Sam Advani

Mr. Advani is currently the President, CEO and majority shareholder of Metech International, a pioneer in electronics recycling and precious metals reclamation. Prior to joining Metech, Mr. Advani worked as President and CEO of Advani Engineering Corp., an engineering services company that he founded. Mr. Advani was also a partner in Electronics Recycling Services, Inc., a California based electronics recycling company. Mr. Advani holds a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Zeina al-Hajj

Zeina al-Hajj is currently the coordinator of the Greenpace Toxic Tech Campaign, which focuses on chemical contamination problems relating to the electronics industry. She has been with Greenpeace since 1996, initially working from her home country, Lebanon, on issues such as incineration and the chemical industry promoting clean production. In 2002 she moved to Amsterdam, working at Greenpeace's International Headquarters on trade and toxics issues.

Darren Arola

Darren Arola is the Global Director of Product Development and Sales for MBA Polymers, Inc. He manages product and application development projects and is responsible for sales and marketing. With nine years of experience working for MBA in various areas of the company on three continents, Dr. Arola brings a global perspective to electronics and automobile recycling, the recovery and separation of commingled plastic streams using mechanical recycling technologies, and the use of post-consumer plastic in the manufacture of new durable goods.

Dr. Arola has a B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington and the University of California, Davis, respectively.

Sammie Barrata

Sammie Barrata is an environmental research and compliance expert for LifeSpan Technology Recycling and is responsible for its Environmental Management Program. She has 13 years of environmental issues experience and has chaired committees on Green Waste and Material Reuse Programs for several local governments.

Prior to changing Lifespan, she created the first curbside electronics recycling program for Grand Junction, Colorado, and was CEO and founder of Rede Environmental, an electronics recycler and environmental consultant to school districts, government agencies, and national recycling companies.

Sammie is an elected board member of the Colorado Association for Recycling (part of the National Recycling Coalition), and chairs the Electronics Recycling committee.She has BS in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Technology.

Jerry Berumen

Jerry Berumen has worked for the California Integrated Waste Management Board since the spring of 2000. He previously worked for the California Water Resources Control Board and the California Department of Conservation, Division of Recycling. Mr. Berumen is currently lead on the Rigid Plastic Packaging Container ("RPPC") Certification , as well as lead on the Plastic Container Cooperative Recycling Initiative.

Parker Brugge

Parker Brugge is Senior Director and Environmental Counsel for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Mr. Brugge represents CEA before the Congress, USEPA, and other federal and state government bodies on issues such as electronics recycling, energy efficiency, and other environmental public policy issues.

Previously, Mr. Brugge practiced law in Washington, DC for nearly 15 years at Patton Boggs and later O’Connor & Hannan, where he assisted corporate, governmental and non-profit organizations in working with USEPA, state regulatory agencies and the Congress on a broad array of environmental regulatory, legislative and litigation issues and strategies. Mr. Brugge earned his law degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He earned his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia. Mr. Brugge is a member of the Virginia and DC Bars.

Chuck Derrow

Chuck Derrow joined Zebra Technologies in 2001 as the Manager of Compliance Engineering focused on EMC, Safety and Environmental product compliance where he started on his journey to understanding WEEE and RoHS and how this legislation affected Zebra Technologies and its products. His responsibilities include managing the certification effort for all Zebra SPS products being placed in 80+ countries. He is Zebra’s technical lead in the area of product environmental compliance, and he and his team act as consultants to all design teams developing the next generation Zebra products.

Chuck graduated from Purdue University with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering Technology.

Mark Frankfurth

Mark S. Frankfurth does engineering management at Cymer Inc. Overseeing Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance Engineering, Mark assists in the development of high-power industrial laser systems for the semiconductor industry. He has expertise in product safety, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), quality engineering, and environmental topics, resulting from 5 years as a Senior EMC Engineer at AST Research Inc. of Irvine, California, where he contributed to the development of personal computer systems from an EMC, safety, and reliability engineering perspective.

Mark is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI & SU "Virginia Tech") in Blacksburg, Virginia, receiving a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering in 1988. Organizations where Mark serves in leadership roles or as an active member include iIEEE, SESHA, ASSE, NFPA, SEMI, LIA, and NARTE.

Filip Geerts

Filip Geerts is the President of the WEEE Forum, which is composed of 17 organisations executing non-profit take-back systems relating to WEEE. He is also the President of Recupel ICT, a Belgian take-back organization for the recycling of electric and electronic equipment.

Mr. Geerts is a member of the Waste of Electrical and Electronical Equipment (WEEE) task forces of CECED (the European domestic appliance industry), EICTA (the European Industry Association for Information Systems, Communication Technologies and Consumer Electronics), Amcham (the American Chamber of Commerce), and Orgalime (the European engineering industry association). He is also a member of the International Steering Committee of the International Electronics Recycling Congress

Previously Mr. Geerts was the public and regulatory affairs manager for IBM Europe Middle East and Africa in charge of environmental issues.

Catherine Goodall

Catherine Goodall is a Project Director at EPI, a consultancy specializing in compliance with product stewardship laws for electronics, batteries, and packaging. With EPI since 1999, Ms. Goodall works in Berlin and Jamestown, RI, assisting multinational clients with packaging, WEEE & RoHS compliance management, corporate database implementation, development of DfE tools and programs, and sustainability strategies.

EPI was founded in 1998 as Environmental Packaging International and now provides consulting on a range of product stewardship issues for Fortune 500 companies and other clients. EPI is a founding member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition.

Stephen H. Greene

Stephen H. Greene is a Senior Product Stewardship Associate and Senior Project Manager at Mabbett & Associates, Inc., Environmental Consultants & Engineers, which specializes in integrated environmental, health and safety consulting and engineering services to manufacturing and commercial industry, institutions and public agencies. Mr. Greene provides technical consulting services in the area of Product Stewardship, WEEE and RoHS, and Sustainable Business Practices.

Greene has over twenty-four years of corporate environmental experience in commercial and consumer related electronics manufacturing and previous environmental consulting experience; corporate Product Stewardship Management and RoHS/WEEE program implementation. Mr. Greene was the Corporate Product Stewardship and International Environmental Manager for Polaroid Corporation providing worldwide oversight. He has experience with Product Stewardship legislation throughout the world, including the EU’s WEEE and RoHS Directives. He has also written Sustainability Reports using CERES and GRI reporting formats and has more than twenty years of practical experience in the area of international environmental requirements for businesses and their products.

Christine Houghton

Christine Houghton is the Deputy Director of the Environmental Management Branch of British Columbia's Ministry of the Environment, where she has worked since 2000. She has led Environmental Protection Division initiatives such as the new models for Flood Hazard Management, Industry Product Stewardship, and Integrated Pest Management. She is currently leading the teams developing the Codes of Practice and regulation reviews and the implementation of the new Integrated Pest Management Act and regulations for the Ministry.

Peter Lachapelle

Peter Lachapelle is the Practice Director for the Electronics Products Group at IHS. He is responsible for the coordination between consulting, revenue and development, content production and customers within the Electronic Products and Services Group and is the Executive Sponsor for the Compliance Solution. Prior to the IHS acquisition of i2's Content and Data Services in December of 2005, Lachapelle was Vice President of Content at i2 Technologies with the same responsibilities as at IHS. While at i2 from April 2000 as part of the i2 acquisition of Aspect Development in July 2000, he has served in various roles including responsibilities within alliances, business development, sales and corporate product marketing groups. In 2001 Lachapelle created the Compliance Solution at i2 and remained the Executive Sponsor until December 2005. Lachapelle received his masters of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario. He has also completed various executive development programs at Harvard, ESIE, Kellogg, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.

Roxana Lesovici

Roxana Lesovici is currently the Director for Advocacy within Brussels’ public affairs consultancy, Eamonn Bates Europe . In this capacity, she has been advising clients in relation to many EU environmental laws, among which are the WEEE & RoHS Directive, the Energy-using products Directive, the Shipments of Waste Directive and proposals on chemicals review – REACH, fluorinated gases, and batteries. Her activity within the company focuses on defining advocacy strategies and supervising their implementation, and monitoring EU developments in relation to chemicals legislation.

Since July 2005, Roxana has also chaired the Waste Working Group of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU, within which she is the rapporteur for the WEEE & RoHS, and the Energy-using products Directives. She holds two Masters, from both the New York State-recognised Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, and of the European Institute for Public Administration in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Eric Lombardi

Eric Lombardi is currently the Executive Director of Eco-Cycle Inc., and has had a long career in resource conservation, social enterprise development and non-profit (NGO) organizational management since 1980. Eco-Cycle, founded in 1976, is considered a nationwide pioneer in the recycling industry and has grown under Lombardi’s tenure to become the largest community-based recycling organization in the U.S.A., processing nearly 50,000 tons of diverse recycled materials per year (2004).

As a recognized recycling expert, Lombardi was invited to the Clinton White House in 1998 as one of the Top 100 USA Recyclers to advise on national recycling issues. Lombardi currently serves as the Board President of the national GrassRoots Recycling Network (www.GRRN.org), and is a co-founder of the global Zero Waste International Alliance, based in Wales (www.ZWIA.org). Lombardi served from 1997-2004 on the National Recycling Coalition’s (NRC) Policy Work Group, he is a past Board member of the Colorado Association for Recycling (CAFR), and was an executive Board member of the NRC from 1991-1995.

Russ Martin

Russ Martin has 15 years experience in public policy development and the implementation of market-based instruments in the US and Australia. He is founder and Director of Martin Stewardship & Management Strategies, an Australia-based product stewardship consultancy. Expertise includes regulatory affairs, policy analysis and product stewardship in the packaging, consumer electronics, sugar and wool industries.

Russ had lead roles in strengthening Australia’s National Packaging Covenant and Environmental Code of Practice for Packaging, and provides consulting and communications support for a range of industry clients. Previously, he developed and implemented Florida’s Advance Disposal Fee and served as Staff Director for the Florida Packaging Council.

Steve Morriss

Steve Morriss is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Close the Loop Limited, an Australian recycling company that specialises in zero waste resource recovery from used printer cartridges and related electronics equipment. Close the Loop was founded in 2001 and in that short amount of time has innovated, opened new markets for recycled products, become profitable, partnered with leading community education campaigns (such as Cartridges 4 Planet Ark) and partnered with the world’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturers.

More than 20 million cartridges are used every year in Australia, and this figure is growing annually by 10 percent. Close the Loop has been successful with its zero waste to landfill program, effecting more than 2000 tonnes of a complex and challenging wastestream to date.

Mark Murray

Mark Murray is the Executive Director of the environmental group Californians Against Waste, "the primary voice for the environmental community on recycling issues in California’s State Capitol." CAW has been actively involved in the development, negotiation and passage of virtually every piece of waste reduction and recycling legislation enacted in California, including the Bottle Bill and AB 939--the state’s 50% waste reduction act.

Mr. Murray has been with CAW for more than 18 years. His area of expertise has been the development and advocacy of waste prevention incentives and recycling market development and funding mechanisms. He was the leading environmental advocate for Senate Bill 20 by State Senator Byron Sher, which established California’s Hazardous Electronic Waste Recycling Act, as well as legislation for recycling cell phones and batteries. Mr. Murray has served on local, state and national recycling and environmental boards and committees, including the Sacramento Recycling Advisory Committee, the California Beverage Container Recycling Advisory Committee, and the U.S. EPA’s Recycling Advisory Committee.

Doug Neary

Douglas Neary is Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of the International RFID Business Association. Founded in 2004, the Association represents a diverse, global community of end-users and systems integrators dedicated to assuring business success with RFID through the establishment of international standards for RFID education, training and professional certification. Under the auspices of CORE(tm), the Council on RFID Education, the Association’s certification program is targeting the technology and process automation needs of business and technology professionals seeking to master the issues and challenges of RFID which are unique to individual industries and operating disciplines.

Previously, Mr. Neary served as Vice President, Chief Information Officer for a $1.5B international manufacturer of consumer packaged goods. He has extensive cross-industry systems integration and business consulting experience, having held senior and executive management positions with several domestic and international concerns, including Cap Gemini Sogeti, Europe’s largest IT consultancy, Day & Zimmerman Information Systems and the IBM Corporation.

Carl Olsmats

Since 2002, Dr. Olsmats has been the General Secretary of the World Packaging Organization (WPO), whose mission is to improve quality of life around the globe through better packaging. He is also the Research Manager of Sustainability & Foresight in the Strategic Information Division of STFI-Packforsk AB in Stockholm. Dr. Olsmats has M.Sc. in Industrial Management Engineering, a M.Eng. in Systems Engineering, and a D.Sc. in Technolgy, and he is considered a worldclass expert in most aspects of packaging.

Leonard E. Robinson (Keynote Speaker)

Leonard E. Robinson was appointed to the position of Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in September of 2004. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Robinson was the Environmental/Safety Manager at TAMCO Steel in Rancho Cucamonga, California's only steel mill. He has over thirty (30) years experience in the environmental management field. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

As Chief Deputy Director of DTSC, Mr. Robinson oversees the: Office of Legal Counsel; Hazardous Waste Management and Statewide Compliance Program; Site Mitigation and Brownfields Reuse Program; External Affairs; Legislative Affairs; and the Science, Pollution Prevention and Technologies Program.

Dani Tsuda

Dani Tsuda has over 20 years of experience in industry, including 12 years at Apple Computer with a responsibility to identify, develop, and implement systems and processes to sustain the company's global leadership position in EHS issues and to provide technical support for the company's corporate environmental activities and operations. Dani is currently with WSP Environmental and is responsible for its product stewardship and design for environment (DfE) service offerings to electronics and medical products companies.

Gerard van Rijswijk

Gerard van Rijswijk currently manages Planet Ark Consulting, the consulting arm of the Planet Ark Environmental Foundation. for over twenty years, he has managed industry associations for industry sectors that needed to address environmental issues. They include the farm chemicals, aerosols and packaging sector– and in each case helping improve the regulatory framework covering those sectors through the use of voluntary initiatives, including the National Packaging Covenant. He ran the National Packaging Covenant Industry Association for its first five years.

Mr. van Rijswijk has travelled extensively to study waste management policy and practice, together with the regulatory frameworks within which these operate. He has addressed many international conferences on the waste and recycling related topics, and in particular on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). He was the Australian industry (ACIC) delegate to the OECD workshops on EPR.