2019 Speaker Lineup

Suzanne Abbot is Senior Director of Brand Activation at WestRock.

Kathy Allen is Segment Marketing Manager at WestRock

Ashley Battle is a Corporate Entrepreneur at P&G specializing in product innovation.  In this role, she was on the team that brought the Eco-box(tm) to the eCommerce market.

Susan Bell is the Global Vice President of Strategy, Business Development and M&A for the Product Care division. Product Care has annual global sales in excess of $1.6 billion, driven by an industry-leading portfolio of packaging innovations designed to resolve the demanding challenges of moving products through complex and evolving global supply chains.

Susan is responsible for leading the global team which is charged with creating the divisional strategy, catalyzing and executing mergers and acquisitions, developing new business, generating customer and market intelligence and to ensure the division outperforms the market. Susan brings to Sealed Air more than 20 years of global marketing and sales experience in strategy, business development, and global account leadership across consumer and industrial markets.  

Prior to assuming this Strategic leadership role in 2016, Susan was most recently with Sonoco where she held progressively expanding roles, including Global Corporate Customer Director for 3M where she drove global sales expansion, and M&A Manager where she developed the market segmentation strategy and led the largest accretive acquisition in Sonoco history. Prior to Sonoco Susan held various global marketing and commercial leadership roles at Stanley-Black & Decker, Ingersoll Rand and Newell-Rubbermaid.

Susan attended Emory University as a double major in Chemistry and Biology and Georgia State University, where she earned a BBA in Marketing, and a minor in Advertising.

Susan has been awarded three US patents (08329268, 8329268 B2 and 2351444 A1) for innovative products. She believes that people are a company’s greatest asset and that lifetime learning is the key to success. Susan belongs to the National Organization of Women and is a founding member of the Anne Springs Close Greenway Ladies Guild where she currently serves on the Development Committee and Sponsorship Chairperson.

Susan and her husband Brian enjoy living in Fort Mill, SC where they enjoy discovering life with their two children, Morgan and Aaron and own a family Educational Services business.

Nelly Bentz is Senior Research Director at Schmidt Market Research, a research company with specialized expertise in retail consumer goods.

Over 20 years of market research experience

• Led research teams for KraftHeinz
• Classic and emerging technologies
• Both agency and client-side experience

Specialized expertise

• New product development and innovation
• Consumer needs and jobs to be done identification
• Advertising testing, media effectiveness, brand health, positioning and message development
• Qualitative and quantitative research

Education

• M.B.A. Marketing, Babson College – Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business

Richard Brown has over 35 years’ experience in the packaging industry, mainly in sales and general management. For the past 17 years he has led The BoxMaker®, a diversified packaging company and sheet plant serving the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

The BoxMaker was an early adopter of digital print for corrugated, launching the industry’s first true web-to-print e-commerce solution for fully customizable packaging (Fantastapack.com) and presently operates one of North America’s highest capacity digital production centers for corrugated products, featuring the HP PageWide C500 Press and numerous automated CAD tables for die-less finishing.

Richard enjoys sharing his knowledge with brand owners, agencies, and other packaging firms in an effort to help them receive the many benefits of digital print and finishing for their brand and supply chain. Richard is a frequent writer and presenter to the industry, where he shares openly about his experiences with this rapidly developing technology.

Kerri Clark is Director, Global Technology Innovation, Packaging at Modelez International.

Melissa Dandy is Associate Director of R&D E-Commerce & New Business Models at Johnson & Johnson.

Joe Fernandez is Senior Packaging Engineer at Vera Bradley.

Rachel Gibbons’ experience in manufacturing, marketing & innovation spans more than 20 years. She holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University with focus areas in strategy and innovation management.  Her passion is discovering customer insights, and developing solutions that fulfill unmet market needs. 

Rachel began her career in the packaging industry applying skills in LEAN and Six Sigma to improve supply chain operations.  From there, she went on to work with software development and e-commerce companies that develop ways to optimize production, logistics and fulfilment operations with state of the art software systems.  She returned to packaging manufacturing with a focus on technology that extends the life of packaging, increases sustainability, optimizes cost and at the same time improves performance.  In her role as the global business director, Rachel partners with stakeholders around the world in the packaging and supply chain segments to develop solutions that improve the industry.

Jonathan Jarman is Marketing Manager, eCommerce at Amcor Rigid Plastics.

Anne is a Principal and Vice President at RRS where she co- leads the Corporate Sustainability Practice.  Anne joined RRS in 2012 from the non-profit, GreenBlue, where she was the Director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition for 8 years. Previously, she was at the design consultancy of William McDonough and Michael Braungart and focused on cradle-to-cradle product design. Recognized for her understanding of applied life cycle thinking and knowledge leadership in packaging and recovery, she is an advisor to numerous companies and trade groups. She writes extensively on design and recovery issues and their role in building a Circular Economy.

She has more than twenty years of multi-disciplinary experience in bringing together management consulting and resource management. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Dr. Hector Larrazabal is a materials science engineer with over 15 years of experience in the plastics industry. After obtaining his Ph.D. from McMaster University in Canada, he joined NOVA Chemicals as a product scientist focusing on single site polyethylene for several multilayer packaging applications. During his stay at NOVA, Dr. Larrazabal led a number of collaborative projects with key players in the plastics industry to develop novelty film structures.

In addition to his experience at NOVA, Dr. Larrazabal worked for Brampton Engineering as commercial director for Latin America and was responsible for all marketing and sales of blown film and water-quenching extrusion equipment. Hector's role was mainly focused on multilayer extrusion encompassing a wide range of applications from food packaging, to agricultural and construction films, to aerospace applications.

Dr. Larrazabal recently joined the Nylon Extrusion team at UBE America and he is now responsible for business and market development of UBE's nylon resins in North America. Hector is very active in the industry and throughout his years in the industry he has spoken in multiple technical and market conferences. Hector is also a member of the PAC Next Leadership council in Canada promoting sustainability in the packaging industry.

Ian Lifshitz is Vice President of Sustainability & Stakeholder Relations, the Americas for Asia Pulp & Paper. He is responsible for managing an international team leading the company's sustainability, media relations and stakeholder engagement programs across Canada, the United States and South America.

Ian has more than 20 years of experience developing sustainability, public relations and other stakeholder strategies for international companies, governments and non-profits, including expertise in managing issues and crisis communication strategies for high-profile companies within the pulp and paper, packaging, retail and telco sectors.

Brent Lindberg is annoying, and he knows it. It’s more than just the corny jokes and odd quirks. With a curiosity that rivals George, Brent has the habit of relentlessly asking questions like a 5-year-old. He also has an obnoxious appetite for the unexpected (as anyone who’s seen his wardrobe can tell you). 

Together these traits produce an unorthodox approach to structural packaging design which has built a culture at Fuseneo, the creative studio he started. And somehow, it seems to be working. Their incessant inquisition and boundary-pushing has been reshaping packaging experiences across retail and e-commerce for more than a decade.  

Rian Mabry is the Director of Procurement-Packaging for HelloFresh. HelloFresh is a meal-kit delivery company focusing on delivering fresh food to customer around the world. Rian came to HelloFresh to focus on driving innovation in the meal delivery industry. Through continued sustainability and food safety of packaging materials. Rian has a strong desire to see the meal-kit industry drive changes into how e-commerce packaging is perceived.

Rian is a graduate of Michigan State University School of Packaging. Since completing his education he has worked in Pharmaceuticals, Confections and Beverage industry focusing on packaging innovation and productivity.

Ms. Maes joined global packaging leader, Amcor, in November 2016. Previously, she held a number of senior strategy roles including with leading international management-consulting firm, McKinsey and Company.

Today, as Amcor’s Vice President, Ecommerce and Business Development, Ms. Maes identifies strategic opportunities for the company; assessing acquisitions and developing growth strategies for the business, worldwide. This includes leading Amcor’s expanding ecommerce offering.

Prior to Amcor, Ms. Maes ran transformations, restructures, and merger integrations for several global clients of McKinsey in the chemical, agricultural and insurance sectors. 

She was previously a private equity associate at Terra Firma Capital Partners and a financial analyst in investment banking at Morgan Stanley.

Ms. Maes has a Masters, Business Administration, from Harvard Business School, a Masters, Financial Management, and a Masters, Applied Economics.

Rodney Manzo is the founder and CEO at Anvyl Inc., a technology that is focused on digitizing supply chain from procurement to delivery.

Rodney is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as an Engineer Officer in the US Army.  During tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, he conducted route clearance and global operations missions. Rodney is a graduate of the Army Ranger and Sapper schools and earned a Bronze Star during his deployments.

Following his time in the Army, Rodney worked as a consultant at Booz Allen on multiple engagements before joining Apple as a Global Supply Manager and then transitioning to Harry’s Inc, to lead their Global Supply Chain group.

Rodney graduated from the USMA with a BS in Business/System Engineering and he has an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Bob Miller is Director of Sales for EFI Nozomi.

Call him a 21st century renaissance man: Laszlo Moharita, Global Director of R&D e-Commerce and New Business Initiatives at Johnson & Johnson, describes himself as a “squared up engineer who also likes to paint.” This yin-yang quality is more likely than not how he’s found himself in charge of creating everyday objects so well designed and engineered, we all take them for granted. Lotion pumps, dental floss, perfume bottles – Laszlo is the brain behind the most minute details of these items, from how much lotion comes out of the bottle to which way the box opens to the delightful unboxing experience of direct-to-consumer products. He has built himself to be a bit of an engineer, a bit of a designer, a bit of a BigCo business man with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Sneha is an established packaging professional in the FMCG industry who has developed a reputation for adapting to the rapidly evolving & competitive packaging marketplace. She took the road less traveled as her education began in the natural sciences & she let her strengths & passion guide her to Packaging. Sneha has taken both innovate & unconventional approaches towards packaging from an ecologically friendly & sustainable perspective to drive various initiatives.  These qualities naturally led her to the eCommerce space where she is now leading eCommerce packaging initiatives for a Global Consumer Beauty Division at a large CPG.

Scott Peterson is Vice President of Sales, eCommerce Solutions at Pregis LLC.

Jonathan Quinn is the market development manager for NOVA Chemicals' polyethylene business, where he focuses on understanding trends, the mind of the consumer, and discovering unmet needs in the consumer packaged goods industry in order to drive innovation. He has conducted extensive research on the eCommerce sector, specifically food e-commerce. Jonathan is viewed as a subject matter expert in the area of e-commerce along with Food & Beverage packaging. Prior to joining NOVA Chemicals in early 2016, Jonathan held sales leadership and business development roles at Illinois Tool Works Zip-Pak division, the COESIA Group, and Multisorb Technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Packaging Science and Business Management from Clemson University. Currently Jonathan chairs the e-commerce committee at AMERIPEN and is on the board of directors for the Society of Plastics Engineers flexible packaging division. Jonathan was awarded the 2018 rising star under 35 by Plastics News. In the spring of 2019 Jonathan was appointed to the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) Global Board of Directors.

Ben currently holds the role of Packaging Engineering Manager supporting the eCommerce Business Unit for Reckitt Benckiser's Hygiene Home division, which covers brands like Lysol, Air Wick, and Finish. Ben is a graduate of the Packaging Science program at Clemson University and accepted an Associate Packaging Engineer position with Reckitt Benckiser in January of 2008.  He initially supported their factory in Brandon, MS for three years and their factory in St. Peters, MO for a further few years, before accepting a role at RB's North American HQ in Parsippany, NJ in 2014, where he holds his current position. 

In his time, Ben has supported packaging development for brands such as Lysol, Air Wick, Finish, Resolve, Woolite, d-Con, Rid-X, and others.  He has supported development from primary packaging up to club pallet packaging (Costco, Sam's, BJ's) as well as custom displays and other POP vehicles.  Over the last couple of years, his responsibilities have included supporting the eBU (eComm Business Unit) end to end team from a packaging POV to ensure that strategies in that area are optimized for the unique challenges of the e-com supply network.  Ben also manages a small team of packaging engineers that support all custom manufacturing operations for North America.

Curt Schacker is Executive Vice President and General Manager at EVRYTHNG. Curt has spent more than 25 years in Silicon Valley, having held positions at Wind River (Intel), Real-Time Innovations and Arrayent. He co-founded and served as CEO of Embedded Solution Partners, which was named the 20th fastest growing private company in Silicon Valley during his tenure. Curt has spoken at events around the world, offering education and insight into topics related to the digital transformation of the world's consumer products. Curt began his career developing flight software for the NASA Hubble Space Telescope.

Phil Stafford is Senior Global Partner Manager at Digimarc and has over 20 years of packaging, agency and manufacturing experience. His experience includes global branding, consumer packaging, print technologies and mobile payments. He most recently worked as a manger of Brand and Market Insights WestRock Packaging Solutions at the global packaging company WestRock and as a director of Global Accounts Brand & Retail Package Solutions at MeadWestvaco.

Graduate of the University of Southern California. Started as a sample maker at Bay Cities while attending college. Became a Salesperson and rose to the President’s position in 1995. Became CEO shortly thereafter and named Chairman in 2002. Served as Chairman of the Association of Independent Corrugated Convertors in 2014/2015. Serves as Board of Director member of the AICC, International Corrugated Packaging Foundation, and Fiber Box Association. Advisory Board member of California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo CA. Member of Vistage International.

Liz Walsh is Director of Customer Insights, Packaging at Georgia-Pacific.

Jie Yan is Sr. Manager in PepsiCo Global R&D located in Valhalla, New York. She leads packaging innovation of PepsiCo Beverage North America (PBNA) ecommerce platform as well as commercialization of leading CSD brands, including  Mountain Dew, KickStart, and GameFuel. Jie is also responsible for developing new packaging platforms in PBNA beverage business unit.

Jie Joined PepsiCo in 2004 and held roles across multiple R&D functions, including Sensory & Consumer Research, Analytical Science & Brand Sustainability and PepsiCo Advance Research, where she has advanced the packaging agenda base on renewable material.

Jie holds two Masters Degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Statistics from Rochester Institute of Technology, a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China. She is also a PMI Certified Project Management Professional.