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Grace Kim is a head of global packaging R&D at CJ CheilJedang, a number one food company in Korea, where she focus es most of her time developing packaging professionals, identifying new strategic initiatives and delivering packaging solutions through breakthrough packaging innovation . She has more than 20 years of packaging industry experiences from CPG, Pharmaceutical and Chemical Companies mostly in US She relocated to Korea, her native country, with her family in 2019 to pursue her career in people management and to gain global experiences. Most recently, she was a principle engineer at AbbVie, Inc., a pharmaceutical company located in North Chicago, IL , where she successfully led multiple medical device packaging programs . Previously, she worked
at Kraft Foods, Inc. located in Glenview, IL as a strategic packaging research engineer and at DuPont in Parkersburg, WV as a R&D Process Engineer . Grace received MS degree in mechanical engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and BS degree in chemical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Ashwin Subramaniam is an environmental consultant with 11 years of business experience across Asia. He is the founder and CEO at GA Circular, a research and strategy advisory firm that is driving circular economy in Asia. He has led various materials-flow analysis, research, strategy and implementation projects on circular economy in this region. He specialises in packaging and food waste in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and India and has worked with multinational clients from consumer goods, packaging and petrochemical industries as well as government agencies. He is passionate about unlocking business opportunities in Asia from the annual USD120 billion worth of packaging waste and USD 1 trillion worth of food waste globally.
Lynn is the Regional Head of Sustainability with HP, championing HP’s sustainability efforts in Asia Pacific with the bold goal of making life better for everyone, everywhere.
In her role, she provides access to HP’s portfolio of environmentally responsible products and services to enable customers to achieve their goals sustainably while providing the security and durability they expect and depend on.
She engages across a broad range of topics – climate, change, diversity, access to quality education and economic opportunity, and protecting workers.
To overcome these challenges, Lynn will partner to drive lasting improvements to the planet, people, and communities where we live, work, and do business.
Dr Casper Durandt was a founder member of numerous Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Companies, Chairman of the PET recycling company PETCO, founder member of the Glass Recycling Company and MetPac-SA. He has a PhD in Industrial Engineering focused on coupled manufacturing efficiency improvement. He has an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch, a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Pretoria University and is a qualified Professional Engineer with the International Engineering Council.
Casper is an accomplished international speaker, has a passion for the environment and is a technical expert in the field of beverage production, supply chain, environmental issues and equipment maintenance.
Sylvain Rannou holds a PhD of Polymer Science & Engineering from The University of Manchester, UK.
With over 10 years’ experience in the polymer and food packaging industry in UK and Singapore, his expertise covers a range of functions, from packaging development, polymer processing & regulatory compliance, to training & coaching, issue management and networking to leverage expertise.
Having worked in R&D for Mars Drinks UK and A*STAR Singapore, his current responsibility within Nestlé is to ensure that Nestlé factories in zone Asia-Oceania-Africa (AOA) implement the Nestlé packaging safety & compliance (PS&C) program. His responsibility covers both food contact materials (i.e. mainly packaging) and non-food items (i.e. promotional items).
Bio to follow shortly
Tim Grant is a specialist in life cycle assessment (LCA) with over twenty years of experience in developing and applying LCA with a wide range of companies and organisations.
He is the owner and product development manager for PIQET, a streamlined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool for optimising the environmental performance of packaging designs. Tim is also a founding member and current board member of the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS) and is a pillar of the international Life Cycle community through his involvement in international fora such as the Life Cycle Initiative supported by UNEP.
He is an author of the book Life Cycle Assessment - Principles, Practice and Prospects (CSIRO, 2009) as well as a co-author of the book Design + Environment - a global guide to designing greener goods (Routledge).
Tim works across many different sectors in LCA including packaging, agriculture, energy, fuels, water products, buildings and waste management. In addition, he has worked on the development of LCA databases for Australia.
Coming soon...
Mark joined the Fight Food Waste CRC team as a Special Advisor in August 2019 having moved from the UK to Australia. In addition to his CRC role, where he is leading the development of a Food Waste Reduction Roadmap with Woolworths, he is supporting FIAL and the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment in the implementation of Australia’s National Food Waste Strategy.
Mark has a successful 25-year track record of driving sustainable innovation and circular thinking in agri-food, injecting fresh thinking, creating new business opportunities and markets, at the same time as improving food chain resilience, intelligence, collaboration and transparency.
Mark has been directly involved in developing the international evidence base for food loss and waste, with over 15 years’ experience of quantifying and preventing food loss and waste in the UK, Europe, North and South America, Africa and Australia. In the process, Mark has supported the creation of national and corporate food waste baselines (volumetric, compositional and behavioural) and developed frameworks to facilitate the annual tracking of progress to reduce food waste at the corporate, sectoral and national levels.
Gary Calicdan is the Packaging and Print Ethical Buyer of Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics North America . Joining the company in February 2007, he has seen the business grow from 80 shops to over 250 shops. Along with growing the supply chain, Gary has led many initiatives to improve our ethics and sustainability in our packaging supply chain such as use of 100% recycled plastics and paper for all packaging and print materials . Gary has also focused on developing a local high quality recycled plastic materials supply base including Ocean plastics and created closed loop systems through retail and manufacturing operations wherever possible.
Gary is currently a council Director of The Packaging Consortium ( PAC) under Pacific Region Leadership Council based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Prior to migrating to Canada in 2006, Gary was the Purchasing Manager of ALCAN Packaging and Avon Cosmetics back in the Philippines from 2001 to early 2006.
Jiang Nanqing, PhD in ecology, graduated from Beijing Normal University. In her professional field, she’s got an academic background in ecology and environment, and worked extensively with research institutions to achieve significant results in promoting the effects of policy on the transformation of scientific results. She worked in universities and international research institutions in Netherlands, Japan, Israel, and Kenya for more than 7 years and was engaged in post-doctoral and research in agroecology.
She joined CPRRA in Oct. 2018, and took CPRRA as the first China Sectoral Association to join Global Commitment raised by Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UNEP of “ New Plastics Economy” in late 2018. She also serves the external expert of EU-China Environmental Policy and Circular Economy Dialogue, WWF International Consultant on Platics. She was invited by China Delegation to WTO to attend first WTO event on plastic pollution, she was invited by EU to attend EU Circular Economy Conference and World Circular Economy Conference. She also the author of newspaper and magzine articles on Plastics, and was interviewed by media and CGTN. She is the leading figure in plastic recycling sector in China.
As the Founder / CEO of Plastics For Change, Andrew's role is to make it easy for brands and manufacturers to transition from virgin to recycled plastic. Plastics For Change has developed a marketplace platform that connects waste-pickers to global markets and ensures a consistent supply of high quality recycled plastic for brands. This initiative is about creating better livelihoods for the urban poor while keeping plastic out of the ocean. This year Plastics For Change launched the first and currently the only fair trade recycled plastic certified by the World Fair Trade Organization. Andrew has catalyzed several global brands and manufacturers to replace the use of virgin plastic with fair trade recycled plastic, thereby immediately improving the social and environmental impact of their products. In 2018, Andrew was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list of innovators and disruptors who are reshaping their industries and changing Asia for the better.
Possessing 13 years of professional experience in marketing and business development in the plastic manufacturing industry and waste management, Estelle has her footprint covering both Europe and Asia with a particular focus in plastic recycling and circular economy.
Since joining Veolia, Estelle has been involved in project development of various types of waste management in Asia, including hazardous waste, battery recycling, WEEE recycling.
In the last 2 years, she has focused on boosting the Group's plastic recycling initiatives, including the Greenfield rPET plant in Indonesia, Merchant & Acquisition projects in Japan, Korea and China.
In parallel, she has been actively involved in developing new projects in conjunction with different international brands/key accounts as well as local NGOs/start-ups in the domain of plastic recycling, to name a few, projects such as sustainable collection model pilot, collection pilot to increase traceability of plastic waste in which the brand owners most look upon, and etc.
With her expertise in the plastic recycling industry, she was seconded to the Alliance to End Plastic Waste Association (AEPW) for collection & sorting projects screening and development.
Edwin leads Food Industry Asia’s (FIA) Sustainability strategy and efforts to support FIA’s mission as the voice of the food industry in Asia.
His career includes roles with industry, government and the non-profit sector, covering policy development, corporate communications, public affairs and sustainability.
Before joining FIA, he was Executive Director of the Singapore Environment Council, where he promoted eco-labelling, recycling and consumer awareness on environmental issues.
He was the first Southeast Asian elected to the Board of the Global Eco-labelling Network, an international network of national eco-labelling organisations, and was nominated by the media for the inaugural Singaporean of the Year in 2016 for his role in leading the fight against the haze that engulfed Singapore and several Southeast Asian countries in 2015.
Dune Ives is the Managing Director of Lonely Whale, an incubator for courageous ideas that drive impactful, market-based change on behalf of our ocean. An experienced leader and trusted advisor in the fields of corporate sustainability and global philanthropy, Dune brings 20+ years of expertise and a thoughtful and optimistic approach to the marine conservation industry as a keynote speaker and advocate for an ocean free from plastic pollution. Under Dune’s leadership, Lonely Whale’s NextWave Plastics and Ocean Heroes Bootcamp initiatives and campaigns, including “For A Strawless Ocean” and “Question How You Hydrate”, have helped to resolve challenges for our environment to ensure a healthier planet.
For many years Ms Zsakay worked in the food industry, setting up Asia Connect (Korea) to import food from Australia, New Zealand and the EU. In later years Ms Zsakay established the Asian Food Regulation Information Service, the world’s largest free access database of Asian food regulations.
Ms Zsakay has a BA(Asian Studies & Politics) from the University of Western Australia and has studied International and Asian food law from Michigan State University.
After moving to Thailand from South Korea, Ms Zsakay became interested in infrastructure design for recyclable resource recovery collection systems, initially as a hobby. From there it was an easy transition to the Circular Economy and the founding of Circular Economy Asia Incorporated (CEA) in 2016.
CEA leads the discussion across the region on improving resource management, educating consumers, working with product brand owners and all tiers of Government who must respond to the global pressures of growing resource scarcity and overwhelming waste. We focus on how circular design values and principles can improve lives, add value by future-proofing businesses against resource scarcity and promote new circular industries.
Dean is responsible for strategy development and tactical execution of HP’s product recycling solutions and recycled content implementation across HP’s portfolio. Dean was the leading architect in HP’s recycled content plastics goal development, CE strategy coordination and was the program lead responsible for HP’s award winning, closed-loop plastics solutions in inkjet supplies, printing and PC products.
Additionally, Dean has been leading the development of HP ocean-bound plastics solutions. HP’s initial efforts have focused on standing up the ocean plastics recycling infrastructure in Haiti, with focus on the social impact opportunities. Dean worked with UL Environment to create an ocean and ocean-bound plastics certification, along with the subsequent certification of HP’s Haiti entire ocean-bound resin portfolio. To date, ocean-bound plastic has been qualified into numerous HP products including ink supplies, notebooks, workstations and displays.
Dean joined HP in 1993 and participated in and then led, as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff, numerous HP Inkjet manufacturing equipment installations around the world. In 2001, Dean’s personal interest in environmental and sustainability issues led him to seek out a position in HP’s Environmental Operations group where he continues to work.
Prior to HP, Dean held an engineering position with Boeing.
Dean holds a Bachelors and Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington.
Yvonne is the Materials Expert in World Wide Fund For Nature Singapore (WWF-SG) in theMarket Transformation team. She has 10 years of research experience in municipal solid waste treatment and waste management. She is also trained in understanding materials and their impact to the environment. Her role in WWF-SG is to guide businesses towards sustainability, provide consultancy on the material’s impact on the environment and develop resources to help reduce our partners’ plastic consumption.
She is well versed in Materials and Environment issues, having graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a B.Eng. in Materials Engineering (2004), M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering (2007) and PhD in Environmental Engineering (2016).
Gilad started his career in produce as the Sales and Marketing Manager, and later the CEO, of plastic packaging manufacturer, Raptis Pax where he built an extensive network of industry connections in packaging, machinery, equipment and design.
Regularly travelling to conferences, trade shows and speaking engagements across Europe, Asia and the USA, Gilad's specialist network extends internationally. Gilad uses his global contacts to identify up-and-coming produce trends and concepts from around the world.
Starting at a zoomed out, macro level, Gilad tunes into global trends, industry insights and developments in consumer behaviour to give his projects mass appeal. Consumer behaviour is Gilad’s speciality, from those choosing what goes on the shelves to those buying it from them.
Jun Wang currently works in the Packaging Innovation group, Global Design and Packaging at Colgate Palmolive Company. As the packaging material subject matter expert of the company, Wang has a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry and has been working in the field of polymers for about 30 years. In the last five years, he led the development of Colgate’s recyclable tube, Samson Tube. The tube received the APR (Association of Plastic Recyclers in US) recognition in April 2019, which is the first of its kind in the world. It also received the Technical Approval from PRE (Plastic Recyclers Europe) in January 2020. In addition, Dr. Wang holds the role of Secretary General in the China Sustainable Plastics Association (CSPA), sits in four committees of APR, three technical committees of PRE/RecyClass, and works closely with the whole plastic value chain on the new plastic circular economy.
Sumangali Krishnan, is the Head of Research at GA Circular (GA) and has developed and led various research, policy and on-ground projects aimed at developing a Circular Economy framework for Asia. Following a career in corporate law, both in private practice and more recently, in start-ups and emerging businesses, Sumangali is currently following her passion for sustainability with her role at GA.
Sumangali has a J.D. in Law and a Masters in Economics, and has lived and worked in the United States prior to moving to Singapore. She is particularly passionate about policy, legislation and business-led interventions as a solution to resource management in Asia
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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.
Kate Bezar is the co-founder of The Better Packaging Co., a New Zealand-based company which has become, in just two years of operation, the world’s largest supplier of home compostable packaging for eCommerce. As a result they have revolutionised the market with their innovative, sustainable packaging solutions founded on Circular Economy principles and the premise that ‘waste is a design flaw’.
.Yun-xuan Weng's research is mainly focused on durability, degradation and sustainable development of polymeric materials. He acts as secretary-general of the Degradable Plastic Committee of CPPIA of China, and also as secretary-general of the Technology Committee of Standardization of Biobased and Degradable Materials.
He organized to formulate a number of national standards for food direct contact packaging materials, such as plastic wrap, plastic shopping bags, continuous roll bags, disposable tableware and other national standards. He promoted the establishment of the standard of bio-based materials and biodegradable plastics industry standard system and promoted the production and application of industrial scale.
More than 60 periodicals, such as SCI and EI, are published, and 20 national standards and 2 books are made. The project includes the national natural fund project, the national quality inspection public welfare project and the support plan of the Ministry of science and technology. 2 awards were awarded for the standard innovation contribution of General Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine, and 3 of the scientific and technological innovation awards of China National Light Industry Council.
Ben is the CEO and Secretary General of PEFC International, a position he has held since 1999.
With over thirty years’experience in packaging development, Ian joined GSK as Packaging Development Director, NDH in March 2016. He moved to London in January 2019 to take up the role of Head of Packaging Development for Consumer Healthcare. Prior to GSK, Ian worked for a variety of MNCs in Australia, Germany, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and now in the UK.
Sealed Air Sustainability Director for the APAC region based in Melbourne Australia. Alan is leading customer and packaging industry engagement with sustainable packaging and retail trends and regular public speaking engagements.
Busy in Industry being currently active with the Australian Institute of Packaging contributing to development of Sustainable Packaging Guidelines for reducing food waste. A founding member and former president of the Australasian Bioplastics Association. Currently on the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) Design for recovery working group.
Yi is responsible for global ecommerce & business development based in Amcor’s headquarters in Zurich. Yi joined Amcor in 2008 and held multiple roles in marketing, innovation and business development based in USA and Europe. Yi’s packaging and market knowledge span across diverse end-use segments and across rigid, flexible packaging and folding cartons. Her passion is connecting the dots between market insights and solutions to drive growth for Amcor and its customers.
Prior to Amcor, Yi previously worked for Philips in retail marketing and management in China.
Yi holds an MBA from Henry B. Tippie School of Management, The University of Iowa, USA.
Anil is responsible for the strategic development and growth initiatives of Avery Dennison businesses in Asia Pacific including Australia & New Zealand, ASEAN, Indian subcontinent, Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Korea, and Japan.
Prior to joining Avery Dennison, Anil was the vice president of sales North America for Johnson Diversey and their food and beverage hygiene businesses. He also held a number of increasingly senior commercial and business management positions at Diversey Inc, a global leader in industrial detergents and sanitizers, jointly owned by the SC Johnson family and Unilever.
Anil is a mechanical engineer and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Anil joined Avery Dennison in 2010 and is based in Singapore.
Coming soo...
*Over 20 years experience in packaging industry & 15 years in sustainability
*Provides expertise in LCA, training and support for Ecodex internationally
*Conduct LCA studies for clients (consulting projects)
*Member of Australian LCA Society (ALCAS)
*Bachelor of Engineering (Honours, Chemical Engineering)
*Bachelor of Science (Chemistry)
Circular is dedicated to the continuous R&D of innovative packaging solutions which simultaneously enhance the user experience, while eliminating waste at the source. At Circular, we combine the closed-loop properties of metal (packaging) with the aesthetic flexibility and durability of recycled plastic, to create circular-economy packaging solutions that are not only waste free, but cheaper and more convenient than anything before.
Philip Wirsen is a Global Strategy & Channel Leader at Tetra Pak. He helps food & beverage manufacturers and retailers identify opportunities to differentiate, optimize their supply chain and improve their sustainability by producing data-driven analysis and cost benchmarking. He also leads the global Ecommerce & Foodservice strategy.
Before his time at Tetra Pak, Philip spent three years at the Copenhagen Business School and has a degree in International Business & Politics.
Dr Lu, former President of the Weir Group (China), is Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Board member. Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Shanghai Association of Foreign Investment & companies. Former Global Partner of Brunswick Group providing strategic advice to Fortune 500 and large Chinese companies (M&A, IPO, Transformation, Brand & Reputation, CSR & Sustainability, Compliance, Risk and Crisis Management, Leadership development, Communication strategy); previously Group Executive Vice President of RGE Group (China), Chief Rep of RGE (China), Chairman of Asia Symbol Pulp & Paper (Shandong) Ltd., Vice President Sateri Group. Prior to RGE, Acting President BHP Billiton Group (China). Prior to his industry career, Dr. Lu was an UN diplomat in charge of UNCTAD Trade Efficiency Programme implementation in China, working with Chinese authorities MOFTEC (now MOFCOM) and Shanghai Municipality.
With 17 years experience at Avery Dennison in marketing, innovation and business leadership, Renae has broad experience in packaging and labeling across multiple consumer categories, and both global and local packaging expertise. She has extensive international experience and has been based in both The Netherlands and the United States. Renae serves as a Global Sr. Director of Sustainability at Avery Dennison with her mission to drive long term systemic change through innovation, employee engagement and delivering positive business results.
Sharon holds a master's degree in sustainable development management and has 11 years of management experience in the field of sustainability. She has worked in environmental NGO, consulting company and manufacturing industry. Through innovative sustainability related programs, as well as internal and external strategic communication, she provides technical and strategic support to create business value and competitive advantage for the businesses. Extensive practical experience in environmental- friendly materials, life cycle assessment, responsible supply chain management, environment and sustainability related certification systems, and stakeholder communication.
Education: Ph.D. Packaging from Michigan State University. Activities: Asia-Pacific Division Chair, ISTA. Vice-president of Korea Packaging Professionals. Convenor of ISO TC122 (Packaging) WG16 (Temperature controlled product packaging).
Mauro has wide experience in development projects, working with indigenous people, environmental projects, and commodity certification in more than 15 countries. Mauro has supported companies, communities and smallholders getting forest certification and improving land management practices to meet international social and environmental benchmarks.
He has worked in projects led by development organizations such as WCS and Pact, as well as forest certification system such as FSC. Mauro has been working since January 2018 at WWF as Senior Advisor for Pulp, Paper and Packaging, engaging companies in the sector to increase transparency and environmental performance. Mauro holds a bachelor’s degree in development economics and a master’s degree in environmental science, policy and management from the MESPOM consortium (Central European University, Lund University, and the University of Manchester).
Michel is a passionate Innovation Manager and creative problem solver. In his role, Michel is shaping the overall innovation agenda at DHL through developing industry trend reports and identifying, piloting and commercializing state-of-the art technology solutions for the logistics industry and its customers. Within the Trend Research team, Michel’s work focuses on future application areas of drone technologies within logistics operations and the introduction of upcoming packaging innovations to the business. Michel joined Deutsche Post DHL Group in 2017 and worked for the global innovation team at the Innovation Centers in Germany and Singapore. Michel studied in France and Germany and holds a Masters degree with a focus on Technology & Innovation Management.
Victor Barichello is the Commercial Director of Selerant, a leading global provider of processed-based product lifecycle management (PLM), product safety compliance software and consulting across Food & Beverages, Personal Care/Pharmaceutical and Specialty Chemicals. Based in Melbourne, Australia, he is the global lead for Sustainably and Food Waste. He has consulted to many of the leading consumer good companies in packaging sustainability globally. With a legal and marketing background, he adopts a pragmatic approach, balancing sustainability goals of organisations and corporate objectives.
Richard Horne is the Vice President Marketing Centre Packaging at Borouge since June 2018.
Based in Singapore, he is responsible for managing future growth of Borouge’s packaging business by defining and implementing a long-term packaging strategy, developing strategic plans around application segments and creating opportunities within the entire value chain. Horne manages the positioning of Borouge’s packaging product portfolio as well as the company’s market intelligence and marketing communication in specific market areas. He is also responsible for managing circular economy for the packaging business.
Prior to joining Borouge, Horne worked for Amcor Ltd for 6.5 years in various roles, across Europe, Asia and Oceania. His last position was Sales & Marketing Director for Amcor Ltd’s food business based in Singapore, and before that, he was General Manager – Sales, Marketing, Commercial, R&D for the Amcor New Zealand business, based in Auckland, and he was responsible for managing various global key accounts and the Medical & Pharma business in the Asian region.
Robert Lillefloth, Director for Partnership Sales, joined Kezzler in 2019 to strengthen the commercial team, specifically around building new partnerships and distribution channels for Kezzler. His background is from data and information services in financial, commodities and carbon markets. Robert is based in Oslo, Norway, and before joining Kezzler he spent 10 years in Thomson Reuters (now Refinitiv), whereof the last 2.5 years in Abu Dhabi as Technical Business Director in Thomson Reuters Middle East managing the top accounts in UAE’s capital from a technical strategy perspective. He has broad experience around building and selling data and SaaS solutions, working with platform business and digitalisation.
Coming soon...
Han Zhang, is the Sustainability Director for Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics Asia Pacific. Han is responsible for driving Dow’s 2025 Sustainability Goals and developing strategies to grow business value. Han leads key programs addressing critical business sustainability issues such as marine debris, recycling and driving a circular economy, together with various value chain partners and industry associations throughout Asia. Prior to joining Dow, Zhang held various positions at ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil as life cycle assessment analyst and engineer.
Zhang earned his doctorate degree in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment from the University of Michigan in 2009. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Thermal Engineering from Tsinghua University.
Quentin is responsible for leading the implementation of market strategies to grow the consumer packaging paperboard business in the Asia Pacific region. Quentin has been with the company for 30 years, with experience in packaging innovation, marketing, and business development. He resides in the U.S., but travels frequently to the Asia Pacific region.
Sophia is leading the BOBST Marketing & Communication activities across the APJ region. Located in Shanghai she supports printers and converters as well as brand owners to create a more agile and more sustainable packaging production across the entire supply chain. She strongly believes that digitalization, automation and connectivity are the main drivers to shape the future of packaging production. Before joining BOBST, Sophia was the regional Marketing Manager in Large Format and Industry Printing at HP. She worked as well for cloud computing industry in Australia and owns a Master’s degree in Management of Business Administration
Victoria Andersen brings around 20 years of experience in international business development, global account management and integrated marketing communications across APAC, EMEA & NA regions from leading multinationals, primarily in technology and consulting sectors. Victoria has also held executive roles in creative agencies, where she drove successful engagements for the renown brands like Nestle, P&G, Nespresso, Richemont Group, L’Oreal, Estée Lauder, JTI and many others.
Currently, Victoria is the Regional Lead for Sustainability and Brand Innovation under HP’s Graphic Solutions Industrial Business for the Asia Pacific-Japan region. She is inspiring and revitalizing brands and agencies through the empowerment provided by HP Indigo’s digital print solutions, by co-creating sustainable, personalized and innovative campaigns at scale.
In Victoria’s limited downtime, she enjoys discovering Asian cultures and is learning Mandarin.
Wouter Sieben, originally from the Netherlands, graduated from University in Australia with a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Software Engineering, with a Graphics and Imaging major.
After nine years working in and managing production, Wouter moved to a solutions reseller to specialise in large format inkjet devices, training in all aspects of colour management from litho press profiling through to digital inkjet colour matching.
During the mid 2000’s, Wouter moved into branding and packaging, joining an international design agency to work on print technology and colour strategy to realise designs into production. This eventually led Wouter to become Lead Print Production Manager for Procter and Gamble, being based in Singapore, managing technical requirements between design and print production across four categories throughout Asia, Pacific, Japan and Korea.
In 2012, Wouter joined HP in Singapore taking care of the applications and colour management team, engineer and customer training.
From 2016, within HP, Wouter turned his focus back to packaging, as the Business Development and Category Manager for Industrial Packaging Solutions, as well as various special integration and workflow projects for Packaging and digital press customers.
Most recently, Wouter’s career took an exciting shift again by joining EFI late in 2019 as the Nozomi Sales Development Manager for Asia Pacific.
Associate Professor Karli Verghese is a Principal Research Fellow in the Industrial Design program of the School of Design, RMIT University, Melbourne. Karli’s research involves working with industry and government on the role of packaging, packaging sustainability, food loss and food waste across supply chains and life cycle assessment. She also led ‘LCA in the last frontier’ for the Australian Antarctic Division. Karli supervises Honours, Masters and PhD students at RMIT.
Karli is a member of the Packaging Saves Food Research Group, an international collaboration of leading packaging researchers. She is also the “Reduce” Program Leader in the Australian Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) www.fightfoodwastecrc.com.au. This ten-year CRC is a $120 million national research centre centred upon reducing, transforming and engaging industry, government and consumers on food loss and waste.
Kate Stewart is the owner and founder of Stay tray, a reusable drink tray.
Kate is Melbourne born and bred and now resides on the Mornington Peninsula with husband Wade and her young family.
Kate has a Bachelor of Business Management degree. Kate , and spent most of her career in FMCG working with major retailers.
Kate witnessed first-hand the copious amounts of waste and lack of sustainable practices, and made the bold decision in 2018 to leave a lucrative FMCG role in the pursuit of something more fulfilling. Something that would literally make a difference to people and the planet and thus Stay tray was born.
Stay tray is all about reducing single use, all through the humble beverage tray. Stay tray is the very first, and only, reusable drink tray available in Australia, made from 100% recycled material.
It was important to Kate that Stay tray had a small carbon footprint and was sustainable in more ways than one, thus everything was kept local. All design, manufacture and engineering, in fact, everything was completed within a 50km radius. Stay tray also has zero waste in manufacture.
Stay tray was designed to be practical and versatile fitting hundreds of different vessels, coffee cups; reusable and disposable, reusable drink bottles, fast food drinks, smoothies, juices, beers at the football, really, the possibilities are endless.
Jim Caudill is vice president of Product and Technology Innovation at WestRock. Jim leads the company’s innovation and growth efforts in the packaging businesses and works with many of our major CPG customers to achieve their goals. Sustainable packaging and plastic replacements are areas of focus.
With more than 25 years of industry experience, he has focused on building winning growth strategies, developing new markets, and delivering innovative new products. Jim has led growth efforts for CPGs including Georgia Pacific’s consumer tissue and towel business and also packaging businesses including Graphic Packaging and Neenah Paper.
Jim earned bachelor of science degrees in chemical engineering and pulp and paper science from North Carolina State University and a master’s in business administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
