March 6-8, 2024
Swissotel Chicago
Returning to Swissotel Chicago, Sustainability in Packaging US will take place March 6-8, 2024, to deliver timely updates and firsthand industry insights into the emerging developments, notable market trends, and cutting-edge packaging solutions that are steering the supply chain towards an increasingly circular economy and more sustainable future.
Ravish Majithia leads Magnomer as founder & CEO. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Texas A&M University. Ravish is also a Babson Fellow, Sorenson Award Recipient and MBA from Babson College. Magnomer is a winner of Materials Research Society’s Innovation Award & MassChallenge Gold.
Bio coming soon!
Susan Cornish is Principal Consultant at Insight + Action, a company she founded in 2017. Susan is a life-long researcher and strategist, always interested in digging deeper to understand the reasons why, and determining how changes can be made.
At Insight + Action, Susan helps clients define issues and research questions. She leads client engagements and manages all aspects of projects from research design and data collection, through analysis, reporting, and other deliverables.
Prior to Insight + Action, Susan was a Vice President at several global Consumer Insights firms. Here she worked with brand owners in Marketing, contributing to product and packaging development decisions. On the supplier side, Susan led research teams, developed more focused reporting methods, and worked with clients and IT to create client portals and automated reporting.
Susan has in-depth knowledge of packaging sustainability and the recycling industry, plus expertise in all aspects of product and packaging innovation research. Susan has worked with global clients in many sectors including packaging, consumer packaged goods, hospitality and foodservice, waste management/recycling and recycling non-profits.
Susan holds an Honors BA, 1st Class, from Simon Fraser University where she majored in Geography and Economics. She has an MSc and PhD from the University of Toronto where her dissertation research focused on product innovation.
Felipe E. Victoria is the Senior Manager for International Plastics Policy. Felipe joined the Plastics Policy and Finance team at Ocean Conservancy after serving at the United Nations in New York for several years. Here, he represented Spain’s regional Basque interests on the UN Economic and Social Chamber (ECOSOC), the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), and other UN System related organizations and fora. In particular, he led the engagement and coordination of this regional government of Spain with the national government on areas of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as social, humanitarian, and women´s issues.
Felipe has a Spanish Law degree by the Complutense University of Madrid, a master’s degree in Diplomacy and International Relations by the Spanish Diplomatic School, and a specialized Diploma in EU Law and Institutions by the same school. As well, he holds a master’s degree in International Trade and Business Management by a joint program of the Menendez Pelayo International University of Spain and the Spanish Ministry of Economy.
Besides Spain and his student time in Brussels and Geneva, he has lived and worked in Colombia where he has family ties, and has been a lecturer at the Colombian War College. Prior to living in New York City, he worked at the Spanish Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, coinciding with the Arab Spring uprisings.
Terry Webber serves as American Forest & Paper Association Vice President of Industry Affairs. Webber is responsible for maintaining synergy with government affairs, ensuring robust and integrated marketplace strategies across the sectors, and identifying new engagement opportunities for AF&PA Industry Statistics.
He joined AF&PA in 2011 and has worked in various roles in government and industry affairs. Prior to joining AF&PA, Webber was a postgraduate legal fellow for the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a legal extern for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He also has an extensive background in Oregon politics, as campaign staff for former NBA Player Chris Dudley’s 2010 run for Oregon Governor and as senior staff for the state House Republican Caucus.
Webber holds an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from the University of Southern California, where he was on the Southern California Law Review. He is a member of the State Bars of California and Oregon. He resides in the Portland, Oregon area with his wife and son.
Tim is the sole director and founder of Lifecycles, a premium supplier of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and sustainability services, and owner of LCA software packaging tool, PIQET.
With over 25 years of experience in LCA, Tim is a pillar of the international Life Cycle community through his involvement with the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, ISO standards development committee for ISO14048 and the Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovation.
Tim has been instrumental in the development of data and leading-edge scientific support for supply chain sustainability tools. He has contributed to several books, being co-author of Assessment: Principles, Practice and Prospects (CSIRO Publishing) and Design + Environment: A Global Guide to Designing Greener Goods (Greenleaf Publishing Limited). He strives to make a more rational science-based approach to environmental decision-making through his consultancy work, training and tool development.
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Avery Dennison is a materials science and manufacturing company specialized in the design and manufacture of a wide variety of labeling and functional materials. Our expertise and global scale enable us to deliver innovative, sustainable and intelligent solutions to customers all over the world.
Kara Stoney brings a wealth of experience in packaging development and sustainable marketing strategy, with over 10 years of industry expertise. Following her graduation from Michigan State University, Kara began her career at Havi Global Solutions, focusing on lightweighting and cost savings in beverage and dessert packaging. She is most proud of leading the sustainability project that replaced foam coffee cups with fiber cups for the McDonald's system. Kara continued her work in sustainable packaging at SC Johnson, where she served as the global lead for Glade aerosol packaging, working on new global product developments and developing life cycle analysis standards for new packages. She then moved into sales at Bostik, quickly transitioning to the role of Sustainability Marketing Manager for the Advanced Packaging division, where she developed overall sustainability strategies. Kara now works at Dow with her primary focus centering on fostering the circular economy while also emphasizing decarbonization. Within her role, she channels her expertise towards the exploration and implementation of strategies that drive circularity within the sustainable packaging landscape. By highlighting the significance of recycling and sustainable practices, Kara actively works towards a future where resources are efficiently utilized and industry waste is minimized. Her dedication lies in contributing to a more sustainable industry that promotes resource efficiency and waste reduction.
Sameer is a R&D Director, External Innovation at PepsiCo. In this role, he manages PepsiCo’s open innovation platform and strategic partnerships to source external technologies that can impact the company’s wide portfolio of food and beverage products. These technologies can range from packaging materials, ingredients and processing to digital technologies and business model innovations.
Prior to his current role, Sameer held various roles within Packaging R&D at PepsiCo and before that at the Wm. WRIGLEY Jr. Company, successfully leading packaging development for commercial launches of new beverage, food and confectionary products as well as longer term development on new packaging materials and technologies. Sameer began his career in the materials industry working on polymer films and coatings as well as glass and fiberglass for GE Plastics and PPG Industries. He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Rich McNabb has been the Global Director for Packaging at Church and Dwight Co. Inc. since 2015. He has worked in the Packaging Industry for over 30 years and is committed to driving Sustainability. Rich is responsible for Global Packaging Development and Sustainability strategy, working closely with the Church and Dwight Sustainability Council. Prior to Church and Dwight, Rich worked at Unilever in Europe and US, where he was a Global Director for Packaging. He has worked across a number of Global Brands and created packaging Innovations and Sustainability solutions over the course of many years.
Rich is a Mechanical Engineer, having been to university in his home town of Liverpool, UK. He is passionate about finding new innovations for consumers and for the planet and is proud of the great progress that he and his team have already made in support of Church and Dwight’s Sustainability goals.
Rose Shulman recently joined LEGO as the Sustainable Packaging Manager. Previously, Rose had been a Packaging Engineer at Hasbro since 2011. There, she is a member of the Sustainability Center of Excellence and helps lead the company’s packaging sustainability initiatives. She is passionate about making the world a better place by designing for the environment and innovating for the future. Prior to working at Hasbro, she was a Packaging Engineer at The Hershey Company. She has an Industrial Design degree from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Bio coming soon!
Dr. Sandeep Kulkarni is the founder and President of KoolEarth Solutions Inc., a technical consulting and business development company focused on helping companies develop and commercialize new sustainable packaging solutions as well as to improve the sustainability footprint of existing packaging and to reduce/eliminate packaging waste. He is also VP, Plastics and Packaging at Ubuntoo (www.ubuntoo.com), a unique environmental solutions platform to address plastic waste, plastic litter, food waste, sustainable fashion and so on.
Sandeep has over 20 years of industry experience working for several large packaging companies, such as International Paper, Neenah Paper and Georgia Pacific. Most recently he worked for PepsiCo, in the area of sustainable beverage packaging. His diverse expertise includes recycling, bioplastics, paper based as well as molded fiber packaging. Sandeep has 7 granted patents as well as several publications in industry journals. He has also served on conference advisory boards and has delivered several invited presentations, at international conferences, on the topics of sustainability and sustainable packaging. Sandeep serves as an Adjunct Professor at The Packaging School (a spinoff from Clemson University) as well as the North Carolina State University. Recently he was elected to serve as member of the Executive Committee of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) for 3 year term (2021-2024)
