European Polyamide Conference 2024

Robert Gilfillan

Head of Polymers & Fibres

Wood Mackenzie

Rob leads our research into regional and global markets for fibres, films and flexible packaging, providing short-term monitoring and long-term strategic outlooks. Rob joined the Chemicals division in 2017. Prior to this, he spent two years on our Research Operations team, working on the delivery of upstream oil & gas valuation tools. Before joining Wood Mackenzie, he spent 10 years working in the financial sector with an actuarial consultancy.

Husam Taha

Principal Analyst - Plastics Sustainability

Wood Mackenzie

Husam is a Principal Analyst focusing on sustainability topics of plastics, with a background in industry and field experience in waste management and waste value chains. His experience includes the development of sorting applications in the waste industry globally using optical sorting and artificial intelligence. His experience in this sector is essential in understanding circular economy value chains enabling him to analyse and predict trends and shifts in the global material transition, especially plastics. His work focuses on understanding market dynamics including legislation and drivers that impact the development of a circular economy. Husam joined Wood Mackenzie in 2023 and has worked on organizing and publishing the Recycled Polyolefins service. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie Husam was a Business Development Manager for TOMRA Sorting GmbH in Germany.

Laurent Gervat

Technical Polymers and Composites Expert

Renault Group

Laurent Gervat, PhD, is the Expert for Technical Polymers and Composites at Renault, an international automobile manufacturer headquartered in France. He also leads the Upstream Strategy Material Team, which is composed of buyers and engineers. Together they define the strategy for selecting and prescribing plastics and composites for Renault. For more than 10 years, Dr Gervat has also been supervising the merger of Renault and Nissan design methods for plastics parts. Prior to this, Dr Gervat had worked for over 20 years in the chemicals industry. He held various positions, with both technical and marketing implications for many polymers and additives. Earlier in his career, he was a Scientist at ESPCI (Paris), where he obtained his Ph-D, specializing in mechanical properties and processing of semi-crystalline polymers.

Vincent Duval

Materials & Technologies Manager CS EMEA

Aptiv

Vincent holds a degree of Chemical Engineer (specialty “Organic Materials”) from the National Engineering School of Chemistry of Clermont-Ferrand (France – 2003). His first experience was at Valeo Wiper Blades as an R&D Intern but after that he never went away from automotive for a long time with most 2 significant experiences for company Robert Bosch (Belgium, in the field of Wiper Blades, from 2004 to 2014, as Material Engineer in charge of anti-friction coating, rubber surface treatment and vibroacoustic phenomena modelling) and for company Aptiv (ex-Delphi) Connection Systems (France, since 2016 originally as Polymer Materials Expert and now as European Innovation Manager for Materials and Electronics since 2022). He supervised a PhD on “PBT Embrittlement caused by Injection moulding” between 2018 and 2021 in partnership with PIMM. Lately, he has been involved in many challenges and opportunities triggered by the growth of e-mobility and the enforcement of new sustainability targets.

Anna Zhao

Managing Consultant - Thermoplastics/Nylon

Wood Mackenzie

Anna joined Wood Mackenzie Chemicals in 2021 as a senior analyst for nylon value chains. Before that, she had been as a senior consultant at a petrochemical consultancy for more than ten years and worked on a series of commodities ranging from olefins, aromatics and polymers & intermediates. As a chemical engineering major, she started her career in sales & marketing roles for specialty chemicals and has experience in many industries including textiles, electronics and automobiles.

Marco Agosti

Strategic Raw Material Procurement Manager

Radici Group

A professional specializing in purchasing process management, planning, scheduling and optimization of industrial services. Always projected towards Improvement of efficiencies, introduction of new products and development of processes, after graduating in chemistry and after the university executive master on Innovation, Design & Project Manufacturing Management in Milano, he began his activity in Radici in 1997. The first experiences in this important Italian industrial chemical company, leader in the production of polyamide and related products, are intense and cover all aspects of corporate management, like control of production processes, technical materials, specifications for purchases and relations with suppliers, logistics planning and programming, including plant start-ups. Since 2005 he continues his experience at the company headquarter, in the area of technical industrial services and since 2008 as strategic raw material procurement manager. In this period, he develops and, actively, he takes part of commercial and extraordinary operations for companies in the chemical industry at international level. Currently he lives in Bergamo with his family, in harmony with the sparkling atmosphere of the mountains that surround the city, passionate about sports, always inclined to meet people in a multilingual and multi-cultural context.

Mariana Moreira

Principal Research Analyst, Chemicals of the Energy Transition

Wood Mackenzie

Mariana is a Senior Research Analyst within Wood Chemicals; she joined the team in 2020. Mariana's research focuses on regional and global markets for Films & Flexible Packaging, providing short-term supply, demand and price monitoring and long-term strategic outlooks. Prior to this, Mariana was a Senior Research Analyst at IHS Markit where she was the regional expert for the South American chlor-alkali market while also covering bleaching chemicals markets in Europe and South America. Mariana holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon.

Olivier Vandecasteele

Independent Consultant

Olivier Vandecasteele started his career in 1993 as export manager for Beaulieu of America, a carpet flooring group based in the USA. From 1997 to 2000, he was responsible for Beaulieu of Australia. From 2000 onwards, he entered into the trenches of the nylon 6 industry, being responsible for the Belgotex International nylon 6 activities since 2006.

Mauro Chavez

Research Director, European Gas and LNG Markets

Wood Mackenzie

Mauro has more than 14 years of experience in energy markets and is a recognised specialist in the natural gas and LNG industry. He is responsible for Wood Mackenzie's European gas and LNG market coverage, and is based in London. Previously, Mauro headed the Latin American gas markets team and in that role he supported LNG-to-power projects, new gas supply agreements, gas monetisation strategies and M&As of gas infrastructure in Latin America. Mauro advises companies at the executive level, as well as being a regular speaker at international industry conferences, and is quoted in various print and broadcast media outlets. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Mauro spent time as visiting researcher at Imperial College London, the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research in Portugal and the Center on Energy and Environmental Economics in Brazil. He has worked in the Ministry of Mines and Energy and National Environmental Fund in Peru. He has many publications in scientific international journals on energy and environmental topics and is a reviewer of the Energy Policy Journal, Energy (Oxford) and Energy Strategy Reviews.

Quentin de Carvalho

Head of Thermoplastics

Wood Mackenzie

Quentin has over 30 years’ experience in the chemical industry in both France and Brazil, most recently with Rhodia, part of Solvay Group. Having held positions in marketing and market intelligence processing and tools, he has extensive project management, chemical process management and R&D experience. A Chemical Engineer graduation from UNICAMP (Campinas State University), Quentin holds an MBA from Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil.

Vedran Kujundzic

Chief Commercial Officer - Polymers & Intermediates

DOMO Chemicals

Vedran Kujundzic has been named Chief Commercial Officer for Polymers & Intermediates effective as of January 2023. Previously, Vedran spent 20 years at BASF in various executive and operational roles in Marketing and Sales for Polyamides and Intermediates. In 2016, he joined Borealis, where he served as Vice President Global Sales Polyolefins, being a member of the Polyolefins Board. As CCO of Domo he is responsible for Domo’s Polyamide and Intermediates business for PA6 and PA66 solutions. As a member of the Executive Committee, he reports to the CEO, Yves Bonte.

Emma Howsham

Research Analyst, Short-Term Refining and Oils Markets

Wood Mackenzie

Emma joined Wood Mackenzie in 2021 as a Research Analyst in Downstream Oils Market Research to initially focus on Russian short-term and long-term markets, as well as refinery modelling and benchmarking analysis. She now specialises in short-term refining markets for both Europe and Russia markets in our Commodity, Trading, Data and Analytics segment. Prior to Wood Mackenzie, Emma worked for an oil and gas contractor as an Equipment Engineer. Emma holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Birmingham.

Timur Zilbershteyn

Consultant – Chemicals, Polymers & Fibres

Wood Mackenzie

Timur joined Wood Mackenzie’s Chemicals team in 2015, following the acquisition of PCI Group by Wood Mackenzie. He started at PCI in January, 2015 as a Business Analyst, responsible for preparing cost models, analysis of price tendencies and market situation in the nylon chain from petrochemical feedstock to fibres and engineering plastics. Prior to PCI, Timur was 7 years with SIBUR petrochemical company as a leading researcher, responsible for exploring business opportunities and leading in-house and collaborative R&D teams. He participated in feasibility studies, market analysis and chemical process evaluations. Timur graduated from the Moscow State University with a Specialist’s degree in Chemistry, and earned his doctor degree in Petroleum Chemistry from the Institute of Petroleum Chemistry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science.

Egor Prokhodtsev

Senior Research Analyst, Transportation & Mobility

Wood Mackenzie

Egor is a senior research analyst responsible for battery raw materials demand modelling. He has more than five years’ experience in metals and mining industry research and market intelligence departments, focused on the electric vehicle, battery and downstream supply chain markets. Egor holds an engineering degree from Bauman Moscow State Technical University in the field of aerospace technologies.

Joachim Quoden

Managing Director

EXPRA (Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance)

Joachim Quoden has extensive experience in packaging waste management, dating from 1992 when he spent 4 months in the German Federal Ministry of Environment working on packaging issues including the Packaging Ordinance. From 1993 to 2006, Mr Quoden worked with Der Grüne Punkt as Syndicus, and head of International Affairs in 2001. Between 2001 and 2013, he also became Secretary General and later Managing Director of PRO EUROPE, an umbrella organisation of 35 PROs. Since 2013, Mr Quoden has been the Managing Director of EXPRA, an alliance of 32 non-profit and industry owned PRO’s from 30 countries from all over the world. Besides the above, Mr Quoden is working since 1995 as independent lawyer in Germany specializing in international EPR legislation, chairperson of ISWA’s EU group, and has served as an expert in ISO global standardisation project SIS/TK 165/AG 10 Packaging and Environment, chair/co-chair of ISWA’s Governance WG and EU Group, member of the OECD EPR expert group and several other value chain initiatives like CEFLEX, HolyGrail 2.0, Close the Glass Loop and 4EverGreen.

Mark Krüger

President of Polymers & Engineering Plastics

Aquafil

Mark Krüger has been in the industry since the mid 90'. He was with Ube for 20 years, where he was responsible for raw material purchasing, caprolactam and polymer sales. Currently, Mark is President of Polymers & Engineering Plastics at Aquafil, where he heads up strategic raw material purchasing, as well as the development of special projects, such as bringing the ECONYL® success story into EP applications.

Alex Amin

Analyst

CRU Group

Alex Amin Joined CRU’s Nitrogen team in the summer of 2021. Previously the editor of the Ammonia Market Outlook, he now leads CRU’s new Low-Emissions Hydrogen and Ammonia Market Outlook, contributing to analysis across the wider company.

Alexei Sinitsa

Fibres Consultant

Wood Mackenzie

Dr Alexei Sinitsa has over 20 years experience in chemical industry, starting his journey with Rhône-Poulenc/Rhodia, and spanning technical, commercial, executive and consulting roles in the nylon chain, including intermediates, polymers, fibres and downstream applications. He graduated as organic chemist with honours from Kiev University, and did his doctoral research with Institute of Organic Chemistry, NAS Ukraine.

Thomas Gröner

Director

TG PACK SOLUTIONS

Dr. Thomas Gröner is an R&D and Sustainability professional with entrepreneurial focus, with more than 30 years of experience in packaging and film production and a large exposure to the entire value chain. In 2021 he founded successfully his own company TG PACK SOLUTIONS, an independent consultancy to the packaging value chain focusing on Sustainability and Innovation. Prior to that he was Director R&D and Sustainability @ RKW SE a global packaging and film producer. He drove and coordinated the global R&D program of RKW SE for all three divisions (Packaging, Hygiene and Industrial, Agriculture) and managed RKW’s internal and external Sustainability activities. Before Dr. Thomas Gröner worked for four years for the global paper and packaging company Mondi as Head of Innovation and R&D at Mondi Consumer Good Packaging, responsible for the worldwide R&D and Innovation activities for the flexible packaging business. Prior to that, he worked in the FMCG industry (Quaker, Pepsico, Nestlé) in various R&D positions, most recently at Nestlé Purina PetCare as Packaging Manager Europe.

Miguel-Angel Caballero

Managing Director

Nurel

Dr. Miguel-Angel Caballero holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and has received an extraordinary doctorate award from the University of Zaragoza and University Complutense of Madrid. He also has postgraduate education in business from IESE Business School, University of Navarra. Since the year 2000, he has served as the Corporate Business Director of R&D&I in SAMCA Group, overseeing a team of 70 researchers and technicians. During this time, he has been instrumental in managing and implementing numerous research projects and industrial innovations on an international scale. The focus of his work spans various areas such as nanotechnology, polymer science, nanopigments, nanostructured materials, microencapsulation of cosmetic compounds, biopolymers, and the development of new absorbent materials. Starting in 2008, he has also taken on the role of Managing Director at NUREL SA. Under his leadership, the company has undergone a significant transformation through a process of reinvention and general innovation. As a result, NUREL SA has become a leading company in the sector of technical polymers, biopolymers, and synthetic fibres. Highlighting his academic contributions, he has published 33 scientific articles in high-impact international journals and holds the co-inventor credit for 55 international patents.

Kurt Maschke

Senior Director Global Marketing Automotive

MOCOM Compounds

Kurt Maschke is the expert for the automotive market and the use of plastics in the automotive industry at MOCOM, a global compounder of thermoplastic polymers and part of the Otto Krahn Group. He is a sales and marketing professional with an in-depth knowledge of markets, product development and innovation. He leads MOCOM’s global business development team for the automotive industry focusing on key trends to address the needs of the entire supply chain and the growing trend for a transition to more sustainable solutions. Kurt has worked in the field of plastics solutions for the automotive industry for more than 25 years with renowned polyamide manufacturers such as Rhodia and DSM in various positions in Key Account and Business Management as well as Marketing.

Nicola Bucchioni

Chairman of Steering Committee

Advanced Packaging Association (in formation)

Since 2010 at UBE Corporation Europe in Spain (which is part of the UBE Corporation in Japan) and presently Head of Sales for the UBE NYLON products (PA6 and Copolyamides) in the Atlantic Area (EMEA & Americas). From 2002 to 2009 he was active as International Sales Manager at Remmers (Germany), a family company producing chemicals products for the construction sector.

Volker Siejak

Managing Director Indorama Ventures Mobility Obernburg GmbH

Indorama Ventures Group