PVC 2021

Mark Miodownik MBE

Professor of Materials & Society, University College London

Mark Miodownik is the UCL Professor of Materials & Society.  He received his Ph.D in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford University, and has worked as a materials engineer in the USA, Ireland and the UK. For more than twenty years he has championed materials science research that links to the arts and humanities, medicine, and society. This culminated in the establishment of the UCL Institute of Making, where he is a director and runs the research programme.  Mark also recently set up the Plastic Waste Innovation Hubto carry our research into solving the environmental catastrophe of plastic waste. Mark is the multi-award winning author of New York Times bestselling book Stuff Matters. He regularly presents BBC TV and radio programmes on materials science and engineering.  In 2014 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2018 he was awarded an MBE for services to materials science, engineering and broadcasting.

: http://www.plasticwastehub.org.uk
: @@markmiodownik

Geir Tuft

Chief Executive Officer, INOVYN

No bio provided

Vincent Stone

Technical/Environmental Affairs Senior Manager, European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM)

No bio provided

: www.vinylplus.eu

Henry Warren

Director, Chlorine and Vinyls EMEA, IHS Markit

Henry is Director of IHS Markit’s Vinyls Market Advisory Service, covering chlorine and vinyls for the EMEA region. After graduating with a degree in economics, he entered the field of chemical market analysis in 1996, working in areas including feedstocks and several polyolefin value chains in Europe, the US and Latin America.  In 2001 he joined Harriman Chemsult (a highly regarded niche consultancy in the chlor-alkali and vinyls segment), which was acquired by IHS Markit in September 2010. 

His expertise in vinyls has also led to involvement in a supporting role for a number of single-client studies.  These have included collaboration with consulting colleagues involved in projects looking at investment decisions, purchasing reviews, strategic supply projects and competitive analysis.  Most recently he was a collaborator in IHS Markit’s multi-client Plastics Sustainability Study, which was completed in late 2018 and updated again in 2020. 

: www.ihsmarkit.com
: www.linkedin.com/in/henry-warren-65762b2/

Domenic De Caria

Technical Director, The Vinyl Institute

Joining the Vinyl Institute in 2019, Domenic collaborates with a wide range of stakeholders to anticipate vinyl industry challenges and opportunities related to material science, decarbonization, recycling, and more.  A chemical engineer by education, Domenic’s professional background spans operations and engineering roles in ironmaking and polymers, as well as marketing, business development and sustainability leadership roles in the PVC-C division at Lubrizol Corporation. Today he serves on various committees developing standards at ISO, ASTM and others related to green buildings and sustainability, ensuring alignment with vinyl industry goals. He serves as president of the board of trustees at a non-profit which develops private housing communities for adults with developmental disabilities, and is an advocate for clean water initiatives that spur economic growth and equity.

: www.vinylinfo.org
: linkedin.com/in/domenic-c-decaria/

Cheryl Robb

Stakeholders & Partnerships Manager, Zero Waste Scotland

Cheryl has worked for Zero Waste Scotland for over seven years, and has a background in sustainability including climate change and low carbon strategy.

Cheryl has worked closely with businesses – supporting business to develop innovative circular models and was integral to the development of Zero Waste Scotland’s SME business support service.  More recently, she has been focusing on working at a city and regional level to build capacity on the benefits and opportunities of circular economy – exploring how circular principles can be embedded at a local level through collaboration and local government policy. 

Cheryl’s team cover a number of priority industry sectors and we work closely with sector trade bodies to identify opportunities to collaborate and support business growth through circular economy models.

: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/

Jane Gardner

Managing Director, European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers' Institute

Jane Gardner is the Managing Director of the European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers’ Institute (ERFMI), representing the interests of resilient flooring manufacturers in Europe.

Since joining ERFMI in September 2018, Jane has worked with ERFMI’s members to develop a new road map for the association, focusing in particular on developing a circular economy for the resilient flooring sector.  Jane has over 15 years’ experience in the resource efficiency and sustainability sector, with particular expertise in the collection and recycling of plastics construction products, including PVC flooring.  Jane is the Chair of the Construction Products Europe Sustainability Working Group and the thematic coordinator for collection and sorting within the EU Circular Plastics Alliance Construction Working Group. Jane is passionate about circular economy and the environment.

: www.erfmi.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-resilien

Charlotte Röber

Managing Director, EPPA

Charlotte Röber completed her Masters in European and International Law.

She has been working for the PVC profile industry for 7 years, representing the interest of the industry towards policy-makers, standardization bodies and other sectors.

Her functional experience includes the chemical and waste legislation and corresponding advocacy actions, sustainability assessment of construction products and standardization activities.

Charlotte is German, living in Belgium and speaks German, English and French.

: www.eppa-profiles.eu
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-r%C3%B6ber-2
: @@EPPA_Profiles

Jürgen Luderer

Sales and Product Director, Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG

Since 2017 Jürgen is Sales & Product Director at Vinnolit. In this role, Jürgen is among others responsible for Vinnolit’s total sales activities.
Jürgen Luderer started his professional career as commercial trainee at Hoechst AG in Frankfurt in 1987.
He gained business experience in different Logistics/Procurement functions at Hoechst.  In 1997 Jürgen moved to Vinnolit and became responsible for Vinnolit’s Distribution logistics. After different positions in Business Analysis, Controlling and Corporate Development, he moved to Sales in 2007.
Jürgen received a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from “Deutsche Aussenhandels- und Verkehrsakademie” in Bremen and a “Master of Business Administration” from Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. He is married and father of two sons.

Hervé Millet

Director Climate & Production, PlasticsEurope

Hervé Millet is a 55 years chemical engineer with an additional educational background in business administration. He spent 22 years within the Solvay group in various functions, including marketing and sales in plastics and chemicals sectors as well as corporate raw materials purchasing.

In 2010, he joined PlasticsEurope as Director of Technical and Regulatory Affairs for France and Benelux. In 2015, he took the additional responsibility to manage the Waste Management project of the association at a European level. Since May 2020, he is now leading the works of the association for all topics relating to climate and production of plastics, including pellet loss prevention.  

: www.plasticseurope.org

Chris Howick

Head of Product Regulation, INOVYN

After completing his PhD in 1989, Chris joined ICI where he worked under David Cadogan on the development of novel plasticisers for PVC. He then joined the European Vinlys Corporation, where he worked under Mike Hitch on the development of E-PVC resins for “low liquids” formulations in flooring and wallcovering and “low fog” resins for automotive applications. This included ensuring food contact compliance and this responsibility was extended across the whole EVC range in 1996.

With the advent of the REACH regulation and changes brought about by INEOS’ acquisition of EVC in 2001, Chris moved into a full-time compliance role and managed the REACH registration of INEOS Chlorvinyls range in 2010. He then took on the role of head of product compliance for INOVYN at its start in 2015.

Chris is a chartered chemist and fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a fellow of IOM3

: www.inovyn.com

Michela Mastrantonio

Manager, European Plasticisers - Cefic

Michela Mastrantonio is an Italian national living for over 10 years in Brussels, Belgium. She graduated in International Relations at the University of Rome La Sapienza and continued her studies in Brussels where she completed a Master in European Studies at the Intitute for European Studies (ULB -IEE).

After a few years of professional experience working at the European Parliament and at a leading European media specialised in EU policies, Michela joined Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, in 2013.

Since then, she has confirmed year after year her engagement with European Plasticisers. Meanwhile, she has been managing other industry sectors too, including acrylate resins, catalysts and fertilisers.

In her role of Manager of European Plasticisers, she is committed to raise awareness about the benefits of plasticisers in everyday life based on a proactive interaction and a open dialogue with key stakeholders based on science and regulatory intelligence.

: https://www.europeanplasticisers.eu/

Christian Nistelberger

Regional Sales Director, Greiner Extrusion Group GmbH

Christian Nistelberger, 42 Years old and resident with family in Twycroos, UK.

Originaly born in Austria and moved to the UK about 20 years ago.

Actual job role is Regional Sales Director with responsibillity for UK, Ireland and Polen.

In my 15 years sales experience I looked over various countries and regions in the world

Originaly I am a trained toolmaker with experince of designing and commisioning extrusion tools and machinery.

Additionaly over the years I completed various management courses and trainings.

My biggest passion is my work and running long distance mountain races.

: www.greinerextrusion.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greiner-extrusion

Dennis Collins

Managing Director, PVC Separation

Dennis Collins is from Australia where he has owned a transport business for nearly 40 years. Dennis only started recycling six years ago when he started a recycling business. He found that there is a problem with recycling laminated plastics and PVC products, so Dennis decided to find a way to separate these products so they can be recycled.

After countless chemical separation tests Dennis finally achieved PVC separation, this process also led to the separation of other hard to separate products. Now over 30 products can be separated using this process that have been tested.

Denis’s patented separation process is performed relatively quickly, is chemically safe and is very cost effective with a negligibly small carbon foot print and requiring only a relatively simple processing plant.

To date, Denis’s company, PVC Separation have worked with leading global packaging manufacturers, fast food brands and manufacturers of products containing: PVC, various plastics, polyesters, paper laminated composition and many more, demonstrating to them how easily their products can be separated.

: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-collins-779863b

Diego García Touza

EMEA - Area Business Manager, Varteco Química Ibérica SLU

Diego García Touza is a Chemical Engineer with almost 20 years of experience in the PVC plasticisers industry. He has formerly worked for ExxonMobil developing the South American plasticisers market and since 2010 is working at Varteco, as EMEA Business Manager, promoting the bio-based plasticizers market in Europe. He is specialized in conversion from fossil-based to bio-based plasticisers and has presented papers at the Brighton PVC 2017 conference (The Long March of Biobased Plasticisers), Dusseldorf PVC Formulation 2013 (Perspectives of Biobased Plasticisers) and Dusseldorf PVC Formulation 2012 (PVC Plasticisers: The Biobased Alternative).

: www.varteco.com

Can Baykam

CTO and Board Member, Akdeniz Chemson Kimya

Ph.D. in Polymer Science & Technology (UMIST,UK). Took several Corporate jobs in multinational and multicultural companies for long years in Polyester, Plasticiser and PVC Industries. Currently the CTO and Member of the Akdeniz Chemson Board operating in six global locations. Accountibilities include Operations, Engineering, R&D, HSE, Investment Programs.

: https://www.akdenizchemson.com/

Hideo Shindo

Executive Director, Vinyl Environmental Council Japan

Hideo Shindo, born in 1963, is Executive Director of the Vinyl Environmental Council Japan. Currently Mr. Shindo actively tries to ensure that the public understands the environmental benefits of vinyl products.  He also actively participates in the international collaboration activities under GVC (Global Vinyl Council) and APVN (Asia-Pacific Vinyl Network).

Before jumping in the vinyl world, he has long been a government official.  In 1986, graduated from the University of Tokyo (Bachelor of Arts and Sciences), Mr. Shindo joined METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry) of Government of Japan, where he went through a lot of experience in planning and enforcing policies in the field of industry promotion as well as industrial technology development until 2018 when he quit the GOJ.  Meanwhile, he had obtained a master’s degree (MPP) at the J. F. Kennedy School of Government in 1994 and stayed in the Washington D.C. as a Chief Representative of the Washington Office of a Japanese quasi-governmental R&D agency from 2004 to 2007.

Daniel Ortiz Martinz

Business Development Manager, within Specialty Vinyl, INOVYN

Daniel Ortiz Martinz graduated as a Chemical Engineer from the University of São Paulo (Brazil) in 1998 and joined Solvay Indupa in 1999. For ten years he was involved with customer technical services in South America in different PVC markets, especially compounds, sheets and paste PVC.

In 2009 Daniel was transferred to SolVin Brussels as a Technical Marketing & Development for Paste PVC. In 2015 he joined INOVYN as Head of Technical Marketing & Development for Specialty Vinyls. He’s been ever since responsible for product development/ innovation strategy at INOVYN. Recently he was assigned new responsibilities as Business Development Manager within Specialty Vinyls.

Daniel holds both Belgian and Brazilian citizenships, speaks four languages, has a Master’s degree in marketing (2004) and a Master’s science degree in Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (2009).

: www.inovyn.com

Claudine Bloyaert

Technical Marketing & Development, INOVYN

Civil Engineer Degree in electromechanics at Brussels University.

More than 30 years experience in PVC: projects management, compounding and additives, processing, composites, markets & products development

INOVYN,  2015  -

• Technical Marketing & Development for PVC specialties
• Products & markets development for pastes resins & composites.

 

SolVin, Brussels, 2002 to 2015

• Technical Marketing& Development for Profiles & Plates
• Responsible for development and marketing of composites, standardisation.

 

Solvay & Benvic, Brussels/Jemeppe s/Sambre, 1987 to 2002

• Senior researcher
• Responsible for technical support to customers, development, construction projects, standardisation.

: www.inovyn.com

Ole Grøndahl Hansen

General Manager/ Project Manager, PVCMed Alliance

Ole Grøndahl Hansen is a Master of Arts in literature from University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 1995 General Manager of PVC Information Council Denmark

Ole has been working with PVC-related issues for almost a quarter of a century. Main areas of interest are the use of PVC in medical applications, recycling and PVC in art and design. Since 2012 Project Manager of PVCMed Alliance.

: www.pvcmed.org

Thierry Pascal

R&D Engineer, KEMONE

Senior Scientist with 40 years of experience in the field of macromolecular chemistry and polymer engineering.

: https://www.kemone.com/fr

Amanda Cnudde

Project Manager, B&P Littleford

I spent 4 years as a process engineer at B&P Littleford’s Technical Center before transitioning into the Project Manager position. In my time as a process engineer I specialised in our continuous mixing product lines, the TriVolution Compounder and Twin-Screw Extruders. Through many trials and expirements we have developed specialised machanisms for overcomming many limitations for traditionsl compounding systems.

: www.bplittleford.com

Kate Burns

Research and Development Laboratory Supervisor, Alphagary (Orbia)

Kate Burns is the Research and Development Laboratory supervisor at Mexichem Specialty Compounds, Chinley.

She studied Chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford, and joined the PVC industry in 2014 as a Laboratory Technologist at Vinyl Compounds, which was later acquired by Mexichem Specialty Compounds in 2016. The company has since rebranded as Alphagary, part of the Orbia group.

Kate began her PhD studies at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016 under the supervision of Prof Herman Potgieter and Dr Sanja Potgieter-Vermaak, with the team later expanding to include Dr Chris Liauw and Dr Ian Ingram. Kate’s PhD studies focus on plasticiser compatibility and novel bio-based plasticisers for PVC compounds.

: https://www.alphagary.com/
: www.linkedin.com/in/kate-burns-b47b53134

Karsten Kretschmer

Head of Technical Sales, X-Compound GmbH

X-Compound GmbH, Kaisten, Switzerland. 2016-today, He is responsible for the technical sales of Continuous Kneader plants, marketing and new business development.

SKZ – The Polymer Center, Würzburg, Germany. 2003-2016, started as a group manager of a newly established compounding group. The group focused on applied research and development in compounding processes, material development and process measurement technology. It developed to the largest groups in that sector in Germany. Apart from managing the group, he became deputy general manager of the R&D department, being in charge of the development of all research areas.

University of Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany. 1998-2002 Researcher in the field of simulation of co-rotating twin screw extruders.

: www.x-compound.ch

Johan van den Broeck

Executive VP Commercial, Vynova Group

Johan Van Den Broeck supervises the company’s group-wide business management, sales & marketing, supply chain and procurement activities. He has served previously as Head of Business Chlor-Vinyls and business manager of the chloromethanes business with INEOS ChlorVinyls. Prior to this, Mr. Van Den Broeck held various international leadership positions in IT, supply chain and purchasing with Agfa, Dow Chemical and Deloitte before serving as Supply Chain and Purchasing director at Tessenderlo Chemie.

Mr. Van Den Broeck serves on the Management Committee of the European chlorine industry association Euro Chlor.

Mr. Van Den Broeck has a degree in Commercial Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium).

: www.vynova-group.com

Frédéric Boschet

PVC Research, INOVYN

After earning his doctorate degree in polymer chemistry at the "Université du Sud Toulon-Var" (France) and a postdoctoral position at the University of Southern California (California, USA), he was appointed Associate Professor at the Universidad del Mar (Oaxaca, Mexico). In 2008, he moved back as researcher at the Institut Charles Gerhardt (ENSCM Montpellier, France). In 2011, he joined the Solvay PVC Research, Technology & Engineering team (Brussels, Belgium), now part of INEOS as INOVYN.

: www.inovyn.com
: http://www.linkedin.com/in/frederic-boschet-62a08a

Fraser Bruce

Senior Sales Application Engineer, Farrel Pomini

Started as an Apprentice Engineer at Farrel Limited in 1988 specialising in the design engineering of Compact Processors, Extruders and Pelletisers. In 1995 moved to the Research and Development Laboratory at Farrel to carry out customer demonstration trials and travelling to customer sites for start-up commissioning and troubleshooting then. In 2006 moved again within Farrel to the Sales department with a role to increase Plastics machinery sales. Current responsibilities include Plastics machinery sales in; UK, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and India along with sales support on plastics project covered by Farrel Limited along with the execution of laboratory trials on the CP product range.

: https://www.farrel-pomini.com/

Henry Li

Market Development Manager, Eastman Chemical Company

I currenlty work as Market Development Manager at Eastman with a focus on Plasticizers. I have spent my last 3 years on new application development for plasticizers, helping our customers to meet the most challenging demands in the market place. I got my Ph.D. degree from University of Texas at Austin in 2015 and Bachelor degree from Tsinghua University

: https://www.eastman.com/Pages/Home.aspx

Kate Irvin

R&D Laboratory Manager, Alphagary

Kate Irvin received an Honours Degree in Chemistry at Manchester Metropolitan University, followed by a Master’s Degree in Forensic and Analytical Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University.  Following her time in education Kate got a job at Vinyl Compounds Ltd (now Alphagary, Chinley) after two years with the company she progressed to the role of Research and Development Laboratory Manager, which she remains in to this date.  Alongside working she is completing a part time PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University, sponsored by Alphagary, with the title ‘The creation of a novel predictive model for compounded poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) formulations through various characterisation techniques and vibrational spectroscopy.’, this is due to be completed in 2021.

: https://www.alphagary.com/
: www.linkedin.com/in/Kate-Irvin-Alphagary

Dino Kudrass

Head of Design and Engineering, Buss AG

Dino Kudrass completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering with first class honours at the University of Canterbry and later specialised in Plastics Processing Technology with a postgraduate master of advanced studies at FHNW in Switzerland.

In 2015 he joined Buss AG as a design and development engineer and is currently in charge of the design and engineering department. As part of this he, spearheads the development of the new Buss COMPEO machine series, involving numerous innovations in mechanical machine design and compounding process engineering. 

Outside of the engineering world, Dino enjoys spending time with his wife, three children and two motorbikes (in that order).

: www.busscorp.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dino-kudrass-299329a1/

Jane Gardner

Managing Director, European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers' Institute

Jane Gardner is the Managing Director of the European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers’ Institute (ERFMI), representing the interests of resilient flooring manufacturers in Europe.

Since joining ERFMI in September 2018, Jane has worked with ERFMI’s members to develop a new road map for the association, focusing in particular on developing a circular economy for the resilient flooring sector.  Jane has over 15 years’ experience in the resource efficiency and sustainability sector, with particular expertise in the collection and recycling of plastics construction products, including PVC flooring.  Jane is the Chair of the Construction Products Europe Sustainability Working Group and the thematic coordinator for collection and sorting within the EU Circular Plastics Alliance Construction Working Group. Jane is passionate about circular economy and the environment.

: www.erfmi.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-resilien

Megan Kravec

Technical Marketing and New Business Development, Valtris Specialty Chemicals

Megan graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry and is currently working on her Master’s in Business Administration.  She started her career with 18 years’ experience in the world of Automotive Coatings where she led multiple teams to development and implement new colors and concepts for BMW, Mercedes, and GM.  She has been with Valtris Specialty Chemicals for 4 years, where she was the Global Technical Service Scientist for the Valtris Polymer Modifiers product line, and she just recently started a role as the Technical Marketing and New Business Development Lead.

: www.valtris.com

Maria Hoelzel

Head of Team Engineering Plastics EP2, Coperion GmbH

• Studied mechanical engineering with specification in process technology at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany
• 2002: Researcher at the IKV Aachen, Germany, in the field of compounding
• 2005: process engineer at Coperion GmbH, first in the area of chemical applications, meanwhile specialized in PVC and HFFR
• Since 2020: head of team engineering plastics EP2

: www.coperion.com

Stefan Fokken

Head of R&D, Baerlocher GmbH

Dr. Stefan Fokken, born on 25^th January 1969, finished his studies of chemistry in 1994. He stayed at the University of Mainz /Germany for a PhD-Thesis on organo-metallic chemistry on the field of titanium based catalysts for olefin polymerisation in co-operation with the company BASF.

In 1997 he joined the R&D-department of Baerlocher GmbH starting his work in basic chemical research on different PVC stabiliser systems. In 2000 he took over responsibility for the development of new alternative stabiliser systems based on Ca/Zn and Ca-organics designed for application in pipe extrusion and injection moulding. Subsequently he became global Head of R&D of Baerlocher in 2006 and is now responsible for basic research as well as for product development of PVC stabiliser one-packs in conjunction with the application labs of all Baerlocher affiliates worldwide.

: www.baerlocher.com

Dr Frauke Messik

Technical Account Manager, Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG

Frauke Messik is Account Manager at the Technical Service Department of the PVC manufacturer Vinnolit. After studying chemistry, she started her career in the R&D Department of Vinnolit in the area of paste PVC. In her current position she supports customers in the field of artificial leather production. As an enthusiastic consumer of fashion accessories such as bags and shoes, along with her technical experience, she is ideally suited to give a deeper insight into the versatile world of artificial leather.

: https://www.vinnolit.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frauke-messik-5966a420

Christian Stützinger

Key Account Manager, Hans Weber Maschinenfabrik GmbH

Dipl.-Ing Christian Stützinger, born July 6th 1969 in Kronach.

1990-1996
Mechanical engineering studies (industrial and manufacturing technology) at the Techncial University of Munich.

1996-2001
Process Engineer at Maschinenfabrik Weber, responsible for development and customer advice

2001-2018
Head of the process engineering department at Maschinenfabrik Weber

2018-now
Key Account Manager at Maschinenfabrik Weber

: www.hansweber.de

Charlotte Röber

Managing Director, EPPA

Charlotte Röber completed her Masters in European and International Law.

She has been working for the PVC profile industry for 7 years, representing the interest of the industry towards policy-makers, standardization bodies and other sectors.

Her functional experience includes the chemical and waste legislation and corresponding advocacy actions, sustainability assessment of construction products and standardization activities.

Charlotte is German, living in Belgium and speaks German, English and French.

: www.eppa-profiles.eu
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-r%C3%B6ber-2
: @@EPPA_Profiles

Jacyr Quadros

CEO, Nexoleum Bioderivados S. A.

Speaker biography (up to 150 words): Dr. Jacyr Quadros Jr. a Chemical Engineer from the University of São Paulo (1988), with post graduate studies in business and economics at FGV (1998), and holds a PhD from University of S. Paulo (2015). He has worked for ExxonMobil for 18 years, with four years experience in marketing, sales and technology of plasticisers.  He is a partner and co-founder of Nexoleum Bioderivados S. A., a bio-based plasticizers producer.  He is currently the C.E.O. and key technology developer.  He holds two international patents for renewable PVC plasticizers that have been commercially successful and various technical and marketing publications in the segment.

: www.nexoleum.com

Gabriel Faysse

CEO, Polyloop

Eco-entrepreneurship, Gabriel Faysse master the development of international B2B markets as an initiator and project launcher in the field of sustainability across the 5 continents.  Gabriel enlights innovation solutions for sustainability through his strategical vision of energy sobriety and lowering environmental impacts.  He has a double profile: scientific through his graduation in Biochemistry and ecological engineer, and Marketing master degree applied to Ecological and Sustainable Development.

: www.polyloop.fr

Simon Scholes

Managing Director, VEKA Recycling Ltd

Simon is a committed PVC-U window recycling specialist and one of the industry’s most experienced individuals. He is Managing Director of Wellingborough-based VEKA Recycling Ltd, the UK arm of Europe’s largest PVC window recycler and which has a combined turnover of over €68 million.

From acquisition of the 6-acre Wellingborough site in 2018, Simon has driven the development of what will be one of the world’s most advanced window facilities when it became fully operational in late 2020. 

Simon is an active campaigner for the recognition of the sustainability of rigid PVC and frequently presents and consults on the issue"

: https://veka-recycling.co.uk/

Otto Mauerer

Manager Application Technology, Lanxess

Studies of chemistry at the university of applied sciences in Aalen, Germany, from 1985 – 1989. Specialized in polymer chemistry and processing. Completed in 1990 as a graduate engineer (Dipl.-Ing. FH).

Professional activity

I started my career at Bayer, Leverkusen, in 1990 in the application technology department of Polymer Additives. After that I moved to the Additives R & D department and from there to Additives business development in various functions.
Since 2004 I have been working for Lanxess in the business unit Additives. I am responsible for the technical support of phosphorus-based flame retardants and intermediates. Currently I am Senior Manager Application Technology in the business unit Polymer Additives and I am dealing with product developments for the fire protection of polymers.

: www.lanxess.com

Thomas Balak

Area Sales Manager, Extrunet GmbH

Graduate of the “Höhere Technische Bundeslehranstalt für chemische Betriebstechnik in Wels – Austria“. More than 20 years of experience in selling equipment to the profile extrusion business. Starting with selling “turn key” window profile extrusion plants in Asia and Africa, and also selling single extrusion equipment in Western European countries, the experience is quite wide. Since 2017 working with company Extrunet, responsible for the sales in parts of UK, Ireland, and other Western European countries

: www.extrunet.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/company/extrunet/

Ryo Sasaki

Chairman, CEO, Sun Ace Corporation

Ryo Sasaki, Japanese, born in 1963

1987   Joined Sun Ace Corporation in Japan

           and transferred to Sun Ace Singapore

1992   Appointed as Managing Director of Sun Ace Singapore

1997   Appointed as President of Sun Ace Corporation

2012   Appointed as Chairman & CEO of Sun Ace Group

2018   Appointed as Board Member, ASEAN Vinyl Council

 

Activities, Papers & Publications

: https://www.sunace-group.com/

Karl Duffy

Technical Service Project Manager, INOVYN

Having joined Ineos Technologies straight from University I spent a number of years working the lab to develop new and improved additives for the suspension polymerisation of PVC. I now support our products from a technical point of view, before, during and after plant implementation while still activly developing the next generation of PVC aditives.

: https://www.inovyn.com/products/technologies/
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-duffy-14125569/

Harald Braun

Technical Director, Kaneka Belgium

Harald Braun earned a diploma degree in Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich in 1999 and received a Ph.D. from the technical University of Munich in 2002 in the field of polymer chemistry. Between 2002 and 2006 he was working for Baerlocher as a product developer for new one-packs in PVC. 2006 Harald Braun was moving to Evonik to lead the technical developments for the acrylic modifier business. Since 2012 he is technical director at Kaneka Belgium and an expert for  modifing PVC and engineering plastics with acrylic polymers.

: www.kaneka.be

Koen Vanduffel

Nouryon

No bio provided

: https://www.nouryon.com/

Mark Forbes

CEO, Akvotek Pty Ltd

Mark started his career as a research chemist with B.App.Sci (App Chem) and an MBA.  He worked in adhesives, then polymers before moving into the water water recycling and membrane industry.  He has worked with a number of leading membranes companies and has been involved in these industries throughout the world in management and consulting roles.  The PVCycle process, which is what todays paper is based on, was developed and patented by Mark, backed by over 2 years of pilot studies then 8 years of successful full scale operation.  He is now the CEO of Akvotek in Australia and is offering this technology internationally.

: www.akvotek.com.au
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-forbes-5b0557a/

Linda Zellner

Vice President Innovation Strategic Markets, Perstorp AB

Linda Zellner joined Perstorp in 2011 managing the development of bioplastics, being highly involved in setting the strategies and targets for the developments within this business segment. In her current position she is heading a team of technical market development managers and project managers with the focus to develop new products and solutions for the selected strategic markets where Plasticizers is one of them. For several years substantial efforts have been put into the development and launch of the new plasticizer Pevalen and Pevalen Pro to establish this product in the PVC market for sensitive close-to-consumer applications.

Prior to this she has held several positions within Electrolux from Product Manager, Laboratory Manager to Core Technology Manager for almost 9 years. Main focus was on material and product development based on consumer insight driven Innovation resulting in the launch of the first biobased product within the company.

Linda studied at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering in Lund. She holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering with focus on polymer chemistry and particle technology.

: www.perstorp.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/company/perstorp-group/
: @https://twitter.com/perstorpgroup

Astrid Eichholzer

Senior Researcher, Akdeniz Chemson

Astrid Eichholzer received her PhD in chemistry in 2009 at the University of Bologna, Italy, working on the synthesis of polycyclic aromatic compounds. Before joining Chemson in 2017, she worked in several research and production companies in different roles. Her current activity in Akdeniz Chemson is located in product development, where she is focused on studying the performance of key components in PVC stabilization.

: www.akdenizchemson.com

Richard Krock

Senior Vice President, Regulatory and Technical Affairs, The Vinyl Institute (U.S.)

Mr. Krock holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from The University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Marshall University in Huntington, WV.  As a registered professional engineer, Mr. Krock’s career has spanned petroleum refining, carbon fibers and pitch, plastic resin polymerization, plastics compounding, plastics processing and recycling.    He has worked in the PVC industry for the past 33 years.  He joined the Vinyl Institute in 2009 and serves as the organization’s Senior Vice President for Regulatory and Technical Affairs.  He currently serves on and has participated on many standards development committees with organizations including NEMA USNC TAG to IEC, ASTM, IEEE, NSF International, UL, and Green Building Initiative.

: www.vinylinfo.org

Geert Sterkendries

Technical Service Consultant, Chemours Belgium BVBA

Geert Sterkendries is an Innovation Consultant with Chemours Titanium Technologies. He has over 30 years of experience as a technical consultant for titanium dioxide (TiO₂) in EMEA, serving the plastics market with focus on Polyolefin masterbatch and PVC applications. He joined DuPont de Nemours (now Chemours) in 1987 as a R&D technician for automotive coatings.

Geert began working for the titanium technologies department in 1992. Geert has a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry and is based in Belgium.

: www.Chemours.com
: linkedin.com/in/geert-sterkendries-61b84210b

Dr Matthias Pfeiffer

Head of Technical Marketing Plasticizers, BASF SE

Dr. Matthias Pfeiffer obtained a Diploma in Chemistry 1997 at the University of Würzburg and finished his PH.D. in Inorganic Chemistry 1999.

Until 2008 he worked for Jungbunzlauer, focusing on the Application Technology and Market Development of Citric acid ester and other natural fruit acid ester as plasticizers for PVC and other polymers.

In 2008 he joined BASF SE in Ludwigshafen and had several positions in Marketing and Development for Glues, Impregnating resins and metal injection molding. 2014 Matthias came back to the “PVC and Plasticizer World” and took over the responsibility for the Technical Marketing of the European BASF plasticizer portfolio. Since 2020 he is Vice chair of European Plasticizers, the trade association that represents chemical companies producing 85% of the plasticizers manufactured in Europe, and he is also member of the VinylPlus Advisory Council and Steering Board.

: www.basf.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthias-pfeiffer-2557

Agnès Verbois

Senior TS&D Leader, Dow France S.A.S.

I joined Dow company in July 2019, as the leader of the new Dow Plastics Additives Technical Center located in Lauterbourg in France, to develop new products for supporting our customers in their innovation and growth projects.

I have a Chemist Diploma in Polymer Science from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand in France. I also have a “Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies” in Chemistry from the Blaise Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand, as well as a Ph. D.  in Polymer Materials & Composites from the Jean Monnet University in Saint-Etienne in France.

I have 20 years of experience in the chemical industry and plastics processing, especially in the PVC industry for many different applications and markets. I occupied different job positions at different companies with team and/or project management in Innovation, R&D and Customer Technical Service departments. I have also acquired complementary skills in quality management and product regulation, as well as in sales.

: www.dow.com

Ruaridh Edgar

Technical Project Lead, Impact Solutions

Mr. Ruaridh Edgar received a Bachelor’s Degree in Aero-Mechanical Engineering at University of Strathclyde and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Materials Engineering at Edinburgh Napier University.

Although he has only had a short period of experience in the industry, he excels in the fundamentals of mechanical testing - particularly, tensile, flex and impact. He is gaining knowledge in the field of failure analysis - particularly in pipe and pipe weld failures – and is developing knowledge and understanding of thermal analytical techniques such as DSC and TGA.

: https://www.impact-solutions.co.uk/
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruaridhedgar/

Laurent Piessé

Innovation & Application Development Manager, KEM ONE

I started in 1993 as shift manager in the production of automotive instrument clusters. In this era, almost all components were manufactured by injection moulding using a wide variety of plastics.

In 1996, I joined the research activities of Elf-Atochem at Cerdato (Serquigny). These research activities were focused on plastics processing of many polymers except for PVC !

In 1999, I joined the High Density Polyethylene Development team then Total took over Elf-Atochem, so I moved to PetroFina’s research centre in Feluy (owned by Total in Belgium) for a very interesting period of development and partnership with customers, laboratories, business, and plants.

In 2006, I decided to apply all these skills in PVC field at Arkema in Saint-Fons. Then, in 2012, the PVC activities of Arkema became KEM ONE. Today I’m very happy to pursue this unique technical relationship between all components of the PVC world.

: http://www.kemone.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kem-one

Dr Christian Mueller

Global Head of Business Development & Marketing Green Polymer Additives, Emery Oleochemicals

Christian Mueller has a chemical background and 13 years of experience in plastics processing industries.

He has covered several functions within Emery Oleochemicals’ business unit Green Polymer Additives since 2013, as Technical Sales Manager, Technical Market Manager and now Global Head of Business Development & Marketing. Combining R&D and Sales experience, Christian Mueller considers himself a link between product development and application and sales groups. Products involved are mainly or fully biobased process and performance additives for plastics, such as lubricants, release agents, plasticizers and surface finish agents, i.e. antistatic agents, antifogging agents and slip agents.

: https://greenpolymeradditives.emeryoleo.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-mueller-8680

Catherine Michel

Technical Service & Product Liaison Manager, Shin-Etsu PVC b.v.

Catherine Michel graduated from UCLouvain as Material Science Engineer.

She started her career in R&D and PVC process development with Shell Research. She transferred to Shin-Etsu in 2000 and is now responsible for PVC Technical Service in Europe and for Product Stewardship in the Shin-Etsu PVC/Cires organization. She is also member of several European branch associations, notably representing Shin-Etsu in various EVCM, PlasticsEurope, TEPPFA and PVC4Pipes technical, regulatory and advocacy committees.

: https://www.shinetsu.co.jp/en/

Michael Schiller

Founder and Owner, HMS Concept E.U.

Michael has about 30 years of experience in the international PVC industry in R&D and management functions. Since 2015 he has been working as consultant in environmental, chemical and plastic technology at HMS Concept in with customers in more than a dozen countries on 4 continents. Michael is author of the book “PVC Additives” in German, English and Russian, author and co-author of about 200 papers, one of the editors of “Plastic Additive Handbook” in English, Russian and German, and inventor of more than 50 patents. He is happily married, proud father of two nice and bright daughters and he likes the music of Queen.

: www.hms-concept.net
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-schiller-dr-32

Antonio Rodolfo Jr

Application Engineering Manager - Vinyls, Braskem S/A

Dr. Antonio Rodolfo Jr. graduated in 1994 in Materials Engineering (Polymers) at the Federal University of São Carlos, with a Master Degree in Civil Engineering in 2005 from the Polytechnical School of the University of São Paulo and a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering in 2010 from the State University of Campinas. He has been working with PVC for 25+ years and he is currently Application Engineering Manager for Vinyls at Braskem S/A, dealing with subjects such as product development, technical servicing to customers, standardisation committees and academical research in smoke suppression and fracture mechanics.

: www.braskem.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniorodolfojr/

Eduardo Costa

Head of Business Unit Polymer Additives,

No bio provided

: https://www.sanitized.com/odor-control-function/