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The Speakers
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- 9.50am
Plastribution Group
Mike Boswell
Mike Boswell joined Plastribution in 1988 and after working in a range of commercial positions became managing director in 2000, A qualified polymer technologist with manufacturing experience gained in injection moulding, extrusion and thermoforming sectors.
At an industry level Mike is a popular presenter at conferences, is active within the British Plastics Federation and has served as its President from 2013 – 2015. For over 3 decades Mike has been involved in the development of this exciting business.
- 10.00am
Ducor
Patrick Ottens
Patrick Ottens is the Commercial Director for Ducor Petrochemicals and has been active in the polymer industry for over 20 years.
From working in the distribution sector for semi-finished plastic products, to managing global accounts for a major petrochemical producer, he is now focusing on the long term strategy for Ducor.
Committed to finding the most sustainable solutions for today and the future, Patrick and the team at Ducor, are developing to become one of the European leaders for the supply of polypropylene to the healthcare and life science markets. Ducor Petrochemicals, a strategic part of the Carmel Olefins Group, owned by Bazan, is an experienced producer and supplier of Polypropylene to customers who operate in the Life-Sciences and medical markets. Ducor’s unique ability to provide long term product stability and consistency, combined with a dedicated setup for grade development, make Ducor Petrochemicals your chosen partner for Polypropylene for Life Science applications.- 10.20am
Maguire
Paul Edmonson & Chris Crittenden
Paul Edmondson has had a distinguished career, beginning his early career in international sales development roles with Liquid Plastics and Land Rover. In 1995, he founded Maguire Europe and became the Managing Director, driving the company’s growth across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India.
Paul has been instrumental in establishing a robust distribution network, forming key partnerships with distributors like Summit Systems in over 30 countries. His dedication to building strong, long-term commercial and technical partnerships has been pivotal in serving end customers across all areas of plastics processing, providing real impacts in how companies manage raw materials.
Chris Crittenden began his career in 1995 at Summit Systems UK, where he gained valuable experience in marketing. In 1998, he joined Maguire Europe, where he has since taken on key roles in territory and account management, initially focusing on Scandinavia and Europe.
In 2012, Chris expanded his focus to the Middle East, Africa, and India, further broadening his expertise. In addition to his work in sales and territory management, Chris plays an active role in developing marketing and communication strategies for the Maguire Group and is instrumental in advancing new product programs, particularly in drying, dosing, and feeder technologies.
- 10.40am
ExxonMobil
François Sinéchal
After a masters in Mechanical Engineering, François Sinéchal joined ExxonMobil in 2006 and held various functions in the polyethylene business units, including manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing.
As of 2022, Francois leads the market development activities in Europe for Advanced Recycling, connecting with the value chain to deploy the Exxtend technology for Advanced Recycling.
- 11.20am
Notpla
Humphrey Atkinson
Humphrey Atkinson is a Product Manager and part of the Leadership Team at Notpla. He has been at the company for 3 years and has been involved in the Notpla Rigid development project since its inception. Prior to joining the business, Humphrey trained as an Investment Analyst and has managed the Operations for a number of sustainability-focused start-ups.
When he is not at Notpla, Humphrey is working at the other end of the seaweed value chain, as the co-Founder of Algapelago, a seaweed farming business based in North Devon, which makes sustainable agricultural products from cultivated kelp.
- 11.40am
Engel
Mark Edwards
Mark Edwards is supported with good Polymer qualifications and a strong technical moulding portfolio of skills and over 25 years’ experience within the automotive injection moulding and manufacturing sector. Now sitting in a newly created position for the last 3 years in the Customer Service Department at Engel based in Warwick, to provide technical support for all Customers. To advise them with their digitalisation strategy and offer solutions from our inject 4.0 product portfolio to gain maximum process stability.- 13.00pm
UBQ
Yann Schnerb
Yann Schnerb is the Vice President of Sales for Europe at UBQ Materials Experience in the materials and chemical industries. Born on May 9, 1968, over 30 years of professional experience across Europe, having been based in France, England, and Germany. A graduate of Business Management from a business school in Paris, Six Sigma Black Belt.
Before joining UBQ Materials, I served as the Director of the Advanced Materials division at IMCD and led the Northern Europe Packaging Ink division at Sun Chemical. I also spent 16 years at DuPont in various leadership roles in the European automotive plastics and coatings sectors and 8 years at ICI I am father of three children.
- 13.20pm
British Plastics Federation
Nigel Flowers & Ian Ray
BPF President, Nigel Flowers is a Director of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery UK. Nigel has been in the plastics Industry for over 35 years, initially with Hozelock Ltd before joining Sumitomo SHI Demag as a Service Engineer in 1984. Since then he has had a variety of roles within the organization, including Service Manager and Technical Director before becoming Managing Director.
He has continued to be a strong supporter of Education & Skills, formerly a Trustee of Aylesbury Training Group from 2012 to 2016 and now a member of the BPF Council, and Education & Skills Committee and an Enterprise Advisor to a local secondary school, linking education to work. He continues to represent BSi on both CEN and ISO Committees, developing technical safety standards for manufacturing plastics production equipment. He is a past Chairman of the Polymer Machinery Manufacturers & Distributors Association, the trade body for Polymer machinery suppliers in the UK and Ireland.
He is a member of Institute of Directors, Institute of Engineering & Technology and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Ian Ray is a winner of the prestigious UK Plastics Industry Ambassador Award 2023. He is an experienced Materials Engineer and Plastics expert with a demonstrated history of working in the automotive industry. Ian has managerial and leadership experience, expertise in material specifications and selection, and their associated manufacturing processes.
A sustainability champion with strong engineering professional skilled in Negotiation, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), ISO/TS 16949, and Team Building. Ian is also a UEFA qualified football coach at Non-League grassroots level.
- 13.40pm
TotalEnergies Corbion
Derek Atkinson
Derek Atkinson is responsible for sales for TotalEnergies Corbion and has been located in the Netherlands since 2020. Prior to this he was responsible for Sales in the Americas, based in New York from 2015.
In 2011 he was responsible for business development in Asia for Corbion located in Singapore.
Prior to that he was Business Development Director at Oxford University spinout Velocys plc, a catalyst technology and microchannel reactor development company in the UK and USA.
Before working for Velocys he held many global sales and marketing positions during his 17 years at Grace Davison mostly focused in the polymer catalyst area and was located in Germany.
He has a degree in Chemistry and Polymer Science Technology from Loughborough University and was an external examiner for the School of Chemistry at the University of Cardiff.
- 14.20pm
Premix
Oxana Helenius-Yusupova
Premix Oy: a Finnish family owned company with a unique core business in electrically conductive polymer compounds. Established in 1980. Brand name for the electrically conductive compounds and concentrates is PRE-ELEC.
Oxana Helenius-Yusupova, Distribution Manager, has been the part of black magic team for the last 11 years, involved deeply in PRE-ELEC market witching.
- 14.40pm
Berry
Jamie Riley
Berry Global is a plastics manufacturing company with 250 locations worldwide, offering market leading innovation, design expertise, and sustainability focused solutions for their customer’s needs.
Jamie Riley joined Berry Global in January 2022 to provide support to the business and their customers in minimising the environmental impact of packaging placed onto the UK market.
Since then, Jamie has evolved the role to cover EMEA with additional responsibility for internal and external sustainability-focused education, ensuring company global packaging-related targets are met and supporting customers in achieving their goals and ambitions. Jamie sits on the sustainability committees for the BCF (British Coatings Federation) and the BPF (British Plastics Federation), currently chairing the latter. He represents Berry Global in the UK National Treaty Dialogues for Plastic Pollution.
- 15.00pm
Kafrit
Doron Sorek
Doron Sorek is a chemical engineer by education and a second degree student for Business management.
He has been working for Kafrit for the last nine years in the R&D department as a Technologist mainly in :
1. FR for polymers
2. Biodegradable polymers