2020 Speaker Preview

Mitch is a passionate and creative sustainability entrepreneur, consultant, educator and advocate, who believes that profit and planet can share the same bottom line. He has a particular interest in solving the single-use dilemma with a design philosophy rooted in turning the ease of single-use into equally convenient reusable solutions. Mitch has successfully founded and lead Bagito, Returnity, and Revolusation, companies that provide consumers and businesses with smart reusable solutions that reduce carbon and primary resource usage, and eliminate trash, while saving money. His passion for eliminating single-use has lead him to his is current position as President of RePack North America, an innovative Finnish-based reusable shipping packaging service company.  His work in the re-inventing of single-use products and packaging to multi-use  solutions has lead to two utility patents, several awards and credit for inventing the concept of  “Reusable-as-a-Service (RaaS).”  Mitch’s other passion is educating and empowering students to sustain their natural world, and he is also the founder and director of Power2Sustain.org, a K-12 environmental literacy project. Mitch started his working career as an elementary school teacher, principal and charter school founder. He has a B.A. in International Relations/Political Science from UCLA, an M.A. in Bilingual Multiple Subject Teaching from San Francisco State, an M.A. from Colombia University in Organizational Psychology and an M.Ed. from Teachers College Colombia in Education Administration. He lives in Santa Cruz, CA with his partner, practices yoga regularly, likes to cook and build stuff out of wood,  and tries to get on his mountain bike whenever possible.

Leela is a senior research analyst in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy initiative. She uses her technical background to assess emerging innovation opportunities within the plastic packaging sector, specifically focusing on the exciting innovation and business potential offered by upstream solutions. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland.

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.

Joyce Gagnon is Director of Sustainability at Grove Collaborative.

Tania Montesi is Business Development Manager/E-Commerce Packaging Manager at H.B. Fuller.

Chelsey Quick is VP Client Success for Industry Intelligence - a market intelligence provider to the packaging industry that delivers actionable intelligence empowering individuals to connect the dots between market drivers and see their industry from all angles. 

Recently, Chelsey has focused on collaborating with clients who require a pulse on Sustainability news as it relates to their peers, customers and markets - from corporate/social responsibility, public policy, recyclability, innovation and more - she works with leaders across the packaging industry to provide information they require to stay informed and aligned on news that impacts their business.

Anthony Rossi is the VP, Global Business Development for Loop (TerraCycle company), a global platform that enables consumer product companies and retailers to shift from a disposable supply chain to a durable one.

Anthony has been with Loop for 18 months and TerraCycle for 7-years. Before leading the global business development team for Loop, Anthony was the head of global business development for TerraCycle supporting the company’s growth in 21 markets around the world.

Prior to joining TerraCycle, Anthony earned his business development stripes working in Toronto, Dijon, Budapest, and Vienna for some of the world’s largest professional service firms and financial institutions.

Suzanne is the voice and the vision of Shelton Group. Drawing on her extensive experience in energy and the environment – and 25+ years in the marketing and advertising industry – Suzanne provides high-level strategic insights for our clients and guidance for our research and creative departments. She regularly speaks at conferences around the country, including Sustainable Brands, Fortune Brainstorm E and the International Builders’ Show, and serves as a guest columnist for publications like Fast Company, Green Builder and GreenBiz.com.

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.

Matt Van Gilder is Director of eCommerce at SpartanNash.