Dean Benjamin received a B.S. degree in Paper Science and Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and then went on to earn a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. While at Minnesota, he studied computational and experimental fluid mechanics of the roll coating process under Professor L.E. Scriven.
Upon graduation, Dean joined Avery Dennison as a Research Engineer at the Avery Research Center in Pasadena, CA where he led projects to develop coating processes for the production of pressure sensitive labels and tapes.
Dean then joined Consolidated Papers, Inc. as a Senior Research Engineer at their R&D facility in Wisconsin Rapids, WI. His research focused on developing new coating and finishing equipment and he eventually became the manager of the Coater Research & Engineering Department. He also worked in the areas of coating color preparation, paper finishing technology, high-speed coaters, fountain applications, corrosion engineering, kraft chemical recovery systems and product development. Dean then became the manager of the Product Development - Publication Papers where he worked on a variety of product developments including high bulk paper, alternative finish paper and high brightness, carbonate based paper coatings, and later was appointed as Director of Research for NewPage.
Mr. Keithline assists companies in establishing the suitable regulatory status of their products under the requirements of various federal agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Mr. Keithline also assists clients with compliance issues under state and local requirements relating to the manufacture, labeling and disposal of products and packaging, including toxics in packaging, legislation and various state right-to-know acts. In addition, Mr. Keithline advises clients regarding the requirements for these products throughout the world, especially in Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Central and South America, and the Pacific Rim.
Prior to law school, Mr. Keithline served as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy aboard the USS West Virginia (SSBN 736), a nuclear submarine.Mr. Keithline earned his law degree from Washington and Lee University where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Washington and Lee Law Review.
Steve Ottone is the holder of a BS and MS in Wood Science from the Pennsylvania State University. His career started in the paper industry with work for Container Corporation of America, St. Regis Paper, and Champion International. He then moved to the supplier side, working in latex supply to the paper industry for Reichhold, Inc., Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex, and Mallard Creek Polymers. His current job is with Omya, Inc., a supplier of specialty coatings and rheology modifiers for a broad range of applications. His area of emphasis is polymer and rheology modifier solutions to barrier coatings needs.
Paper procurement and distribution consultant. Environmental impact expertise, product development focus. Strong knowledge of book publishing and book manufacturing. Loyal. Caring. Collaborative. Enthusiastic. Hardworking. Meticulous. Imaginative. Meyers Briggs "Defender" - a universal helper.
Gobris will lead Michelman’s efforts to continue to expand and broaden solutions in the sustainable packaging market space in both fiber based and film-based solutions. She brings with her nearly 30 years of paper and flexible packaging experience, most recently as a Senior Marketing Manager at Amcor, leading segments across multiple flexible packaging market applications. Before that, she held various technical and marketing roles at Coating Excellence and International Paper.
20+ years of banking and corporate finance, ECM/DCM, M&A. investment research & valuation;
former Director of Euronext, Paris, and of Commerzbank, Frankfurt
Dr. Puneet Dwivedi is a Chief Executive Officer of Eco-Intelligence®️. He has over 15 years of global experience in the sustainable management of environmental resources, in general, and forest resources, in particular. He has published about 100 refereed journal articles focusing on environmental modeling, economic analysis, and participation of landowners in various federal and state programs in the United States and beyond. He uses state-of-the-art tools and techniques for developing insights about the sustainability of environmental resources. After graduating from the University of Florida with his doctorate (2010), he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Yale University (2010-2012) and the University of Illinois (2012-2013) before starting a faculty position at the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry & Natural resources (2013 – present).
Based in the UK, Tom is responsible for FiberLean’s Business Development in Paper and Board applications. Tom holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and has over 10 years’ experience working with MFC in paper and packaging.
Terry Webber serves as American Forest & Paper Association Vice President of Industry Affairs. Webber is responsible for maintaining synergy with government affairs, ensuring robust and integrated marketplace strategies across the sectors, and identifying new engagement opportunities for AF&PA Industry Statistics.
He joined AF&PA in 2011 and has worked in various roles in government and industry affairs. Prior to joining AF&PA, Webber was a postgraduate legal fellow for the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a legal extern for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He also has an extensive background in Oregon politics, as campaign staff for former NBA Player Chris Dudley’s 2010 run for Oregon Governor and as senior staff for the state House Republican Caucus.
Webber holds an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from the University of Southern California, where he was on the Southern California Law Review. He is a member of the State Bars of California and Oregon. He resides in the Portland, Oregon area with his wife and son.
Innovative sales operations and supply chain executive with a record of tangible results. Broad international experience across critical areas of sales, supply chain, procurement, and customer relationship management. Exceptional interpersonal skills combined with a passionate, analytical approach to problem-solving.
Paige Goff is Vice-President of Sustainability and Communications at Domtar, the largest integrated marketer and manufacturer of business and office copy paper in North America. In this role, she is responsible for communicating Domtar’s pulp and paper initiatives, identifying and leveraging the latest sustainability trends and strategies for the business, as well as developing and managing partnerships with environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO) and customers.
Goff has 17 years of experience in the forest products industry and joined Domtar in 2004. In her previous Domtar roles, she was also the Senior Manager, Brand and Advertising Operations as well as a Product Packaging Manager. Prior to joining Domtar, Goff was a marketing analyst and planner at Resolute, a North American paper industry supplier. She has a Master of Business Administration degree.
Carol Patterson is the vice president of government relations for the Foodservice Packaging Institute, the trade association for the North American foodservice packaging industry. At FPI, she works on all government relations for the association at the federal, state, provincial and local levels.
Prior to joining FPI, Carol was the interim national vice president of government relations for Restaurants Canada where she led the development and execution of the organization’s government relations strategy, advocacy initiatives and policy development to deliver meaningful results for the restaurant industry. She also headed various corporate sustainability and government affairs departments, including Tim Hortons and Restaurant Brands International. Additionally, Carol spent significant time in municipal waste management services, with a focus on diversion through recycling and composting.
Dr. Jonathan Levine has a PhD from Columbia University in earth and environmental engineering where he worked on water in Africa and billion tonne disposal of carbon dioxide under deep oceans. He is the cofounder and CEO of Folia Materials which has a patented green manufacturing process that uses paper mills as giant nanofactories to make low-cost mass market products with paper instead of plastic. Folia's coated paper is used to make antiviral face masks, and a 20 cent grocery staple water purifier for mass market Asia, and microwave food packaging. Joint development and commercialization partners are national-scale OEM, product, and distribution companies with the country-scale reach needed to achieve billion-person impact and $1B revenue like Unilever and a fortune 100 food company.
Brent has over 24 years of retail experience in print, packaging, branding, sourcing and supplier management with private brand and branded programs at Target, Best Buy, Flagstone Foods and Good Natured Products. He is currently a Director of Packaging, Engineering, Design and Innovation at Billerudkorsnas, a Swedish based paper company that challenges conventional packaging for a sustainable future.
Brent has been involved and worked on high profile programs at Target such as Michael Graves, Philippe Starck and Robert Abbey. He helped lay the foundation of the Target Packaging Department and many of the processes and supplier relationships that exist to this present day. At Best Buy, he was instrumental in creating processes and forming relationships with strategic partners that resulted in astronomical growth of their private brand portfolio, which includes Insignia, Dynex and Rocketfish. While at Best Buy, he effectively launched and implemented sustainable packaging initiatives that removed 100’s of tons of material and plastics from packaging (resulting in millions of dollars in cost reductions), implemented recyclable identification programs for packaged materials and introduced innovative recycled-based content and bio-based packaging solutions.
He is enthusiastic about opportunities to create sustainable impacts to our world by lessening the material impacts of consumerism and promoting recycling solutions
An avid sustainable packaging leader with a strong sense of purpose and profound ability to see the big picture while remaining highly focused. Proven track record of steering through ambiguous environment and driving disruptive projects of strategic importance at a global scale across several MNC`s. Experienced and adept at agile translation of scientific concepts into successful commercial products for delivering business results at a global platform.
Scott J. Hyland – Customer Solutions and Product Innovation - Project Leader Coating Applications
Scott Hyland holds a BS degree in Business Administration from the State College of Vermont at Castleton. His career started in the paper industry with work for Omya, Penford Products, and Ingredion Incorporated where his focus has been related to coatings and surface treatments. Managing demands from various positions as a supplier to the industry, he has worked extensively to expand the use of starch-based polymers designed for higher performance coating applications for specialty paper/ packaging arenas. His current position with Ingredion is in product innovation/ application of specialty coatings and surface treatments; his emphasis is related to barrier coatings in packaging applications.
Xiaobo Hu received his PhD in Polymer Science in 2011. His current position at Eastman Chemical Company focuses on fundamental research and product development for coatings. His current project is to develop bio-based and biodegradable polymer coatings in packaging/food contact applications based on the understanding of structure-process-property relationships. Before joining Eastman Chemical Company, Xiaobo worked as a Research Scientist at DuPont, where he researched engineering polymers for blown film and lamination applications.
Graham Moore has over thirty years’ experience of the global paper and board industry that has focused on process and product knowledge, recycling, wet end chemistry and product performance research. His recent focus has been directed towards the specialty paper sector where he has assisted a number of paper companies to successfully develop and exploit new specialty products and markets. He has been a regular presenter, chairman and advisory board member for Smithers US Specialty Paper conference held annually in conjunction with TAPPI. In addition to specialty paper, he has undertaken strategic futures based research that has examined the issues and technology trends that affect the papermaking supply chain and co-authored the TAPPI Futurist’s report ‘Postcards of the Future’. He is a member and Fellow of TAPPI, member, non-executive director and Deputy Chairman of PITA (UK), and member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).
Ronald Horner is Chief Procurement Officer, responsible for all aspects of the company's direct and indirect procurement, planning, logistics and supply chain strategies. Horner joined Novolex in 2021 after leading all strategic sourcing for Vulcan Materials Company, a $4 billion business operating across North America. Prior to that role, Horner was Director, Sourcing & Procurement at Caraustar (now Greif), a paper company owned by private equity, where he was responsible for all direct and indirect materials and services for more than 80 locations in North America. Earlier in his career, Horner was the Global Category Director at Kimberly Clark, where he led global strategic sourcing programs, worked closely with product innovation teams and implemented supplier relationship management programs. He also has served as a strategic advisor working for leading consulting firms Protiviti, Accenture and Prosero.
Bio coming soon
Kyle Walker is a Senior Packaging Engineer at Starbucks where his work focusses on improving the sustainability of Starbucks’ single use packaging portfolio. He has played a key technical role in sustainability initiatives such as the strawless lid, cold cup plastic reduction, compostable beverage packaging, and increasing the recycled content in hot cups. An avid outdoor enthusiast, Kyle is inspired by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest where he lives. His love of the great outdoors fuels his passion for sustainability, and he is also an advocate for accessible design in packaging.
Marc Foulger has 45 years’ experience in the pulp and paper industry, and is currently Technology Manager, Micro-fibrillated Cellulose, for Valmet Inc. Marc previously served as Director of Research for both GL&V and Black Clawson in the USA. Before joining Black Clawson he worked for Simons consulting and for Kimberly-Clark in Canada, and Reed International in the UK. Marc is a TAPPI Fellow, and has published more than 40 technical papers. He specializes in paper machine operations.
Scott McNutt has over 40 years of experience in the paper industry, with a focus on process and product knowledge in the disciplines of papermaking, quality, engineering, operations management, Lean/Six Sigma, product development and innovation. He is well-versed in the downstream converting processes and end use requirements for cut sheet, QSR, flexible packaging, and technical specialty grades.
He started his career in specialty paper at Dunn Paper, serving in roles process engineering, quality management, and product dev. He transitioned to Fine Paper with Willamette and was part of the effort to infuse state-of-the-art papermaking technology into the fine paper industry in the US. He then managed the production operations for Wausau Papers, returning to his specialty paper roots. To bring his career full circle, he returned to Dunn Paper in Port Huron to drive operations success and innovation.
He has toured a vast number of pulp and paper mills in the US and abroad, exploring new technology. Scott has been a member of TAPPI since 1985, attending numerous events at the local Chapters as well as annual Conferences. In addition, he has been active in the Smithers Specialty Papers Conferences in Europe and North America. He is currently active in the TAPPI Mentor program and recently joined the Tappi Nanotechnology subcommittee.
His primary focus now with Nextep Partners LLC Consulting is on paper innovations for sustainable packaging applications.
Tom Carne has over 25 years’ management experience within Paper and Board industry. Today he works as a Business Development Manager for Barrier coatings within Kemira’s Global Pulp & Paper BD Team. Main focus is to develop new markets and applications and introduce new water based barrier coating products and concepts to the industry.
He started his career in developing dispersion barriers and pigment coatings working for paper chemical suppliers, but major part of his career he has made working for a paperboard supplier holding positions in product management, business development and international key account management.
Tom holds a M.Sc. degree in Paper Chemistry from the University of Åbo Akademi, Finland. He ranks sustainability and circular economy high on his personal agenda. He charges his batteries in nature doing outdoor exercise, fishing and hunting and therefore values environmental issues above all.
Emily Parsons works as a Product Launch Engineer in Barriers and Molded Fiber for Solenis. She focuses on the application of sustainable barriers in fiber based packaging to replace single use plastics and polystyrene.
She graduated summa cum laude with honors with a B.S. in Chemical (Paper) Engineering and a minor in management from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University in May 2020. She has a variety of experience in chemicals and paper manufacturing with a special interest in sustainable and biodegradable packaging, molded fiber, pollution control, and environmental chemicals.
She has a research background in progressive use of materials, specifically from wood and plant biomass. Research areas during her undergraduate studies include lignin degradation in sugar maple via white rot and brown rot fungi, extraction methods for lignin with perennial grass biomass, and the production of PHB, the biodegradable plastic from brewer's spent grains.
As CMA’s Client Services Coordinator, Diana combines her passion for sustainability with an unparalleled enthusiasm for collaboration. Before CMA, she ran the sustainability department for Sodexo’s food service operations at Gonzaga University, where she implemented the company’s national sustainability goals at the local and regional level. Her rigorous background in Corporate Social Responsibility has inspired her employment or other local, regional, and national businesses including Resource Synergy and Red Bull. With a drive to build sustainable societies and a deep passion for food, her long-term goal is to reinvent the standard food system to be healthy for the individual, the industry, and the environment.
Anna Papagrigoraki is the Sustainability Director at Cepi, the European Confederation of Paper Industries, since 2019. Prior to Cepi, Anna held positions in PlasticsEurope where she was part of the Advocacy team and CEFS, the EU Sugar Manufacturers Association as an Environment & Agricultural Advisor. She has experience in environmental policy topics ranging from industrial emissions and circular economy to climate change and life-cycle-assessment. Anna has Masters in Civil Engineering (2009) and MSc in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (2010) from the University of Southampton.
Mr. Henry Ines is the CEO and founder of Chainparency, a developer of enterprise blockchain-based applications and digital risk management tools used to substantiate product and sustainability claims and ensure transparent and accountable global supply chains. Chainparency's flagship product is GoTrace: a turnkey and modular blockchain-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) track and trace solution, which enables any user, regardless of size, budget, or technical proficiency, to easily deploy a digital traceability solution. Henry serves on the Steering Committee of the GoChain Foundation, the developer of the GoChain blockchain: an enterprise-grade, highly scalable, and environmentally-friendly blockchain protocol, which is governed by a decentralized consortium of highly trusted and reputable entities ranging from Fortune 500, publicly-traded companies, NGOs, not-for-profit organizations to leading universities. These validating nodes, including the Pennsylvania State University, Dish, Lenovo, Conservation International, Goldbell, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, and RMIT, are responsible for processing and validating transactions on the GoChain blockchain. Henry began as a management consultant (ex-PW & PwC) & corporate finance advisor (ex-PwC Securities and M&T Bank), before 10+years as an early stage VC. Mr. Ines holds an M.B.A. from Duke University Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business.
Mr. Yuta Taoka is currently the Manager of the Poval R&D Department, Kuraray Co., Ltd. in Japan. He earned a Master’s degree in polymer science from Kyoto University, Japan in 2008 where he specialized in the polymer rheology. He started his professional career with Kuraray Co., Ltd in 2008. As Technical expert, he has been in charge of developing various polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) polymers for adhesive and paper applications in the Poval R&D Department in Japan (2008 to 2013) and Kuraray America PVOH BU in Texas (2013 to 2017). From 2018 January, he has been assigned as a manager in the POVAL R&D Department to continue to develop new markets for PVOH in the adhesive and paper industries.
Marguerite Butler is Manager of Sustainability at Domtar, the largest integrated marketer and manufacturer of business and office copy paper in North America. In this role, she assists in the development of sustainability commitments and goals, conducting ESG research and monitoring the latest ESG trends in the paper and pulp industry.
Ms. Butler routinely provides updates on Domtar’s sustainability progress to Domtar customers and other key stakeholders. She also engages with third-party forest certification bodies through audits, joint programs and other initiatives that support best forestry practices in North America. As part of the company’s sustainability team, she engages in the implementation of numerous advocacy and education campaigns.
Marguerite joined Domtar in 2015. Prior to that, she worked for nine years at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Five of those years were spent in Western Africa as the Smithsonian’s biodiversity station manager, working with visiting scientists in their field research of wildlife and tropical forestlands. She attended Illinois Institute of Technology, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree.
Bio coming soon
As the current General Manager of Western Michigan’s prestigious Paper Pilot Plants, Lon has the lead role in marketing, business development, strategy, and P/L management for the business. His background in specialty papers (Crown Vantage), coated recycled board (Graphic Packaging), integrated packaging (Sonoco), and natural binders (Tate & Lyle) prepared him well to tackle the wide variety of projects that come through the door at WMU. Lon is an active leader in the industry as part of the Tappi Coating & Graphic Arts Technical Committee, the Tappi Recycled Fiber Technical Committee, and represents WMU as a subject matter expert on the ISO TC6 (Paper, board, and pulps) working group, NextGen Cup Challenge (McDonalds, Starbucks, Pepsi), and NextGen Composting Consortium. He held roles as a process engineer, senior product specialist, product manager, and director of pricing and marketing prior to coming back to his alma mater (BS Paper Science & Engineering 1998) in 2016.
Dave Magda is currently the Director of Innovation at Pixelle Specialty Solutions. He holds a BS Degree in Paper Science Engineering from SUNY Environmental Science & Forestry and an MBA Technology Management from University of Phoenix. In addition to paper companies, Dave has worked for chemical suppliers within the paper industry. His responsibilities over the past 34 years have ranged from R&D, Process Engineering, Product Development Manager, Technical Director, to Sales as a Key Account Manager
Larry Hutchinson began his career in the paper industry in 1979 and holds degrees in Chemical Engineering and Pulp & Paper Science from the University of Maine. He has a diverse background in manufacturing, technical consulting, market and technology development across a broad range of packaging grades.
With 25 years in global roles, 15 years living in Asia, Larry has a broad perspective on the global packaging market. In his current role, he is responsible for global market development for Solenis’ consumer packaging portfolio, globalization of Solenis’ ecological barriers technology acquired with Topchim in March 2018, and the development of new technology to meet the needs of molded fiber producers.
Kenneth Lin is the Senior Regional Government Relations Manager for International Paper for the Mid-Atlantic Region which covers Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Previously, he covered government relations for twelve states in the Eastern Region as Manager, Government Affairs for Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation. He also worked in the Government Relations department at Cendant Corporation, a provider of real estate, travel, and hospitality services, as its first policy director. Prior to Cendant, Kenneth worked on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona and as a Counsel to U.S. Representative John Kasich of Ohio in his role as Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget, Majority Staff. Kenneth has also been active in various Republican Presidential campaigns over the years as both an advisor and a campaign fundraiser.
Kenneth received his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in International Business from the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business in Columbia, South Carolina. He also received his Juris Doctorate from the Syracuse University College of Law in Syracuse, New York, and his Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Political Science and Economics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He is admitted to the bar in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, and Minnesota.
Teal Edelen serves as program officer for the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. Before joining the team on staff, she served as an Endowment consultant for five years focused on federal reporting. Prior to that, she spent a decade in conservation grant-making at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, managing public-private partnerships focused on working lands and Farm Bill policy, monarch butterfly conservation, invasive weed management, and National Wildlife Refuges.
Teal grew up in rural MD, where her childhood was spent raising beef cattle and sheep as a member of 4-H.
Teal holds a master’s degree in natural resources management from Virginia Tech and an undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature with a minor in International Studies from the University of Maryland.
Outside the office, she enjoys swimming, gardening, outdoor recreation, and spending time with family and friends.
Mark is the founder of Columbia Pulp, the founder and CEO of Sustainable Fiber Technologies, Phoenix Pulp and Polymer and Sustainable Green Chemistries. Mark has over 40 years in the pulp and paper industry.
His experience spans research, Weyerhaeuser and GK Carbonate; manufacturing Weyerhaeuser, Noram Testing Equipment, sales and marketing, various entities and academia where he spent seventeen years at the University of Washington.
Currently there are over 20 employees within the SFT family of Companies. He is also the inventor of 6 issued patents and 3 patents pending.
Rachel K. Lincoln is a sustainability business strategist, connecting products to sustainability within apparel brands. Over the last 12 years at prAna Living, a Southern California apparel brand rooted in sustainability, she has created strategies to drive the implementation of plastic free product packaging, scale Fair Trade factory programs and been an instrumental contributor to the company’s decade of growth. She is driven by closing the loop on circularity in the apparel industry, creating humanity in manufacturing, and the promotion of a work, life balance. Born and raised in California and a graduate of FIDM, she is currently raising two young girls to be strong, independent thought leaders.
Alex Thomas, Special Projects and Field Lead
A Wisconsin native, Alex completed his undergraduate degrees in Biology and Waste Resources before working in Waste Management and Planning in Eastern Washington for the last three years. Most recently, Alex has become a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point under the Soils and Waste Resources department. There, on top of his CMA work, he is researching the affects composting can have on infectious diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease and E. Coli. Alex is happy to have been a part of the CMA team since 2019 and is looking forward to continuing to move forward the mission of effective compostables.
