SEBASTIAN LOUVION

Associate, Mayer Brown International LLP

Mr. Louvion is a Senior Associate in the regulatory team of Mayer Brown’s Brussels office. He advises corporations in the areas of food and food contact materials, biocides, drugs, medical devices, product safety, and chemicals, with an emphasis on food packaging legislation, both in the United States and the European Union, and the new EU chemicals legislation (REACH). He assists companies in establishing compliance of their products with applicable legal and technical requirements, including safety analysis/risk assessment, product safety policy and product recalls, as well as obtaining clearances for new materials from relevant authorities.

A French national, Mr. Louvion completed law school in Paris before also obtaining his law degree in the U.S. Mr. Louvion was admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia (Washington D.C.) in 2000, and since then has been practicing law in Washington D.C. and Brussels.

DR. ANNA GERGELY

Director Regulatory Affairs Principal Scientist, Mayer Brown International LLP

Dr. Gergely, has a  M.S. in Biochemistry and Food Chemistry; PhD in Analytical Chemistry and a European Patent Attorney she is a Principal Scientific and Regulatory Advisor in the Brussels office of the international law firm Mayer Brown. Following a research carrier at different universities in the field of Mass Spectrometry, she has worked for a global chemical company involved in the safety determination and regulatory aspects of different chemical applications. She has used her academic and industry background to provide scientific and regulatory advice for more than ten years to the Brussels office of Keller & Heckman, where she has developed in-depth knowledge in many different European regulatory areas, such as food and drugs, food contact materials, biocides and the regulatory requirements for chemicals. In her present position, while integrating her existing practice into the wide platform of regulatory and legal support provided by other professionals at Mayer Brown International LLP, she extended her expertise in the emerging field of nanotechnologies and has established the firm as a leader in finding legal and regulatory solutions to the commercial application of the technology while mitigating risk and potential liabilities.       

DR. RAINER BRANDSCH

Director, MDCTec Ltd

Dr. Rainer Brandsch studied Chemistry at the Technical University Karlsruhe, Germany with main focus on technical and polymer chemistry. After his graduation in chemistry science in 1996 he started its dissertation at the University of Freiburg, Germany which he succeeded in 1999.

After two years engagement in the chemical industry he joined FABES for six years as research scientist leading major projects focusing on interaction between packaging and filled good. He joined part time the non profit Industry Association for Food Technology and Packaging (IVLV e.V.) in 2005 as secretary and became chairman of the executive committee in 2008. Further more he is owner and managing director of the Macrodynamic Chemical Technologies Limited (MDCTec Ltd).

CLAUDE DEQUATRE

Chairman, Plastics Europe Food Contact Committee

Claude Dequatre graduated in chemistry from l' INSA-Lyon, and completed his Ph.D. thesis in polymer science. He has 17 years of  R&D experience in emulsion and suspension polymers and processes. He has spent the last 13 years in  Polymer Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs working for BP and then Innovene and now for Ineos Polyolefins.

For more than 13 years he has been very much involved in Plastics Europe activities and is now Chairman of the Food Contact Committee. He is also active in the area of plastics materials in contact with drinking water; he is member of the Plastics Europe-Teppfa working group and chairman of the mathematical modelling task force.

JOHN MASON

Senior Vice President, Intertek

John is a Senior Vice President of Intertek, the world’s leading expert on product safety.

Prior to taking over leadership of Intertek RAM Europe, John worked in senior and influential pan-European research and development leadership positions for Mars, Inc. and Pepsico over the past 24 years, and has been responsible for product innovation and corporate risk management. He has been responsible for and led product innovation, the development of food safety and quality systems, and risk and crisis management throughout global supply chains. He has an extremely broad based knowledge of the food supply chain, creating novel opportunities for business expansion and groundbreaking safety technologies. John has led many conferences and debates in the areas of crisis management and governance in the food industry.

John is a Member of the Institute of Directors, a Fellow of the Royal Sociaty of Chemistry and has an MPhil in Food Chemistry from the University of Nottingham.

DR. PETER OLDRING

Director Regulatory Affairs – Europe,

Valspar Corporation

Peter graduated from York University with a BA in Chemistry and from University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology with a PhD in polymer science. He has worked in the resins and coatings industries in various roles. He is in Regulatory Affairs Department for The Valspar Corporation and is actively involved in activities to support the can coating business, some of which are chairing the Coatings Code of Practice group, the Vision exposure group and the Industry FACET Group (FIG) in addition to supporting other trade association initiatives. He is also involved in REACH particularly developing a generic exposure approach for coatings.

Peter has published widely co-authoring and co-editing 18 books on resins for surface coatings and related subjects. More recently he has co-authored four papers (fifth in press) on the use of probabilistic modelling for assessing exposure to migrants from foodstuffs, written 2 chapters on exposure for a books about migrants from food contact materials and co-authored an ILSI Monograph on light metal packaging and was also involved in the ILSI expert group on exposure for migrants from food contact materials, resulting in a publication.

DR. HERMANN ONUSSEIT

Technical Director, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA

Born 1951. Dr. Hermann Onusseit studied mechanical engineering in the field of plastic processing at the University of Paderborn, Germany. Subsequently he studied chemistry at the University of Paderborn and received his PhD in the field of physical chemistry.

In 1984 he joined Henkel KGaA, Düsseldorf, and worked as lab manager in the field of adhesives for packaging and graphic products.  In 1989 he took over the responsibility for product development and technical service for adhesives for packaging and graphic products as technical director. In 1999 he took over the responsibility for the technology development of the industrial adhesives at Henkel. Since 2003 he is working in the R&D department of “Henkel Adhesive Technologies”. Among others he is responsible for the implementation of REACH in this division.

He is a member of the Technical Board and chairman of the Technical Committee for Paper and Packaging Adhesives of the German Adhesive Manufacturers Association (IVK) as well as member of the FEICA (European Adhesive Manufacturers Association) European Technical Board and chairman of the FEICA Working Group Paper and Packaging Adhesives.  In addition he is a member of the Technical Council Print Processing of the FOGRA, the Technical Committee Deinking of the INGEDE and chairman of the IVLV (Industrial Organization for Food Technology and Packaging) Working Group QSVL “Qualität und Sicherheit verpackter Lebenmittel” (quality and safety of packed food).

DR. GEORGE KELLIE

Director, Microflex Technologies Ltd

Dr George Kellie is Chairman of Microflex Technologies, a leading UK marketing and technology company. Microflex has been in existence for nearly 20 years and has a strong reputation and expertise in the plastics and converted plastics industries. George Kellie has direct operating experience in profiles for a diverse range of applications.

In the field of sustainable materials, Microflex has been particularly active, working on advanced materials in packaging, and as moulded/extruded components in profile, sheet, film and fibre form.  Dr Kellie is actively involved in generating new sustainable solutions across a broad range of applications for major international clients.    

Dr Kellie has been a participant at some of the plastics industry’s most prestigious events over the last five years. For example at the recent Bioplastics 2007 Conference in Frankfurt he was able to discuss the impact of bioplastics on the packaging market and put this in relation to overriding environmental issues. 

MARK KENRICK

Business Director, Artenius PTA Business

Chairman, Plastics Europe PET Product Group

Mark joined ICI from school then completed a Mechanical Engineering degree at Imperial College in London before rejoining ICI in 1980 working for Film Businesses in Scotland and Brasil until 1988. In 1991 he joined the Melinar PET Resins business at Wilton as Senior Engineer, subsequently managing the UK PTA & Px Operations and the ICI / DuPont  Melinar Resins operations at Fayetteville, NC, USA.

Mark returned to the UK in 1999 to help set up DuPontSA holding corporate leadership roles with DuPontSA / ADVANSA in technology management, IT, and formed BWC, DuPontSA’s performance improvement consulting business. He left in 2003 to become the Global Manufacturing Director for Elementis, the world’s largest chromium chemicals company with plants in the UK and the USA.

Mark rejoined ADVANSA as Chief Operating Officer in early 2006 to help drive the restructuring of the company and subsequently transferred to LSB with the sale of the PET & PTA businesses in October 2007. Since joining LSB he has been Artenius PET Division Operations Director and assumed his current position as Business Director for the PTA Business in March 2008.

Mark is married to Jo, an HR Manager, has two boys and spends most of his spare time either watching his boys or Manchester United play football!

DR. ROB VERAART

Scientist, Keller and Heckman LLP

Rob Veraart holds a M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the Free University in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Rob Veraart joined Keller and Heckman in January 2007 as a Scientist. Keller and Heckman represents a wide spectrum of companies and trade associations servicing a range of industries, including food and food additives, plastics, pesticides, industrial and specialty chemicals, drugs and medical devices, transportation, and telecommunications.

Dr. Veraart has significant experience in assessing the regulatory status of food contact materials, analysing and confirming analytical lab results, and determining compliance of chemical components under the U.S. Pharmacopoeia and the European Pharmacopoeia. Rob Veraart is dealing with food packaging issues in relation to food contact according EU, member state of the EU and US legislation, EU packaging waste regulations and compliance with USP and European Pharmacopoeia. In addition to this he also performs GMP inspections of facilities and audits on food contact related paper work.

Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Dr. Veraart worked with TNO Quality of Life for eight years where he was responsible for the laboratory that is performing the compliance testing of food contact materials like plastic, coating, paper, ceramics, glass etc according EU, EU member state (German, Dutch, France) and US (FDA) legislation.

Dr. Veraart has authored several publications regarding food contact materials and is the editor of www.foodcontactmaterials.com.

DR. STEFAN WALBERT

Regulatory Affairs Manager, Harlan Laboratories Ltd

Stefan Walbert studied chemistry and graduated as Doctor of Sciences in 2003 at the University of Konstanz. Following his post-doctoral work in the field of microbiology, Stefan joined Harlan Laboratories Ltd. (formerly RCC Ltd) in 2006 as study director in the analytics department. Since 2007 he has been working on regulatory issues linked to food contact materials and other consumer products.

ERIC F. GREENBERG

Principal Attorney, Eric F. Greenberg P.C.

Eric F. Greenberg is Principal Attorney of the law firm Eric F. Greenberg, P. C.  He concentrates his practice in food and drug law, packaging law, and commercial litigation. His food and drug work has included regulatory counseling, new product development, negotiation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state agencies, handling recalls, and defending enforcement actions.

His packaging work is a pioneering approach to legal representation for members of the packaging industry. He counsels a wide range of consumer product companies, packaging manufacturers, package design firms, and others on regulatory and labeling requirements, and handles related contractual and litigation matters. He has been named one of “Packaging’s Most Influential” by Packaging Strategies magazine.

He is a member of the Trial Bar of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and is an experienced trial and litigation practitioner in both federal and state courts.

Eric is a member of the Adjunct Faculty of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he teaches Food and Drug Law, and Advanced Research and Drafting for Complex Litigation, and Adjunct Faculty at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Summit-Argo, Illinois, where he teaches graduate-level food law and regulation.   He serves as monthly legal columnist for Packaging World Magazine.  As part of his development of packaging law, Eric wrote Guide to Packaging Law, first published in 1996, with a Second Edition published in October 2007. It is the first reference book about law for those in the packaging business. He serves as General Counsel to the Institute of Packaging Professionals, the largest membership organization for those in the packaging industry.

He is a frequent speaker and writer on food and drug law and packaging law topics.

RACHIDA SEMAIL

Manager Food Packaging, Keller and Heckman LLP

Rachida Semail is a Partner in the Brussels, Belgium office, affiliated with the Paris Bar (France).  Ms. Semail assists clients with food packaging matters, particularly with the establishment of suitable EU status for articles and materials intended for food contact.  Ms. Semail has extensive experience on subject matters not harmonised at the EU level, as is the case in much of the food contact sector, where mutual recognition is of paramount importance. She has expertise on matters of food law, including in the area of enzymes, flavoring, and food additive clearances, of particular relevance to active packaging. Ms. Semail has also advised clients on product recall and other related issues. Ms Semail regularly assists clients on clearance and compliance issues relating to cosmetics, drugs and medical devices. Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, she worked for a French law firm specialising in EU and French food law. She was an intern with the legal service of the European Commission in Brussels. 

DR. WALTER NEF

Regulatory Affairs Manager, Harlan Laboratories Ltd

Walter Nef studied chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and received promotion at the University of Basel, Switzerland in 1996. He made a post-doctoral work at the University of Zurich and started to work as a Regulatory Affairs Manager in a company manufacturing cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. In 2007, he joined Harlan Laboratories Ltd., formerly RCC Ltd and got involved in regulatory work relating to food contact, materials, cosmetics, toys and industrial chemicals.

DR. QASIM CHAUDHRY

Principal Research Scientist, Central Science Laboratory

Dr. Qasim Chaudhry is a Principal Research Scientist at the Central Science Laboratory, Uk. Dr. Chaudhry, a Chemist and Biochemical Toxicologist by training, is leading research into nanotechnology applications for food and food packaging. He will be presenting an overview of the current status, future directions, and regulatory considerations in relation to nanotechnology applications for food contact plastics.

DR. ANDREAS TSCHECH

Director and Senior Consultant, WTCONSULTING GMBH

Andreas graduated as Doctor of Sciences in 1985. After working for several years in R&D in the biotechnology industry, in 1994 he joined the largest CRO in Switzerland and worked in the registration and consulting division. From 2003, he managed the Regulatory Affairs department.

In October 2007, Andreas started his own business, WTConsulting, with his partner providing regulatory consultancy and offering tailor-made solutions for the safety testing and safety assessment of food and drinking water contact materials as well as other consumer products.