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Thomas Kahl studied economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Moenchengladbach
He has over 25 years’ experience in sales and marketing in the European flexible packaging industry. His functional experience includes sales, marketing and project management. Since 2018 Thomas is leading the EcoSolutions project at Mondi focusing on sustainable packaging guided by the headline “paper where possible and plastic when useful”
Filip has a background in business psychology and has started to specialize in home care as the industry project lead and as Consultant for home and technology industries at Euromonitor. He provides analysis on trends and developments, with special emphasis on broader consumer trends and areas where home care overlaps with other industries. This big picture view helps clients to learn about opportunities and threats, and to take informed strategic decisions.
Mark has 25 years experience of lab automation, instrumentation development and data management gained from both the large corporate FMCG sectors (ICI, AkzoNobel) and SMEs. His current role at CPI is leading the development of our digital capability, focusing on Informatics, Data Science, Automation and Process Analytics. He is technical manager for the DIY4U project, leading a diverse consortium with expertise ranging from blockchain and machine learning, incorporating one of the market leaders in FMCG, through to process measurement and hardware design and build.
Coming soon..
Dr. Mark Stalmans obtained a Ph.D. in Colloidal and Interphase Chemistry in 1986 (Leuven University, Belgium). He joined Procter & Gamble in 1987 and has managed global and regional safety, regulatory, lifecycle analysis and sustainability programs for household and professional product categories.
Since 2013, he is manager Global Product Stewardship & Sustainability for the Global Fabric & Home Care Business Unit where he coordinates P&G’s internal and stakeholder programmes around sustainability and innovation. He is an active member of the A.I.S.E. and CEFIC industry association networks and supports safety and sustainability initiatives such as A.I.S.E. Charter for Sustainable Cleaning, www.cleanright.eu, ‘I prefer 30°’ (www.iprefer30.eu) and the CEFIC Sustainability Programme Council.
Dzung obtained a PharmD degree in 2000 (Utrecht University, The Netherlands). After a short career in the city pharmacy, Dzung entered the pharmaceutical industry, working for Novo Nordisk and Ipsen respectively prior moving to Reckitt in 2007. At Reckitt, she was first managing Regulatory and Medical affairs for the BeNeLux business. Since 2017, she serves as Head of Regulatory for Global e-Commerce Hygiene business. In her current role, she’s also managing eco-certification for Reckitt’s Hygiene products and serves on the Sustainability Steering Group for A.I.S.E.
After working for several years in R&D/Quality in the air filtration industry, Augustin was able to develop his expertise by working on the regulatory compliance of wood treatment products, then for more than two years in the application of chemical regulations in the pharmaceutical industry, starting with REACh, BPR, CLP, PIC and Animal feed regulations. In this context, he has worked with clients across Europe, the United States, Canada, Korea and Australia. His background in chemistry, combined with his career in the application of chemical regulations in various industrial fields, gives Augustin the expertise that is necessary to assess the data required for BPR files, to advise clients on the compliance of their labeling (CLP & BPR Regulation) and help them optimize the regulatory strategy for the compliance of their products.
Ruben Brunsveld, Deputy Director EMEA
Ruben has a background in human rights, multilateral diplomacy and responsible business. He joined the RSPO in August 2021 to lead the market transformation division for Europe, Middle East & Africa. With this region he has both the supply and the demand side of the value chain within his remit as he engages with members, policy makers and other stakeholders to promote sustainable palm production and uptake. He is also a highly experienced moderator and speaker on different sustainability topics.
As a Colombian born, Indonesian bred, Dutchman living in Sweden he has a lot of affinity with both producing and consuming countries. He uses his broad international personal experience and professional background to connect with different stakeholders throughout the palm oil value chain.
Christoph Gross-Heitfeld studied Organic Chemistry focused on Consumer Products at Niederrhein University of Applier Sciences in Krefeld and Chemistry at University Duisburg-Essen in Essen. After his PhD in Physical Chemistry, he joined R&D team of Sasol Germany GmbH in Marl in 2016. After being responsible for Technical Marketing and Application Technology in the area of Household and I&I, he was working as a Technical Key Account Manager and took over the R&D team for Fabric/Homecare and I&I in 2021. Christoph is part of an international team within Sasol and supports customers to improve sustainability of raw materials and bring them to the market.
Àlex Sánchez is the EMEA Business Development Manager in the Home Care team at Croda, which he joined in January 2018. Alex is currently managing the strategic growth platforms fabric care, sustainable cleaning, sensory technologies and biotechnology in the region. He works closely with customers to identify innovative and sustainable opportunities through a collaborative partnership with the use of our purpose Smart science to improve lives.
Anisha is a cofounder at Bluebird Climate, a climate tech startup founded in early 2021 building software that is helping consumer brands tackle the 95% of company emissions that live within their products and supply chains. Bluebird's platform provides actionable tools to enable brands to make and market more sustainable products from the start of their product development process and track progress over time. Bluebird works with brands across beauty, personal care, home care, and apparel to drive sustainable improvement.
Prior to founding Bluebird, Anisha began her career at Unilever in their Future Leaders program. She held roles across supply chain, formulation, and process engineering, largely focused on projects driving operational efficiency and sustainability.
Anisha holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, with a focus in Sustainable Engineering, from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and a master's degree in Sustainability Management from Columbia University in the City of New York. She was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 2022 list in the Social Impact category.
Esther Lansdaal has joined Corbion in March 2007 and serves as a Senior Biocide Application Specialist in non-food applications.
With 13 years expertise in the market of Home & Personal Care and Biocides Esther is a strong contributor to new technology development.
Esther holds a MSc degree in Applied Life Sciences of HAN University in Nijmegen and a BSc degree in Histopathology of Avans Hogeschool Breda.
Heidi Beatty has a successful track record as an Innovator and project manager. Over her 20+ year career, Heidi has launched products for some of the world’s leading brands as well as for some of the most entrepreneurial start-ups. As CEO of Crown Abbey, Heidi and her team helps a global client base across consumer, health care and nutritional categories to identify and commercialize new technologies.
After gaining a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of York, UK, Heidi worked with Johnson & Johnson for over 10 years across Europe and the US. From there, she has worked at both mid-size companies as well as start-ups, before founding Crown Abbey, nearly 6 years ago.
Heidi speaks & moderates at many conferences on a variety of topics, including women’s health products, innovation and project management tools.
Geoffrey Gendebien holds a Masters Degree in Engineering from the University of Liege, Belgium and a Management Certificate from the University of Toronto, Ontario
He has over 20 years’ experience in operations, sales and strategic marketing in the Composites, Polymers and, Packaging industries. He has worked and lived in Europe and North America and, has held global responsibilities.
Over the last 5 years, he has been managing product lines and Market Segments in Composites and Flexible Packaging. He is currently managing the Home and Personal Care Market for Amcor in EMEA. He is driving innovation projects and aligning internal resources to deliver appealing value propositions and, successful innovative solutions to his markets.
Monica is the Director, Beauty, Personal Care and Household Products at the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute where she is leading work with companies in these sectors and in packaging to scale the positive impact of Cradle to Cradle Certified™, a multi-attribute sustainable product certification.
Prior to joining the Institute, Monica worked as Director of Collaborative Innovation for the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3), leading projects on strategic ingredients for consumer products such as preservatives and silicone alternatives. She created and grew the GC3's Startup Network and Technology Showcase.
Monica held management positions in clean tech and remanufacturing consulting and R&D programs at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability and began her career as a chemical engineer at Eka Chemicals (now Nouryon). Monica holds Masters’ degrees in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Technology & Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Dr. Clara Pochetti has worked as Sales Manager in BBA Ecotech for more than a year now. Her working experience abroad in sales and marketing departments has broaden her way of working, thinking and liaising with people and companies.
Experiences abroad has helped Clara to build up her view of different cultures, habits and approaches to even complex projects, allowing her to develop interesting and unconventional assessments.
Working with innovative and eco-friendly biotechnologies and her great interest in green sustainability gives her the possibility to find more and more original solutions for her clients, helping them to succeed in their sustainable projects.
Dr Marc Rodríguez Garcia is the Chief Technology Officer of Xampla, having developed Xampla’s core technology as a Research Associate alongside University of Cambridge Professor Tuomas Knowles. His expertise is on the engineering of proteins and other biopolymers as potential biodegradable replacements for synthetic polymers in microencapsulation and other structured materials. Prior to this, he completed is PhD in peptide chemistry at the University of Glasgow in 2016. He has published research articles in journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and Nature Communications.
She is currently the Vice President of Business Development for Market Actives, the exclusive US distributor of Bitrex® Safety Technology, providing technical, sales, marketing and regulatory support to all US customers. She is responsible for the development of core Bitrex brand assets and management of high-value client relationships. She has over 11 years of experience with Market Actives. She assists clients with product development, certification, marketing, and regulatory affairs.
Kristin is earned the designation Certified Product Safety Professional (CPSP) in 2019 as a member of the Inaugural class of this new professional designation.
She is an active participant in various industry organizations and work groups, including ASTM F-1571 Subcommittee on Liquid Laundry Packets, International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO), Society of Product Safety Professionals (SPSP), National Poison Prevention Week Council and The American Cleaning Institute (ACI). With ACI, she is active on ACI’s Consumer Laundry Safety Campaign Work Group, Reputation Management Work Group and is the Chair of the Future Leaders Board.
Prior to joining Market Actives, she worked as a Certified Veterinary Technician (CVT) in emergency veterinary medicine. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Equine Science with a Pre-Vet focus from Colorado State University and an MBA and Graduate Certificate of Entrepreneurship from Keller Graduate School of Management.
Growing up on the US coast of Maine, Nick was inspired to study physical sciences by the powerful winter cyclones that strike his home town each year. Nick enjoys using computer simulation and mathematics to solve challenging problems in chemistry and physics.
As a key member of the Electric Ant Lab Modeling Team (makers of RheoCube software), Nick applies his passion for multi-scale modeling, computer simulation, and statistical thermodynamics. Having built the company’s entire modeling team from the ground up, he is now focused on developing and implementing RheoCube’s core physical models.
Nick is inherently driven to understand the complicated physics happening at the microscale, between molecules and nanostructures, to make predictive models for what happens at our scale of existence. He often investigates exciting new materials (polymers), fluid rheology, molecular targeting techniques, biosensing, and molecular assembly.
Aside from this, Nick loves tracking the weather and studying dynamic meteorology. He also creates interactive and visual computer software that allows scientists and non-scientists alike to explore emergent phenomena, with an artistic twist (e.g. https://stochasm-app.com).
Jurjen brings a wealth of entrepreneurial and innovation strategy experience to his roles as co-owner and CCO at Electric Ant Lab, drawing from a rich background in advisory and management consulting at C-suite level, to fundraising for startups.
Having worked predominantly with technical or scientific entrepreneurs and management teams to get their product, technology or service to the market, Jurjen has had the opportunity to work alongside the brightest scientific minds as they strive to move their knowledge and technology to an industrial application.
Jurjen now leads the scale-up Electric Ant Lab together with founder Dr. Eric Lorenz - the company behind the industry unique simulation technology, RheoCube. Together, they have successfully raised funding from leading European venture capital firms.
RheoCube is used daily in R&D labs in companies like Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, Clariant and many other top-innovators in the coatings, homecare and personal care sectors.
Since 2005, Sascha Nissen has been working with A.I.S.E., the international Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products in Brussels. He is mainly involved in the development and implementation of A.I.S.E.’s strategy on Sustainable Development, covering a wide range of initiatives for the industry sector in Europe; these include the ‘A.I.S.E. Charter for Sustainable Cleaning’ and other industry voluntary schemes such as on social responsibility and the circular economy with activities linked to plastic packaging and bio-based materials. He also coordinated A.I.S.E.’s Product Environmental Footprint detergents pilot, a project in the context of the EU Environmental Footprint initiative.
Sascha studied Political Science at the University in Bonn, Germany, and was working in parallel in the German Parliament as Parliamentary Assistant. After his graduation as Magister Artium, M.A., he worked as Consultant for Public Relations and Public Affairs firms in Germany and Brussels.
Sascha has been a speaker at numerous international symposia and congresses across Europe.
Richard joined Mintel in 2011, specialising in household care in January 2016. After initially focusing on the UK market, he uses global consumer research to identify and deliver insightful analysis on shifts in consumer behaviour, as well as track emerging industry trends and innovations around the world.
Francesca Morgante joined RSPO in October 2018 with market development functions, and is currently Sr Manager, Europe ( Market Transformation)
Her role consists of engaging with key stakeholders to help increase the uptake of certified sustainable palm oil in the European market. Before joining RSPO she was responsible for the development of a quality seal for natural and organic cosmetics, where she gained sound knowledge about the international cosmetic sector and on how to strategically position private standards in different markets. Francesca holds a degree in Development and International Cooperation from the Bologna University and has a working experience of over 10 years within the non-profit sector at international level.
Lies Marijnissen is Product & Sustainability Manager at Greenspeed. Working daily on Greenspeed ambition to create cleaning products and materials with a positive impact based on circular economy principles.
She has already 10 years’ experience in the professional cleaning industry. Starting as a Product & Brand Manager at Ecover Professional in 2012 to build the first range of Cradle to Cradle Certified GOLD level professional cleaning product. By the acquisition of Greenspeed in 2016 she continued the work with the same products under the Greenspeed brand and focusing the latest years on creating a full circular cleaning concept with certified microfiber cloths.
Dr. Jean-Paul Janssens (PhD Chem Eng) is co-founder of FRAMES Formulation Intelligence and experienced R&D and Innovation consultant. He served as R&D Manager at Unilever from 1996 to 2010. In this role, he was responsible for managing Home and Personal Care category innovation. He was involved in new product development processes, spanning from insight to implementation, with the focus on consumer benefits, revenue growth and sustainability. The various categories he has handled during his tenure at Unilever included fabric & household care, skin & hair products and fabric conditioners. Jean-Paul has worked in Europe, South East Asia, North Africa and Middle East, his expertise ranges from R&D, formulation & product development, technology development, innovation processes, project management to strategy development. He has over 25 years of experience in various research & development environments.
Sam Westgate completed a Bachelor of Science (BSc) (Animal Sciences) in 2003 with the University of Leeds and proceeding to complete a Master of Science (MSc) in Equine Science in 2007. Sam has focused her attention researching Biofilms with the mission to improve quality of life through the provision of exceptional, customised microbiological services, forming Perfectus Biomed in 2012. Perfectus Biomed’s CEO, Dr Samantha Westgate, incorporated the business in 2012, through investment from Midven Rainbow Seed Fund and SPARK Northwest Fund for Biomedical, to design customised microbiological services that serve the antimicrobial community. Perfectus Biomed merged with Extherid Biosciences in 2020, becoming Perfectus Biomed group. The company continues to grow and are leaders in providing standard and customised microbiology testing services to a global client base, in a variety of sectors
After her studies in chemistry and agro-chemistry, Pauline Raffaitin has completed a PhD on environmental impacts of waste management in collaboration with the French Environment Agency (ADEME). She integrated the ECOCERT Group in 2008 to work on the certification of natural and organic cosmetics. Since more than 10 years, she has developed a solid expertise on natural and organic market. She is now at the head of home and personal care business unit for the ECOCERT Group to develop these two sectors of activities worldwide.
Heather serves as the Global VP of Regulatory for Hygiene and Home at RB, covering brands like Lysol, Harpic, Finish, Vanish and Airwick. Prior to this, Heather was the Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs where she developed the regulatory strategy for projects across all phases and directed the activities of a team of regulatory professionals. In that role, Heather represented company interests with local government agencies, industry associations and other organizations to influence legislation, regulations and/or guidelines that impact the Canadian business, and managed the protection and promotion of RB business, brands and initiatives.
Prior to this, Heather served as the Government Relations Manager for S.C. Johnson & Son, ltd. Where she was the key external ambassador and representative for the company.
Heather currently serves on the Board of Directors for A.I.S.E. (International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance) and had previous roles as Vice Chair for the Consumer Health Products of Canada Strategies Committee; Vice Chair of the Consumer Health Products of Canada Drug Scheduling Task Force and a Member of both the Ontario Chamber of Commerce Working Group on Waste Reform and the Network of Executive Women Mentoring Committee.
Heather holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry with a Minor in Nutritional Science and a Masters degree in Toxicology.
PhD in chemistry - > 20 years experience in household care/detergent industry: 10 years R&D and Technical Sales Support in Clariant - 2 years heading Technical Customer Support team in Propack (= RB private label division) - 3 1/2 year Industry Technology Specialist in Novozymes - since 4 years HHC (household care) Market & Insights Manager in Novozymes.
Ross Ellis obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh in 2009. He has worked as a research scientist in specialty chemicals in the UK, US, and now Norway. He currently works in the R&D department at the Borregaard Biorefinery in Norway, developing new biopolymers from sustainable Norwegian wood.
