Mark Rushton
European Conference Chair
Editor, PPI Magazine and RISI website
RISI

Mark Rushton is UK based and has worked in print, pulp and paper for a career spanning 30 years. He has been reporting on the pulp and paper industry for over 10 years and has visited mills and companies across the globe. He started on Papermaking and Distribution (PMD), Digital Printer and Print & Paper Monthly. Mark is now the editor of Pulp & Paper International (PPI) magazine and is also responsible for overseeing content on the www.risi.com website and in Pulp & Paper International (PPI) China magazine. Mark is also the chairman of the PPI Awards judging panel and regularly interviews the leading CEOs in the pulp and paper industry. Mark holds a City and Guilds in Printing and Allied Trades.

Miles Roberts
Group Chief Executive
DS Smith

Miles Roberts was appointed Group Chief Executive of DS Smith on 4 May 2010. At DS Smith, he has implemented a clear strategy to become the leading supplier of recycled packaging for consumer goods in Europe. In January 2012, the company announced the £1.3bn acquisition of SCA Packaging, the packaging division of the Swedish conglomerate SCA, which will make it the second largest packaging business in Europe. Under his leadership, the company has also announced the £206m acquisition of Otor, a leading corrugated packaging company in France, and the disposal of Spicers (£200m), its European office products wholesaling business.

He was previously Chief Executive of McBride plc from July 2005 until April 2010, having originally joined as its Group Finance Director in January 2002. Prior to that, Miles was Finance Director of Costain. He was also a non-Executive Director of Care UK plc until May 2010.

Born in Tynemouth on the 14th of February 1964, Miles attended Stanley Technical High in South Norwood before graduating from Bristol with a degree in Civil Engineering. He began his career as an engineer for Ove Arup.

Miles lives in Hertfordshire and is married with four children. He enjoys tennis, sailing, skiing and golf.

Berry Wiersum
CEO
Sappi Fine Paper Europe

Sappi, the world's leading producer of coated fine paper, appointed Berry Wiersum (55, British) Chief Executive Officer of Sappi Fine Paper Europe (SFPE) on 15 January 2007.

Mr Wiersum started his career at ICI Fibres, became President of Amoco Fabrics (Europe), then the President of Amoco Chemicals (Europe), and when Amoco was taken over by BP, he moved to BP to assist with the integration of the two groups in Europe. He subsequently left BP and joined Pechiney S.A. in France and ran the CEBAL packaging division until he was recruited as Managing Director of the Packaging division of Kappa Packaging BV (The Netherlands) and member of the Management Board responsible for paper manufacture and packaging in the Kappa group. He holds a Master of Arts degree with Combined Honours in Mediaeval and Modern History and subsidiaries in French and Music from the University of St Andrews in the UK.

Berry Wiersum is currently Chairman of CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries).

Tony Smurfit
COO
Smurfit Kappa Group

Tony Smurfit is President and Chief Operations Officer of the Smurfit Kappa Group with responsibility for the group's European and Latin American operations. He began his career with the then Jefferson Smurfit Group in 1985 progressing through positions of increasing responsibility in Europe and the United States prior to taking up his current position in 2002. He is a member of the main Board of Directors since 1989.

Mr. Smurfit was one of the leaders of the take private in 2002 when the Jefferson Smurfit Group was taken private in a 3.7 billion management deal with the private equity firm, Madison Dearborn. He was a pivotal leader in the 2005 merger between the Jefferson Smurfit Group and Kappa Packaging of the Netherlands assuring the seamless integration of the businesses making the renamed Smurfit Kappa Group the European leader in corrugated packaging. He also played a pivotal role in the return, in 2007, of the Smurfit Kappa Group to the public equity markets in a 1.4 billion flotation, the largest ever equity raising in the paper and forest products sector.

Mr. Smurfit was appointed Honorary Consul of Mexico to Ireland in 2003 and was nominated Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour in 2004. He is Chairman of the International Corrugated Case Association since May 2011.

Jussi Pesonen
President and CEO
UPM-Kymmene Corporation

Jussi Pesonen, President and Chief Executive Officer of UPM-Kymmene Corporation, since January 2004 - Born 1960 - M.Sc.(Eng.)

Joined the company in 1987 as a production engineer, advancing rapidly into leading management posts in various paper business areas including Vice President of the Newsprint Product Group and COO of the paper divisions. He has also served as deputy to the President and CEO in 2001-2004.

Jussi Pesonen is Chairman of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) from January 2012. He also serves on the boards of UPM, Outokumpu Oyj, East Office of Finnish Industries Oy, Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) and Ilmarinen mutual pension insurance company.

Jouko Karvinen
CEO
Stora Enso

Jouko Karvinen joined Stora Enso on January 1, 2007, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer at the AGM on March 29, 2007.

Mr Karvinen joined Philips in June 2002 to manage its Medical Systems based in Boston, Massachusetts. He held the role as President & Chief Executive Office and was a member of the Group Management Committee. In April 2006, he was appointed to the Board of Management of Royal Philips Electronics.

Before joining Philips, Mr Karvinen was responsible for the Automation Division of ABB Group Ltd. He served ABB Group in several international positions and was a member of the ABB Group Executive Committee from 2000 to 2002.

Mr Karvinen is a Member of the Board of Nokia, AB SKF, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation and the Confederation of European Paper Industries; Member of the Business Co-Operation Council and Co-Chairman of the Forest Industry Task Force of EU-Russia Industrialists' Roundtable (IRT).

Mr Karinen was born in Finland in 1957, and holds a Master of Science degree in Electronics and Industrial Economics from Tampere University of Technology in Finland. He is married, with two children.

Maximo Pacheco
President, EMEA and Russia, International Paper
Senior Vice President, International Paper

Máximo Pacheco joined International Paper in 1994 as Executive Vice President for Chile and Latin America of Carter Holt Harvey. In 2000 he was appointed President of International Paper Latin America. Between 2004 and 2009, he was the President of International Paper do Brasil based in Sao Paulo and responsible for the business in Latin America.

Since January 2010, Máximo is the President of International Paper Europe, Middle East and Africa and has been a Senior Vice President of International Paper Co. since 2005. International Paper Co. is a global paper and packaging company with markets and manufacturing operations in North America, Europe, Latin America, Russia, Asia and North Africa. In 2010 the net sales were US$ 25 billion.

In Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), International Paper focuses on the production and marketing of office papers and paper-based packaging. The company is a leading supplier of cutsize paper in the office paper segment. It has manufacturing locations in seven countries with a total production capacity of 4 million tons of paper, pulp and board products. In 2010, the region had sales over US$ 3 billion and 10,000 employees.

Before joining IP he worked in Chile for Banco de Chile (1983-1990) and was the Chief Operating Officer of Codelco (1990-1994).

He earned a Business Engineer degree and MBA in Economy from Universidad de Chile.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of:
• Ilim Group. This company is Russia’s largest pulp and paper producer with business assets located in the Leningrad, Arkhangelsk and Irkutsk Oblasts being the largest mills in the Russian forest products industry accounting for more than 65% of the total pulp production in Russia and over 25% of the Russian board production. The total annual pulp and paper production volume of Ilim is more than 2.3 million tons. The Group employs over 20.000 people and is a 50:50 joint venture between International Paper and Russian partners, formed in October 2007.
• Etex Group, a privately owned Belgian industrial group operating in the high-quality building materials in 42 countries.
• Santiago Cityhall Theater in Chile.

Professor Andrea Boltho
Tutor in Economics
Oxford University

Educated in Italy and at the Universities of London (LSE), Paris and Oxford. From 1966 to 1977 at the OECD’s Department of Economics and Statistics. In 1973-74 Japan Foundation Fellow at the Research Institute of the Economic Planning Agency, Tokyo. From 1977 to 2007, Fellow and Tutor in Economics at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. Since 2008 Emeritus Fellow.

At various stages, consultant to the World Bank, the OECD and member of the Academic Council of the IFO Institute, Munich, as well as Visiting Professor in various European universities. Has been a Member of the Board of Finmeccanica, is a Director of Oxford Economics and has lectured on world and European economic developments to various private sector corporations, including ABB, Anglo American, Arthur Andersen, FIAT, Ericsson, Generali, IBM, KPMG, Pirelli, Siemens, Stora Enso, etc.

Rupert Taylor
Director
RBS Global Banking & Markets

Rupert is a Director in Royal Bank of Scotland's Global Banking & Markets Global Industrials Group with responsibility for Pulp, Paper and Packaging in EMEA. Rupert provides clients with sector-specific advice on mergers and acquisitions, and raising financing in the equity and debt capital markets, both within EMEA and beyond. He has also advised members of the UK parliament and UK government special advisors on banking and capital markets. Rupert has over 10 years experience in investment banking and financial services and has a BSc in Philosophy and Economics from the University of Bristol.

Martyn Eustace
MD, Newvizion Consulting Ltd
Director, Two Sides
European Sustainability Manager and UK Country Manager, Print Power

During his long career in the paper industry, Martyn Eustace has gained a wealth of experience having held a variety of senior management positions.

After a period in manufacturing with Domtar, Martyn moved to distribution as CEO of Howard Smith Paper, now part of the PaperlinX Group, and in 2004 he joined Map Merchant Group as CEO of Premier Paper.

Martyn is a member of PwCs' turnaround panel and is Managing Director of Newvizion, an independent business consultancy. He is the Director of the sustainability organisation Two Sides and the European Sustainability Manager and UK Country Manager for Print Power, an initiative to promote the sustainability and effectiveness of the Graphic Communications Value Chain.

Martyn is currently President of the UK Paper Industry Charitable Trust and has been President of the UK's National Association of Paper Merchants (NAPM). He has served on the Board of EUGROPA, the European Paper Merchants Association and is presently a Council member of PRIMA, the Paper and Related Industries Marketing Association. He delivered the keynote speech at the IGAS Graphic Arts event in Tokyo in September 2011.

Gareth Ward
Editor
The Print Business

Gareth has been writing about developments in the graphic arts industry since 1984, editing Printing World for much of that time. He now edits and publishes Print Business, the leading UK based monthly for the printing industry. He has written about the arrival of the Apple Mac, sparking the desktop publishing revolution, and the rise of digital printing technologies. Gareth has acquired a worldwide reputation for the knowledge and analysis that is clear in the articles he writes.

Jim Ford
Executive Director
Climate for Ideas

Mr. Ford is a policy advisor to several NGOs and companies on forest, trade and climate change issues, a member of both the North American and European Environmental Paper Network Steering Committees and has served on several technical working groups for the Forest Stewardship Council and other bodies. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate for Ideas, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Mr. Ford has lived and worked on forest issues and undertaken forest products research in Russia, Canada, Finland, the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands as well as his native United States.

Mr. Ford studied in the Masters of Environmental Science (Conservation Biology) and Masters of Public Affairs (Policy and Economics) at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. He has also studied at the Delft Technological University, the Netherlands, and L'Université de Paul Valery in Montpellier, France, and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His graduate thesis was entitled "Carbon Sequestration in Forests, System-wide Effects and the Kyoto Protocol."

Marco Mensink
Energy and Environment Director
CEPI

Marco Mensink holds a Masters of Science Degree in Forestry and Business Management from the Agricultural University of Wageningen in the Netherlands.

Before joining CEPI in March 2006, he worked for 6 years as Energy & Environment Director at the Royal Netherlands' Paper and Board Association, also representing the Dutch industry in Brussels.

Mr Mensink started his career at Ernst & Young Management Consulting, working there for six years in Environmental Management and assessing the environmental issues in mergers and acquisitions.

In CEPI, he is responsible for the Climate Change issues vis a vis the EU institutions, presenting the industries interests. Key energy issues at the moment are Energy market liberalisation, the EU emission trading system and bio-energy issues. Key environmental issues are REACH, the paper industry BREF, Green public procurement and Environmental data management. On behalf of CEPI, he is the chairman of the FTP Biorefinery taskforce and part of the Business Europe delegation for the UNFCCC Cop meetings. He also participates in meetings on Climate Change at the Alliance for Competitive Industries and the Alliance of energy intensive industries.

Mr Mensink is a Dutch national, 41 years (1968), married and has three children. He is now living in Brussels.

Joachim Klein
Founder/Managing Director
StepChange Consulting

Mr. Klein is of German–Swedish origin and holds a master's degree in business administration. Over the past 9 years he has worked with global companies in the sector to define strategies, improve performance, transform supply chains and integrate acquired companies. Prior to founding StepChange, he worked for 10 years as a management consultant with a large international management consulting and technology firm, where he was operationally responsible for building the pulp and paper consulting practice. In addition to his specialization in the forest, pulp & paper industry, Mr. Klein has consulting experience from a wide range of other industries.

Helma Brandlmaier
Senior Advisor Paper Footprint and Market Change
WWF

Helma Brandlmaier has been working for WWF International on forest issues since 2001. She currently holds a position as "Senior Advisor Paper Footprint and Market Change" and has focused on the environmental footprint of paper since 2005. Ms Brandlmaier has coordinated global advocacy and campaign activities on forest and paper issues during her 10 years of work within WWF. One of her specialties are paper and corporate scorings such as the WWF Environmental Paper Company Index and the WWF Paper Scorecard.

Prior to WWF, Ms Brandlmaier has worked over 2 years for the New South Wales Government, Australia, co-ordinating regional multistakeholder negotiations on forest issues. She also worked with sustainable forestry and community projects in Oregon, US.

Ms Brandlmaier has studied Political Science at the University of Vienna and at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also a certified mediator and has expertise in environmental conflict resolution.

Larry Tracy
Program Director
HP

Mr. Tracy has been involved in the HP printing business for over 30 years. His experience includes development for early LaserJet's including the LaserJet Classic, HP's first MFP (the HP Mopier) and entry into Color Laser printing. Mr. Tracy has also managed go-to-market and business development programs for products ranging from DeskJet's to HP's SuperDome computer. Mr. Tracy also managed teams in the Publishing business responsible for Workflow, Digital Front Ends and Partner programs for Indigo printing systems. Most recently, Larry managed a new business development team to rollout initial solutions for InkJet Digital presses, Book Printing systems and other new business incubations for IPG. Mr. Tracy currently manages Business InkJet Product development as well as the ColorLok program for HP.

John Sanderson
Director, Global Environmental Market Support
UPM

Since graduating from the University of Wales 23 years ago with a degree in Wood Science & Forestry John has worked exclusively for UPM.

As the frontrunner of the new forest industry, UPM is leading the integration of bio and forest industries into a new, sustainable and innovation-driven future, developing products made of renewable raw materials. UPM comprises of three Business Groups: Energy and pulp, Paper, and Engineered materials, with sales in 2010 € 8.9 billion. UPM has production plants in 16 countries and employs approximately 22,000 people worldwide.

Early years of John's career were spent in the minimization and control of environmental impacts at UPM Shotton Paper in North Wales, the UK’s largest integrated paper mill. Following a 2 year secondment to Finland carrying out research into waste paper recycling, water treatment, and process efficiency studies at UPM Jamsa River mills, John returned to the UK to take on the role of Head of Sustainable Development for UPMs UK business. This period saw the development of the Shotton mill from its original design as a 100% virgin fibre mill, to its current status as a 100% recycled fibre mill with its own renewable energy generation. The UPM Shotton mill has gone on to be awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise in Sustainability.

Matt Graves
Senior Vice President, Pulp & Paper Division
RISI

Matt Graves heads up RISI's information business for the pulp and paper sector. This includes RISI's News, Markets & Prices, Forecast & Analysis and Mill Intelligence. Matt has worked for over 10 years at RISI with a focus on the global pulp and paper industry. He manages commercial activities with RISI clients globally and travels extensively in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He has also led a number of consulting engagements with key clients in Europe and Asia. Matt received an MBA from Boston University in 1999.

Irina Van den Neste
News Editor, PPI Europe
RISI

Irina is a news editor at RISI's weekly publication PPI Europe. For the past three years she has been reporting on the European pulp and paper market developments, with a special focus on the containerboard market. Being a Russian language native, Irina writes extensively on the forestry sector in Russia and other East European countries.

Irina holds a Master of Philosophy degree in European Literature from Cambridge University and a Master of Arts degree in Germanic Studies from Donetsk National University.

Steve Sachoff
Editor, PPI Europe
RISI

Steven Sachoff joined RISI in April 2010. Based in Brussels, he is the editor of the weekly newsletter PPI Europe and also covers the European pulp market. Prior to joining RISI, he worked for over six years as a senior editor at the Interfax news agency where he covered Central and East European business and political news. Steven also launched and ran a trade publication for the European security industry and worked as an editor and analyst for a foreign policy research institute in the Czech Republic during the country’s transition to democracy and a free market economy.

David Katsnelson
Senior Economist, Macroeconomics
RISI

David has over 15 years market experience in the financial industry, including over a decade as a trader for boutique hedge funds and brokerages in New York and Boston. He also co-founded ProSeed Capital Holdings, an international venture capital company. David is responsible for collecting, analyzing, forecasting, and communicating macroeconomic data and its relevance to clients throughout the forest product industry. He is the editor of RISI's Monthly Economic Commentary and the Economic Outlook chapters that appear in all RISI forecasts.

Kurt Schaefer
Vice President/Practice Leader, Fiber
RISI

Kurt has been with RISI for over 15 years. His team provides monthly and quarterly forecasts and analyses, single-client and special market analysis studies. Prior to RISI, Kurt directed the Pulp & Paper Forecaster, forecasting prices of paper and paperboard across all of North America. Kurt manages RISI's global fiber economic team.

Esko Uutela
Economist/Analyst, Tissue
RISI

With more than 30 years' experience in the global paper market, Esko's expertise lies in the tissue and recovered fiber markets. After working nearly 18 years for a large forest industry consulting company in Helsinki and Munich, Esko established EU Consulting, his own forest industry consulting company. Esko carries out numerous private client projects, as well as publishing RISI's comprehensive studies on tissue business developments and global recycled fiber markets worldwide.

Surya Raina
Vice President, Mill Intelligence, Pulp & Paper Division
RISI

Surya Raina is Vice President of Mill Intelligence for RISI. Surya is a Chemical Engineer with over 30 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry, including 15 years of operational experience in the Asian pulp and paper industry. His career in mill operations included working at Ballarpur industries, India and Phoenix pulp and paper, Thailand. Prior to joining RISI, he spent eight years working as a consultant with Jacobs Sirrine Consultants and Simon Consulting group.

Surya specializes in cost benchmarking and is well versed in the cost structure of pulp and paper board grades across different world regions. He has also been actively involved in due diligence, risk and optimization studies. Surya has recently been involved in leading a major product launch at RISI, which involved developing the company's new web based cost benchmarking service. Surya leads a team of engineers based in North America, Asia and Europe.

Ville Henttonen
Senior Product Manager, Mill Intelligence
RISI

Ville conducts cash manufacturing cost studies of global pulp and paper mills to estimate their cost competitiveness in specific markets, such as European packaging and fine paper grades.

Ville holds a Master's of Science degree in Forest Products Technology from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. He has gained valuable industry experience working for various pulp and paper mills, machinery suppliers and forest products consulting companies.

Ken Waghorne
Vice President, Packaging
RISI

Ken has specialized in the paper packaging markets for RISI since 1983. He provides detailed monthly and quarterly analysis and forecasts of the North American paper packaging markets as well as single- and multi-client studies. He developed RISI's international containerboard model as well as the paper packaging models for the Latin American markets. He also produces the RISI end-use market analysis for the Paperboard Packaging Council’s Trends Report on the US folding carton industry. Ken also manages RISI's global packaging economic team, and directs the incorporation of the forecasts from North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America into RISI's global reports.

Ken holds a Master of Science degree in Forest Economics from Virginia Tech and his Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from LSU.

Peter Barynin
Principal Economist, Timber
RISI

Peter Barynin recently rejoined RISI as Principal Timber Economist, after previously holding the title of Director of the North American Timber Forecasting Service at RISI, and has over 15 years of experience as a forest industry economist. Most recently, Peter was founder and Chief Economist for Resource Vision Inc., which conducts research and analysis on global wood fiber issues and the intricacies of the timber markets.

Patricia Perez
Economist
RISI

Patricia is responsible for gathering information and providing analysis on the Latin Ameri-can pulp and paper industry to produce RISI's Latin American Pulp & Paper Forecast. Patricia has worked as a Market Analyst for pulp and paper at the Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics (CEPEA) and holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of São Paulo.

Hannah Zhao
Economist, Recovered Paper
RISI

Hannah focuses on the world recovered paper and Chinese pulp markets. Hannah works on the World Recovered Paper Monitor and the quarterly and long-term forecasts of the world recovered paper market, including the Outlook for Global Recovered Paper Markets. Hannah holds a Master's degree in Resource Economics from University of Rhode Island.

Will Claassens
Economist, Graphic Paper
RISI

Will brings 25 years of experience within the European Graphic Paper market to RISI. Most recently, Will was Director of Business Intelligence at Stora Esno. Will heads up the European graphic paper economic analysis and forecasts, and writes Paper Trader Europe.

Orifjon Abidov
Economist, European Paper Packaging
RISI

Since 2008, Orifjon has headed up RISI’s European Paper Packaging service and is responsible for providing near- and long-term forecast reports for the European containerboard and cartonboard markets, and contributes to various single client and special market analysis studies covering these industries.

Han Yao
Economist, Asian Paper Packaging
RISI

Han is responsible for managing all Asian paper packaging market analysis and forecasts, with a focus on the end-use econometric modeling as well as China paperboard market. He writes RISI's Asian paper packaging reports, including monthly commentary as well as medium- and long-term forecast reports. Han also contributes to various multi/single client studies such as China and Thai Boxboard Study, Packaging Paper Market Study, etc. Prior to joining RISI, Han worked as an Analyst at Copal Partners, a UK-based financial consulting firm, conducting economic analysis and business due diligence for a wide variety of industrial projects.