Packaging Europe

Gordon Stewart is widely regarded as one of the UK’s leading experts on education and training provision for the packaging industry and he is Head of the Packaging Industry Awarding Body Company (PIABC) which organises qualifications for the packaging industry world-wide. PIABC is a UK-Government recognised awarding body with Certificate, Diploma and National Vocational Qualifications. It is a division of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), a professional association comprising over 20,000 experts from many fields. IOP: The Packaging Society is also a part of IOM3 and works closely with PIABC to ensure that qualifications are up-to-date and widely available.

Andy is a graduate in Applied Chemistry, and has worked in the Industrial Adhesives Industry for almost 30 years in a variety of technical, commercial, and development positions.

He has been with Bostik since 1998, when it acquired Mydrin, who he joined in 1990. Whilst having experience in all aspects of Industrial Adhesives, his primary expertise is with Hot Melt and Water Based Adhesives used in the Packaging, Woodworking, Bookbinding, and Assembly Markets.

Julian Carroll is Managing Director of EUROPEN, the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment. Before assuming responsibilities at EUROPEN, Julian Carroll was Director of Corporate Affairs Europe for Lawson Mardon Group, a Canadian company now part of Alcan Packaging, where he had responsibility for group corporate environment policy.

Ottilia Saxl is Chief Executive and founder of the Institute of Nanotechnology, established in 1997. Ms Saxl has organized three nanotechnology Missions on behalf of the UK Government to the US and Gemany, as well as several visits to nanotechnology centres and laboratories across Europe. She has made invited presentations in Korea, Australia and Japan, and is involved in several high level EU Committees on nanotechnology. She is presently a member of the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine, and was editor of its Vision Document, published in September 2005.

Terry Robins worked for Sainsbury’s for over 30 years, initially as a food technologist. Terry became technical manager and innovation manager of packaging for Sainsbury’s. Latterly at Sainsbury’s much of Terry’s time was taken up with the development of environmental projects including containers made of potato starch, the world’s first biodegradable cellulose and other environmentally responsible and sustainable crop materials.

Terry chaired the committee that wrote the British Retail Consortium Global Technical Standard for Packaging Quality and Hygiene and continues to chair the Technical Advisory Committee that oversees this Standard. On leaving Sainsbury’s in 2003 Terry started his own packaging consultancy.

Chris Penfold - Packaging Development Specialist & Consultant

Chris Penfold has over 23 years of packaging development & NPD experience working on £million-brands in the OTC, FMCG, cosmetics, toiletries & Rx pharma arenas for 'blue-chip' multinational companies such as Glaxo (GSK), CIBA (Novartis) and Boots.

Chris has pioneered outsourcing opportunities by developing processes, best practice and new ways of working to deliver top and bottom line business benefits. This has partially been achieved through his large and reliable network of Far Eastern product & tooling sourcing, development & supply partners.

Graham has been with Pira for 17 years, having previously had 22 years experience with FMCG companies in the food, drink and toiletry sectors. His experience covered purchasing, packaging development, marketing and production.

He has spoken at conferences and seminars all over the world; he is currently working on a packaging and logistics project for Central Europe and on a study of the effect of the growth in China on global packaging decisions.

Matthew Searle, inventor- entrepreneur, has worked in packaging R&D since 1991, initially in beer containers but more recently in thermally active packaging.

He is currently Business Development Director of Steam To Go, which has developed a unique self-heating technology and will shortly be bringing out a new range of food and beverage packaging using direct steam heating.

He is also a Director of Thermotic Developments, a company he co-founded in 1997. Thermotics developed the award winning Thermotic Can, a self-heating beverage can test marketed by Nestlé. Matthew is a prolific innovator with more than 20 patents and patent applications to his name relating to innovative and active packaging.