Joachim Quoden studied law at the “Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität” in Bonn between 1987 and 1992 and served his legal internship in Bonn and Cologne from 1993 until 1995.
In between these placements, he spent 4 months within the German Federal Ministry of Environment where he was working on packaging issues including the German Packaging Ordinance.
From February 1993 until June 2006 Mr Quoden worked for Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) in various capacities. From January 2001, he served as Head of International Affairs of DSD and was vested with general commercial power of representation in 2003.
Since April 2013 he is appointed as managing director of EXPRA – Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance – Inspiring Packaging Recycling, an alliance of currently 26 non-profit packaging recovery organisations owned by obliged industry from 24 countries from Europe, Canada and Israel.
As the director of CIRCPACK®, Vincent and his team offer consultancy services to brand owners, retailers and packaging companies in order to increase the recyclability of packaging.
CIRCPACK is part of the Veolia-group, the world leader in smart and sustainable resource management. Vincent has over 10-years’ experience in innovation in the recycling industry. He established multiple new recycling propositions and set up value-chain partnerships. With an extensive background in product innovation, marketing and sustainability, Vincent combines strong customer focus with clear understanding of technological challenges.
Gerald Rebitzer is responsible for Sustainability at Amcor Flexibles Europe, Middle East and Africa and Amcor Flexibles Americas.
From 2007 to 2009 he was head of product-related sustainability management at Alcan Packaging, globally. Prior to this, he had several roles related to EHS and sustainability within Alcan, focusing on the various aluminium production and fabrication businesses (2003 – 2007). Gerald has over 20 years of experience in implementing sustainability initiatives and life cycle approaches in sectors such as Packaging, Building and Construction, Automotive, Aerospace, Electronics, and Metals.
He holds a Ph.D. in Life Cycle Management from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne and a Masters in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University Berlin. He is editor for The International Journal of LCA, member of the Executive Committee of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and chairman of the Sustainability Committee of Flexible Packaging Europe. Gerald was also member of the Steering Committee of the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol’s Product and Supply Chain Initiative and was active in the board of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. Gerald has published more than 120 papers in the area of life cycle thinking and sustainability and regularly speaks at international conferences.
Gizem Narin is a Technical Packaging Engineer at METRO based in Duesseldorf. She is responsible for the development and quality assurance of packaging for common source Own Brand products for METRO Cash & Carry International and providing general packaging support to the METRO countries. Prior to METRO, she was a packaging development engineer at Colgate Palmolive and R&D Responsible at Unilever. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry and a Master's Degree in Material Science and Engineering.
Head of Sustainable Business Solutions, Mondi
20 years’ experience in Paper & Packaging serving Industrial and FMCG Brands with paper-based solutions. Point of contact in Mondi for collaboration with Retailers on achieving Sustainability goals of Replace, Reduce, Recycle packaging materials with sustainable concepts developed and promoted in Mondi EcoSolutions initiative.
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.
Simon has a background within strategy, business development, PR and communications and has been developing business-driven sustainability solutions for more than 10 years, within many different areas such as compliance, reporting, communication, data management and branding. He is currently sustainability director at Carlsberg Group and is among others responsible for the roll out of the sustainability programme Together Towards ZERO. His interest particularly lies in making sustainability relevant and accessible for the consumers, and developing value-chain partnerships to achieve sustainability goals. An example of this includes the development of the world’s first bio based beer bottle – The Green Fiber Bottle.
Tom is an award winning innovator with 23 years’ industry experience. Initially working in the consumer products sector with Reckitt, Tom has spent the last 15 years in the paper and packaging industries in environmental, market insight, product development and business development roles with; Billerud, DS Smith and UPM as well as running his own independent sustainable packaging consultancy.
Tom’s commercial experience covers a number of key areas having held roles in market and consumer insight, mergers & acquisitions, sustainability and brand owner management.
Tom recently hosted and presented on two international webinars focused on the circular economy and innovations in packaging. In 2022 Tom presented as part of Esko’s Sustainability in Packaging series of webinars and at Smithers’ E-Pack event in the US. Added to this Tom has prior experience of managing multi-market consultancy projects focused on packaging strategy & roadmap development for branded consumer goods.
Tom was awarded the “Think New” award by Billerud at a ceremony in Stockholm in Dec 2017 for his work leading the development of new paper grades, and bag designs, that helped scale the European volume of paper based e-commerce mailing bags.
Virginia Janssens joined PlasticsEurope as Managing Director in March 2020 with a clear mandate to help accelerate a solutions-driven approach, working towards the circularity and climate goals of a sustainable plastics industry. Building on eight years as Managing Director of EUROPEN, (the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment), Virginia brings considerable experience in business-critical issues, engaging with different parts of the plastics value chain, and key EU policy priorities.
Prior to EUROPEN, Virginia acquired her knowledge of the Brussels arena working for a leading public affairs consultancy on multi-sector clients including food, chemicals and energy. She holds a master’s degree in Political & Social Sciences from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, and a second Master’s Degree in Intercultural Management from the ICHEC Business School in Brussels. Virginia is a mother of a young boy and lives with her family in Ghent.
Passionate about sustainability and the impact of packaging on the global network, Kelly Helein champions change as a Board Member for the University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation, Smithers Pira Sustainability in Packaging (EU/US) and Specialty Papers (EU/US), and development committee for the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton, WI. Kelly returned to her hometown of Appleton, WI in the capacity of Vice President, Business Development for ProCon’s new Vireo Coatings division. ProCon is the largest independent paper converter in the US, with multiple locations throughout the nation. Vireo brings to market a plastic free barrier coating technology to meeting consumer packaging sustainability initiatives.
Garry Kohl is PepsiCo’s Sr. Director of R&D accountable for Global Packaging Technology/Design & Environmental Sustainability across PepsiCo’s Snacks and Nutrition Categories. In its global portfolio of food and beverage brands, PepsiCo has 22 different brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. With net revenues of over $63 billion, PepsiCo’s businesses make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are respected household names around the world.
In his role, Mr. Kohl oversees new developments in designing packaging materials and machinery for global PepsiCo. This includes bio-based materials, lowering carbon footprint and design for recovery. Consumer focused, to capture competitive advantage and drive PepsiCo’s businesses forward.
As Ocean Ambassador of the Netherlands, Willemijn Peeters is an established international speaker on circular plastics. Being highly committed to preventing plastics from ending up in our environment, Willemijn founded Searious Business, a social enterprise that makes the difference in the world of plastics. She works together with highly motivated international brand owners to close the plastic loop in 3 impact sectors: packaging, furniture, consumer electronics. Creating innovative, economically advantageous alternatives at the source, Searious Business strategically assesses internal plastic use, accelerates circular product & business innovation, and reduces external impacts on ocean ecosystems.
Willemijn has been awarded with several titles:
-Ocean Ambassador of the Netherlands;
-Green Solutions partner of the European Commission;
-Leader in Sustainable Top 100 in the Netherlands;
-Member of Dutch circular economy transition team;
-Winner Plastic Recycling Europe Award 2018;
-Winner National Energy Globe Award 2018;
- Developer of fully recyclable drink pouch
-Co-developer of Oceans and Plastics Platform, IUCN;
-Initiator of circular product line: 276pieces.com;
-Developer of Design Sofa from >95% recycled plastics (mainly packaging materials.)
www.seariousbusiness.com
Lars Lundquist holds a PhD in polymer composites science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where he conducted research within the fields of pulp and paper chemistry, composites processing science and life-cycle engineering.
He currently holds a position as Senior R&D Expert at the Nestlé Research Center where he is responsible for the development and dissemination of knowledge related to packaging environmental sustainability within the Nestlé organisation. Representing Nestlé he has contributed to a wide variety of international environmental initiatives including co-chairing The ECR/EUROPEN Guide “Packaging in the Sustainability Agenda: A Guide for Corporate Decision Makers”, The Consumer Goods Forum Global Protocol for Packaging Sustainability as well as the FoodDrinkEurope ENVIFOOD Protocol for Environmental Assessment of Food and Drink.
