Benjamin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and an M.B.A from the University of Akron. In his current role, Benjamin leads the strategic consulting division of Smithers Information in North America. This division works with clients to gather a deep understanding of their business goals, and to develop in-depth research programs to provide visibility into markets and niches. This process is designed to dig deep into a wide variety of industries and topics, gather insights, and provide an unbiased view of the key challenges faced by our clients. These efforts allow our clients to evaluate their strategic plans and make decisions based upon credible data and analysis, supported by robust research conclusions and recommendations.
Paula is a Senior Project Director at the Center for the Circular Economy – Closed Loop Partners’ innovation center that leverages research and pre-competitive collaborations to support the transition to the circular economy. Her work focuses on evaluating new technologies and markets to drive investment towards solutions that are both safe and circular and to accelerate their commercialization.
Paula has worked across sectors and along the supply chain in various operations and marketing roles. She began her career in water policy and later launched a startup that upcycled textile waste and employed women coming home from prison. Before joining Closed Loop Partners, she worked in operations and sourcing roles for brands including Nike, Amazon, and Starbucks.
Paula received her B.A. in Consumer Behavior from Cal Berkeley and her MBA and MS from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and School for Environment and Sustainability.
Chris Koffler is the Technical Director for the Americas of Sphera’s Sustainability Consulting practice. In this role he is responsible for the quality of all sustainability consulting projects across the region, methodological development, and project oversight. In addition, he is the primary lead in selected areas such as the automotive sector.
Chris is a firm believer in the importance of high quality and accurate data to inform product design and strategy development towards a more sustainable future. Over the last 17 years, Chris has worked on hundreds of Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint projects across a wide variety of industry sectors, including but not limited to the automotive, metals & mining, building & construction, chemical, electronics, consumer goods, packaging, textile, and financial sectors, either in a project manager, quality assurance manager, or independent reviewer role.
Chris received his Doctorate in Engineering from the Darmstadt University of Technology in 2007. His PhD work was on Automotive Product Life Cycle Assessment and was carried out at the Volkswagen Group Research Department in Wolfsburg, Germany. He came to the United States in 2010 for his current position at Sphera (formerly thinkstep, formerly PE Americas). Chris has published numerous papers in the field of Life Cycle Assessment and frequently provides his expertise in peer and critical reviews.
A well-known leader in the government affairs arena for more than 20 years, Dan has worked within the bottled water, credit card, healthcare and information management industries. He is particularly passionate about environmental, sustainability and packaging issues and has lobbied extensively in those areas at the state and federal levels. He leads the efforts of AMERIPEN – the American Institute for Packaging and the Environment – to develop and advocate positions for the U.S. packaging industry on issues related to packaging and the environment, using sound science and a philosophy of material neutrality.
Craig Cookson is the Senior Director of Plastics Sustainability for the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council, a trade association representing the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. Craig is responsible for leading the Plastics Division’s strategic national initiatives to grow and scale plastics recycling technology and promote awareness of plastics’ role in providing sustainable solutions to society’s greatest challenges.
Before coming to ACC, Craig was the Vice President of Integrated Business Strategies at 720 Strategies, where he designed and implemented strategic grassroots programs for corporate, association, and non-profit clients. Craig was also the Deputy Director of State-Federal Relations for Governor Mitt Romney. Craig advocated on behalf of Massachusetts’ interests on the issues of energy, transportation, education, and local commerce.
Craig holds a B.A. in Political Science from The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and an MBA from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Craig is a long-time New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox fan and currently lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Elizabeth and their twin boys.
Klaus Lederer, Business Development Manager Chemical Recycling, Erema Group GmbH, Austria
Klaus holds a degree in Plastics Engineering and Polymer Science from the Montanuniversität of Leoben, Austria. He has 13 years of experience from various technical, commercial and management roles in the Polyolefin- and Compounding business at international companies before he joined EREMA Group in 2020. At EREMA Group Klaus is overseeing the activities in the new application Chemical Recycling. The EREMA Group is global market and technology leader for plastic recycling systems.
Dan Fitzgerald is the Sr. Director of Product Sustainability at Stanley Black & Decker and is responsible for identifying, defining, and facilitating strategies and action plans associated with improving the sustainable performance of products across the corporation. He leads the Product Pillar of the Corporate Social Responsibility strategy which includes goals to develop new products that address unmet societal needs and to improve the impacts of existing products across their lifecycle. He joined Stanley Black & Decker in 2006 and spent his first ten years at the company in a product stewardship role providing safety and environmental compliance support for the Power Tools Business before moving into the Corporate-wide Product Sustainability Role. Dan holds a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland – College Park.
Waste not, want not? I help fight climate change and accelerate circular economy by developing chemical recycling of waste plastic. My mission is the development and commercialization of processing technologies that enable efficient, safe and sustainable use of waste plastic as raw material to new plastics and chemicals. My current main tasks are building and sustaining strategic partnerships in the field of chemical recycling technologies and especially related to the commercialization of Alterra Energy's proprietary liquefaction technology in Europe.
I'm interested in building networks that support making chemical recycling viable from technical, commercial as well as regulatory standpoints. Please contact me with cooperation proposals at outi(dot)teras(at)neste(dot)com.
Experienced polymer research and development professional with a PhD focused in Macromolecular Science and Engineering specializing in problem solving through fundamental polymer science. Focused on sustainability of plastics, material and applications development through customer and market engagement including processing and test method development as well as improvements through material modification. Skilled in Viscoelasticity, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis, Polymer Morphology, Polymer Science, Copolyesters, and Fuel Cells.
Carson Potter is a product leader at AMP Robotics, where he focuses on automated facility development and applications of artificial intelligence. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in computer science, and brings to AMP a background in machine learning and large scale data systems. Before joining AMP, he led a product team and the machine learning and data strategy for a company in the home services industry. Previously, he was head of product for a Y Combinator-backed employee rewards and recognition platform.
Maurizio Crippa, PhD in Materials Science, CEO, founder and inventor of the gr3n SA. He worked many years in academia where he has had the chance to accumulate a wide-ranging academic and research experience in solid state physics, organic and inorganic chemistry with special regard to the development of functional and structural materials such as organic materials for opto-electronic, conductive polymers and hybrid inorganic materials for different applications. After years spent creating new materials he switched his interests on providing technological solutions to solve environmental issues. As gr3n SA he is one of the founder of Chemical Recycling Europe and he is the vice president of the association since 2020.
Amanda Nummy is a senior polymer materials engineer with a decade of experience in the automotive industry, specializing in alternative energy and sustainable materials. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Polymer, Textile, and Fiber Engineering from Georgia Tech, a master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Wayne State University, and a master’s degree in Biomimicry through Arizona State University. She works at the Hyundai America Technical Center outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan. In her current role, she is responsible for plant support and new application development of all plastic components in North and South America, and leads several global collaborations for hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicle development.
