# Leise Sandeman

> Leise Sandeman is the CEO and co-founder of Pathways, a climate-tech startup building the data layer for sustainable manufacturing. Pathways uses AI to automate the creation of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for building-material makers - concrete, steel, cement, glass - turning a months-long consultant slog into a process that takes weeks. A Copenhagen native and former McKinsey sustainability consultant who scaled a recycling venture before studying at Harvard and MIT, Leise co-founded Pathways in 2022 with Alex Cooper after meeting in an MIT entrepreneurship class. The company raised an oversubscribed $2.5M seed round in February 2024 and now serves manufacturers across hundreds of plants.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-founder at Pathways
- **Organizations:** Pathways, McKinsey & Company, Delterra, Harvard Kennedy School, GOODIEBOX, UCL
- **From:** Copenhagen, Denmark
- **Nationality:** Danish
- **Education:** Master in Public Policy (MPP), Harvard Kennedy School, BSc in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, University College London (UCL), Cross-registration (incl. Bill Aulet's Disciplined Entrepreneurship), MIT, Cross-registration coursework, Harvard Business School & Harvard Graduate School of Design
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Pathways, an AI platform automating LCAs and EPDs for building-material manufacturers, Raised an oversubscribed $2.5M seed round (Feb 2024) led by Zacua Ventures and Pi Labs, Scaled Pathways from pilot to 10+ live enterprise customers operating across hundreds of plants in its first year

## Career timeline

- **Early career** — Operations leadership at GOODIEBOX; affiliated researcher at UCL; Red Cross Youth volunteer
- **McKinsey** — Sustainability consultant advising commercial and industrial clients; fieldwork with Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, India
- **Delterra** — Project manager scaling a materials-recycling and waste-transformation venture in Indonesia
- **Harvard/MIT** — Master in Public Policy; Teaching Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School under Richard Cavanagh and Meghan O'Sullivan; met co-founder Alex Cooper at MIT
- **2022** — Co-founded Pathways with Alex Cooper to decarbonize building-material manufacturing
- **2023** — Built from pilot to 10+ live customers; began hiring founding engineers
- **2024-02** — Closed an oversubscribed $2.5M seed round led by Zacua Ventures and Pi Labs

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Pathways, an AI platform automating LCAs and EPDs for building-material manufacturers
- Raised an oversubscribed $2.5M seed round (Feb 2024) led by Zacua Ventures and Pi Labs
- Scaled Pathways from pilot to 10+ live enterprise customers operating across hundreds of plants in its first year
- Earned NRMCA recognition for Pathways' EPD verification in the ready-mix concrete space
- Teaching Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School
- Completed an Ironman triathlon with minimal prior distance-sport experience

## Latest updates

- **2024-02** — Pathways closed an oversubscribed $2.5M seed round led by Zacua Ventures and Pi Labs to track building-material emissions.
- **2024-02** — Pathways expanding focus on automated EPDs for concrete producers, earning NRMCA recognition and serving customers including Heidelberg Materials.

## Links

- Website: https://pathwaysai.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leise-sandeman/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/leise-sandeman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-27