Melissa Hockstad joined the American Cleaning Institute as the President & CEO in January 2017. She is responsible for the overall leadership of ACI including advocacy, science and research, communications, consumer education, sustainability, financial oversight and member engagement.
Prior to joining ACI she served as Vice President, Petrochemicals at the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). In this capacity, she was responsible for managing AFPM’s petrochemical activities including oversight of various petrochemical committees, organization of the International Petrochemical Conference, and providing support for addressing legislative, regulatory and communications issues impacting the petrochemicals membership.
She previously held positions at the Plastics Industry Association where she was the Vice President – Science, Technology and Regulatory Affairs, the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) where she served as Performance Improvement Director as well as at Basell Polyolefins (now LyondellBasell) where she was a Senior Engineer.
Melissa received a M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and a B.S. in Engineering Science from the University of Virginia.
Dr. Michael Capracotta is the Technical Manager for BASF’s North American Home Care and I&I technical service group and earned his Bachelor’s in Chemistry from Clemson University and his PhD in Solid State Chemistry from North Carolina State University. His 14 years with BASF have been spent working in the Care Chemicals business supporting surfactants and chelating agents. In addition to his current role, he also has experience in process chemistry supporting manufacturing of surfactants such as SLES. Mike is a core member of BASF’s task force that is developing solutions for managing 1,4-dioxane and is based in Wyandotte, Michigan.
Clive Davies leads the Safer Choice Program in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics. He is committed to advancing EPA’s chemical safety mission, and is proud to work with a talented, innovative, and dedicated staff of environmental professionals.
Clive built Safer Choice, the Agency’s program to distinguish and label safer products, such as cleaners and detergents. Safer Choice-labeled products – more than 2,000 branded cleaners, detergents, and other classes of products – can be found in retailers and distributers across the country. The program also developed and maintains the Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL), which includes hundreds of high-functioning chemical ingredients that meet rigorous health and environment criteria. These ingredients can be used to manufacture Safer Choice-labeled products, and are being used to process or manufacture safer products around the world.
Clive also began the DfE Alternatives Assessment Program to inform industry decision making in selecting alternatives to hundreds of millions of pounds of high-priority chemicals. He convened multi-stakeholder partnerships that guided the transition for chemicals that included high-volume flame retardants, and BPA in thermal paper.
Clive has worked in EPA’s Office of Water and in the Office of Air and Radiation. Clive led the first Survey of Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs, which Congress used to allocate up to $1billion per year in infrastructure funding.
Scott Jaynes is an R&D Applications Manager at Croda, Inc. in Edison, New Jersey, where he is responsible for new product development and technical service for household and I&I cleaning markets in North America. Prior to joining Croda, Scott held R&D positions at BASF, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, and Unilever. He received a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Dartmouth College.
Aldo Caceres is Global VP Quality, Hygiene GBU at Reckitt (formerly Reckitt Benckiser).
David Mackinson has a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois: Urbana Champaign. He manages an international team of analysts that cover FMCG in Latin America and he is responsible for Euromonitor’s relationship with the most important companies in the region. He has a deep understanding of corporate activity in the region and the current state of each industry, including Tissue & Hygiene.
Dr. Yash Parulekar is the global lead on product strategy and stewardship at MonoSol. Yash in his role as product steward for MonoSol’s entire product portfolio of water-soluble, biodegradable films oversees product strategy, product line management, technical reputation management, sustainability, and social responsibility.
Yash has been with MonoSol since 2011 in various roles in technical marketing and business strategy development. His expertise areas include bio-based materials, water-soluble polymers, unit-dose detergents, and
packaging and has to his name multiple patents and peer-reviewed publications. Prior to MonoSol, Yash worked in technical roles at Encapsys and Appleton Performance Packaging both in Wisconsin.
Yash serves on technical, regulatory, and sustainability committees and task-forces at the American Cleaning Institute in the US and at the European detergent Industry association (AISE). Yash is also on the advisory board for packaging at Cal Poly University’s Orfalea College of Business.
Yash graduated from the University of Pune in India with a degree in Polymer Engineering followed by graduate work at Clemson (M.S. Materials Science and Engineering) and Michigan State University (Ph. D. Packaging Science). Yash and his wife Aishwarya have 2 young pre-teen children and they all enjoy traveling and martial arts together as a family.
As Global Director, Product Sustainability, Michael is responsible for embedding sustainable innovation into IFF's taste, scent and nutrition solutions. He works cross-functionally to embed its Circular Design philosophy into the product development process, collaborating with R&D, creative and commercial teams to design products that enhance IFF's overall circularity. Michael is passionate about finding ways for disruptive technologies to help drive the sustainability mission, seeking out new partners and enablers to help IFF and its customers better support healthy people and a healthy planet.
Prior to IFF, Michael spent more than ten years developing products and technologies in the biotech, biochemical and consumer packaged goods industries. He has a degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from NC State.
Stuart has been working at Nouryon (formerly AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals) for over 15 years, and currently leads the global technical marketing efforts for the cleaning segment, which includes specialty surfactants and water soluble polymer products. Stuart has a Chemistry background from Imperial College, London, and has developed a varied career in technical, innovation, sales and marketing roles across different industries over the years, with a keen focus throughout on the development of mild and sustainable chemistry for industry and consumer use.
Doug Gatlin is CEO of Green Seal, a global nonprofit organization and leading ecolabel dedicated to transforming the economy for a healthier, greener world.
A nationally recognized expert in the design, development and deployment of voluntary market transformation programs, Doug formerly held senior leadership positions with both the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC's) LEED Program and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR Program. During his tenure at USGBC, he led the development of standards for existing buildings, schools, and neighborhoods; and later her ran building certification and personnel credentialing through USGBC’s sister organization, GBCI. Doug is experienced in ANSI/ISO standards development, conformity assessment and personnel certification requirements.
Doug holds a B.S. in Political Science from Duke University and an M.S. in Energy and Environmental Policy from Georgetown University.
Dan Felton is Executive Director of AMERIPEN – the American Institute for Packaging and the Environment. He is a well-known policy and trade association leader who 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 engaged extensively in those areas at the state and federal levels. He has chaired committees and led task forces for several national trade associations and has served on the board of the State Government Affairs Council (SGAC) where he is a graduate of the their nationally recognized professional certificate programs. A former professional actor and musician, he has run the finances and served on the board of a nationally recognized theatre education non-profit. He has also been involved with the Commission on Presidential Debates since 2000 in support of their quad-annual presidential and vice presidential debates. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, Dan lives in the Washington DC area.
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.
Oscar is a Senior Global Packaging Engineer, focused on Home & Personal Care products, since 2018, the scope of his work has been extended to all other categories (Oral Care, Toothbrushes, Pet Care and Skin Care), as he tracks their efforts towards their Corporate Sustainability goals and reports their advance towards them.
Dr. Prieto is a Senior Research Scientist at Sasol, Lake Charles, LA. He has over 35 years of experience in surfactants and enzymes applications, development, and formulation in diverse industries including cleaning products. He has authored multiple patents, technical articles and presentations.
Thomas McKay is Sr. Program Manager, Circular Economy Solutions at BASF Corporation. Thomas received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kentucks, as well as a Masters Degree focused in Sustainability and Environmental Management from Harvard University.
The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) announced the appointment of Brennan Georgianni as Director, State Government Affairs.
In this role, Mr. Georgianni will be responsible for the development and implementation of ACI’s state government affairs advocacy and policy strategy.
Mr. Georgianni joins ACI from the Plastics Industry Association where he most recently served as Manager, State Government Affairs.
“Brennan comes on board with an impressive background with state legislative and public-policymaking bodies,” said Douglas Troutman, ACI General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Senior Vice President, Government Affairs. “He will play an integral role in advancing proactive messaging regarding the impact of policy issues affecting the cleaning products supply chain.”
Mr. Georgianni graduated Auburn University (Auburn, AL) with a B.A. in Political Science and George Mason University with a Master of Public Policy (Fairfax, VA).
