ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Virgin Paperboard
Steve Rote, Metsä Board Americas Corporation
Steve Rote is a 45+ year veteran of the printing, packaging, and paper industry, holding a variety of positions in production, sales, marketing, and technical support. He is currently the technical director for the packaging division of Metsä Board Americas, covering North, Central, and South America. His main focus is on promoting Metsä products and business development throughout the Americas, and to conduct technical and sales training for corrugated box and folding carton plants.
Recovered Fiber
Quinn Garber, Integrity Fiber
Quinn Garber is the vice president of sales and marketing in the southeast for Integrity Fiber. He is a former disc jockey turned wastepaper manager/consultant with 17 years of waste paper experience. He enjoys spending time with his family and working hard to keep up with his Crossfit wife.
Recycled Paperboard
Jacob Reid, Graphic Packaging International
Jacob Reid is a chemical process engineer at Graphic Packaging International Middletown Mill. He graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 2020 with a bachelor’s in chemical engineering and a minor in paper science.
Processes and Formats (Web & Sheet), Sheeting & Rewinding, Digital Diecutting, Air Hammer Stripping, Automatic Packing, Cold & Hot Foil
Ben Markens, Paperboard Packaging Council
Ben Markens started in the folding carton business in 1978. He has been a plant accountant, cost accountant, estimator, scheduler, customer service rep, plant superintendent, and vice president of operations at carton plants. In 1988, he founded the Markens Group as a consultancy niched to folding cartons and paperboard. Since 2008, Ben has been president and chief staff officer of the Paperboard Packaging Council, the folding carton industry association for North America. Ben loves boxmaking and hopes that you enjoy a rewarding career in our industry.
Structural Design & Workflow, Color Theory
Susie Stitzel, Esko
Susie Stitzel is Esko’s director of product management for design and 3D solutions. Susie has more than 25 years of experience in the design, prepress, printing, and packaging industries. Her roles have covered a wide spectrum of the industry, including design and prepress management, customer training and support, product management, and strategy development. Susie is completely passionate about packaging – to the point that her family will no longer shop with her. She has assisted universities and schools with their packaging curriculum and has enjoyed serving on the advisory board for the School of Packaging at Michigan State University. Susie is a frequent speaker at industry events, including the HOW Design and FUSE conferences, the Paperboard Packaging Council, the Brand Protection Conference, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and for the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA).
Inks & Coating
John Pettus, Wikoff Color Corporation
John Pettus is the Director of Corporate Sales and Marketing for Wikoff Color Corporation out of the company’s headquarters in Fort Mill, SC. He has served in several roles at Wikoff since his hiring in 2008. John has extensive training in offset lithography, flexography and rotogravure. In addition, his experience makes him very knowledgeable in photopolymer plates as well as oil-based, energy-cure, water-based and solvent-based ink and coating technologies.
Printing Processes, Digital Printing, Rotary Cutting, Cold Foil
Eric Frank, Koenig & Bauer
Eric Frank has garnered more than 40 years in the printing industry, first as a 17-year veteran with a major press manufacturer and now 18 additional years with Koenig & Bauer North America, Inc. A graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), he holds a Bachelor of Science degree from RIT as well as an associate degree in Printing from New York City Technical College. He has served and is currently serving as executive representative to several prominent industry associations. He currently holds the position of senior vice president of marketing and product management overseeing marketing, public relations, product management, sales operations, CRM, and the customer center.
Litho Laminating, Sheetfed Diecutting, Hot Foil
Doug Herr, Bobst North America
Doug Herr has spent over 43 years serving the folding carton industry and our customer client base, having spent his entire career with Bobst. Having the opportunity to join PPC when first opened to suppliers has been an especially rewarding experience and one which he is most thankful for.
Hot & Cold Foil Applications
Chris Leary, Geitz-Vinfoil Americas
Tooling
Travis Moellers, IMPACT Converting & Systems Solutions
Travis Moellers has 20 years of experience in the paperboard and packaging industry. Through his tenure he has held a variety of roles from helper on a die cutter to finishing manager. His current role is in sales representing Impact Converting & Systems Solutions in the central U.S. He enjoys the ability to build partnerships with customers and become the link from converting to successfully representing the brand they are building through his position. He believes that once a package is made, it is an advertising tool promoting the brands and products. He also believes it is important that through the converting process, that the brand image and representation depict the image the company desires to represent. He said the ability to do this is the value they at Impact strive to bring to the process.
Gluing & Adhesives
Kirsty Drury, Henkel Corporation
Kirsty Drury is an Application Engineer at Henkel supporting the Paper and Board business and has a degree in Chemical Engineering. She has worked at Henkel for 5 years and has recently joined the AE team from Operations out of Berkeley California. Outside of work she enjoys hiking and snowboarding and is a self-proclaimed hotdog connoisseur.
Windowing
Gayle Harrop, Tamarack Products, Inc.
Gayle Harrop is the executive vice president at Tamarack Products Inc. Tamarack manufactures a window patcher, the Vista, used in the folding carton market for nearly 20 years.
Folding & Gluing
Bill Rice, Heidelberg USA, Inc.
Bill Rice is currently the product manager, post-press packaging with Heidelberg USA Inc., with a focus on folder gluers and die cutters in the U.S. As a graduate of Liberty University, Bill began his professional career with Jagenberg USA Inc. in 1990. He received his industry and technical training at the U.S. operation in Enfield, CT with additional training and certification at the world headquarters in Neuss, Germany and die cutter certification in Barcelona, Spain. He began his work as a field service engineer for the folding carton and packaging division within Jagenberg and quickly moved into operator training, equipment demonstrations, technical sales, and various sales manager positions followed. Bill has gained unique technical experience in his 30 years of extensive travel both in the U.S. and internationally, sharing his knowledge, insight, and technical solutions now offered by Heidelberg for both equipment and process.
Rigid Box
Laura Brodie, Pusterla US, Inc.
Laura Brodie is the CEO of Pusterla, US Inc. Burt Rigid Box, located in Oneonta, NY. She has over 12 years of experience in paperboard packaging. In her spare time, she sits on the executive committee of the PPC and serves as board chair of Starring Buffalo, Inc, a non-profit theater production company she co-founded in 2017.