Sara Jackson, a dual national of the UK and South Africa, has worked in various roles for Nestlé SA for 3 decades, 2 of which were based in the GCC. Her experience includes senior business and executive leadership roles in regions across Africa, Middle East and Asia.
Sara represents the CIRCLE Coalition on the Policy Committee of the Circular Economy Council in the UAE. She has participated in several initiatives, together with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technologies to define policies to support the development of the Circular Economy in the UAE. In November 2022, under Sara’s leadership, the CIRCLE Coalition has successfully licensed the Circular Packaging Association under the Dubai Chambers. The work of the CIRCLE Coalition includes initiatives to support the development of the Circular Economy in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.
In Saudi Arabia, Sara has supported the establishment of the KSA Packaging Working Group under the Federation of Saudi Chambers and as Technical Advisor to the Group, is engaged in developing initiatives between the National Centre of Waste Management and leading Saudi industry leaders.
Sara is a qualified ORSC practitioner and has completed the Certificate Courses in Circular Economy from the Technical University of Delft and the University of Cambridge Judge Business School.
Born in the UK, educated in Rhodesia and South Africa, Stephen Harrod spent eleven years building a market research company in South Africa, focussed on the paper and packaging industry in that country, following which he spent six years in the paper industry with Mondi and JAC Labels before relocating to England. He has been consulting on ad-hoc projects and authoring reports for Smithers since 2006, with a focus on global paper and packaging markets. Stephen is responsible for a range of Smithers market reports including the Global Corrugated Market, the Global Folding Carton Market, Retail Ready Packaging, Liquid Packaging Board, Sustainable E-Commerce Packaging and many others.
Bio to follow
After studying law in France and Germany, Emmanuelle Bautista began her professional career as a parliamentary assistant in the German Parliament (Bundestag). Recruited by the General Treasury Directorate of the French Ministry for Economy and Finance in 2007, she holds three posts abroad. Firstly, in the economic department of the French Embassy in Berlin from 2007 to 2015, then as legal Counsellor to the Permanent French Mission to the WTO from 2015 to 2018. She was from September 2018 to August 2022 Counsellor for services and investment in the trade policy department of the French Permanent Representation to the EU. She was the chair of the Trade Policy Committee for services and the vice chair of the Trade Policy Committee for investment during the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first semester 2022. She was from September 2022 to June 2023 Deputy Head of Unit Development Assistance in the Treasury Directorate in the French Ministry of Economy.
She is since July 2023 the Head of European and international affairs of Citeo, the French PRO for household packaging and graphic papers.
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Andrei is a Senior Project Manager in Roland Berger’s Sustainability Practice, with over eight years of experience. Specializing in the waste management sector, Andrei has honed his expertise in packaging sustainability, producer responsibility, and deposit systems. He has led numerous assignments in the sector, providing strategic support to a diverse range of stakeholders, including governmental entities, national investors, brand owners, packaging producers, and industry alliances. Andrei's deep understanding of the industry and its complexities enables him to effectively contribute to developing innovative and practical solutions to his clients.
Graduating from Leeds University in 1986, Dr Mike embarked on several very different careers including Medicine, Police and Global Electronics Distribution before moving to UAE in 2006. Dual qualified as aircraft and boat captains, his interests include advanced driving & IT. Joining Hotpack in 2016, Mike now heads both Global Business Development & Sustainability.
As the largest food packaging manufacturer in the Middle East, with over 4000+ team members and 4,000+ products, Hotpack occupies a significant presence in both airline and airport supply chains.
Sustainability remains a paramount priority at Hotpack where they have been widely recognised as one of the global market leaders in addressing the many challenges faced by the packaging sector.
A communications and corporate affairs professional with over 20 years of experience, Priya Sarma brings extensive experience in driving collaborations across companies to achieve positive business, social, and environmental outcomes, emphasizing purpose-led growth.
Her purpose is to use the power of communication and partnership to achieve change. Her belief in the power of partnerships led her to set-up the Advertising Business Group (ABG) in 2016 – the region’s largest Ad and Marketing self-regulatory group – with more than 60 members, who account for over 70% of the MENA regions advertising spend and is a Board Member.
This drive to collaborate also led her to set-up the UAE Chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance in November 2020, garnering her the recognition by Campaign Magazine as a ‘Marketing Game Changer - 2020’.
In November 2022 she was elected as the Chair of the Circular Packaging Association, and in May 2023 to the Board of the Multinational Companies Business Group (MCBG).
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After graduating in 1990 and a career in polymers and plastics Hugo Vuurens worked in the bioplastic industry since 2010 – initially for what become Total Corion PLA, and in 2022 joined the Biomaterials division of Korean headquartered CJ. He is currently responsible for business development in EMEA and India for the PHA products CJ Biomaterials is producing. Hugo is active in various advisory boards and holds a master’s degree in chemistry as well as an MBA and has a passion for improving sustainability.
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Prashant Lohade is an accomplished technology and commercial professional with over 20
years of experience in the field of biopolymer and polymers. From 2011 – 2024 he worked
for BASF India and was responsible for compostable plastics business for South Asia and
played a key role in growing the business for BASF in various specialty materials from EPS
foams to compostable packaging.
He has significantly contributed to the compostable plastics industry in South Asia,
particularly in India, both professionally and through industry forums. As a founding
member of the Indian Compostable Polymer Association, he has played an instrumental
role in representing and advocating for compostable plastic producers in India. He holds a
Polymer Engineer Degree with specialization in International Business at Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade New Delhi.
Prashant’s technical expertise, consultative approach, and relentless drive for
compostable plastics, will play a crucial role in developing Emirates Biotech’s vision as a
dominant figure in the biopolymer industry
Dr Marinella Vitulli is a Chemist and a Food Contact Expert. She is the owner and director of Food Contact Center and Food Contact Services; her companies cooperates with FCM producers, Universities, Technical Groups and Associations at a global level.
She often participates as speaker in food and packaging events.
Mr. Bart Van Hoof has worked at SABIC for over 24 years, holding diverse functions in Sales, Marketing, Strategy and Business Management in the field of polymers and engineering plastics.
In his current role as Global Marketing & Competence Leader for Circular Economy, Bart oversees all aspects of Marketing related to SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE™ solutions, including business intelligence, value chain interaction, sustainable innovation, product marketing and new business (model) development. Furthermore, he leads a worldclass competence center for SABIC’s circular economy business by driving a global certification strategy and setting up digitalization activities and differentiation initiatives in compliance to all relevant regulations.
He graduated Master of Applied Economic Sciences from KU Leuven University (Belgium) in 1994.
Bart resides in Bornem, a small village near Antwerp (Belgium) with his wife and son.
Jan joined the leadership team at revalyu Resources GmbH as Managing Director and Head of Legal, bringing with him a wealth of experience from his tenure at Heraeus Holding GmbH, revalyu’s majority shareholder. At Heraeus, Jan played a pivotal role as a Senior Legal Counsel within the M&A team, where he was instrumental in supporting and managing Heraeus’ investment in revalyu. Through this role, he developed a profound understanding of the plastic recycling industry and the broader circular and sustainable economy.
Jan’s extensive legal expertise is complemented by his strong background in business, particularly through his work in mergers and acquisitions.
Thomas has over 18 years experience in international sales management in mechanical engineering, marking & coding as well as the printing industry.
In 2012 he joined Koenig & Bauer Coding In the position of Area Sales Director for Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, South-East Asia as well as Asia-Pacific. In 2015 he took over the responsibility of the Key Account department at Koenig & Bauer Coding and has significantly developed the relationship with global brands in several market segments - especially in the FMCG market.
Since 2022 he is part of the Group Sales team of the Koenig & Bauer group and he is taking care of major global brands. Together with Global Brands he is elaborating new solutions for packaging the packaging of the future according to the latest market demands. Even more, he is a member of the 2D expert Group of GS1.
Thomas’s expertise spans brand development, variable data printing across the whole supply chain, sustainable solutions, digital printing, marking and coding solutions, printing technologies, customer value, traceability, brand protection, digitalization, connected packaging, smart packaging, TCO solutions and customer experience.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-vollmuth-81461bb9/
Jenny has over 20 years experience in international sales management across the media, advertising and creative technology industries. Founder of multi award-winning creative technology studio Appetite Creative, her mission is to lead creative technology in digital advertising.
Prior to launching Appetite Creative in 2015, Jenny began her career at Microsoft as a senior member of the sales team, she then moved to UTarget and Oddcast leading business development. Latterly, she was sales director at EyeWonder/Mediamind and European commercial director at Adform.
An innovative and dynamic leader, in 2017 Jenny also founded Women's networking group, FemmeNiche bringing together, supporting and inspiring women from all backgrounds and industries. She is also an experienced judge for numerous leading industry awards and a respected authority on creative digital, brand solutions, advertising technology and effectiveness.
