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.
Nedim Nisic is an experienced executive in the eCommerce and packaging industry, currently serving as the Group eCommerce Director at Mondi Group.
In his role, he spearheads the company's efforts to support online retailers and marketplaces in transitioning to sustainable, innovative, and consumer-friendly eCommerce packaging. With a team of cross-segment experts, he helps eCommerce companies develop and execute packaging strategies that combine their economic objectives, sustainability requirements, and consumer expectations.
One of Nedim's significant accomplishments at Mondi Group has been the creation and implementation of the eCommerce market strategy for the Corrugated Solutions segment. Through this initiative, Nedim led the segment automation project, including building the first Mondi packing automation machine and establishing partnerships with various suppliers.
Mondi Group is a global leader in packaging and paper, offering a full range of multi-material custom eCommerce packaging solutions, including kraft and functional barrier paper, paper bags, and corrugated solutions.
Tania began her career in CMC in 1999. With her business acumen she helped the company in strengthening the partnership with international distributors and partners. Today she is the company’s evangelist for CMC right-sized packaging technology and works to accelerate the company’s innovation agenda in sustainable e-commerce fulfilment solutions. She is also part of CMC’s ESG strategy development team.
Innovative and collaborate leader with extensive experience in omnichannel Customer experiences, retail operations
and 3X Retail of the Future designer. Karla provides the Big Picture with strategy, compelling Customer Journeys and
aligned initiatives. Leading teams with end-to-end solution development, business requirements, test planning and launch phases. Horizontal business partner to rally, align goals, manage risk and achieve new capabilities that provide value to Customer and operational implementation.
Tracking and monitoring service levels, order volume details and sales projections against operational goals and targets. Her servant leadership style supports teams as they build
new capabilities and celebrates team milestones of success.
Karla is a thought leader with industry best practices,
emerging technologies and futuristic vision for customer
expectations to create capabilities that build loyalty, trust and convenience.
Born in the UK, educated in Rhodesia and South Africa, Stephen Harrod spent eleven years building a market research company in South Africa, focussed on the paper and packaging industry in that country, following which he spent six years in the paper industry with Mondi and JAC Labels before relocating to England. He has been consulting on ad-hoc projects and authoring reports for Smithers since 2006, with a focus on global paper and packaging markets. Stephen is responsible for a range of Smithers market reports including the Global Corrugated Market, the Global Folding Carton Market, Retail Ready Packaging, Liquid Packaging Board, Sustainable E-Commerce Packaging and many others.
Ilkka Harju heads Metsä Board’s packaging design team in EMEA and APAC. Ilkka is renowned for pushing design boundaries by working collaboratively with other designers and technology experts. He constantly advocates the role of responsible design, technology and renewable raw materials as a tool for a healthier environment. In 2017 he received a Worldstar Award for his jewellery packaging design.
For over two decades, Michelle has channeled her passion for wildlife and the planet into working to conserve the environment. A self-professed tree hugger and connector of people, at Canopy Michelle thrives on collaborating with businesses to find tailor-made solutions that transform supply chains, help companies reach their sustainability goals, while taking the pressure off of forests. Forward-thinking business leaders collaborate with Canopy on solutions – from emissions reductions, to circular sourcing, to forest conservation. Together, we are building a movement to protect the world’s ancient forests for people, animals, climate stability, and all life that depends on them.
Claudia Rivinius heads the marketing team at STI Group. Based on the latest shopper and retail insights, she runs customer workshops on sustainability, shopper activation and retail trends and is a member of the Circular Innovation Team. To this end she has jointly developed the Sustainability Scorecard – a tool that not only allows the complexities of packaging sustainability to be evaluated but also provides actionable priorities for optimisation.
Oliver is commercial and strategic lead for water-based coatings at Siegwerk. With over 15 years’ experience in the fibrebased packaging industry working with functional papers and boards, he has dealt with many types of coatings and for a wide range of packaging applications.
Kerry Sanders is the Vice President, eCommerce Center of Excellence for EFI and focuses on driving awareness and adoption of EFI digital printing solutions for corrugated packaging in the eCommerce customer segment. Kerry's unique perspectives are informed by his executive experience in business development, operations, and marketing for Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining EFI, Kerry served as Executive Vice President, Global Business Development at Craft Worldwide, an Interpublic Group (IPG) agency. Prior to Craft, Kerry held key leadership roles in sales and marketing at HP and Xerox, focusing on global new product introductions for digital transformations.
Gavin is the e-commerce Design Manager for DS Smith Packaging, supporting the 600+ design and technical team with insights and training in best practice, along with the hosting of Blue Chip customer e-commerce workshops and development of scalable innovations.
An innovative, creative and visionary designer, he has never been afraid to work outside of his comfort zone and enjoys challenging projects. One of his key abilities is to be able to make innovative concepts that push the boundaries of materials or design into reality, by using extensive hands on experience and actively participating in the product development and manufacturing process. This ensures that not only are the customers expectations met or exceeded, but profitability and manufacturing success is achieved.
A seasoned packaging professional with over 27 years experience, Gavin has a proven track record for producing innovative designs, which has resulted in 14 recognitions at a national, European and international level, including the UK Packaging Awards, Starpacks and World Stars.
Drawing on first hand courier and customer experience, he created the DISCS™ e-commerce test process and equipment, along with supporting the building and installation of two laboratories in the UK and Netherlands. He also has a wide and extensive knowledge of the Amazon APASS Packaging Program, being the first designer to join and now provides best practice support in house or client side.
Scott Farber is Henkel's Global Head of Marketing and Strategy for the Paper Solutions Business. He leads the EPIX platform, which focuses on improved functionality and reduced environmental impact of paper-based packaging. Scott has more than 25 years’ experience developing and launching new products in the packaging, adhesives, and chemical industries. His background includes roles in operations, distribution, product development and marketing. He strives to apply innovative solutions that optimize the impact to the environment, while providing superior performance in each of the applications addressed. The eCommerce platform produces unique challenges for packaging allowing for innovation in design and materials selection, and the prefect opportunity for emerging technology to solve current and future industry needs.
Gill leads our consulting offer, with over 25 years’ experience in the packaging industry, strategically developing packaging strategies and solutions to meet the needs of clients, consumers, and the planet. Gill has worked with global retailers and brands on innovative projects spanning sustainability to supply chain optimisation. With a passion for sustainability, her quest is to drive a circular economy while complementing creativity, technical functionality, and commercial realities.
Jon has a degree in chemistry which enabled him to work in polymer synthesis and formulation development for coatings and adhesives. Now with more than 10 years within adhesive sales to paper converting applications, has been working for H.B. Fuller since 2018 as Strategic Account Manager for Converting Solutions and since Jan 2022 e-Commerce Business Development Manager for Europe.
Jenni has over a decade of experience working with fiber-based packaging topics. Today, Jenni heads the global packaging material competence within the company and is a recognized advisor to leading packaging industry players.
Thomas Fugl is co-founder and CCO at RE-ZIP. Thomas has severe experience within last-mile and infrastructure. And as part of the founder-team at RE-ZIP has set out the change the future of Ecommerce packaging offering state of the art circular packaging concept: System, infrastructure and packaging.
Doris Diebold is CEO and founder of hey circle, a sustainable start-up based in Munich that offers reusable shipping solutions for e-commerce and intralogistics. Doris had the idea for hey circle in the fall of 2020 and celebrated the market launch in May 2022. In the meantime, hey circle has 25 customers and offers eight different shipping boxes and shipping bags optimized for both warehouse and logistics.
Doris was born in Darmstadt, is a mother of two, and studied international business administration. She was in a management position at Lufthansa before enabling a more sustainable lifestyle with her new company.
