Global Plastics Summit

Bruce Hollands President & CEO PVC Pipe Association

Bruce Hollands is President & CEO of the PVC Pipe Association, a non-profit organization located in Irving, Texas representing North American manufacturers of sustainable, corrosion-proof PVC pipe for water, sewer, and irrigation infrastructure since 1971. The industry contributes to more than $14 billion of current annual output in the U.S. and supports over 25,000 jobs. Mr. Hollands is the primary liaison with all levels of government and regulatory agencies and is responsible for developing public policy, technical standards and establishing the Association’s strategic direction. Bruce is government relations, public affairs, and business development specialist with over 25 years of experience working with local government, water utilities, and related state/provincial and federal agencies in the United States and Canada. He holds degrees in political science and history and is a member the American Water Works Association, American Society of Testing and Materials, and the American Society of Association Executives.

Tamsin Ettefagh Chief Sustainability Officer EVP Government and Industry Relations PureCycle

Tamsin Ettefagh has more than 35 years of experience in the areas of recycling and plastics recycling. This includes the implementation of a recycling collection program, running the recycling operations for a manufacturing recycling facility, purchasing raw materials and selling recycled resins for plastic recycling companies.

Prior to PureCycle, she worked as a Senior Consultant in an independent capacity and for major consulting firms in the plastics recycling space. In this role, she focused on strategy and implementation of advancements in process, primarily in polyolefins. She has consulted agencies, banks, and potential plastic manufacturers on market conditions, types of supply, and how to evolve and diversify markets for recycled resins.

Ms. Ettefagh has been an avid public speaker at conferences, symposiums, and in webinars for the past 25 years, and served on several Boards, including the Sustainable Packaging Coalition from 2019 to 2020. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Texas A&M University. 

Ahmad Kawas Commercial Vice President, North America Packaging & Specialty Plastics Dow

Ahmad Kawas is the Commercial Vice President for North America in the Packaging & Specialty Plastics (P&SP) business segment at Dow. He is a member of the global P&SP business leadership team and is
responsible for driving strategic execution, top-line sales growth, innovation commercialization, customer experience, and commercial organization talent development.
Ahmad began his career with Dow in early 2010 as an account manager for Dow’s Basic Plastics business, covering the Middle East and Africa from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His responsibilities included expanding the geographic presence of the Plastics business across the region with key customers. In 2012, Ahmad participated in a year-long Commercial International Leadership Development Program at Dow’s global headquarters in Midland, Michigan. He returned to Dubai in 2013 as sales director for Middle East, Africa and Turkey (MEA&T) for the P&SP business, managing growth as well as the hiring and growing of P&SP’s sales force across the MEA&T region.
In November 2015, Ahmad accepted the role of EMEA product director for the Solution and Gas Phase PE business based out of Horgen, Switzerland. In March 2020, Ahmad was named North America senior sales director, and relocated to Houston, Texas, for this role. Ahmad added the NAA commercial director for post-consumer recycled resins in 2021, working with various functions in P&SP to drive the mechanical recycling strategy in North America. Most recently, Ahmad was the global business director for Circular & Renewable Solutions in P&SP.
A strong advocate for inclusion and diversity, Ahmad is a global co-chair for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Employee Resource Group at Dow.
Before joining Dow, Ahmad worked for various petrochemical trading companies based in USA, Turkey and Dubai. He was responsible for polymer sales in Middle East and Africa as well as new business development with petrochemical suppliers.
Ahmad holds a degree in Accounting & International Law from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

Perc Pineda, PhD Chief Economist Plastics Industry Association

Perc Pineda serves as Chief Economist of the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), where he provides expert analysis on economics, trade, statistics, and industry research. Since joining in 2017, he developed the monthly plastics demand estimate, produced macroeconomic and industry forecasts, authored reports, and enhanced data dissemination. His insights are frequently cited in the media, and his research has been published in peer-reviewed journals. He also writes regular columns for trade publications and has delivered press and keynote addresses in China, Germany, and Mexico.

In 2022, he briefly served as Chief Economist and Vice President of Research at the American Financial Services Association. Previously, he was Senior Economist at the Credit Union National Association.

He brings extensive experience across academia, international institutions, and trade associations. He has taught economics at St. Francis College and the City University of New York and worked at the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

Pineda holds a PhD and MPhil in Economics from The New School, an MA from American University, and a Master’s in International Management from the University of Maryland. He is a panelist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s quarterly macroeconomic forecasts and a member of the American Economic Association.

Sarah Marshall Senior Vice President, Global Marketing – Consumer Products Borouge International

Sarah Marshall is head of Global Marketing for Consumer Products at Borouge International, a global leader in polyolefins that brings together world-class assets, advantaged feedstock access and proprietary technology to deliver reliable high-performance polyolefin solutions. In her role, Sarah is responsible for leading global marketing, value chain, and application development strategy and execution for flexible and rigid consumer product applications.

Previously, she served as Interim Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, leading NOVA Chemicals’ Polyethylene Marketing, Sales, Technical Services, Customer Experience, and Business Optimization teams. She also served as Vice President, PE Marketing where she was responsible for driving the company’s market leadership strategy through its Advanced SCLAIRTECH™ technology platform and leveraging business opportunities throughout the value chain.

Marshall joined NOVA Chemicals in 1997, and since then has leveraged decades of experience in the plastics industry to serve the company in various leadership roles including Vice President, Sustainability and Director of Technical Service.

Marshall earned her Bachelor of Engineering degree at McGill University, Montreal, in 1997. She currently serves on the Plastics Division Operating Committee of the American Chemistry Council as well as a board member of the Flexible Packaging Association. She is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Joel Morales Vice President, Polyolefins Americas Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Joel Morales is the Vice President of Polyolefins Americas at Chemical Market Analytics.

Joel joined the company in March 2013 to cover Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) in North America. He began his career in 1999 with polyolefins manufacturer Solvay Polymers (later Ineos) in technical services and product development, before moving into field sales. After five years at Solvay Polymers, Joel moved into resin distribution sales for both Muehlstein and, later, United Polychem as a Product Manager, where he managed and sold polyethylene and polypropylene resins to various customer segments. In his most recent role before joining Chemical Market Analytics (CMA), Joel was a purchasing manager at Silgan Plastics, a major blow-molding and injection-molding plastics converter. He has brought a wealth of industry knowledge to Chemical Market Analytics through multiple stints along the plastics value chain.

Joel works closely within the Americas with resin producers, converters, and third parties covering the polyolefin markets. Joel speaks regularly around the world as a polyolefin market expert. He is the service leader of three market advisory subscription services: The Global Plastics and Polymers Report, the North American PE Report and the North American PP Report.

Joel graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a minor in psychology.