2025 Agenda

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh
Publisher, The Packaging Group
BNP Media

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh is Group Publisher of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, Dairy Foods, The National Provisioner, and Packaging Strategies for BNP Media. He has nearly three decades of publishing experience following the food industry from farm to fork, covering agriculture, ingredient processing, retail grocery branding, foodservice menu development, and food product R&D and manufacturing. He serves in leadership roles at his local suburban Chicago food pantry and church. Doug studied Professional and Creative Writing at Purdue University.

Dan Felton
President & CEO
Flexible Packaging Association

Dan serves as President & CEO of the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), the association representing U.S. converters of film, foil, paper, and other materials into packages for food, medical devices, and industrial products. Prior to joining FPA in 2024, Dan served as Executive Director for AMERIPEN – the American Institute for Packaging and the Environment. A well-known leader in the U.S. government affairs arena for more nearly 20 years, Dan has represented multinational corporations, various coalitions, and trade associations representing several Fortune 500 companies. He is particularly passionate about environmental, sustainability, and packaging issues and has advocated extensively in those areas at the local, state, and federal levels in the U.S.

The U.K.-based magazine Acquisition International named Mr. Blaige 2015 Sector Focused CEO of the Year, and Blaige & Company - Sector Focused Investment Bank of the Year in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2021, and 2022. Blaige & Company has been a strategic partner and speaker at the Global Pouch Forum since 2006.

Thomas Blaige
Chairman & CEO
Blaige & Company

Tom Blaige is the founder of Blaige & Company and has over 30 years of transaction experience. The Blaige team has completed over 200 transactions and has visited over 600 plastics, packaging, and chemicals operations in all parts of the world. Blaige & Company is a “specialist” investment bank with a deeper and broader knowledge of its target audience versus generalist or “house” investment banks. Pouch and other flexible packaging printing / converting segments represent our “power alley”, and we believe our M&A experience in these products and their supply chains leads worldwide. Blaige’s valuable long-lasting relationships with potential buyers in these segments with established trust and mutual respect result in an impressive track record of 48% valuation premiums.

The U.K.-based magazine Acquisition International named Mr. Blaige 2015 Sector Focused CEO of the Year, and Blaige & Company - Sector Focused Investment Bank of the Year in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2021, and 2022. Blaige & Company has been a strategic partner and speaker at the Global Pouch Forum since 2006.

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh
Publisher, The Packaging Group
BNP Media

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh is Group Publisher of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, Dairy Foods, The National Provisioner, and Packaging Strategies for BNP Media. He has nearly three decades of publishing experience following the food industry from farm to fork, covering agriculture, ingredient processing, retail grocery branding, foodservice menu development, and food product R&D and manufacturing. He serves in leadership roles at his local suburban Chicago food pantry and church. Doug studied Professional and Creative Writing at Purdue University.

Ricky Low
Director of Product & Marketing
R.A Jones Director

Ricky Low is the Director of Product & Marketing at R.A Jones. With experience working in 3 different continents in the packaging industry, he started his career in sales, marketing and project management before moving into product management. Ricky uses his knowledge in packaging platforms to help customers commercialize new products, collaborate with industry partners and achieve machinability of sustainable packaging.

Jens Bodo Wagner
Technical Workgroup Leader
Nestlé

Jens Bodo Wagner serves as a Technical Workgroup Leader at Maggi factory Luedinghausen, part of the Nestlé Group. He has over 20 years of experience with fill and pack technologies, focused on pouches and cups, centered in maintenance, automation and coding topics, as well as the implementation of technologies to keep up with new sustainable packaging solutions.

Jim Pease
President
Sun Centre USA Inc.

President/Owner of Sun Centre USA Inc. 30 years of experience in packaging machinery and pouches. Full manufacturing services in USA and Shanghai China.

Roger Stainton
President
Effytec USA

John Strubulis
Product Manager
Hoffer Plastics Corp.

Jen Gustafson
Managing Director Europe
Dukane Ultrasonics

Joe Ross
President
Ross International, Huhtamaki & LD Packaging

Richard Weil
Managing Director
Mesirow Investment Banking

Rick Weil is a Managing Director in Mesirow Investment Banking. He is responsible for developing key relationships, leading deal teams throughout the transaction process and providing advisory services on middle-market M&A assignments within the paper, plastics and packaging sectors.

Rick has more than 20 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining Mesirow in 2000, he was a Manager in the Ernst & Young Transaction Services Group in Chicago and worked in many roles of increasing responsibility at FERS, a boutique CPA firm headquartered in Chicago.

Rick has been involved in more than 125 M&A transactions in the rigid plastic packaging, folding cartons, corrugated packaging, flexible packaging, labels, and related sectors. He is a frequent speaker and presenter at many industry conferences sponsored by Plastics News, Packaging Strategies, AIM and others. Rick represents family-owned companies, publicly-traded corporations and private equity firms alike on recent transactions including:

• Sale of Quad Packaging’s Omaha folding carton business to Graphic Packaging International
• Sale of Mac Papers to Monomoy Capital Partners
• Sale of Covertech Flexible Packaging to Balcan Plastics
• Sale of Dallas Plastics to Sole Source Capital

Rick earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from Emory University. He holds FINRA Series 7 and 79 licenses.

Justin Kershaw
Founder
Sow Strong Food

Paul Unrue
President
Atlapac Corporation

Paul Unrue is the President of Atlapac Corporation, located in Columbus, Ohio. He is an equity owner of Atlapac and has been a part of the executive team since 2008. Initially, Paul was hired to head up Sales and Marketing as Vice President. In 2016, Paul was promoted to President. Atlapac has grown from about 40 employees in 2008, to 100 employees and growing in 2022. Atlapac is a plastic bag and pouch manufacturer. Atlapac forms bags from your local farmers market all through the packaging supply chain (grocery, club stores, etc.). Paul has 32 years’ experience in the packaging industry and earned his bachelor’s degree in Package Engineering from Michigan State Packaging Alum 1991.

Paul’s experience in packaging began in 1990 when he spent his six-month Internship at Multi-Color in Cincinnati as an R&D engineer. There he started his career in offset, roto gravure and flexographic printing and laminating. After graduating in 1991, Paul spent the next 22 years in various sales and marketing roles throughout the flexible packaging supply chain. Paul started his career in sales by selling base packaging films to thermoforming companies (think battery packages), and numerous flexible packaging converters. He then went on to become an equity partner at a start-up in-mold labeling entity in Cincinnati (bought out by Multi-Color). Over the next couple of decades Paul was part at a regional flexible packaging converter selling printing, lamination, pouches, and roll stock. He was promoted to Vice President of Sales before moving on to Atlapac.

Born and raised in Michigan, Paul has resided in Ohio since 1991. Happily married to his wife Cara, Paul is active in yoga and does CrossFit 3-4 times a week. He is very proud to have three children who are almost all adults now. Along with his wife and two dogs, Paul enjoys spending his weekends at their family cabin in Southern Ohio. He is eagerly awaiting future grandchildren that will most certainly enjoy Grandma and Grandpa’s cabin as well.

Hayley Wenda-Zilka
Director of Operations
Verde Environmental Technologies

Hayley Wenda-Zilka is the Director of Operations at Verde Environmental Technologies, Inc., maker of the Deterra Drug Deactivation and Disposal System. It is a patented, plant-based pouch designed to safely and permanently deactivate unused medications. With extensive experience in operations management, supply chain optimization, and sustainable product development, Hayley leads the teams responsible for delivering high quality and high performance pouch solutions that support both public health and environmental protection.

Through her work at Verde, Hayley helps advance innovative packaging technologies that prioritize safety, ease of use, and sustainability. Under her leadership, the Deterra System has scaled to meet growing global demand as a critical tool in preventing drug misuse and reducing pharmaceutical contamination. She will discuss the unique challenges and opportunities in designing medical packaging that meets rigorous safety standards while supporting sustainability goals, and share real-world insights from one of the industry's leading solutions in drug deactivation.

Roberto Santos Rebollar
Director of Marketing
Accredo Packaging

Roberto Santos is the Marketing Director at Accredo Packaging and API Holding, where he leads brand strategy, digital transformation, and market expansion efforts. With 14 years of experience in large packaging corporations across EMEA, Asia, and the Americas, Roberto has been instrumental in the development of new substrates in flexible packaging, innovation process design, product development, corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and sustainability. His expertise drives sustainable solutions and market leadership in the flexible packaging industry.

Dan Gardner
Director Market Development Group
Valco Melton

Dan Gardner; Mechanical Engineer, with 39 years of industry experience in high-speed converting and consumer disposables manufacturing. Dan brings years of product and process design, implementation, support, and development, holding prior engineering roles and engineer, manager, corporate engineering manager, Director of Technology, Owner-Principle (19yrs) for Gardner Inc, North American Operations manager for a global OEM and today Director of Market Development Group at Valco Melton.

Scott Whiteside
Ph. D. Professor, Food Nutrition & Packaging Sciences
Clemson University

Dr. Whiteside is a professor in the Department of Food, Nutrition and Packaging Sciences at Clemson University (USA). He has expertise in food safety, thermal processing, process validation, food product shelf life, and food packaging. Dr. Whiteside has taught various short courses and made numerous formal presentations both domestically and internationally on a variety of topics such as packaging fundamentals, biopolymer packaging, pet food packaging, food packaging, thermal processing of food, retort packaging, packaging design and development. He has taught senior and graduate level classes in packaging machinery, packaging distribution and packaging design. Dr. Whiteside is sought by U.S. and International food processing and packaging companies for his knowledge and expertise of thermal processing of food products, retort pouch processing, food spoilage determination, food packaging and shelf life. Dr. Whiteside led in the development of the Cryovac® Retort Laboratory at Clemson University in 2008. This state-of-the-art laboratory is focused on the application and development of new retort pouch technology and innovative thermal processing technologies for packaged foods. He is also a recognized thermal process authority by the FDA and USDA and has been the lead instructor for over 50 Better Process Control Schools (FDA approved). Dr. Whiteside has developed a successful research program in the areas of thermal processing of packaged foods, and bio-polymer film modification resulting in over 50 research publications, a book chapter and 1 U.S. patent. He has been a member of the Institute for Thermal Processing Specialists (IFTPS) for 25 years and has served on IFTPS Board of Directors. In addition, Dr. Whiteside is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP).

Nilesh Savargaonkar
Principal, Customer Application Development Engineer
ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Co.

Education:

Work Experience:

• Primary expertise in flexible food packaging
• Application development and product development in food packaging space
• Supported small, medium and large customers in the flexible packaging industry
• ExxonMobil Chemical Company: 7 years, Global customer application development; Areas of focus–Food packaging, Meat and Cheese packaging (barrier films), all PE packaging, metallocene LLDPE and HDPE resin developments, MDO-PE and BOPE film applications.
• Printpack Inc.: 2 yrs, Product development; Area of focus – shelf-stable food products
• Dow Chemical: 8 yrs, Technical service and development; Areas of focus– Lamination films, Meat and Cheese packaging, Structure-property relationships of LLDPE-LDPE blends, etc.
• Ampacet Corporation: 10 yrs, Various roles including product development, customer technical support and lab manager, Areas of focus– Additive developments for flexible food pkg.

Patents:

• 27 patent applications
• 12 granted patents

Alon Schnitzer
North America Flexible Packaging Specialist
HP

Alon Schnitzer, Flexible Packaging Specialist at HP Indigo Alon commenced his career in the printing industry over a decade ago as a Sales and Account Manager at CLP (Tadbik), Israel's leading flexible packaging converter and an early adopter of the HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press. Having led the digital department at CLP, his transition to HP Indigo was a natural progression. As the Global Flexible Packaging Segment Manager at HP Indigo, Alon spearheaded business development, content creation and marketing initiatives, and fostered strong relationships with customers, partners, and key industry stakeholders. Alon has extensive experience in sales and business development, a results-oriented approach, and a deep passion for driving the digital transformation of the flexible packaging market.

Chuck Christopher
Vice President of Sales
All State Printing

Chuck Christopher, VP sales at All State Printing Head of national sales at All State Printing, Chuck has 27 years of food packaging experience working with some of the premier companies in this market space such as Alcan and Sonoco. The last 16 years have been dedicated to flexible film solutions for the baked goods market. The key customers being Bimbo Bakeries, Kraft, Flowers and Kings Hawaiian Bread. Managing multinational sales solutions to CPG’s has provided Chuck with a unique skill set to handle new global packaging strategies. This combined with long term industry relationships and a steadfast dedication to his customers has created an open-door relationship to the top decision makers in the baking industry. Presently Chuck is working with Bimbo Global Packaging team on extended shelf life and cleaner labels solutions.

Ryan Chai
Strategic Solutions Manager
Nobelus

Ryan Chai, Strategic Account Solutions Specialist at Nobelus. He has decades of experience in the packaging industry working across both vendor and converter spaces. He was a pioneer in bringing digital flexible packaging to the United States while at Kala Packaging, which is now part of Fortis Solutions Group. Using his expertise in electron beam production as well as thermal and solvent-free lamination technologies, Ryan currently leads global label and flexible packaging initiatives at Nobelus. Outside of work, he enjoys camping, photography, and spending time with his wife, five children, and three dogs in their home of northern Utah.

Ed Wiegand
President and CEO
JetFx

Ed Wiegand, President and CEO of JetFx Inc. The first true production print engine technology company. JetFx delivers digital printing embellishments globally to multiple markets and platforms. His service of 37 years of iconic Global Brands in the packaging and print industry provide the experience and knowledge to innovate solutions for the challenges facing the industry. Ed Wiegand currently holds five (5) U.S. patents on technologies directly related to the packaging & label industries Ed served as Executive Vice President of Sancoa International & TubeDec LLC (a world class label and tube manufacturer) managing top accounts that included Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal, Johnson & Johnson and others. He led the global expansion strategy with the company’s chairman and spear headed new developments in technology.