Guest

James Merrill

Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Opolis Optics · Opolis Optics

James Merrill spent about ten years as a USAID contractor and field specialist implementing US government projects in places including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, eventually working on countering violent extremism in marginalized landfill and coastal communities. He founded Opolis Optics just before the COVID-19 pandemic to turn plastic bottles collected from those same communities into premium, sustainable eyewear.