamp, a non-profit organization that connects underserved communities to the outdoors. In his home of Ketchum, Idaho, he serves as the Vice-Chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Mead is a graduate of Hobart College '13, where he studied architecture, environmental sciences, and entrepreneurship.

Henry Valles

Henry Valles is the founder of Hemp Building Ventures, a consulting and development company bringing hemp-based building materials to mainstream real estate and construction industries. He is also a founding Board Member of the US Hemp Building Association, the Texas Hemp Coalition and a licensed NAR GREEN Certified REALTOR® with Realty Austin. In 2017, He spearheaded Austin’s first hempcrete home in Community First Village, a community for the chronically homeless. Henry has presented at multiple conferences, such as the International Hemp Building Symposium, SingularityU and EarthX. Inspired to bring more sustainable and non-toxic solutions to the real estate and building industries, Henry continues to educate his community and champion the use of hemp-based building materials through his real estate and hemp building consulting practices.