Benjamin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and an M.B.A from the University of Akron. Benjamin has spent the last seven years in market research and strategic consulting across a wide range of industries. In this time, Benjamin has participated in all functions of these roles including conducting primary and secondary research, analyzing trends, developing market size estimates, evaluating competitive landscapes, authoring reports, developing strategic recommendations, and conducting presentations.
Benjamin has experience working in a number of commercial, industrial, and consumer research segments, including packaging, consumer goods, oil & gas, transportation, plumbing fixtures & fittings, HVAC-R, and printing, among others. Prior to joining Smithers, Benjamin ran the Private Equity Diligence division of a Public Equity research firm. Benjamin was responsible for all aspects of this division outside of sales.
John Dwyer is the Vice President of Digital Solutions at WestRock. A 25-year professional in the print and packaging industry, John got his hands dirty in printing while studying finance at the University of Akron. This led to a variety of roles in labels, flexible packaging, financial cards and packaging and merchandising materials. John has a natural curiosity which has enabled a number of firsts in the industry with companies, like Kraft, Visa, Pepsico and Molson Coors. John is currently obsessed with providing every sustainable product with its own unique identity in the Cloud to enable functionality for Supply Chain traceability and Consumer Engagement. When not on an airplane John works from his basement in Stillwater, MN with his direct report, Australian Shepherd, Ted.
Steve Statler is the author of Beacon Technologies, the presenter of the Mister Beacon podcast and an SVP at Wiliot, a company he joined shortly after it was founded.
Prior to Wiliot his consulting company specialized in Bluetooth beacon technology, training and advising manufacturers, venue owners, VCs, as well as makers of beacon software and hardware. Previously he was the Senior Director for Strategy and Solutions Management at Qualcomm's Retail Solutions Division, helping to incubate Gimbal, one of the leading Bluetooth beacons in the market.
Chris Kanik is the CEO and Founder of Smart Cups, a sustainability-driven technology company whose flagship product, an energy drink, hit the market in 2018 as the World's First Printed Beverage. Smart Cups utilizes a patented delivery system technology that allows flavors and active materials be printed on substrate surfaces. These applications can be used in a myriad of industries, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and more, allowing for a reduction in storage and transportation requirements resulting in a reduction of the world’s overall resources. Today, Chris oversees Smart Cups' 23,000 square foot manufacturing and R&D facility in Mission Viejo, CA.
He first entered a lab at age 12 to study the chemical degradation of aspartame in diet sodas over extended storage periods at room temperature. At 14, he joined a research team in the Nutritional Sciences Department at Rutgers University to study adipocyte metabolism in adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) knockout mice (aP2-/-) after short-term high-fat feeding. His work contributed to the discovery of a functional compensation by the keratinocyte-FABP. From there, Chris went on to join a research team working on a NASA-funded project developing biologically based nano-robots at Rutgers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Angela Morgan is Director of Business Development and Food Safety Solutions responsible for commercializing the portfolio of antimicrobial technologies at Aptar. She most recently worked at Sealed Air Corporation as the Director of America’s Legacy Food and Product Care Division, and previously worked at Turkey Hill Dairy and Campbell’s Soup Company. Morgan received her B.S and M.S. degrees in Food Science from Pennsylvania State University and her PhD. from Clemson University in Packaging Engineering. Finally, Morgan holds memberships in numerous professional and civic organizations and serves on the AIPIA advisory board.
Speaker bio coming soon!
Speaker bio coming soon!
Brian applies his knowledge in sustainability, technology & policy into creating value by leveraging the circular economy movement into business model innovation. He connects a network of experts across industry, academia, finance & government who are keen to collaborate on innovative upstream waste management solutions.
He is keen to explore how plastic packaging can be used in a circular manner that provides the benefits of plastic, without the impacts of mismanaged plastic waste.
With Algramo, he focuses on connecting stakeholders to help catalyze reusable packaging systems on a globally significant scale. At Algramo, Brian and the team are currently working with Unilever, Nestle, Colgate and others, on game-changing packaging as a wallet technology that enables their reusable packaging to communicate with IoT connected vending machines. This enables cashless payments and small volume purchases at bulk prices-solving the Poverty Tax. Algramo’s distribution system engineers out reverse logistics to create major economic & environmental savings.
In addition to his work at Algramo, Brian is also an instructor in a graduate level circular economy class at Harvard.
Navjeet Chhina is the CEO of Genius Ventures Inc, an augmented, virtual and mixed reality firm based in North America. He is responsible for monitoring all facets of the organization including Operations Oversight, Strategic Planning, International expansion and building the senior executive team. He has 12 years of executive and project management experience across various industries; using his predictive approach to bring innovation into the customer consciousness. He uses comprehensive analysis of competitive trends to drive growth with quantifiable metrics to illustrate the benefits of taking on new avenues for brands. From digital marketing to research & analytics to leveraging strategic relationships, Navjeet perpetually pursues avenues for coupling products with consumers, propogating loyal customers and cultivating long-term brand relationships.
Navjeet is currently focusing on expanding operations internationally, showcasing how augmented reality and forward thinking innovative technologies can provide solutions for organizations of all sizes.
Tom is recognized as one of the world’s leading thought leaders in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) & wearable technology. A pioneer in this space, Tom has over a decade-long track record of running tech teams and providing strategic direction in emerging technologies for powerhouse brands and organizations.
As VP of Product at 8th Wall, Tom is leading the strategy and development of powerful tools used by developers to create reality (WebAR and WebVR) for the browser. 8th Wall has powered AR content for top brands including Sony Pictures, Miller Lite, British Gas, Heineken, Swiss Airlines, Porsche, Toyota, Red Bull, Time Magazine, LEGO and Ally + MONOPOLY.
Previous to 8th Wall, Tom was a founding partner at Super Ventures, the first VC fund dedicated to augmented reality. He also played a critical role in building the AR/VR ecosystem as founder of We Are Wearables and co-producer of AWE, the world’s #1 AR+VR event series.
Ravish Majithia leads Magnomer as founder & CEO. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Texas A&M University. Ravish is also a Babson Fellow, Sorenson Award Recipient and MBA from Babson College. Magnomer is a winner of Materials Research Society’s Innovation Award & MassChallenge Gold.
Elizabeth (Liz) Mellone is Worldwide Director, Packaging Innovation at Colgate Palmolive Company, responsible for new and innovative packaging development across all product categories involving a wide range of technologies. She leads a team of talented packaging professionals who are focused on developing breakthrough opportunities to drive Colgate’s strategic growth priorities. Liz has a wide range of leadership experiences across Colgate’s categories and functions and knows how to move innovation from idea to implementation. She is a strong business partner and takes a strategic approach to innovation, incorporating external sources of innovation with internal expertise and capabilities.
Liz held several positions in Colgate-Palmolive’s global organization. She excels at collaborating with a cross functional team to execute strategic global savings projects, manufacturing capacity planning, product sourcing strategies, and portfolio simplification initiatives. Over her long career with Colgate she has delivered projects contributing to multi-million dollar savings goals, simplified the manufacturing network achieving reductions in cost and inventory, and readied contingency plans to avoid supply interruption and launched new product innovations elevating Colgate’s competitive edge.
Rory has held a diverse range of roles in the agricultural space over the past 18 years, from cleaning field bins on the family farm at Patchewollock to running a profitable commodity trading book at one of the world’s biggest funds. Travelling and witnessing inefficiencies and opaque supply chains cemented his vision for Grain Discovery. Rory studied Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne.
Khoshniyati brings exceptional experience across all facets of near-field communication (NFC), RFID, and the Internet of Things (IoT) on a global scale, most recently serving in senior-level business operations positions with leading RFID manufacturers, including Avery Dennison and Smartrac Technology. His proven track record of exceeding results in the deployment of advanced technology and facilitating fast-paced growth makes him uniquely positioned to expand Identiv’s RFID reach.
As a global leader in the advancement of NFC and RFID technologies, Khoshniyati serves as an Executive Member on the NFC Forum Board that defines standards and processes, and better aligns the technology adoption across various industries. He also serves as the Vice-Chair of the NFC Forum Board’s Healthcare Task Force.
Joining Blue Bite after a robust career at LinkedIn, Ian is Blue Bite's Director of Growth. He earned his Bachelor of Sciences in Marketing from Siena College, in his hometown of Loudonville, NY. While abroad "Down Under," Ian tried his hand at being a door-to-door salesman, went skydiving, and bungee jumped in New Zealand. Other fun facts about Ian are that he was voted Prom King, loves NYC steakhouses and craft beer, and his step great (8x) grandfather was Captain of the Mayflower!
Chantal believes that leveraging the right technology at the right time has the power to solve problems in magical ways. As a software engineer, she has been able to bring these solutions to life building tools and experiences.
Today, she applies these principles as the CTO and Co-founder of LimeLoop, developing smart sustainable packaging and the digital platform to support them
In those rare moments, when she steps away from the computer, you can usually find her with her head down in the arts & craft hobby of the month or testing out new recipes in the kitchen.
