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.
Mr. McGrath served as Chief Executive Officer of Pactiv Evergreen, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTVE) from November 2010 through March 2021. Pactiv Evergreen is North Americas’ leading manufacturer of multi-material fresh food and beverage packaging with revenues of $5.3 billion, over 60 manufacturing and distribution facilities and 15,000 employees worldwide. In September 2020, Mr. McGrath led the company though their Initial Public Offering and subsequent debt refinancing. Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer of Pactiv Evergreen, Mr. McGrath served as Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development for Pactiv’s foodservice and food packaging business. Formerly, Mr. McGrath served as the general manager of Pactiv’s food processor business and prior to that, Vice President of Logistics. He has also held various positions in sales, marketing and product development throughout his career. Mr. McGrath is the past chairman of the Foodservice Packaging Institute and was formerly a member of the board of directors of OmniMax International, Inc.and Duro Bag Company (Novolex). Mr. McGrath received an MBA from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science majoring in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Ms. Li is a Partner in the Ares Private Equity Group. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Li served as an Associate in Ares' New York office with the Ares Credit Group. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2008, Ms. Li was an Associate in the Ares Private Equity Group in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Ares in 2007, Ms. Li worked at Credit Suisse, where she was an investment banking generalist. Ms. Li currently serves on the Board of Directors of City Ventures, LLC, The AZEK Company, and the parent entity of Resource Label Group. She holds a B.S., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School in Economics.
Nik Kloepfer is a Managing Director in J.P. Morgan's Global Industrials team with a particular focus on the paper & packaging space. He has executed 70+ advisory and financing assignments on behalf of his clients across a variety of industries and markets including, mergers & acquisitions, takeover defense, hostile transactions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures and cross-border transactions in North America and Europe.
He also has had extensive experience advising a number of clients and boards in their dealings with shareholders. Prior to his current role, he was an Executive Director in the UK Corporate Finance team at J.P. Morgan Cazenove and before joining J.P. Morgan in 2007, Nik worked at both Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and HSBC. Nik graduated with a BA (Hons) in Accounting, Financial Management & Economics from the University of Sheffield. He resides in Rye (Westchester, NY) with his wife Susan and their two children and is a member of the Board of Advisors for Change for Kids, a New York based educational charity
Amanda Davis Winters is a Managing Director in the New York office and has been with L.E.K. since 2008. A member of the Industrials practice, she has a particular focus on packaging, chemicals and environmental services. Amanda has deep expertise in market entry strategy, market segment prioritization, go-to-market and commercial planning, inorganic growth strategy and both buy- and sell-side diligence. In 2018, she was selected as a Rising Star of the Consulting Profession by Consulting Magazine.
Amanda holds an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and a BA in psychology and communication from the University of Pennsylvania.
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.
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.
Jeff Cloetingh is a Managing Director in L.E.K. Consulting’s Boston office. As a member of the firm’s Packaging and Industrials practices, he has worked with clients on the development of global growth strategy, go-to-market commercial strategy, roll-up strategy, digital packaging and printing strategy, and M&A transaction support.
Prior to joining L.E.K. in 2011, Jeff focused on incentive plan design and competitive benchmarking at a boutique consulting firm. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Colgate University and a Master of Business Administration with Distinction from S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Business at Cornell University.
