March 2026
Chicago, IL
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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.
I've spent 35 years teaching and implementing sustainability processes across industries.
As Chief Innovation Officer at Berlin Packaging, I created and led multiple service divisions within the company. I nurtured Berlin's Studio One Eleven group from its origins as a 2-person internal service capability to an internationally recognized flagship group of over 90 with offices in Chicago, Milan, Wijchen, Los Angeles, Hadleigh, Seoul, and Osaka. The business models and practice management principles I developed and instituted have earned ISO9001:2008 certification, numerous design and innovation awards in and outside the US, and over 100 design and utility patents.
I've earned undergraduate degrees in Technical Illustration from St. Louis College, Industrial Design from Purdue University, and a dual MBA in Marketing Management and Corporate Strategy from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
A frequent speaker at events that include HBA Global and the Spirits Packaging Summit,
My client list spans categories from food and beverage to personal care to medical consumables. It includes such firms/brands as AB InBev, Beam Suntory, The Coca-Cola Company, Gillette, Pfizer, Kimberly-Clark, SC Johnson, Kraft Foods, Nestlé, Miller Brewing, Reckitt Benckiser, Colgate-Palmolive, Frito-Lay, Novartis, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Monsanto, and Baxter Healthcare.
Michael Pratt currently holds the role of Sustainability Manager at Sonoco Products Company, a global packaging solutions leader, committed to improving the lives of customers, teammates, and communities. In this role Michael has primary responsibility for supporting Sustainability efforts for all of Sonoco’s North American divisions including consumer, industrial, and protective packaging and also helps advise on industry trends. Michael enjoys the unique intersection between package design, sales, operations, and marketing in which he currently resides. Michael has been active in the packaging industry for over a decade.
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.
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.