Carlos Alvarez Pereira is Executive Committee Member of the Club of Rome since 2017, a global think tank promoting sustainability since 1986. Carlos is also Founder and President of Innaxis Foundation & Research Institute (Spain, Belgium); CEO of Telenium (Spain); CEO of Texelia (Switzerland); and Chairman of the Board of CXP Group (France and Germany). Carlos is dedicated to promoting research on socio-technical paradigm shifts towards sustainability, as well as applications of complexity theory to the domains of transport, energy and health. Carlos founded or chaired several consulting companies in Spain, Switzerland, France and Germany, with capabilities in strategic advice, expert assistance, project management, and systems integration and maintenance. He was also lecturer and researcher in Applied Mathematics at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). Carlos is also active in the Spanish Fulbright Alumni Association, of which he was Vice-President and whose monthly conferences he organises. He is also active in a wide network of more than 40 Alumni Associations of American and European Universities. Recently, Carlos was nominated at the UNESCO Chair on Global Understanding for Sustainability

Werner Bosmans, a Belgian national, graduated as a Bioengineer at the University of Ghent and obtained a Ph.D. in international economics in Montpellier, France. He also holds a degree in Public Management.  After having worked as a researcher at the University of Ghent and the Belgium Ministry of Agriculture, he worked as an assistant to the Secretary-General of the Belgian and then Flemish Ministry of Agriculture. In 2005, he joined the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission in Brussels. He was responsible for Natural Resource policies, and he helped set up the International Resource Panel together with UNEP. He is also one of the authors of the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe and coordinated the European Resource Efficiency Platform (EREP) and work around the Circular Economy. Lately, he focused his work on developing the Plastics Strategy and the Single Use plastics Directive. In 2021, he has been seconded to unit B3 of DG Environment to support work on the preparation and drafting of a proposal to revise the Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive. He is also a part-time professor of Bioengineering at the ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles).

Dr. Brigitte Dero holds a PhD in Sciences (Molecular Biology) from the University of Brussels (ULB) in Belgium. Early in her career she worked for a special programme of the World Health Organisation on tropical diseases before moving to the metals industry to work in the occupational health, safety and environment arenas and, subsequently, on waste management and recycling.

In June 1999 she joined the European Chemical Industry Council to manage the plastic additives sector groups , PVC stabilisers, plasticisers, flame retardants, antioxidants and food contact additives.

In December 2011 Brigitte became general manager of the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM).

In January 2014 she became general manager of VinylPlus®, the umbrella under which 200 companies from the PVC value chain (resin, chemical additives, and plastic converters) work together to increase the sustainability performance of PVC.

In 2012 she registered VinylPlus in the UN Registry of Commitments and engaged VinylPlus with UNEP/UNIDO. In 2013, VinylPlus became a member of the UNIDO/UNEP Green industry platform, a global high-level, multi-stakeholder partnership to mobilise action on Green Industry around the world.

She is Belgian, married and has two sons. Brigitte is passionate about science and sustainability, women in chemistry and education. She supports the ‘Women in Green industry chapter’ of UNIDO/UNEP.

Andy joined Baerlocher’s UK subsidiary in 1991 and spent his early career in technical service, sales management and multinational key account management roles, primarily servicing customers in North West Europe. In 2006, he was appointed Managing Director of Baerlocher UK Limited and continues in this position today. Andy joined the management team in Baerlocher GmbH in Munich in 2009 and in his role as Head of PVC Additives EU/MEA, he has been responsible for steering Baerlocher’s business development from all of its European sites through significant technological change and regional expansion. In 2013, Andy joined the Global Management Committee of the Baerlocher Group as Global Head of the Strategic Business Unit PVC Additives and represents the company on a number of subsidiary boards. 

Ondřej is a Czech politician who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019. He has since been serving on the Committee on Regional Development. In addition to his committee assignments, he is part of the Parliament’s delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee.

Jason is an experienced Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the chemicals industry. He is professionally skilled in various sustainability models as well as ISO 14001, Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Biomass, and Carbon Management with particular emphasis on circular economy and The Natural Step Framework for Sustainability. Jason is also the chairman of the VinylPlus Controlled-Loop Committee.

Stephan Sicars was a Senior Programme Officer with the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer for ten years. His main responsibilities were to discuss project and programme assessment, development of funding rules and policies, as well as funding levels with the implementing agencies of the Protocol and the Executive Committee of the Fund. Prior to joining the Multilateral Fund, he worked for a number of years in research, facilitated technology transfer and participated in various international technical panels and task forces. Stephan Sicars is currently Director of the Department of Environment at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, which, through the implementation of projects, covers subjects such as cleaner production, water and the management of persistent organic pollutants, as well as mercury, emissions reduction of nonCO2 climate gases and the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances. He holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hannover University with specializations in energy and process engineering.

Frédéric Simon is the publisher and editor of EurActiv, the leading specialised EU media. He joined EurActiv in 2003 as a reporter to cover some of the EU’s most heated policy debates such as the REACH regulation on chemicals, energy liberalisation, and the emissions trading scheme. In his current position, he oversees the editorial and IT departments of EurActiv in Brussels, Paris and Berlin while continuing to write about EU affairs with a particular focus on economic and environmental issues.

Frédéric is also Brussels correspondent for France 24, the 24/7 international TV channel. He graduated in journalism from Brussels University (ULB) in 1998 and holds a Master’s degree in EU politics from the Institut d’Etudes Européennes (IEE) in Brussels.

Helle has a MSc and Ph.D. in technical chemistry combined with a General Management program at INSEAD, and has more than 30 years of broad international experience in the chemistry & biotechnology industry. She is an expert in translating opportunities or problems into actionable project plans as well as structuring the process and solving the dilemmas towards successful project completion. Former R&D Manager & VP at Hempel and Dyrup and business development manager at Novozymes, and an independent consultant focusing on the new chemical legislation REACH, Helle is now working as a Senior Consultant at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (DK EPA).

Stefan Sommer has over 30 years of consulting, business development and general management experience gained at various leading chemical companies. Having served as CEO of Ticona Engineering Plastics, CEO of ASK Chemicals and President of DSM China, Mr. Sommer brings abundant industry and executive expertise to the management team.

Dr. Petra Weisshaupt studied biotechnology at the technical University of Berlin and continued with a PHD-Thesis at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in Berlin. She also studied economics and management at the Technical University Kaiserslautern. From 2014 to 2016, she worked at the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik as a scientific officer. In 2017, she joined the German Environment Agency (UBA) where she works as a scientific officer.