Clemson FRESH 2025 Speakers Announced

Clemson FRESH is thrilled to unveil an exceptional lineup of featured speakers for its annual Food, Packaging & Sustainability Summit Summit, taking place from March 3rd – 5th at Clemson University. Filled with insights from esteemed thought leaders in both industry and academia, the Summit serves as a dynamic platform for exploring collaborative efforts, innovative solutions, and forward-thinking ideas through a variety of presentations and engaging events.

Clemson FRESH is thrilled to unveil an exceptional lineup of featured speakers for its annual Food, Packaging& Sustainability Summit Summit, taking place from March 3rd – 5th at Clemson University. Filled with insights from esteemed thought leaders in both industry and academia, the Summit serves as a dynamic platform for exploring collaborative efforts, innovative solutions, and forward-thinking ideas through a variety of presentations and engaging events.

The event’s theme, “Creating Value While Advancing Sustainability” will be brought to life by our distinguished featured speakers, each a trailblazer in sustainability, innovation, and leadership.

Aligning Sustainability Ambitions with theValue Creation Imperative.

Lee Addams, Partner/Principal andCo-Leader, EY-Parthenon

Sustainability ambitions of companies in the agri-food value chain often stall out or fall short of their intended impact. Yet, in many cases, opportunities are missed to more fully align those efforts with the full agricultural production value chain, and to the financial imperative within companies. The good news – companies are invested in sustainable outcomes for the long term. By focusing on articulating and delivering value, sustainability efforts prove their worth within the commercial business and build better relationships with partners in the field-to-consumer chain. Such a value creation approach, supported by emerging incentives and financing mechanisms, can create opportunities for input suppliers, producers, processors, manufacturers/ packaging, and retailers. 

Building the Business Case forSustainability

Kathy Bolhous, Chairman and Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Charter Next-Generation

As the business imperative for sustainability continues to increase and evolve, the need to create a culture of change and innovation is higher than ever before. Hear from Charter NextGeneration (CNG) CEO, Kathy Bolhous, on the intentionality and actions that have led to their leadership position in sustainable films and flexible packaging, including near- and longer-term strategies, investments, and commitments. 

The Making of a Sustainable Battery Plant

Rich Everly, Vice President Battery Line,BMW 

In 2023, BMW announced the investment of$700M to build a new high-voltage battery assembly plant in Woodruff, SC. When completed in 2026, the plant will produce sixth-generation batteries to supply fully electric vehicles at nearby BMW Manufacturing in Spartanburg, SC, the largest plant in BMW’s global network of vehicle manufacturing facilities. By2030, the Spartanburg manufacturing facility will produce six fully electric vehicles. Located on 315 acres, the Woodruff facility will be more than one million square feet in size and will be state-of-the-art in terms of sustainability, flexibility, and digitization.

Join Rich Everly for a fascinating account of the role that sustainability played in designing the new battery plant, and the seventeen distinct sustainability initiatives that are integrated into the overall construction.

Driving Sustainability in the RetailEcosystem

Eric Sinz, VP of Packaging, TargetCorporation

The Retail Ecosystem is more than just structural packaging, it includes many consumer touch points such as the digital experience, shipping experience, graphics, signage, and much more. To make major changes in sustainability, inclusivity or other important trends,Packaging Engineers, Designers, and Developers need to influence all these touch points. Target’s Owned Brand Packaging Team develops the structural packaging for an industry leading portfolio of over 45 Target Owned Brands which generate more than 30 billion in annual sales. Join Eric Sinz, VicePresident of Target Packaging, as he presents how the Target Owned BrandStructural Packaging team partners with internal teams at Target, vendors, and suppliers to influence these touch points and drive change in sustainability, inclusivity, and style. 

Delivering Value While MaintainingSustainability 

Joshua Oleson, Senior Vice President,Packaging Supply Chain, TMS

Advancing sustainability goals does not always equal a hit to your bottom line. While costs can arise when adopting and adapting to more sustainable technologies and materials, there are often other areas of value generation that go overlooked. Sustainable goals can produce reduction in energy consumption and emissions and can reduce input costs through recycling and driving circularity. Josh Oleson, SVP Packaging SupplyChain, for global sourcing and packaging services provider TMS, will share examples of the value that he has experienced through sustainable activities for consumer packaging in the foodservice industry.    

Interested in learning more from these speakers? REGISTER for our 2025 Summit!

 

 

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