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
Vice President of Sales and Marketing in the southeast for River Valley Paper Company. Former Disc jockey turned waste paper manager / consultant with 17 years of waste paper experience. Quinn enjoys spending time with his family and working hard to keep up with a Crossfit wife.
Recycled Paperboard
Roberto Balaguer, Smurfit Westrock
Processes and Formats (Web & Sheet), Air Hammer Stripping, Automatic Packing, Rigid Box
Ben Markens, Paperboard Packaging Council
Ben Markens started in the folding carton business in 1978. Over the course of his career, he has served as a plant accountant, cost accountant, estimator, scheduler, customer service representative, plant superintendent, and vice president of operations at carton plants.
In 1988, he founded The Markens Group, a consulting firm specializing in the folding carton and paperboard packaging industry. From 2008 through 2024, Ben served as President and Chief Staff Officer of the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC), the folding carton industry association for North America. He now serves as PPC’s Past President and continues to support the association through consulting work.
Sheeting & Rewinding
Max Rawson, BW Paper Systems
Max Rawson began his career with Marquip, Inc. in 1993 as a Field Service Engineer, installing and servicing sheeters throughout the 1990s. In 2001, he transitioned into Aftermarket Sheeter Sales with BW Papersystems, and by 2005 he moved into New Equipment Sheeter Sales, where he continues to serve customers today. With over 30 years of experience in the industry, Max brings deep technical expertise and a customer-focused approach to every project.
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 & Coatings
Chris Blackburn, Wikoff Color Corporation
Gene Cowden, Wikoff Color Corporation
Gene started his career at Wikoff at an entry level position making ink in 1989 in Chattanooga, TN. He served as the Chattanooga branch Asst. Production Manager, an Inplant Manager for a large folding carton company, Sales lead, SE Regional Tech Manager and since 2013 his current role as Senior Technical Service Manager. Gene has been an instrumental part of the Wikoff family for over 34 years overseeing technical support, troubleshooting and customer education. He is also a G7 Expert.
When he’s not beside a printing press, he enjoys collecting vintage muscle cars, participating in car club charities. He has one son Hayden.
Printing Processes, 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.
Digital Printing, Litho Laminating, Sheetfed Diecutting: Blanking, Embossing, Stamping, Hot Foil
Harold Leete, Bobst North America
Harold Leete is the sales account manager specializing in folding carton for Bobst North America. He has over 30 years of experience in the printing and packaging industry working in various positions, including print operations, sales, and sales management. He’s worked for leading manufacturers and has a strong background in commercial printing, folding carton, and digital printing. Harold took a break from the printing industry for several years to serve as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army. He grew up outside of Boston and now resides in Hudson, NH.
Digital Diecutting
Roy Oomen, Agfa
Roy Oomen is a seasoned packaging and equipment technology leader with more than 20 years of experience delivering innovative B2B solutions. As Western Region Sales Manager at Highcon, he specialized in laser finishing and digital manufacturing, helping a rapidly expanding customer base scale successfully while driving footprint growth—even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously at HP Inc., Roy helped grow the labels and packaging business from $10 million to $80 million in annual hardware sales across the Americas by leading product launches, go-to-market initiatives, and performance-based incentive programs. In 2025, he continued shaping the digital print landscape through North America GTM leadership for Agfa’s Speedset Orca platform and by supporting the e-commerce launch of a monochrome digital product line as an independent consultant. Across every role, Roy’s mission remains the same: empowering businesses with cutting-edge, sustainable technology that drives long-term success. He is happily married, has three daughters, and enjoys nature, reading, pickleball, and history.
Tooling
Miles Guessford, Marbach America, Inc.
Miles Guessford began his career in the die-making industry back in 2010 with Milwaukee Steel Rule Dies in the Shipping Department. Over the course of 11 years, Miles held positions from Laser Operator to Die Maker to CAD Programmer to CAD Designer. Spending an average of 2 years in each department, he learned all about the processes that go into making high-quality die cutting tools.
Miles joined Marbach America in 2021. For the last 7 years, Miles has worked as a Sales Manager, supporting customers all across the USA with technical tools and support. He is currently responsible for but not limited to, supporting all Marbach customers in the Southeast USA.
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
Chris Raney, Heidelberg USA, Inc.
Chris is currently the VP of Product Management for Postpress Productsfor Heidelberg USA, covering all Packaging products as well as Stahl andPolar equipment for the Commercial market. Chris has worked in the packaging industry for most of his careerbeginning as the Service Manager for Bobst UK and Ireland. Thisdeveloped into Sales when he became Business Manager Folding Carton,before moving to Switzerland as a Sales Manager for Bobst Champlain. In 2002, he transferred to the US as VP for the Business Unit FoldingCarton covering the US and Canada, leading the sales team. In 2011, he joined Heidelberg and moved his family to Atlanta, GA wherehe still lives. The opportunity to become the President of Baumer hhsNorth America presented itself in 2015 and Chris led the re-organization ofthis company until he returned to Heidelberg in 2020. In his current position, he is the business driver for all Postpress Productsfor Heidelberg in the US and Canada. Married with 4 kids finding the right work life balance is very important !