Speakers 2022

Simon is an independent management consultant to non-profits and corporate organisations, who moderates conferences internationally. His work is based on the principles of high-quality – an inquisitive approach, well-planned sessions, advance speaker contact, clear communication and use of techniques to maintain audience engagement.

Whilst his subject areas vary enormously, he specialises in strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship. His expertise also stretches to issues affecting the meetings industry and he regularly shares insights as a speaker, moderator and trainer at international conferences.

Welcome connection via:
– [email protected]
– https://be.linkedin.com/in/simondufaur

Nicholas Georges is the Senior Vice President, Scientific & International Affairs of the Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA).  Georges leads HCPA’s activity on aerosol products, as well as multiple scientific and regulatory areas both domestically and internationally such as air quality.  Georges has a monthly column in Spray Technology & Marketing and often contributes to other publications such as World Aerosols and Aerosol Europe.
Before joining HCPA, Georges was the Director of Regulatory Affairs at PLZ Aeroscience and the Technical Director at Nyco Products Company.  Georges has a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Aerosol Today Worldwide: a global tour of important developments in the aerosol industry

Nicholas will present a quick overview of industry status, issues and challenges in the US.

Philip has an MA and PhD in History from Massey University, New Zealand and has represented the aerosol industry – first in New Zealand and more recently in Australia – for over 30 years.
After a stint as a Junior Lecturer in the University’s History Department, he joined the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation (now BusinessNZ) as a member of its trade group servicing team where he worked with a wide range of industry groups including the Aerosol  Association of New Zealand and the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrances Association.
In October 1996 he was appointed Executive Director of the Aerosol Association of Australia. He has served as Secretary of the Asian Aerosol Federation since its inception in late 2011.

Aerosol Today Worldwide: a global tour of important developments in the aerosol industry

Philip will present a quick overview of industry status, issues and challenges from the member countries of the Asian Aerosol Federation https://www.aerosol-asia.org

ALEXIS VAN MAERCKE

Alexis Van Maercke is Secretary General of APEAL, The Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging. Before joining APEAL in 2016, he was policy officer at the European Commission, Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.
Prior to this he spent five years in the European Parliament as political advisor to Marianne Thyssen, former Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, in charge of legislative files related to food safety, environment and consumer protection.
He holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Leuven in Belgium as well as a Master’s in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe in Warsaw, Poland.

VILIAM GAŠPAR

Viliam Gašpar is Director of Customer Technical Service at U.S. Steel Košice, and the current President of APEAL, the Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging.
Viliam has over 25 years of experience in Research & Development, Customer Technical Service and Product Innovation at U. S. Steel. He holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh alongside a Ph.D. and a Master’s Degree in Metallurgy of Metals from the Technical University of Košice.

21^st century aerosols

In 2019 the European Commission announced the European Green Deal, representing huge regulatory challenges but also opportunities for materials to help Europe transition from a linear to a more circular economy.
In order to address these challenges head-on and deliver a packaging material fit for the 21^st century, APEAL and its members have been actively moving forward in a range of topics related to sustainable production; from the promotion of recycling; to the aspiration of zero steel for packaging to landfill; as well as the cooperative development of a chromium free passivation alternative (CFPA) for electrolytic tinplate.
In this presentation, APEAL will explain how the latest legislation means a new calculation methodology for recycling rates, as well as sharing recommendations on to close the materials loop recycling and sharing developments affecting the future of steel aerosols in Europe.

Director Aer Beatha Limited, Michael is a both a pharmacist and an industrial chemist. He has worked with aerosol products for over 25 years. Aer Beatha is an aerosol device development company and was founded by Michael in 2015. The company develops sustainable products for the circular economy. The company has an extensive intellectual property portfolio, covering pharmaceutical, cosmetic and industrial aerosol device applications. Aer Beatha’s technology centre is located in London and has offices in Sweden and Ireland. Previously, Michael was international sales manager for the generic division of ReckittBenckiser in UK, Australia and USA.

A refill-reuse spray system and a vision for the aerosol industry

Aer Beatha has developed a refill-reuse spray system which could address the needs of the aerosol industry.
Historically, aerosols were easy to formulate, as the products and the propellants were soluble in each other. Freons (Chlorofluorocarbons-CFCs) were excellent solvents. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a move from solvent to water based systems. During this time, CFCs were replaced by hydrocarbons and non-CFC propellants with the discovery of the Ozone Hole and implementation of the Montreal Protocol. Additional skills were needed to make stable emulsions in the new propellants. The refill-reuse system returns to the state where it easy to formulate a spray. However, the this system has implications for the aerosol manufacturing infra-structure and supply chain.

Manav Lalwani
Manav A. Lalwani serves as Executive Vice President at American Spraytech (AST), a contract developer and manufacturer of personal care spray products based in New Jersey, USA where he leads commercial activities including Research & Innovation, Sales & Marketing, and Customer Service. AST’s customers range from disruptive start-ups to Fortune 500 multinational corporations. During his tenure, the company has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of over 20%. He graduated from Princeton University in 2009, where he majored in Political Economy and minored in East and South Asian Studies, and received his Masters in International Strategy & Economics from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Manav also enjoys cross-training, traveling, and engaging in community service.

Samantha Gribben
Samantha Gribben has returned to American Spraytech as its new Director of Innovation. Gribben began her career as a chemist as AST in 2008, training in formulation, packaging and testing under industry pioneer, Bill Lueschen. During her tenure, she formulated several breakthrough products, was granted a U.S patent and further trained other chemists in aerosol science. From 2016 – 2021 she served as Senior Scientific Liaison to Open Development Corporate at L’Oreal USA, where she partnered with brand teams to spearhead innovation projects across formats.

Rasheedat Ipaye
Rasheedat has been a member of the American Spraytech family for over 6 years, during which she has served as a Chemist and most recently, as Co-Manager of the Research and Innovation Department. During her tenure so far, she has been granted a U.S Patent and been able to teach and mentor a new generation of Aerosol Chemists, all while formulating products that live up to our motto: “If You Can Dream It, We Can Spray It!” In her role as Manager of New Partner Engagement, Rasheedat will leverage her technical background to lead AST’s Business Development efforts by reaching out and partnering with new customers around the world to bring the vision of their brands to life by connecting them with AST’s library of spray innovations.

Inclusive Innovation: Spraying Beauty without Boundaries

Exploring the frontiers of Personal Care Innovation in the US and the opportunities that exist when tapping into a growing consumer base across personal care applications including the hair, skin, and OTC drug and medical device categories.

Cláudia Silva is a pharmacist and holds a PhD in Pharmacy, specialty of Pharmaceutical Technology. She worked during 11 years in the pharmaceutical industry as Head of Research and Innovation. In 2020 she joined the FMCG segment where she became Head of Research and Development at Colep Consumer Products.

She has published several scientific papers in peer reviewed journals and is the co-author of two patents.

Naturally propelled aerosols: past, present and future

On this talk we will explain how Colep Consumer Products is addressing the challenge of Naturally Propelled aerosols. We will describe the main challenges regarding  formula and packaging and how we see the future.

Giulia Sebastio is Scientific and Regulatory affairs manager at DUCC – the Downstream Users of Chemicals Co-ordination group. DUCC is a platform of 11 associations re-presenting downstream industries. The objective of the group are to contribute with a common voice to the implementation of REACH and CLP.
Giulia has a background in chemistry, and has worked as a chemist and regulatory affairs professional across different fields including chemicals, food products and pharmaceuticals. As DUCC manger she aims to bring together the voices of all DUCC members towards cooperation and a unified voice.

Chemicals Strategy on Sustainability – the views of Downstream User Formulators

The Downstream Users of Chemicals Co-ordination group (DUCC) is a platform of 11 European associations which represent “downstream” industries towards a common voice on REACH and CLP. Sectors represented range from cosmetics and detergents to aerosols, paints, inks, toners, pressroom chemicals, adhesives and sealants, construction chemicals, fragrances, lubricants, crop protection and chemical distributors industries. With the CSS unfolding, DUCC has been active on key topics, representing the positions of DU formulators. This presentation will cover critical areas of the CSS, the status of discussions, the positions DUCC has taken until now, and what action can be taken as next steps.

Alfeo holds a degree in Material Engineering; he joined Coster in 1998 as laser and material expert, after a two-year research work on composite materials in cooperation with the Material dpt of the Trento University; in 2003 he became responsible of the Technical R&D Coster laboratory.
Through his career he specialized in the field of aerosol and dispensing packaging, materials and principles, managing several innovative projects.
In 2021 he was appointed Discovery & Innovation Manager.

Circular Economy Innovations: monomaterial solutions in aerosol actuators and caps

• The one piece solution of Vortex technology
• Ongoing development on micromist inserts materials
• “Easy off” concept

Gary Hawthorne, MBA, is the CEO of Farrag Packaging Ltd. He is 63. He worked for Unilever in research in organic chemistry, for Metal box as product innovation manager for general packaging, for Johnson Controls on PET packaging as European business development manager, for MG Packaging and its own business. First CEO of Salvalco (‘eco-valves’) in 2013, then CEO of Farrag Packaging.

Alternative material for aerosol dispenser compostable pack

Gary will present an update on the processing and development of an alternative material for aerosol dispenser compostable pack. He will cover the technical issues and hurdles he faced during the initial container development, the development of alternatives, the solution and progresses, and the packaging solutions for containers and composite bricks etc that are ‘eco’ and have the adequate barrier properties.

Ilse Latour is the Development Manager at Medspray. She has a background in Industrial Design and joined Medspray in 2018. In the past years she has been working on the technical aspects of implementing of the Medspray nozzle into a wide range of products for the pharmaceutical, over the counter and beauty, home and personal care market. Medspray invented and manufactures innovative spray nozzles. Using the Medspray nozzle technology we create a fine mist without using fast evaporating propellants or excipients. A simple pump with water-based formulation is all it takes to generate a fine mist, for example for inhalation purposes, fine fragrance or personal care applications.

Medspray; propellant free soft mist technology

Medspray invented and manufactures innovative spray nozzles. Using the Medspray nozzle technology we create a fine mist without using fast evaporating propellants or excipients. A simple pump with water-based formulation is all it takes to generate a fine mist, for example for inhalation purposes, fine fragrance or personal care applications. During the presentation a short introduction on the Medspray nozzle technology will be given. The added value of the nozzle by improving user comfort, user-friendliness and environmental impact will be highlighted. Followed by an overview of the markets and applications in which the Medspray nozzles are available at this moment.

My first encounter in the innovation of aerosol products was more than 20 years ago and I’ve been working on such products ever since, whether it be hairsprays, dry shampoos and other cosmetic product formats. I currently lead innovation on the aerosol category and other haircare product formats with a team of formulators, working alongside packaging teams.

Nature’s aerosol generators

Can we look to nature to be inspired to bring innovation to the aerosol format ? This presentation takes a brief and candid look at how nature creates sprays in surprising and curious ways !