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.
David leads Amcor’s global sustainability agenda. He works closely with the global
packaging company’s innovation,
procurement, operations and other functions to integrate more sustainable design and social responsibility into Amcor’s product
development and operations. He is active in Amcor’s global sustainability partnerships
with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and others. He
leads the company’s program to achieve its Global Commitment to develop all of its
packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025, to increase the use of recycled content,
and collaborate to drive up rates of recycling around the world.
David is chair of the Plastic Recycling Corporation of California, serves on the board of The Recycling Partnership, and is an Aspen Institute First Movers Fellow.
David holds a B.S., Physics, from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Steve Alexander serves as President and CEO of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), The Voice of Plastics Recycling®. As the international trade association representing the plastics recycling industry, membership includes independent recycling companies of all sizes, processing numerous resins, as well as consumer product companies, equipment manufacturers, testing laboratories, organizations, and others committed to the success of plastics recycling. APR serves the plastics recycling industry by providing technical and educational solutions with a goal of creating more good supply of material for recycling and enhancing the quality of the existing supply stream.
Alexander is also the president of Resource Recycling, Inc., a publishing and conference management firm. Resource Recycling produces the Plastics Recycling Conference, Resource Recycling Conference, as well as the E-Scrap Conference. It also publishes three trade journals: Resource Recycling, Plastics Recycling Update and E-Scrap News.
Previously, Mr. Alexander spent more than 20 year representing corporate and association clients on Capitol Hill and in State Houses across the country, including 10 years with Eastman Kodak Company, where he specialized in environment, technology and appropriations issues.
He is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, and holds an MBA from the Sellenger School of Business at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.
He can be reached at steve@plasticsrecycling.org.
Kim is a 1982 graduate of the School of Packaging with a Master’s of Science. She is coming up to 40 years of working in packaging at wonderful companies such as General Mills, Kraft Foods and Target. At General Mills she learned how to design packaging to protect and contain, at Kraft she learned how to design packaging for a great consumer experience and at Target she learned how to design packaging that is sustainable. Today all 3 of these skills are needed to be a successful packaging engineer. The keys to success have been driving for results, collaborating, building partnerships and having fun along the way. Kim is retiring from Target in March with plans to consult and help companies reduce the impact of their packaging on the planet. She lives in Minnesota and loves to be outdoors!
Joshua Oleson is the Senior Vice President of Packaging Supply Chain at HAVI and has been with HAVI for 15 years. In this role, he is responsible for developing and managing a global supplier network along with the lifecycle of the packaging solutions delivered through this network in support of HAVI’s customers goals. Joshua’s previous experience at HAVI includes leading teams in Packaging Development, Innovation and Sustainability in the U.S. and internationally.
Prior to joining HAVI, Joshua worked at the Kellogg Company in the Packaging Technology department where he developed packaging solutions in support of new product launches in the Morning Foods and Snacking divisions.
Joshua is a graduate of the School of Packaging at Michigan State University and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Natha Dempsey is president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute, the trade association for the North American foodservice packaging industry. At FPI, she advocates for the interests of the industry and champions its efforts to expand recycling and composting of foodservice packaging. In her previous position at FPI, Dempsey served as vice president. Prior to joining the association in 2010, she held various positions at SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association (now called Plastics Industry Association).
Davies is responsible for the Performance Packaging Business at NatureWorks, a company formed with the mission of bringing to global markets a broad family of naturally advanced, renewably sourced, materials. He regularly represents the broader bioplastics industry, providing a provocative perspective on functional materials innovation to audiences that span from manufacturers, to trade associations, consumer brands, and policy makers.
Brenda Chamulak joined Tekni-Plex in October 2020 as president of its newly created Consumer Products division and now serves as the organization’s president and CEO. Brenda is a highly experienced and successful senior packaging executive who brings tremendous strategic and management skills to Tekni-Plex having spent nearly 30 years in the industry. Prior to joining Tekni-Plex, Brenda served as president and CEO of Jabil Packaging Solutions and held various leadership positions at Aptar. She earned her B.A. in International Business, Marketing from Carthage College and an MBA from Marquette University.
Adrianne Tipton, PhD is Chief Technology Officer, responsible for driving innovation in new product development, product management and product marketing. With more than 20 years of experience, Tipton brings extensive expertise in a wide variety of areas, including business strategy, marketing, research and new product development. Before joining Novolex, she was Vice President of Business Research for ORC International as well as Vice President of New Product Development and Marketing for Cenveo (formerly National Envelope). Previous to that, Tipton served a variety of critical roles in research and development at Clorox and was Key Account Manager/Senior Process Engineer for Novellus Systems. Tipton holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in chemistry from Northern Arizona University, a PhD in synthetic bioorganic chemistry from the University of Nevada, Reno and a post-doctoral fellowship from the Center for Metals in Biocatalysis from the University of Minnesota.
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.
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
Jeff is a managing director in Sustainable Investing within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. In his role, he leads investments in the food and water sectors and in circular systems. Jeff joined the firm as a managing director in 2020.
Prior to joining the firm, Jeff was a partner at Mission Driven Capital Partners, where he led investments across the food, water and waste industries. Before that, he was a managing director at MissionPoint Capital Partners for 12 years. Earlier in his career, Jeff invested in renewable and other energy projects at GE Energy Financial Services and before that, he worked in the Energy and Natural Resources Group in investment banking at Lehman Brothers.
Jeff earned a BA in Geology from Yale University. He also earned an MBA and a master's degree in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Management and Yale School of the Environment, respectively.
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.
Bio coming soon!
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.
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.
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.
Jon Moss is a Principal in L.E.K. Consulting’s Chicago office. Jon is a member of the firm’s Industrials practice, with a focus on the Paper & Packaging and Building & Construction practices. He has worked on growth strategy engagements focused on both U.S. and international opportunities and has supported corporate and private equity clients on buy- and sell-side transactions.
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.
