Speakers | PEPP 2024

Dorothée Arns Director General European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc)

Dorothee Arns is a seasoned public affairs and business executive with a proven track record in leading profit and nonprofit organisations successfully.

Since June 2019 she is the Director General of the Brussels-based European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc), which represents more than 1,600 members across Europe and from all parts of the chemical value chain, including producers, logistics´ and service companies.

Prior to this, from 2013 to 2019, she served as Executive Director of Petrochemicals Europe at Cefic, where she was also an active member of Cefic´s leadership team.

On the business side, she can look back on a long career in the chemical industry at BASF Ludwigshafen, where she served in various senior business management roles in marketing, sales, eBusiness and controlling in the company´s (petro-)chemical business.

Of German nationality, Dorothee studied in Germany, Ireland and Spain and acquired 2 Master degrees: an MBA with focus on international management and one Master degree in Applied Languages & Linguistics.

Mino Angelilli Commercial Director, Circular Plastics Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Oskar Karlsson Chief Procurement Officer and VP Sustainability Trioworld

Oskar Karlsson is the Chief Procurement Officer and VP Sustainability at Trioworld. With more than 15 years of experience from various raw material markets, such as pulp & paper, aluminum and polyethylene, Oskar brings value for the organization in the transformation to become sustainable.

In his current position, he is responsible for the group’s sourcing activities and sustainability journey as well as the product-line Personal Protective Equipment. Oskar is driven by customer’s current and future needs, his ambition is to contribute to Trioworld’s vision to constantly strive to be the first choice in sustainable polyethylene film solutions.

He has a M.Sc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University Chalmers in Gothenburg and a MBA from Stockholm School of Economics.

Mark Vester CEO GreenDot (DerGrünePunkt)

Mark Vester has more than 33 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, working for DSM and SABIC. He has held different managerial and leadership positions in research, manufacturing, licensing and business. After leading the polyethylene business in Europe, he has initiated and build SABIC’s global circular economy business around its pioneering TRUCIRCLE program. He also has been a chairman of PCEP. In 2022 Mark joined GreenDot and leading GreenDot’s business in Germany.

Carlos Monreal Founder Plastic Energy

Carlos Monreal is the Founder and Chairman of Plastic Energy, one of the world’s leading chemical recycling companies, with industrial plants in operation for over 10 cumulative years. He is an engineer by training and has been a serial entrepreneur for more than 35 years, focusing on developing disruptive technologies and innovative solutions in the sustainability sector. He has founded a wide range of companies whose activities include the development of precision farming and machine control of fleet management, as well as an EPC company on renewable energy. Carlos is the founder and president of Green Dot Global, a company focused on recycling and sustainability of packaging. Carlos is also the founder and CEO of Greenland Capital, a company which aims to identify and develop new technologies that provide sustainable and economical solutions to the growing challenges of waste and water management, and alternative energy management.

Guido Aufdemkamp Executive Director Flexible Packaging Europe

Guido Aufdemkamp is Executive Director of Flexible Packaging Europe (FPE), the industry association representing the interests of more than 80 small, medium-sized companies, and multinational manufacturers with more than 350 sites in Europe. Almost half of the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in Europe, excluding beverages, are packed with flexible packaging made of different materials, mainly plastics, aluminium, and paper. Examples include all kind of packaged foods such as pet food, personal, household care products, medical and pharma which all rely on flexible packaging. Guido Aufdemkamp is an economist by education and has been working for German and European flexible packaging and aluminium associations since 2003. His main expertise is market analysis, sustainability and recycling, communications, advocacy, but also food contact legislation.

Elisa Conte Marketing and Business Development Manager, Recycling and Polymer Modification Segment Nouryon

Elisa Conte holds the position of Marketing and Business Development Manager for the Recycling and Polymer Modification segment at Nouryon, in the Polymer Specialties business. She has a PhD in Chemical Engineering by the Technical University of Denmark, and hold several roles in R&D, marketing, and sales at AkzoNobel and now Nouryon. In her current role, she focuses on empowering the recycling industry with the development of additive solutions to improve the final quality of recycled plastic and eventually increase the recycled content in high quality products, paving the road for the circular economy of plastics.

Dr. Andreas Goeldel Commercial Technology Director Grupa Azoty Polyolefins S.A.

Andreas has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bayreuth (Germany). He has more than 20 years of experience in industry, working at global polyolefin producers in positions ranging from R&D, product and application development, technical service, as well as asset management, marketing and business management in Europe and Asia. Since January 2021 Andreas has been Commercial Technology Director at Grupa Azoty Polyolefins.

Krisztina Szukup Product and Asset Portfolio Manager MOL Group

Krisztina graduated as polymer engineer and she joined MOL GROUP in 2007 within a GROWWW program for freshly graduated juniors. She has more than 12 years’ experience in the petrochemicals business especially in polymer production and polymer processing in engineer and leader positions. Besides the petrochemical business, Krisztina spent 4 years in the automotive industry at TIER 1 supplier and OEM in different quality management related positions. In February 2023 she joined the Circular Chemicals team within MOL to build up the recycling and compounding related product portfolio and assets. I’m glad to be part of the team creating the circularity of the polyolefins within MOL GROUP.

Fabio Peyer Head of Sustainability Mondi Flexible Packaging

Fabio’s career in packaging started in 2008 with Alcan Packaging and subsequently Amcor. Over the years, Fabio held sustainability roles with increasing responsibility and scope, and played a key role in embedding packaging sustainability and design for recycling in Amcor’s growth strategy. Today, he is the Head of Sustainability at Mondi Flexible Packaging, based in Vienna Austria. In this role, Fabio oversees the product sustainability and circularity strategy for Mondi Flexible Packaging business, which houses Mondi’s plastic and paper converting business. Fabio holds a Master degree in Environmental Sciences from the Swiss Federal School of Technology.

Sven Saura Vice President of Solid Waste and Recycling Veolia

Sven Saura is Vice-President of Solid Waste and Recycling Solutions with the role to support Veolia’s world wide operations in developing their business and improving operational efficiency.

Sven has 30 years of experience in waste management across collection, sorting and treatment activities.

Sven joined Veolia in 1993 as a development engineer for multi component waste treatment plants combining material recovery, biological treatment and waste to energy technologies. In 1997 he joined the operations of one of those plants in France as Material Recovery Chief of Operations.

In 1999,  Sven was head of engineering at the regional Direction in Toulouse, France, and then transitioned into the roles of chief of services and director of recycling.

In 2012, he joined the headquarters in Paris in charge of R&D and knowledge management for the waste activities. From 2015 to 2020, Sven was Director of Industrial Services and then Deputy Director of Waste Management with the technical and performance department of Veolia.

Sven is a graduate of École Centrale Paris.

Joeri Dieltjens Technology Commercialization Director, Advanced Chemical Recycling Sulzer Chemtech

Joeri Dieltjens is Technology Commercialization Director, Advanced Chemical Recycling for Sulzer Chemtech. He is an experienced business leader in both corporate and start-up organizations with a passion to advance plastic circularity. Mr. Dieltjens worked for more than a decade at BASF in engineering, technology and operations management roles, both in his home country Belgium and abroad. Prior to joining Sulzer, he was Chief Technology Officer for Pryme. A scale-up active in plastic pyrolysis. Today he is responsible for the commercialization of Sulzer’s chemical recycling offerings.  Mr. Dieltjens holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Leuven and a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Brussels.

Albrecht Dix R&D Project Platform Manager and Business Developer Norner AS

Albrecht Dix is a R&D Project Platform Manager and Business Developer at Norner AS. He holds a PhD in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Halle, Germany and has over 15 years of experience in various segments and functions of the polyolefin plastic industry, from R&D, application development to product sales. Through his work Albrecht has developed a good understanding of the value chains of the polyolefin plastic industry, from catalyst development to market introduction for applications such as packaging, automotive and infrastructure. He is enthusiastic about supporting clients to accelerate innovation to commercialization and is eager to share and exchange insights with both existing and new clients and partners at the ACI Future of Polyolefins conference.

Company – Norner AS

Norner is a leading industrial polymer Research & Development centre for the polymer and plastics industry with over 40 years of experience. Norner currently has 94 employees from 16 nationalities and is in an exciting development.

Our business vision is to become the market leader in industrial R&D services within the development of innovative and sustainable polymer solutions in close cooperation with leading industry. Norner operates advanced laboratories, polymerisation units and processing pilot centre relevant for industrial scale operations. We want to create value for our customers, owner, and the society through innovation supporting UN’s sustainability goals.

We moved into a new technology centre in Porsgrunn 2022, where we also invest in new facilities, for the benefit of our customers and projects.

Norner covers the whole polymer value chain from catalyst and process development for polymerisation, polymer modification, polymer additivation, industrial applications of polymer to innovative solutions for plastics in a circular economy. We provide R&D and technical services to various industry segments where innovative solutions of plastics and composites are requested.

Our efforts are based on expertise, knowledge and a continuous search for new opportunities together with our values; PASSION – CONFIDENCE – IMPACT – IMAGINE

Timo Vehrs Head of Circular Economy Business Development Team OMV AG

Timo Vehrs is heading the Circular Economy Business Development Team in OMV AG with the aim to accelerate OMV’s transition into a leading sustainable fuels, chemicals and materials company.

Timo joined OMV in 2017 heading the Downstream Corporate Strategy Team and has ever since been closely involved in strategic growth projects as well as business development initiatives. Prior to OMV, Timo held different leadership roles in the oil and gas industry.

Timo has a university degree in business administration from Nordakademie in Germany and more than 20 years of experience in oil, gas, energy and chemicals across the value chain. Timo has recently embarked on the exciting journey to establish a sizeable and commercially attractive business model in the circularity space for OMV’s Chemicals & Materials division with a special focus on chemical recycling.

Tony Nawar Vice President Sustainability, Innovation & Strategy Berry Global, Inc.

Tony Nawar’s current responsibilities span sustainability, innovation (R&D) and recycling at Berry BPI’s flexible packaging division in Europe and the UK. Priory to Berry, Tony spent part of his career in technical textiles and specialty chemicals in a variety of business management roles in Europe and the United States. He holds an MBA from Vlerick in Belgium and a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Jean-Paul Margotin Vice President, Business Development Lummus Technology

Jean-Paul Margotin began his career in 1994 with Elf Aquitaine Production as Sales Representative in Washington DC.

He joined the IFP Group in 1996 where he served in various technical positions dealing with multiple refining technologies for the IFP Industrial Division. He joined Axens in 2001 as Sales Manager for the Middle-East and India (Catalyst and Adsorbent) and, in 2003, took over the responsibility of the licensing business as well for Indian territory. He was the Managing Director of Axens’ Indian subsidiary between 2008 and 2017. Jean-Paul was appointed Global Commercial Director Catalyst & Adsorbent in 2017 at his return to France and VP Commercial Strategy & Customer Marketing in 2022.

Jean-Paul joined Lummus Novolen in November 2023 as Vice President Sales Polymers.

Jean-Paul Margotin is a Chemical Engineer from the “Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie Industrielle de Lyon” and holds a MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He has also received training in Business Administration from INSEAD, France.

Michael Lacey Product Manager, Sustainable Products Tricon Energy

Mike Lacey was born and raised in Houston, Texas.

He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he met his wife and fellow chemist.

Following graduate school, Mike joined ExxonMobil where he worked for 20 years in a variety of technical and commercial roles living in the U.S., Brazil, and Singapore.

In January 2022, he joined Tricon Energy in Houston to launch its new Sustainable Products business line as Product Manager. Away from work, Mike enjoys spending time with his wife and 4 kids.

Brian Kimberley Vice President, Licensing and Global Services W.R. Grace & Co.

Brian is Vice President, Licensing and Global Services, within the Specialty Catalysts business unit of W. R. Grace & Co. In this role he is responsible for the UNIPOL® PP licensing and services business.  Prior to this role Brian served as Commercial Director for Specialty Catalysts and was responsible for the catalyst business across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Brian has more than 25 years’ experience within the petrochemical industry working for BP then INEOS prior to joining Grace in 2015.  Brian has broad experience across a variety of leadership roles in R&D, catalyst manufacturing, technology licensing, global sales, technical service, business development and management.

Brian graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Warwick and holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Imperial College, London.  After working in several European locations Brian recently moved and is now based in Grace’s headquarters in Maryland, USA. He has filled more than 50 patents and has published over 15 scientific articles.

Fabrizio Galie EMEA Polyolefins Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Fabrizio Galie is the Associate Director of Polypropylene EMEA at Chemical Market Analytics.

Fabrizio joined the IHS Markit base chemicals business (now known as Chemical Market Analytics),  in June 2021. He has extensive experience in the petrochemical industry, in particular covering the polymer sector since 2005 and providing analytics and consulting services. His expertise includes price forecasting, business outlooks, competitive assessment and investment evaluations, market segmentation, demand projections, trade analysis, scenario planning, and others. He has been a frequent and popular speaker at conferences and seminars on olefins and polyolefins in Europe, Africa, North America, Asia, and the Middle East. He contributed several articles, interviews, and editorials to international magazines, as well as sectorial and economic journals.

Fabrizio has a Master’s Degree in Economics and Business Administration from Bologna University, Italy.

Kaushik Mitra Executive Director, Europe Plastics & Polymers Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Kaushik Mitra is the Executive Director of polyolefin, for Europe Middle East, and Africa at Chemical Market Analytics.

Mr. Mitra steers the Polyolefin Insight and Research practice for Chemical Market Analytics under Chemical Market Analytics and played a pivotal role in conceptualizing, developing, and executing the Chemical Market Analytics sustainability study. He has gained diverse career experience working at top global companies and leading business management, market development, market intelligence, and strategy. His interests are in pricing, strategy, and intelligence. He joined Chemical Market Analytics in 2016 with more than 22 years of experience in the petrochemicals business. Previously, with petrochemical giant SABIC, Mr. Mitra led the global strategy team for the polymers business, shaping long-term ambitions in terms of growth, business improvement, innovation, and pricing. He was instrumental in developing a framework for strategy execution, as well as deploying performance metrics. Mr. Mitra holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a marketing MBA.

Matthew Thoelke Vice President for Olefins and Derivatives in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Matthew Thoelke is the Vice President for Olefins and Derivatives in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Chemical Market Analytics.

During his time with Chemical Market Analytics (formerly part of IHS Markit base chemicals business), and CMAI, Matthew took a variety of roles across a broad range of product areas. With over 20 years of experience, Matthew acts as the key resource within the business for understanding and insight into the olefins sector of the petrochemical industry, for these key regions, he works closely with the petrochemical, oil and financial industries, bringing support and guidance throughout the petrochemical chain. Current specific responsibilities include the European/Middle East Report Olefins and primary input and support for the World Ethylene and Propylene Analyses.

Previously within CMAI, Mr. Thoelke has worked in both olefins and aromatics consulting in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa with key responsibilities in olefins, but also in aromatics markets. His previous role had a primary focus on butadiene and elastomers, in which subjects he remains a globally recognized industry speaker and expert. His responsibilities included input to the Global Outlook – Feedstocks, Elastomers Report, European Market Report Aromatics, Aromatics Market Report, and taking the lead role in analyzing olefin and derivative markets in support of the long-term planning outlooks in the World Analysis.

Educated at Cambridge University Mr. Thoelke received a BA and MA in Material Sciences before completing a Diploma in Manufacturing Engineering (ACDMM).

Nick Vafiadis Vice President, Global Plastics & Polymers Team Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Nick Vafiadis is the Vice President of the Plastics & Polymers business at Chemical Market Analytics.

Nick is a 30-year veteran of the chemical industry and manages Chemical Market Analytics’s global plastics practice. His daily responsibilities encompassed analysis, consulting, and reporting on the global polyolefins market, as well as managing the operations associated with producing and developing the report. Concurrently, he contributed to single-client projects and studies related to the polyolefins industry. In his earlier assignments, he was responsible for consulting duties associated with the Chlor-alkali and vinyl product chain. He contributed to the Monomers Market Report, the Chlor-Alkali Market Report, and the Global Plastics & Polymers Market Report.

Nick has been with IHS Markit base chemical business (now known as Chemical Market Analytics), and its predecessor CMAI since 2002. Before joining CMAI, he had spent twelve years with Vista Chemical Company (now Condea Vista Chemical Company), where he held assignments in marketing, product management, and sales management in both the vinyl and surfactant business areas. Mr. Vafiadis holds a Management BBA from The University of Texas at Austin, United States.

Martin Wiesweg Executive Director, EMEA Plastics Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Mr. Wiesweg is the Executive Director for EMEA Plastics at Chemical Market Analytics

Mr. Wiesweg contributed to various consultancy projects since joining the IHS Markit base chemicals business (now known as Chemical Market Analytics). Several projects comprised a thorough and extensive market analysis of European polymer markets for potential suppliers. Also, Martin contributed to projects assessing competitive positions of polymers for associations of polymers.

In 1989, Martin joined Huels AG as a Product Development Manager for flame retardant polystyrene and became a Technical Service Manager in 1992. In 1998 Martin joined BP Chemicals as a result of the acquisition of Huels styrenics activities by BP. Within BP Chemicals, he has had many different responsibilities in the commercial departments, e.g., as European Sales Manager for Polystyrene, Distribution & Export Manager, and Marketing Manager for Polystyrene and EPS.

In 2005 Martin moved into the polymer JV Ineos Nova and became the commercial director for polystyrene specialties, responsible for the purchase, sales, technical service, and product development.

Duncan Clark Vice President, Global Aromatics & Fibers Team Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Duncan Clark is the Vice President of the Global Aromatics and Fibers business at Chemical Market Analytics.

Duncan acts as the key resource within Dow Jones for understanding and providing insight into the Aromatics sector of the petrochemical industry, he works closely with the petrochemical, oil, and financial industries.
Duncan joined IHS Markit base chemicals business (now known as Chemical Market Analytics) in 2013, he has spent the last 32 years working in the chemical and petrochemical industries in various Sales, Marketing, and Global Business Management roles.

Before this, Duncan spent ten years working in an ExxonMobil / Shell joint venture company, involved in Fuel and Lubricant additives visiting refineries all over the world. He also spent 12 years working for Air Products in various chemical and industrial gases businesses in the U.K., U.S., and Netherlands. He now provides insights into the global aromatics and derivative markets including paraxylene, purified terephthalic acid, ethylene glycols, polyurethane feedstocks, and the global benzene, toluene, and xylenes markets.

He graduated with a BSc. in Chemical Engineering from University College London. He also has a Master of Business Administration from Manchester Business School.