Bill Disney started his career in flexible packaging in 1969 at Multi Color Label in Cincinnati, Ohio. During his 15 years at Multi Color, he was a gravure press operator, shift supervisor, department manager and plant production manager.

In 1984, Mr. Disney took on the challenge of the new plant start up on Combloc Aseptic Packaging in Columbus, Ohio where he was manager of printing and extrusion until 1998.

In June of 1998, Mr. Disney left his roots in Ohio behind to work as Manager of Graphics & Printing Technology at Diversapack, LLC in Marengo, IL

Mr. Disney is also serving as Chairman of the Technical Committee for the PLGA.

Craig Sheppard has served the Converting Industry in a variety of capacities for the past 22 years. With no previous experience in association management he was appointed Executive Director of AIMCAL , the Association of Industrual Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators' in June, 1998. With an MBA in Management and an undergraduate degree in Market Research, Craig Sheppard used his knowledge of the converting industry to turn AIMCAL into an international player in the global converting community. Under his leadership, the Association has grown from 90 member companies to over 230 members today. Mr. Sheppard is a long time supporter of CMM International and has been involved with the exposition for all of his years in the converting industry. He resides with his wife Kay in Tega Cay, SC, just outside Charlotte, NC.

Edward Cohen is a technical consultant in all aspects of the web coating process. He received a Ph.D from the University of Delaware and a B.S.Ch.E. from Tufts University. His expertise is in the coating and drying of thin films, coating process development and scale-up, polyester base development, film defect mechanisms and defect characterization techniques. He has over 40 years experience in coating research and manufacturing technology.

Dr. Cohen recently retired from DuPont Central Research and Development as a DuPont Fellow. He is co-editor of Modern Coating and Drying Technology, co-author of Coating and Drying Defects: Troubleshooting Operating Problems and co-author of AIMCAL Defects Lexicon. In addition he has many other publications and teaches continuing education courses. He is Technical Consultant for AIMCAL (The Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators), Treasurer of the International Society of Coating Science and Technology, and is a contributing author for Paper Film & Foil Converter. He received the John Tallmadge Award for Contributions to Coating technology and the AIMCAL President's award.

Gary Vogt is the Associate Director for Global Pre-Press & Print Technology for Kraft Foods. He has 38 years of experience in the graphic arts pre-press and print reproduction for packaging. He started at Kraft in 1996 as the Packaging Quality Manager and was promoted in 2000 to Group Manager and in 2004 to his new position. He has five direct Senior Packaging Quality Managers reporting to him at five different locations, Glenview, IL®, Rye Brook, NY®, East Hanover, NJ (Nabisco)®, Madison, WI (Oscar Mayer) and Bremen, Germany.

While at Kraft Foods, Gary has introduced new emerging technology advances, like digital printing, CTP, extended color gamut, and electronic workflows. He has implemented "Ink and Color Standards", "Press Characterization" and "Electronic Digital Art" policies for Kraft Foods. He has helped the FFTA's "First” committee to set up standards for the Flexo Industry and is a core team member for NPES / CGATS to review standards and best practices for the graphic arts field.

George Thomas has 30 years experience in the consumer packaging industry including senior leadership positions with Ampac Packaging, Mead (Meadwestvaco), Illinois Tool Works, RA Jones Company and, PaperPak Products. Mr. Thomas is a graduate of Kenyon College with a BA in PS and Economics. He currently resides in Cincinnati with his wife and daughter.

Mr. Jay L. Gouliard joined General Mills, early 2002, as Vice President, Packaging Development, in the Innovation, Technology, and Quality (ITQ) organization. Jay is an officer of General Mills and a member of the ITQ Senior Leadership Team. Jay and his team are responsible for all aspects of packaging development and materials, function, structure, design, and packaging systems for all General Mills' products and businesses.

Jay graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bradley University in Peoria, IL, and holds a masters degree in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri at Rolla.

Prior to joining General Mills, Jay held positions as Director, Global Packaging Development at the Coca-Cola Companies®, Sr. Manager, Integrated Product and Process Development at Anheuser-Busch Companies®, Sr. Mechanical Design Engineer at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, and Tool and Die Maker at Caterpillar, Inc.

Jay is a past member of the Packaging Science Advisory Board of Clemson University and the Industrial Advisory Board of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology at Iowa State University; a current member the Industrial Design Advisory Board of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Florida Packaging Engineering Advisory Board, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Leadership Committee for the Packaging Management Council of the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute, the Board of Directors of the Illusion Theatre, the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association, and the Product Development and Management Association. He is the co-author of the book, The Big Moo, published in the Fall of 2005.

Mark Leuenberger is Manager, Advanced Packaging Systems at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Johnson & Johnson. He has more than 24 years of packaging industry experience, predominantly in the healthcare/medical device area. He has been with Ethicon Endo-Surgery for over 11 years, eight of which he has managed the packaging development for the company's sterile medical devices. Included in this are notable accomplishments such as, conversion of half the company's product packaging to flexible form/fill/seal film packages from pre-formed rigid trays leading to 1998 "Medical Packager of The Year" company honors by Pharmaceutical Medical Packaging News, "Green Globe Award" and "Top Packaging Awards" from FPA. He has also received a 1994 Ameristar award for work on handicap accessible wheelchair packaging for another J&J company. His current work is focused on Brand Protection and RFID technology.

His previous experience also includes employment with Baxter Healthcare Biotech Group, where he developed and implemented patented "Microporous Film Labels" for Blood Bags solving a worldwide problem of deterioration in labels and barcodes during blood collection and processing. This lead to "Package of the Year" honors by Food & Drug Packaging magazine. He also served on AABB and ISBT Standards Committees for labeling and bar coding of blood products. He also worked for several years as Project Manager at American Sterilizer Company, now owned by Steris Corporation, where he developed products for infection control within hospitals. He has also served as an expert witness in a patent litigation case.

Mark A. Spaulding has been a business-to-business journalist for 25 years. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BA in Print Journalism and Graphic Design and began working in public-affairs reporting at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His publishing experience includes production editing on Prepared Foods magazine, a variety of editorial positions including chief editor of Packaging magazine, and for the last 11 years, he has been Editor in Chief of Converting. A frequent conference speaker and moderator, Mark has addressed a wide range of topics including consumer research into packaging, coating/laminating, digital printing and flexible-packaging production trends. He has been the recipient of the Cahners Medal of Excellence for News Reporting, as well as the American Society of Business Publication Editors Regional Award for News.

Dr. Michael O. Okoroafor is currently the Global Director, Packaging Technology Services at The Coca Cola Company. In this role, he is responsible for Global Customer Packaging, Breakthrough Decoration & Design Platform and packaging technology support to the Business Units of the Coca-Cola Company. In addition, he is also responsible for managing new idea & technology opportunities for the Corporate Packaging organization. Previously, he was Technology Director for the Fizzion Group responsible for facilitating the identification and transfer of external technologies to meet the strategic technical and business needs of The Coca-Cola Company. Mike joined Coca-Cola in 2001 as Manager, Future Technologies, leading a highly skilled expert group in researching the world of emerging engineering and science based technologies that will provide replenishment stream for the Coca-Cola innovation pipeline.

Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Mike was the Associate Director, Research & Development for Optical Products at PPG Industries, Inc., where he directed the research team responsible for the development of new optical materials, coatings chemistry and process technologies in support of the Optical Products Business Group. Under his leadership, Trivex, the world's first tri-performance lens material was commercialized.

He holds a Ph.D in organic polymer chemistry from Michigan State University. He is also a graduate of Executive Development Program at Kellogg Business School. He holds 25 patents.

Mike Dowling is President of CL&D Graphics and CL&D Digital. CL&D Graphics is a leading North American provider of flexible packaging, film labels, pressure sensitive labels, shrink labels and other specialty products for the consumer products business. CL&D Digital helps consumer product companies bring their products to market fast by supporting marketing and package development with sales samples, mock-ups, prototyping, and product fulfillment for a wide range of consumer products, food and confectionary companies.

Mr. Kopecky founded his consulting practice, which specializes in the design, development, testing and commercialization of consumer products packaging following a distinguished career with several of the largest and most sophisticated consumer products companies in the world.

Mr. Kopecky began his career as a Food Research Scientist with Armour and Company. Shortly thereafter he joined Kraft Inc. where he progressed rapidly through positions as a Packaging Research Scientist, Assistant Packaging Manager and Packaging Manager. While at Kraft he implemented a series of programs that generated $3-5 million/year in savings in the production of rigid and flexible packaging categories; spearheaded the development of the Company's first Vendor Certification Program for packaging materials and developed and delivered a packaging awareness program that proved successful in improving product quality and safety.

Most recently Stan served as a Senior Packaging Project Manager with Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum and a leader in the confectionary field. While at Wrigley he played a major role in the evolution of the company from a provider of relatively indistinguishable commodities into a consumer focused, product feature driven business. In that regard, he was instrumental in achieving the number two position in the sugarless gum category by designing the packaging for Orbit tab gum, which proved to be a powerful product differentiator and which was awarded both a U.S. patent and the Company's Creativity Award. He supported the Company's successful entry into the breath mint segment by designing the tin and carton packaging utilized for the introduction of the Eclipse and Excel products into the U.S. and Canadian markets respectfully. In addition, he developed the packaging and shipping strategies that enabled the test marketing of the Eclipse Flash Strip product in the European market, prior to making a major capital commitment to the initiative. While proving his skills as an packaging innovator, Stan has continually demonstrated his commitment to cost management and containment. In that regard, he standardized packaging operations for Eclipse, Orbit White and Juicy Fruit pellet gum at three different production facilities and saved more that $3 million/year by modifying the blister and sleeve composition materials for Eclipse and Orbit White pellet gum.

Stan's contributions to the packaging industry have been recognized by his 2004 induction into the Packaging Hall of Fame, his 2005 receipt of the Riester-Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement in Food Packaging Technology, election into the Institute of Packaging Professionals College of Fellows for Outstanding Accomplishments in the Packaging Field and receipt of the Institute of Food Technologists Founders Award for Outstanding Leadership of the Food Packaging Division. His other contributions to the industry include service as Chairman, President and CEO of the Institute of Packaging Professionals and Chairman of the Food Packaging Division of the Institute of Food Technologists.

Stan earned his BS and MS degrees in Agricultural Industries from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL and resides in Prospect Heights, IL

Sunil Shaw, Director, Product Development of the Packaging Division, Flint Group, NA has a strong background in Organic/Polymer chemistry and their applications in liquid packaging inks. His extensive business and technical knowledge of raw materials, inks & coatings for a variety of packaging applications used around the world has lead to eleven years of successful R&D management experience and has made him a successful leader in managing global packaging technical teams at Flint. Previous to Flint, Mr. Shaw held various positions in packaging R&D. At which he developed a series of acrylic monomers and polymers. Mr. Shaw's recent move to Product Development in 2005, allows him to complement his R&D knowledge, as well as enhance Flint's offerings and service to its customers.

Ms. Tuggle joined Maxcess International in September 2001 as Director of Marketing Communications. She is responsible for the development and execution of the corporate brand strategy and all internal and external marketing communications. She has more than 20 years experience in sales and marketing within software and other manufacturing industries serving as Director of Marketing for CSI Advantage; Director of Business Development for T.H.I.S. Computer Solutions. Ms. Tuggle has a strong background in on-line marketing, is the founder of Marketing Mentors and has earned her bachelors degree in Business from Oregon State University. Maxcess International provides components to the web handling industry through their operating companies of Fife (Guiding and Inspection), MAGPOWR (Tension Control) and Tidland (Winding and Slitting).

Yolanda Simonsis is a 28-year veteran of the packaging and converting industries. She has held past editorial positions with two former publications of Delta Communications and Cahners Publishing (now Reed Business Information), including Packaging Digest for five years and Converting Magazine for 12 years.

In 1995, Simonsis joined the staff of Paper, Film & Foil CONVERTER, assuming the position of associate publisher and chief editor. She also assumed the position of editorial director of Boxboard Containers Intl. from September 2000 through its closing in February 2002. This year PFFC celebrates its 78th year in covering the converting industry, having an earlier title at its inception in 1927 of The Envelope. It bore five additional titles through its evolutionary history before arriving at its present name. The magazine was responsible for helping to define the fledgling converting industry during World War II when materials were being developed in support of the war effort. Later these materials found application in the consumer and commercial markets, leading to the present day title of Paper, Film & Foil CONVERTER.

Mary Beth has over 20 years experience with TAPPI the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, and converting industries. Her primary role is in business development concentrating on customer exchange down the industry value chain while focusing on the end-user. She creates new products and services as well as adjusts existing product lines to reflect the voice of the customer. Mary Beth leads volunteer engagement and product development for TAPPI’s PLACE (Plastics, Laminates, Adhesives, Coatings, and Extrusions) and Nonwovens Divisions and Shipping, Receiving, and Printing Groups. She has a strong background in publishing, communications, marketing, and sales management. Born and raised in Florida she headed north to Georgia Southern University. After adjusting to the colder climate she earned a BA in Business. Most recently Mary Beth earned Certified Association Executive (CAE) certification.

Peter has been in the industry since 1956, starting as an apprentice in gravure and flexo printing. He obtained a degree in printing, papermaking and cylinder construction from Manchester University, England. He has worked for a large industry conglomerate in Europe and, prior to joining The Comexi Group two years ago as President and COO of Comexi North America, Inc., he was president of another major industry corporation for twenty years. Peter and his wife, Amy, moved to the U.S. four years ago from the U.K. They now reside just outside Charlotte, North Carolina. They have one daughter, Sarah, who lives and works in the Grand Cayman.