March 5-7, 2025
Chicago, IL
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August 20-21 |
August 2025 |
June 2-4 |
June 5-6 |
With a global vision of the future oriented toward people and sustainability, Braskem is committed to contributing to the value chain for strengthening the Circular Economy. The petrochemical company’s almost 9,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improving people’s lives through sustainable chemicals and plastics solutions. Braskem has an innovative DNA and a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse segments, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, healthcare, and hygiene, among others. With 40 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Germany, and exports its products to clients in more than 70 countries.
Braskem America is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Braskem S.A. headquartered in Philadelphia. The company is the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, with five production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh, and operations in Lexington, MA focused on leveraging groundbreaking developments in biotechnology and advanced materials. For more information, visit www.braskem.com/usa.
Charles Neal is General Manager of Kuraray America’s Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVOH) Business Unit which includes Vinyl Acetate Monomer, Kuraray Poval™ and Elvanol™. He joined Kuraray ten years ago and was previously their La Porte Site Plant Manager from 2017 to mid-2021. Charles has 30+ years of chemical industry experience, most of it spent as a passionate agent for change. While with DuPont, he spent a decade as an operations-focused Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He is a native Houstonian, a Rice University chemical engineering alumnus, and a nuclear power veteran of the United States Navy. Charles is also both son and father in a three-generation run of proud Eagle Scouts
Filipe Vieira de Castro leads Recycling Intelligence operations at CIRCPACK, where he drives projects on targeted recycling topics and the development of the unique ReCoRe platform. With a strong international background in sustainability and specialised consulting, Filipe applies his knowledge to bridge theory with practical operations, delivering real solutions in an industry that is constantly evolving. He specialises in global collection, sorting, and recycling systems, as well as supporting systems including, EPR, DRS, and labelling, as well as the production of real recycling rates, among other areas.
Thaxton Lipscomb is a Packaging and Supply Chain Expert, specializing in strategies which leverage the Total Systems Approach to optimize business solutions. He is a Certified Packaging Professional, Project Management Professional, Certified Scrum Master, and Packaging Dynamics Professional with experience and passions around Supply Chain and Research & Engineering Functions. Thaxton services business to business, club, retail and e-commerce marketing channels with work spanning global brands across Fortune 500 Companies as well as various start-up ventures. Thaxton received his Bachelor’s in Packaging Science from Clemson University and Master’s in Logistics Engineering from Florida International University.
Chris Schmidt is the North American Value Proposition Strategy Manager for the Circular and Low Carbon Solutions business of LyondellBasell. As one of the world’s largest producers of polymers and a leader in polyolefin technologies, LyondellBasell serves as a sustainable packaging innovation partner of choice for both brands and converters.
At LyondellBasell, Chris is responsible for driving the commercial strategy for the Circular and Low Carbon Solutions business, leads the value discovery process for new products and solutions, and manages the value proposition of LyondellBasell’s Circulen brand of recycled and bio-renewable polymers in North America.
With a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, Chris’ previous experience includes quantitative market research at Euromonitor International, leading the North American regional marketing team at DuPont’s food ingredients business, and channel and brand management roles at CPG giants KraftHeinz and Kimberly-Clark.
Gary is a mission-driven professional focused on advancing Sustainability for high-volume consumer goods. Sustainability challenges us to think differently. It challenges us to innovate and build systems solutions. Gary’s 30-years of diverse professional experience with global brands has prepared him well for this mission.
Gary started as a research scientist for Kraft Foods. This cultivated curiosity as a challenger, and analysis skills for building disruptive innovations. This is also when Gary became committed to Sustainability after the launch of his first consumer package into retail.
Gary has served in a multitude of leadership assignments. Each uniquely demonstrating his strength and diversity. Gary’s experience includes Global Manufacturing Engineer in India with the Amway Corporation, Sr. Manager New Product Development with Newell Rubbermaid, Director of Purchasing and Packaging for a global chemical company, and he was the first to build the packaging department for The Home Depot. As an innovator, Gary led development of a disruptive fiber technology for BillerudKorsnäs called Fibreform, a 3D cold formable paper to displace plastics.
Gary served a rotation in public policy, strategy, and government affairs for an Israeli based certified compostable biopolymer company called Tipa.
Gary currently operates as a fractional professional helping a portfolio of clients advance their Sustainability and innovation strategies. Gary is actively accepting new clients.
Nate is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in the petrochemicals and polymers industry, with 11 years at LyondellBasell (LYB). He is currently Director, Brand Owner Business Development for the Circular & Low Carbon Solutions Business at LYB in North America. In this role, he works closely with downstream value chain partners, including convertors, brand owners and retailers to assess and implement material solutions that support the company’s commitment to plastics circularity and GHG footprint.
Prior to his current role, Nate held positions in a wide range of functions at LyondellBasell, including Commercial, Strategy & Planning, and Manufacturing.
Nate holds a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Houston. This combination of technical and business expertise makes him well-suited for his current role, where he is responsible for driving business growth and developing strategic partnerships.
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.
Rose Shulman is a Sustainable Packaging Manager at the LEGO Group. There she works in a strategic function, helping to set the company’s sustainable packaging ambitions and enabling the organization to deliver on their aggressive environmental sustainability goals. She has over 15 years of experience in the packaging industry at major corporations including The Hershey Company and Hasbro. Rose also serves on the Advisory Board for Sustainability in Packaging US and EU. She is active in the diversity and inclusion space and is passionate about making a positive impact on people and the planet.
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)
35 years experience in the Household products and the food industry globally, in product, process and packaging development.
Responsibilities cover sustainability corporate goal deliverables for packaging, reporting out for Global EPR compliance, driving our How2Recycle label program and development programs to lower environmental impact.
Previous external role as Vice President of the International Microwave Power Institute.
Bio coming soon!