Amanda Lai is Consulting Senior Manager and Food Retail Practice Lead at McMillanDoolittle, a Chicago-based consultancy serving the retail industry. Amanda manages McMillanDoolittle’s food retail practice and leads strategic planning, retail concept development, consumer research, and real estate analysis for a wide range of global retail clients. Since joining the team in 2017, Amanda has worked with brands across the Grocery, Restaurant, Apparel, Consumer Electronics, Automotive, and Real Estate sectors. She has been featured as a subject matter expert on TD Ameritrade, CBS News, and Chicago’s WGN Radio, and has been quoted in publications including The Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, Progressive Grocer, Drug Store News, and Convenience Store News.
Benjamin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and an M.B.A from the University of Akron. Benjamin has spent the last seven years in market research and strategic consulting across a wide range of industries. In this time, Benjamin has participated in all functions of these roles including conducting primary and secondary research, analyzing trends, developing market size estimates, evaluating competitive landscapes, authoring reports, developing strategic recommendations, and conducting presentations.
Benjamin has experience working in a number of commercial, industrial, and consumer research segments, including packaging, consumer goods, oil & gas, transportation, plumbing fixtures & fittings, HVAC-R, and printing, among others. Prior to joining Smithers, Benjamin ran the Private Equity Diligence division of a Public Equity research firm. Benjamin was responsible for all aspects of this division outside of sales.
Stephan Ango is the co-founder of Lumi, a software platform and online marketplace that enables brands to source and produce packaging from manufacturers around the world.
Stephan leads strategy and software products at Lumi. His teams are responsible for building innovative tools that enable better collaboration, traceability, and modularity at every step of the packaging supply chain.
Stephan also hosts the Well Made podcast in which he speaks with entrepreneurs and experts about innovative and sustainable ecommerce brands.
Born in Paris, France, Stephan holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Colorado College and studied industrial design at Art Center College of Design.
Brent Lindberg is annoying, and he knows it. With a curiosity that rivals George, he has a habit of relentlessly asking questions like a 5-year-old. And anyone who knows him can tell you he has an obnoxious appetite for the unexpected. But somehow these odd traits create a perfect storm for real innovation. This has become the culture of Fuseneo, the packaging innovation team he formed over a decade ago. Together they help brands find unexpected opportunities in packaging by combining daring creativity with serious expertise.
In 2011, Dennis Colley was appointed President/CEO of the Fibre Box Association (FBA), a non-profit trade association representing North American manufacturers of corrugated packaging. In this role, Colley leads the organization in supporting the corrugated industry through strategy, data sharing, issues management and communications.
Colley also serves as Executive Director of the Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA). CPA is a corrugated industry initiative, jointly sponsored by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), The Independent Packaging Association (AICC), Fibre Box Association (FBA) and The Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI).
In 2016, Colley was appointed President of the International Corrugated Case Association (ICCA). Founded in 1961, ICCA is a non-profit global association of national or regional trade associations representing corrugated box manufacturers. The association also includes individual company members as leadership members.
Prior to his position at FBA, Colley spent 35 years at International Paper where he held management positions in mill operations, converting operations, global containerboard and supply chain. Colley previously served the industry as a member of the American Forest & Paper Association’s Containerboard Sector Board and co-chair of the Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA).
Speaker bio coming soon!
Ben Stickle is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Middle Tennessee State University. He is a recognized expert and industry forerunner addressing loss in the last mile of delivery, focusing on package theft. His work includes scholarly articles on COVID-19's impact on crime, package theft, and practitioner-focused articles in The Mail & Express Review, Loss Prevention Magazine, and The Business Insider. Ben's research has appeared in nearly 100 news reports, websites, and blogs, including Parcel & Post Technology, U.S. News & World Report, The Postal Hub, New York Times, and BNC Investigative Reporting. Ben has presented on package theft to the Loss Prevention Research Council, Post & Parcel Live, Clear Link Consumer Brands, Criminology Consortium, and others.
http://www.benstickle.com/package-theft
As VP of Ecommerce Solutions at Fantastapack.com, Justin Stacey drives the development of this unique web-to-print platform and supporting partnerships to help entrepreneurs achieve fantastic packaging that serves their brand and delights their customers.
Justin believes all businesses should have access to convenient, professional, and fast custom packaging. As an industry veteran, Justin’s experience includes sales, business development, operations, and executive management. This diverse background gives Justin a unique perspective which he leverages to streamline processes and remove the barriers associated with designing, purchasing, and manufacturing custom packaging.
Justin holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree as well as an MBA in IT Management. He is a speaker and frequent contributor to industry events and publications highlighting digital print for packaging.
Tania's experience in packaging manufacturing, marketing and innovation spans nearly 20 years. She holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from Hautes Études Commercials (HEC) in Montreal, with focus in marketing management. Ambitious and determined, Tania is successful at discovering new customer insights, and developing sustainable solutions that fulfill unmet market needs. She's passionate about the circular economy and thrives on identifying innovative & sustainable ways to redesign e-commerce packaging.
Since January 2019, Paul Murphy has served as Vice President of Retail Strategy and Sales for Menasha Packaging Company, LLC. Menasha Packaging Company, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Menasha Corporation and the Corporation’s largest operating company.
Paul joined Menasha in 2001 as a General Manager, following Sales, and General Management positions with Boise Cascade, MacMillan Bloedel, and Pratt Industries, and has held leadership roles in multiple Menasha businesses. In the early 2000’s, Murphy helped lead Menashas’ transformation from an industrial and graphics packaging provider, into the leading retail focused merchandising solutions provider in North America, developing meaningful relationships with the Channel Leading Retailers in the U.S., resulting in strong Retailer-CPG collaborations and thought Leadership. From 2001 through 2019 he held successive leadership positions across the company including General & Sales Management roles. In 2017 he was named Vice President of Sales and Operations for the paperboard packaging business, with multiple operations in the U.S. In 2019, he was named Vice President of Retail Strategy and Sales for Menasha. Murphy has extensive experience in industrial packaging, Retail, POP/Display, and on/off shelf merchandising, and has played a key role in developing strategies and tactics to support the strategic focus and growth of Menasha Packaging.
Murphy is a graduate of Lambuth College (BA) and University of Memphis (MA)
