2021 GC3 European Innovations Forum - Speakers

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER
COVESTRO

LYNETTE CHUNG

Lynette Chung is Chief Sustainability Officer of Covestro since July 2020, based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany. In this position, she is responsible for Sustainability and Government Affairs at global level.

Prior to joining Covestro, Lynette was most recently Head of Sustainability Strategy and Advocacy at Clariant, which she joined in 2011. She also has worked in Brussels for many years on EU environmental and trade policies for Eurometaux, the EU non-ferrous metals industry association, and other trade associations.

Lynette is a lawyer by education, born in Sweden and now lives in Germany.

HEAD OF SUSTAINABLE CHEMICALS MANAGEMENT
KINGFISHER PLC

PAUL ELLIS

Paul has a vast and varied experience within the Retail Industry, in food, general merchandise and DIY , progressing through the business into his current role as “Head of Sustainable Chemicals Management” at  Kingfisher Plc, parent company to brands , B&Q, Castorama, Brico Depot and Screwfix all DIY business not unlike Lowes or Home Depot

He is passionate about chemistry, although does not hold any formal qualifications, but has educated himself in the last 10 years as a recognised REACh expert in Europe and sits on the ECHA expert group representing European Retailers

Paul is leading on the Kingfisher target of phasing out all substances Kingfisher has defined hazardous and either found in the supply chain at the factory level, found in the final product or is damaging to the environment, by 2025. Kingfisher is also looking to introduce 5 new Green Chemicals by 2025.

Paul sees transparency within the supply chain as a critical issue that needs to be addressed collectively and would like to see further engagement with achieving transparency across all supply chains.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ECHA

BJORN HANSEN

Bjorn Hansen is ECHA's Executive Director. He is ECHA's legal representative, in charge of the day-to-day management and all staff matters. Bjorn is ECHA's second Executive Director with a mandate running from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2022.

After a post-doc in probability theory in Germany, he joined the European Commission in 1991. Working first at the European Chemicals Bureau at the Joint Research Centre in Italy, and then from 2003 in the Chemicals Unit of DG Environment in Belgium. There, Bjorn became Head of Unit in 2012. He already spent one year in ECHA in 2007-2008 as Director of Operations.

Bjorn was involved in developing REACH and CLP from their very early days. He has been involved in international chemicals work since 1991, with highlights including being elected Chair of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials and chairing several contact groups at three consecutive UN triple COPs.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
GREEN CHEMISTRY & COMMERCE COUNCIL, INC.

MICHELE JALBERT

Michele Jalbert oversees all aspects of GC3 operations, developing strategies and creating effective systems to support the diverse initiatives undertaken by GC3 members, staff and collaborating partners. Previously, she served as Chief of Staff and General Counsel for the New England Council, the nation’s oldest regional business association; Chief Operating Officer for the Renewable Chemicals & Materials Alliance and Director of Congressman Bill Delahunt’s Washington, DC office. Prior to her work on Capitol Hill, Michele led communications, human resources and employee relations departments for international companies such as Liberty Mutual and Polaroid Corporation. She graduated from Bates College, Suffolk University Law School and Northwestern University’s Kellogg Management Institute program.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
BASF SE

MARTIN KAYSER

Martin started his career in 1982 as a medical doctor in surgery and internal medicine in Germany. He joint BASF in 1987 as a scientific staff member in the toxicology department. From 1999 – 2003, he worked for Bayer Corporation in Connecticut (USA) and Bayer AG in Wuppertal (Germany), where he led the preclinical development division as Senior Vice President. In 2004, he returned to BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) as Senior Vice President of Product Safety. In this role, since 2008, Martin is chairing the ICCA Chemicals Policy & Health Leadership Group where he guided the development and global implementation of ICCA's Global Product Strategy since the very beginning to advance the safe management of chemicals globally. In 2020, Martin was appointed Senior Vice President Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) at BASF to support the set-up of AEPW as new entity, implementing projects to stop the flow of plastic into the environment in high plastic leakage areas.

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
AKZONOBEL

KLAAS KRUITHOF

Klaas Kruithof joined Akzo Coatings in 1984 as a researcher and subsequently kept a range of (inter)national R&D management positions in a variety of coatings’ businesses in various countries. He was appointed in 2017 in his current role as Chief Technology Officer of AkzoNobel, leading the long-term innovation program for paints & coatings. As a strong advocate of collaborative innovation, he launched the Paint the Future initiative and he drives the sustainability agenda of the company.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
GREEN CHEMISTRY & COMMERCE COUNCIL, INC.

JOEL TICKNER

Dr. Joel Tickner is a Professor of Public Health  at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is founder and Executive Director of the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3); Executive Director of the Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment (A4), a new professional association; and Co-Director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI).  He is a leading expert on application of green chemistry and alternatives assessment in science and policy. He has served on a number of EPA and National Academy of Sciences advisory committees and advises government agencies around the world. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a Doctor of Science Degree from the Department of Work Environment at University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

HEAD OF THE SUSTAINABLE CHEMICALS UNIT
EUROPEAN COMMISSION'S ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

CRISTINA DE AVILA

Cristina de Avila is Head of the Sustainable Chemicals Unit of the European Commission’s Environment Directorate-General, where she has been in charge of drafting the Commission’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, currently focusing on its implementation. She was Deputy Head of the same unit, where she led the unit's work on REACH and CLP. She has been working on EU chemicals policy since 2004, being involved in the co-decision negotiations and the implementation of the REACH Regulation since its adoption.

Before joining the Commission, Cristina worked for over five years as policy analyst and lobbyist, both in an NGO in Spain and in two public affairs consultancies in Brussels. Her main area of expertise was EU environment policy, in particular the sectors on waste and product policy. Prior to her specialisation in EU law and environment policy, Cristina worked as a lawyer for over two years.

Cristina studied law in the University Complutense of Madrid, has a post-graduate diploma on International Relations from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague and an LL.M in European Business Law from the University of Amsterdam.

DIRECTOR PROSPERITY
EUROPEAN COMMISSION, DIRECTORATE GENERAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

PETER DRÖLL

Peter Dröll has been working in the European Commission for more than 20 years in positions including financial control of the Joint Research Centre, enforcement of EU environmental legislation, accession negotiations with Poland and coordination of the environment negotiations with all accession countries, Innovation Policy and European Research Area Policy. He was a Cabinet member of Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen and Head of Cabinet of the Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik.

Since 2010 he is at Directorate-General Research and Innovation where he was first responsible for Innovation then for Industrial Technologies and since June 2019 for the new Prosperity Directorate.

Before joining the European Commission in 1991, Peter worked as a lawyer in a German law firm. Peter is a lawyer by training with a doctorate degree in German constitutional law and European law.

DIRECTOR GENERAL
CEFIC

MARCO MENSINK

Marco Mensink is Director General of Cefic, the European chemical industry council, since May 2016. With members adding over 550 billion Euro to the EU economy annually, Cefic is the largest industry sector representation of its kind in Brussels. As part of this role, Mr. Mensink shapes the strategy and direction of the European chemical industry, uniting more than 22 national federations, 9 associate federations and 650 members and affiliates from all over Europe.

A Dutch national, he is a seasoned public affairs professional, who has lived and worked in Brussels since 2006. He has an extensive network of contacts within European institutions and the wider Brussels sphere, and is active in several European Commission High Level Groups.

Starting his career at Ernst & Young Management Consulting, he worked for six years in environmental management and due diligence projects. He then worked for six years at the Royal Netherlands’ Paper and Board Association, also representing the Dutch industry in Brussels. Marco Mensink holds a Master of Science Degree in Forestry and Business Management from the Agricultural University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. Born in 1968, he is married and has three children.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
GREEN CHEMISTRY & COMMERCE COUNCIL, INC.

JOEL TICKNER

Dr. Joel Tickner is a Professor of Public Health  at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is founder and Executive Director of the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3); Executive Director of the Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment (A4), a new professional association; and Co-Director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI).  He is a leading expert on application of green chemistry and alternatives assessment in science and policy. He has served on a number of EPA and National Academy of Sciences advisory committees and advises government agencies around the world. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a Doctor of Science Degree from the Department of Work Environment at University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

DIRECTOR-GENERAL
EUROCOMMERCE

CHRISTIAN VERSCHUEREN

Dr. Verschueren has been Director-General of EuroCommerce since July 2011. In this function, he is the chief spokesperson for the retail and wholesale sector. As head of a team of 20 professionals making up the EuroCommerce secretariat, he leads and coordinates major advocacy and communication activities at the EU level. Before joining EuroCommerce, Christian Verschueren led ACE, the alliance for the beverage carton industry. Between 2000 and 2007, he was Director-General of CropLife International, the global federation of the plant science industry.

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL

MOLLY JACOBS

Molly Jacobs is a Senior Research Associate at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Molly has over 20 years of experience in public health research and practice to promote effective disease prevention solutions across a range of organizations. Since 2013, she has managed the Center’s alternatives assessment and informed substitution work. This work has focused on: supporting governments in the US and internationally to institute programmatic and policy structures that advance informed substitution efforts, including the use of alternatives assessment; co-authoring state of the art reviews and helping to set research and practice agendas for the field of alternatives assessment; and developing capacity building resources and materials to support innovation and adoption of safer and sustainable chemicials. A particular research interest of Molly’s is the emergence of engineered nanomaterials as a replacement for many functions being served by toxic chemicals of concern. Molly received her MPH with a concentration in environmental health and epidemiology from Boston University and her BA in biology and environmental studies from the University of California Santa Cruz.  She currently is a member of the US state of California’s Green Ribbon Science Panel and a founding Executive Council member of the Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment (A4).

MANAGING DIRECTOR
PAXYMER AB

AMIT PAUL

Amit Paul is the CEO and co-founder of Paxymer AB since 2010. The company is a pioneer within halogen free flame retardants and have a patented, unique synergist based on functional polymers. Paxymer AB has been educating customers, working in substitution projects and been involved in the task of elimination of brominated flame retardants globally. Amit was the former pop star that got a business degree, worked as a management consultant at Bain and then dedicated his professional life to greening flame retardant products. Paxymer AB has been invited to several prestigious conferences to present its work in this space e.g. AMI, COP-5, Toxins2015, Forum för giftfri miljö, ANTECH. The company has also received attention as one of the top 10 most important technologies for a green future. Paxymer has been a member of the GC3 since the founding of the start up network since 2016.

SENIOR DIRECTOR, CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
KEEN FOOTWEAR

KIRK RICHARDSON

Kirk Richardson is a Sustainability and Supply chain professional at KEEN Footwear based in Portland, Oregon USA. Kirk has worked for 40 years in the Athletic and Outdoor Sports-Recreation industry in several executive roles at NIKE (27 years), Columbia Sportswear (3 years) and KEEN (12 years).

When not working Kirk enjoys Cycling, Rock Climbing, and exploring as many Outdoor trophy locations as life permits. If you can’t find him in Oregon, look carefully into SE Utah National Parks and Monuments.

Kirk has served on several boards with a focus on public lands protection and recreational access work. This important work too, continues.

MANAGING DIRECTOR
APEIRON-TEAM NV

ELKE VAN ASBROECK

Elke’s goal in life and work is TO CREATE POSITIVE IMPACT.

This has defined her studies and career path. She studied Bioscience & Environmental Engineering.​ In 1998 she started her career in circular economy, more specifically the Waste & Recycle Industry. In 2001 she changed to Bayer, the production of butyl rubber, where she took several positions from Process Development to Technical Marketing. She has been active in REACH implementation since the start in 2006 and founded Apeiron-Team in 2009. As manager of a passionate team of over 15 specialists, she’s an expert in exposure & emission control, pro-active alternatives assessment, development of substitution strategies and in finding regulatory & technical solutions for a circular economy.

GLOBAL DIRECTOR INNOVATION
AKZONOBEL

MENNO VAN DER ZALM

With more than 15 years of experience in business and innovation strategy consulting at Monitor Deloitte, Capgemini Consulting and Altran Group, Menno joined AkzoNobel in 2017 as Director Innovation, part of AkzoNobel's senior R&D leadership team. As the leader of AkzoNobel’s incubation and venturing activities, he leads development and introduction of new technologies, especially in the area of (digital) service models and propositions. Menno is part of AkzoNobel's Paint the Future innovation team and contributes to the maintenance and extension of AkzoNobel’s collaborative innovation eco-system.

TECHNICAL FELLOW
THE CHEMOURS COMPANY

BOB BUCK

Bob Buck is a Technical Fellow with The Chemours Company.  Bob leads a multi-disciplinary program to understand and communicate the life-cycle sustainability of Chemours’ products.  This work includes advocacy, global collaboration, communication and interaction with academic, regulatory, NGO and industrial scientists.  He is a co-author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. Bob is a recognized global thought leader in chemicals management and contributed to the creation of the Chemicals Management parts of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg® Index.  Bob served on the Board of Directors of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) and is co-chair of the Outdoor Industry Association Chemicals Management Community of Practice.  Through his work, Bob has learned how collaboration drives system change that leads to meaningful societal and environmental impact.

CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE RISK PROJECT LEADER
ADEO SERVICES

LAURENT DERONNE

Laurent has joined ADEO group in 2019 as the Corporate project leader for Chemical Substances Risk management. In this role, he defines the current and future ADEO strategy for the management of the Hazardous substances in the products as well as in the supply chain and is piloting the deployment of the strategy for Safer alternatives all along the different ADEO’s companies, convinced that the promotion of green chemistry is one of the major pillars to drive sustainable change towards a positive impact on health.

Prior to joining ADEO, Laurent worked for 25 years in the International Chemical Industry at PPG Industries where he held various management positions, as well as in the Agrochemistry at Roquette. He brings extensive experience on Safer alternatives for Hazardous substances as an R&D Engineer, toxico-chemist, materials analysis, and European and US Regulations on Chemicals as well as international project leader.

Borned in 1971, he is married and has three children. He holds a MSc in Organic Chemistry and a Chemistry Engineer degree at the French National Conservatory.

GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY
RECKITT

JENNIFER DURAN

Jennifer is an enthusiastic Sustainability leader with over 15 years’ global experience transforming complex sustainability issues into opportunities to have a positive impact on people and on our planet. She currently leads a diverse global team responsible for ingredient stewardship, responsible sourcing and value chain impacts (scope 3).

She holds several patents, a post-graduate degree from Cambridge University and a MSc in Chemistry from the Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a mother of two girls, an ardent supporter of STEM and, occasionally, a triathlete.

HEAD OF SUSTAINABLE CHEMICALS MANAGEMENT
KINGFISHER PLC

PAUL ELLIS

Paul has a vast and varied experience within the Retail Industry, in food, general merchandise and DIY , progressing through the business into his current role as “Head of Sustainable Chemicals Management” at  Kingfisher Plc, parent company to brands , B&Q, Castorama, Brico Depot and Screwfix all DIY business not unlike Lowes or Home Depot

He is passionate about chemistry, although does not hold any formal qualifications, but has educated himself in the last 10 years as a recognised REACh expert in Europe and sits on the ECHA expert group representing European Retailers

Paul is leading on the Kingfisher target of phasing out all substances Kingfisher has defined hazardous and either found in the supply chain at the factory level, found in the final product or is damaging to the environment, by 2025. Kingfisher is also looking to introduce 5 new Green Chemicals by 2025.

Paul sees transparency within the supply chain as a critical issue that needs to be addressed collectively and would like to see further engagement with achieving transparency across all supply chains.

SENIOR SCHOLAR OF MARKETING AND CORPORATE OUTREACH
NYU STERN CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

RANDI KRONTHAL-SACCO

Randi Kronthal-Sacco (Stern ‘83) is a Senior Scholar of Marketing and Corporate Outreach at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business. Ms. Kronthal-Sacco leads CSB’s research in the areas of marketing and brands including the Sustainable Market Share Index™ and is responsible for corporate outreach.

With over 25 years of packaged goods and pharmaceutical experience, Ms. Kronthal-Sacco most recently was the Chief Marketing Officer at Rodan + Fields®. Ms. Kronthal-Sacco spent over 18 years as a Senior Executive at Johnson & Johnson®, where she served as Worldwide Vice President on two of the company’s most important franchises, Johnson’s Baby and Women’s Health. Prior to her role at Johnson & Johnson, Ms. Kronthal-Sacco served in various product management capacities for 8 years at Kraft Foods including Director, Desserts Division.

Ms. Kronthal-Sacco currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors at GlobeScan. Ms. Kronthal-Sacco holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Emory University and a Master in Business Administration in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business. Her research has been cited in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, GreenBiz, among others.

SUSTAINABILITY BUSINESS EXPERT
H&M

YLVA WEISSBACH

Ylva Weissbach is a Sustainability Business Expert at H&M Group focusing on Chemical Management.  Her academic background is M.Sc. in Environmental Science, Ecotoxicology at Lund University,  Sweden. She has an extensive knowledge of working proactively with reducing the use of hazardous  chemicals within the fashion industry and has been with H&M Group for 13 years. Currently she is  responsible for setting the H&M Group Chemical Agenda, envisioning a toxic free fashion future.  Included in her role is also representing H&M Group in several industry initiatives with the overall  aim to ensure safe and toxic free chemical input in the fashion industry. She is advocating for  common, yet progressive tools to clearly monitor and improve the industry’s performance to secure  safe chemical input and in the long run, a circular textile economy.

PARTNER
EUROPEAN CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY FUND (ECBF)

PETER NIEUWENHUIZEN

ECBF is the first venture fund focused exclusively on the bioeconomy and the circular bioeconomy in Europe. With a target size of €250 million, to which the European Investment Bank (EIB) has committed €100 million, ECBF will be an important financial instrument in achieving the European Green Deal goals of making Europe climate neutral by 2050.

Peter began his career at AkzoNobel, a global leader in specialty chemicals. Over the last 20 years, he has held key roles in both the United States and Europe, most recently as Chief Technology Officer and Director of Sustainability. In addition to his work for AkzoNobel, he has served as Global Marketing Director at Supresta LLC, a company specializing in flame retardant technologies and chemicals, as Consultant for the chemistry and energy practice at Arthur D. Little, and finally as Vice President Technology Strategy at Enerkem in Quebec, Canada.

Peter has a degree in Chemistry from Vrije University in Amsterdam and a Ph.D. from Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherlands.

R&D DIRECTOR, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOSOURCING
UNILEVER

NEIL PARRY

Neil is a biologist with a PhD in Industrial Biotechnology, specialising in protein engineering. Neil has worked within Unilever for >24 years and has held a number of roles across the organisation, covering technology development from functional proteins (e.g. enzymes) through to specialty chemicals (e.g. biosurfactants and biopolymers). Neil has held the role of Research Programme Director – Biotechnology & Biosourcing since 2012, leading the team developing new biotechnologies and green chemistries for Unilever’s product portfolio. Recently, a new business startup to maximise impact for wider markets was also created from the IP portfolio (Penrhos Bio). Neil is a member of a number of advisory boards and is a non-exec board member on the National Biofilms Innovation Centre where he chairs the Industry Advisory Board.

SUPPLIER ENGAGEMENT LEAD
GREEN CHEMISTRY & COMMERCE COUNCIL, INC.

RACHEL SIMON

Rachel works with GC3 brands, formulators, and chemical manufacturers to help enable the identification and implementation of green chemistry solutions along the value chain. She also serves as a senior research associate at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, working on advancing alternatives assessment as a strategy to mainstream green chemistry and manages the Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment (A4), a professional society dedicated to promoting development in the fields of alternatives assessment and informed substitution. Rachel holds a MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, where she also worked with industries as a sustainable engineering researcher, focusing on the environmental and human health impacts of materials and techniques to integrate chemical hazard assessment data into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

VICE PRESIDENT OF MATERIALS
THE LEGO GROUP

NELLEKE VAN DER PUIL

Nelleke joined The LEGO Group as Vice President of Materials in 2014. In this role she heading a team of materials specialists in The LEGO Group’s Engineering and Quality organization. She is responsible for the current and future materials in LEGO core line products and since December 2015, Nelleke drives the technical agenda of the Sustainable Materials ambition for The LEGO Group.

Prior to joining LEGO, Nelleke worked at Avantium b.v. in Amsterdam (2000-2014), where she held various management positions. She worked as an R&D Engineer at ABB Lummus Global, now Lummus CBI, at the Technology R&D center in Bloomfield, New Jersey, USA (1997-2000).

Nelleke holds a PhD and MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology.

SPECIALIST EXECUTIVE
DELOITTE

BOB KUMPF

Robert J. Kumpf is a chemicals and specialty materials executive with over thirty years of experience across multiple geographies and functions with career themes in four areas: innovation leadership and innovation processes, corporate change initiatives, start-up company growth/funding, and open innovation. Most of his career was spent at Bayer MaterialScience, now Covestro, where he served as the vice-president of plastics technology, vice-president of future business in the Americas, and chief administrative officer (CAO). In the past ten years, Bob has served as the chief operating officer (COO) at Plextronics, the chief technology officer (CTO) of Elevance Renewable Sciences, and has spent time in the increasingly important world of science-based, entrepreneurial start-up companies.

Throughout his career, Bob has remained engaged in the world of public/private/academic partnerships, having served on boards-of-directors of the Industrial Research Institute, the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, and the Pennsylvania NanoMaterials Commercialization Center. He continues to serve as a member of the Penn State Department of Materials Scienceand Engineering External Advisory Board.

Dr. Kumpf received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Penn State and completed the Oxford University Business Economics Program. 

COMMERCIALIZATION HUB LEAD
GREEN CHEMISTRY & COMMERCE COUNCIL, INC.

MARK MAXWELL

With over 36 years of global leadership experience in the Specialty Chemicals industry, Mark brings a diverse perspective to strategy and business development. After a rewarding 31-year career at Dow Corning Corporation, Mark spent the next 4 years leading the business and commercial activities at Resinate Materials Group- a small start-up in the green chemicals space. Through their development of high-performance polyols made from recycled PET and other recycled and bio-renewable materials- Resinate was an early driver of the principles of sustainability, green chemistry, and the circular economy. After Resinate's successful acquisition by Carlisle Companies in early 2020, Mark then founded Maxwell Leadership Group, a consultancy focused on business management and leadership development. Most recently, he joined the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3) to support the introduction of a new strategic commercialization hub; designed to further accelerate the introduction of safer, better chemicals in the market.

GLOBAL HEAD OF GREEN CHEMISTRY
MERCK KGAA, DARMSTADT, GERMANY

JANE MURRAY

Jane Murray joined Sigma-Aldrich in 2008. Following the acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2015, she was appointed global head of green chemistry for the life science division. Jane has a strong background in chemical research—having completed her Ph.D. at the University of York, where she researched green oxidations of organosulfur compounds using hydrogen peroxide. Having grown up next to a national park, Jane finds herself naturally driven to progress scientific innovations that help protect the environment. Jane has leveraged her experiences to effectively collaborate with fellow chemists in academia and pharma. Her efforts have resulted in the development of numerous publications supporting the uptake of green chemistry practices.

HEAD OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND CSR SUPPLY CHAIN
VAUDE SPORT GMBH & CO. KG

BETTINA ROTH

Bettina Roth is head of quality management and CSR Supply Chain at VAUDE.  Her main areas of focus include:  chemical and environmental management in the textile supply chain, implementation of integrated management systems, optimization of processes, corporate social responsibility, and continuous improvement.  Her professional background includes management of a testing and analytical laboratory for a tannery in the automotive industry, serving as quality manager in the automotive industry, and working in the semiconductor Industry.  Since 2019 she works additionally as consultant for VAUDE academy for sustainable management. She enjoys hiking, trekking, mountain biking, singing and gardening.

R&D DIRECTOR
RECKITT

LUCA SPADONI

Luca Spadoni studied Chemistry at the University of Rome – La Sapienza and obtained his degree in Organic Chemistry in 1994. After a start in P&G Luca joined Reckitt in 1998 and has since then held various position in R&D. In his current role he is Global R&D Director for laundry boosters and he holds responsibility for the Reckitt R&D site in Mira, located in the Venice Metropolitan Area. Luca has more than 25 years of R&D experience across all stages of product development and is a strong believer of sustainability and green chemistry principles as drivers of innovation.