Ross Ellis obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh in 2009. He has worked as a research scientist in specialty chemicals in the UK, US, and now Norway. He currently works in the R&D department at the Borregaard Biorefinery in Norway, developing new biopolymers from sustainable Norwegian wood.
Filip has a background in business psychology and has started to specialize in home care as the industry project lead and as Consultant for home and technology industries at Euromonitor. He provides analysis on trends and developments, with special emphasis on broader consumer trends and areas where home care overlaps with other industries. This big picture view helps clients to learn about opportunities and threats, and to take informed strategic decisions.
Dr. Jean-Paul Janssens (PhD Chem Eng) is co-founder of FRAMES Formulation Intelligence and experienced R&D and Innovation consultant. He served as R&D Manager at Unilever from 1996 to 2010. In this role, he was responsible for managing Home and Personal Care category innovation. He was involved in new product development processes, spanning from insight to implementation, with the focus on consumer benefits, revenue growth and sustainability. The various categories he has handled during his tenure at Unilever included fabric & household care, skin & hair products and fabric conditioners. Jean-Paul has worked in Europe, South East Asia, North Africa and Middle East, his expertise ranges from R&D, formulation & product development, technology development, innovation processes, project management to strategy development. He has over 25 years of experience in various research & development environments.
Francesca Morgante joined RSPO in October 2018 with market development functions, and is currently Sr Manager, Europe ( Market Transformation)
Her role consists of engaging with key stakeholders to help increase the uptake of certified sustainable palm oil in the European market. Before joining RSPO she was responsible for the development of a quality seal for natural and organic cosmetics, where she gained sound knowledge about the international cosmetic sector and on how to strategically position private standards in different markets. Francesca holds a degree in Development and International Cooperation from the Bologna University and has a working experience of over 10 years within the non-profit sector at international level.
After her studies in chemistry and agro-chemistry, Pauline Raffaitin has completed a PhD on environmental impacts of waste management in collaboration with the French Environment Agency (ADEME). She integrated the ECOCERT Group in 2008 to work on the certification of natural and organic cosmetics. Since more than 10 years, she has developed a solid expertise on natural and organic market. She is now at the head of home and personal care business unit for the ECOCERT Group to develop these two sectors of activities worldwide.
Growing up on the US coast of Maine, Nick was inspired to study physical sciences by the powerful winter cyclones that strike his home town each year. Nick enjoys using computer simulation and mathematics to solve challenging problems in chemistry and physics.
As a key member of the Electric Ant Lab Modeling Team (makers of RheoCube software), Nick applies his passion for multi-scale modeling, computer simulation, and statistical thermodynamics. Having built the company’s entire modeling team from the ground up, he is now focused on developing and implementing RheoCube’s core physical models.
Nick is inherently driven to understand the complicated physics happening at the microscale, between molecules and nanostructures, to make predictive models for what happens at our scale of existence. He often investigates exciting new materials (polymers), fluid rheology, molecular targeting techniques, biosensing, and molecular assembly.
Aside from this, Nick loves tracking the weather and studying dynamic meteorology. He also creates interactive and visual computer software that allows scientists and non-scientists alike to explore emergent phenomena, with an artistic twist (e.g. https://stochasm-app.com).
Christoph Gross-Heitfeld studied Organic Chemistry focused on Consumer Products at Niederrhein University of Applier Sciences in Krefeld and Chemistry at University Duisburg-Essen in Essen. After his PhD in Physical Chemistry, he joined R&D team of Sasol Germany GmbH in Marl in 2016. After being responsible for Technical Marketing and Application Technology in the area of Household and I&I, he was working as a Technical Key Account Manager and took over the R&D team for Fabric/Homecare and I&I in 2021. Christoph is part of an international team within Sasol and supports customers to improve sustainability of raw materials and bring them to the market.
Since 2005, Sascha Nissen has been working with A.I.S.E., the international Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products in Brussels. He is mainly involved in the development and implementation of A.I.S.E.’s strategy on Sustainable Development, covering a wide range of initiatives for the industry sector in Europe; these include the ‘A.I.S.E. Charter for Sustainable Cleaning’ and other industry voluntary schemes such as on social responsibility and the circular economy with activities linked to plastic packaging and bio-based materials. He also coordinated A.I.S.E.’s Product Environmental Footprint detergents pilot, a project in the context of the EU Environmental Footprint initiative.
Sascha studied Political Science at the University in Bonn, Germany, and was working in parallel in the German Parliament as Parliamentary Assistant. After his graduation as Magister Artium, M.A., he worked as Consultant for Public Relations and Public Affairs firms in Germany and Brussels.
Sascha has been a speaker at numerous international symposia and congresses across Europe.
Richard joined Mintel in 2011, specialising in household care in January 2016. After initially focusing on the UK market, he uses global consumer research to identify and deliver insightful analysis on shifts in consumer behaviour, as well as track emerging industry trends and innovations around the world.
After working for several years in R&D/Quality in the air filtration industry, Augustin was able to develop his expertise by working on the regulatory compliance of wood treatment products, then for more than two years in the application of chemical regulations in the pharmaceutical industry, starting with REACh, BPR, CLP, PIC and Animal feed regulations. In this context, he has worked with clients across Europe, the United States, Canada, Korea and Australia. His background in chemistry, combined with his career in the application of chemical regulations in various industrial fields, gives Augustin the expertise that is necessary to assess the data required for BPR files, to advise clients on the compliance of their labeling (CLP & BPR Regulation) and help them optimize the regulatory strategy for the compliance of their products.
Àlex Sánchez is the EMEA Business Development Manager in the Home Care team at Croda, which he joined in January 2018. Alex is currently managing the strategic growth platforms fabric care, sustainable cleaning, sensory technologies and biotechnology in the region. He works closely with customers to identify innovative and sustainable opportunities through a collaborative partnership with the use of our purpose Smart science to improve lives.
Thomas Kahl studied economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Moenchengladbach
He has over 25 years’ experience in sales and marketing in the European flexible packaging industry. His functional experience includes sales, marketing and project management. Since 2018 Thomas is leading the EcoSolutions project at Mondi focusing on sustainable packaging guided by the headline “paper where possible and plastic when useful”
Geoffrey Gendebien holds a Masters Degree in Engineering from the University of Liege, Belgium and a Management Certificate from the University of Toronto, Ontario
He has over 20 years’ experience in operations, sales and strategic marketing in the Composites, Polymers and, Packaging industries. He has worked and lived in Europe and North America and, has held global responsibilities.
Over the last 5 years, he has been managing product lines and Market Segments in Composites and Flexible Packaging. He is currently managing the Home and Personal Care Market for Amcor in EMEA. He is driving innovation projects and aligning internal resources to deliver appealing value propositions and, successful innovative solutions to his markets.
Dr Marc Rodríguez Garcia is the Chief Technology Officer of Xampla, having developed Xampla’s core technology as a Research Associate alongside University of Cambridge Professor Tuomas Knowles. His expertise is on the engineering of proteins and other biopolymers as potential biodegradable replacements for synthetic polymers in microencapsulation and other structured materials. Prior to this, he completed is PhD in peptide chemistry at the University of Glasgow in 2016. He has published research articles in journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and Nature Communications.
Coming soon..
Mark has 25 years experience of lab automation, instrumentation development and data management gained from both the large corporate FMCG sectors (ICI, AkzoNobel) and SMEs. His current role at CPI is leading the development of our digital capability, focusing on Informatics, Data Science, Automation and Process Analytics. He is technical manager for the DIY4U project, leading a diverse consortium with expertise ranging from blockchain and machine learning, incorporating one of the market leaders in FMCG, through to process measurement and hardware design and build.
PhD in chemistry - > 20 years experience in household care/detergent industry: 10 years R&D and Technical Sales Support in Clariant - 2 years heading Technical Customer Support team in Propack (= RB private label division) - 3 1/2 year Industry Technology Specialist in Novozymes - since 4 years HHC (household care) Market & Insights Manager in Novozymes.
Ruben Brunsveld, Deputy Director EMEA
Ruben has a background in human rights, multilateral diplomacy and responsible business. He joined the RSPO in August 2021 to lead the market transformation division for Europe, Middle East & Africa. With this region he has both the supply and the demand side of the value chain within his remit as he engages with members, policy makers and other stakeholders to promote sustainable palm production and uptake. He is also a highly experienced moderator and speaker on different sustainability topics.
As a Colombian born, Indonesian bred, Dutchman living in Sweden he has a lot of affinity with both producing and consuming countries. He uses his broad international personal experience and professional background to connect with different stakeholders throughout the palm oil value chain.
Esther Lansdaal has joined Corbion in March 2007 and serves as a Senior Biocide Application Specialist in non-food applications.
With 13 years expertise in the market of Home & Personal Care and Biocides Esther is a strong contributor to new technology development.
Esther holds a MSc degree in Applied Life Sciences of HAN University in Nijmegen and a BSc degree in Histopathology of Avans Hogeschool Breda.
Dr. Clara Pochetti has worked as Sales Manager in BBA Ecotech for more than a year now. Her working experience abroad in sales and marketing departments has broaden her way of working, thinking and liaising with people and companies.
Experiences abroad has helped Clara to build up her view of different cultures, habits and approaches to even complex projects, allowing her to develop interesting and unconventional assessments.
Working with innovative and eco-friendly biotechnologies and her great interest in green sustainability gives her the possibility to find more and more original solutions for her clients, helping them to succeed in their sustainable projects.
Sam Westgate completed a Bachelor of Science (BSc) (Animal Sciences) in 2003 with the University of Leeds and proceeding to complete a Master of Science (MSc) in Equine Science in 2007. Sam has focused her attention researching Biofilms with the mission to improve quality of life through the provision of exceptional, customised microbiological services, forming Perfectus Biomed in 2012. Perfectus Biomed’s CEO, Dr Samantha Westgate, incorporated the business in 2012, through investment from Midven Rainbow Seed Fund and SPARK Northwest Fund for Biomedical, to design customised microbiological services that serve the antimicrobial community. Perfectus Biomed merged with Extherid Biosciences in 2020, becoming Perfectus Biomed group. The company continues to grow and are leaders in providing standard and customised microbiology testing services to a global client base, in a variety of sectors