Brought to you by Smithers and L.E.K. Consulting, The Future of Packaging is the premier event in North America dedicated to providing timely, insightful content to the C-suite and investors in the packaging industry. This exclusive, invitation-only program regularly attracts commercial leaders and financial sponsors in the packaging sector to discuss the key opportunities for value creation in the packaging industry. During this year’s event, you’ll be able to:
Elizabeth Rhue, Vice President Global Environmental, Sustainability, and Technical Services is responsible for leading Sonoco’s global sustainability programs and environmental services for the Company’s Consumer- and Industrial-related packaging businesses, including working directly with Sonoco’s key customers and business leaders to achieve improved product sustainability and environmental footprint for Sonoco’s operations. In addition, Elizabeth’s team is responsible for environmental compliance, product safety and Sonoco’s consumer packaging pilot facilities, testing labs, and design engineering services. Elizabeth started her nearly18-year career at Sonoco as a Research and Development Engineer with Sonoco's Rigid Paper Container business and has held several technical and commercial roles, including Sustainability and National Accounts Manager for Sonoco Recycling, focused on delivering landfill diversion solutions for major consumer product goods accounts, and Director of Marketing for Sonoco’s Flexible Packaging division, working directly with large consumer product goods customers. Elizabeth holds a B.S. in Packaging Science from Clemson University. Outside of Sonoco, Elizabeth is chair of the board of directors for Keep the Midlands Beautiful and also serves as chair of the Clemson University SonocoFRESH Industry Advisory Board. In 2023, Elizabeth was named to the Waste 360’s 40 under 40 list related to her sustainability efforts in the waste and recycling industry
Chris Max, Kraft Heinz Company Research Lead – Sustainable Packaging Innovation, has over 20 years of experience in packaging, in both convertor and CPG R&D capacities. At KHC, Chris leads a sustainable innovation team focused on building a robust pipeline of innovation to help KHC achieve our 2025 100% RRC Goal as well as provide a roadmap to design for the future of recycling. Chris has worked at KHC since 2014 & previously held roles at Amcor Rigid Plastics & Husky Injection Molding Systems. Chris also sits on APR’s PET Technical Committee & is currently working within USPP’s PCR working group. Chris holds a degree in Plastics Engineering from Ferris State University.
Jon Fitzsimmons is a Managing Director in Baird’s Global Investment Banking Group. Since joining the firm in 2004, Jon has participated in over 100 completed mergers and acquisitions and corporate financing transactions, representing aggregate transaction value in excess of $25 billion. Jon works across Baird’s Industrial, Healthcare and Consumer teams, with a particular emphasis on transactions in specialty materials, chemicals and water. From 2006 – 2008, Jon completed a secondment with Baird’s international M&A group in London, where he worked on transactions in England, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Jon received a BBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was a Baird Scholar.
Joe Lambert is currently the Global Vice President of Digital Solutions for Sealed Air leading their new brand, prismiqTM, focused on innovating value-added solutions for branded packaging. Joe and his team help customers using custom printed packaging to increase revenue with innovative and sustainable packaging designs and reduce operating costs through more efficient value chains and automated processes. Previously Joe served as the Americas commercial leader for sustainability and food packaging solutions.
Prior to joining Sealed Air in 2015, Joe held different global supply chain leadership roles for Proterra, General Electric and Michelin. His common focus across these different industries has been introducing and scaling new products and solutions. Joe received an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech.
After graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in Packaging Science, Abby began her career at Kraft Foods. There, she worked on iconic brands such as Philadelphia, Kraft cheese, A1 and Athenos, achieving 2 design patents and completing her Six Sigma Green belt and Black Belt training. In 2015, she made the move to Bel Brands to lead the North American packaging team. Later, she transitioned to R&D management and was responsible for the Babybel Global R&D platform. Although she loves cheese with all her heart, Abby also has a passion for food sustainability so she made the move to Nature's Fynd in 2021 where she is the acting Director of CI and Packaging development. She invites you to explore what this startup is all about! www.naturesfynd.com
Anh is currently the Sr. Marketing Director responsible for the NA strategic innovations and sustainability teams for the Avery Dennison Materials Group business. Her teams are responsible for creating market & customer insights to drive long term innovation & market development strategies across a broad range of market segments. Leveraging Avery Dennison's unique material science capabilities and leadership in digital triggers & smart labels, her business looks to enrich packaging to deeply connect brands and consumers through responsible physical and digital solutions.
Anh has been with Avery Dennison for almost 10 years. Prior to Avery Dennison, she worked for 18 years at a consumer packaged goods company in the areas of R&D, Supply Chain/Ops and Marketing/Product Management. She has a BS in electrical engineering from Iowa State and an engineering masters degree from Case Western Reserve. She resides in northeast Ohio with her husband and three teenagers.
Sameer is a R&D Director, External Innovation at PepsiCo. In this role, he manages PepsiCo’s open innovation platform and strategic partnerships to source external technologies that can impact the company’s wide portfolio of food and beverage products. These technologies can range from packaging materials, ingredients and processing to digital technologies and business model innovations.
Prior to his current role, Sameer held various roles within Packaging R&D at PepsiCo and before that at the Wm. WRIGLEY Jr. Company, successfully leading packaging development for commercial launches of new beverage, food and confectionary products as well as longer term development on new packaging materials and technologies. Sameer began his career in the materials industry working on polymer films and coatings as well as glass and fiberglass for GE Plastics and PPG Industries. He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Bio coming soon!
Justin is a Managing Director in Baird's Industrial Group and has coverage responsibility for the global packaging industry. Justin’s investment banking experience covers a range of products, including mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, high yield debt and leveraged lending. Justin has advised on more than 95 transactions involving a variety of publicly traded, sponsor-owned and privately owned companies within a number of different industries, including more than 60 transactions totaling over $17 billion in transaction value in the packaging sector. Justin is also a member of Baird’s M&A Fairness Opinion Committee.
Prior to joining Baird in 2003, Justin was with Deutsche Bank Securities for nearly five years where he worked on numerous M&A and financing transactions primarily in the industrial sector. He received his MBA degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and graduated with a BA degree in Economics from Haverford College.
Karin von Kienlin is a Senior Partner in L.E.K. Consulting’s Munich office. She is Head of L.E.K. Germany and is an elected member of L.E.K.’s Global Leadership Team.
She has more than 25 years' experience in growth strategy development and implementation, having worked for a diverse range of clients across Europe, North America and Asia.
Sector-wise, Karin has been working with clients in automotive, machine manufacturing, building products, chemicals and packaging to identify priorities for profitable growth, and to support organizational change and mergers & acquisitions to make them happen. This includes, for example, buy-and-build projects, acquisition target screening, commercial due diligence, marketing and sales planning, and organizational strategy projects.
Karin holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Brasenose College, Oxford University.
Thilo Henkes, Managing Director, L.E.K. Consulting Thilo Henkes joined L.E.K. in 2000 and has more than 17 years of consulting experience specializing in transaction support and developing post-acquisition, value-enhancing strategies for clients. He is a Managing Director and Partner, and leads our Paper Goods and Packaging practice. Thilo is also active in our Building Materials & Industrials Products and Private Equity practices. He has worked with his clients to evaluate merger and acquisition opportunities, assess growth options in new markets and new products, construct business plans in conjunction with developing new growth strategies, and identify value in cost-cutting initiatives.
Ciaran is responsible for delivering Smithers global growth initiatives and supporting Smithers Asian client base.
Ciaran has been working for Smithers for nearly twenty years supporting the packaging, print and paper value chains with key market and technical information in the form of conferences, reports and consulting. Ciaran has worked on winning and delivering a wide range of market consultancy projects to major industry players, recent projects include a global assessment of printing and packaging growth trends and market assessment for a major new product launch for one of the world’s largest packaging converters.
Ciaran has launched and managed many international conferences in this sector including Digital Print for Packaging, SustPack, Specialty Papers and Print Futures.
