Bernhard Awolin holds a diploma in physics from the University in Kiel with specialization in medical physics and physiology. He started his career at Johnson & Johnson in Germany as a product development manager for feminine hygiene and developed the next generation of Carefree panty liners and Stayfree ultra thin napkins that are still in the market place today. After more than 10 years for JnJ he worked 3 years in a medical technology start-up for the market introduction of magnetocardiography. Back into the feminine hygiene and baby diaper business for product development and key account management at Hyga and Intigena, Bernhard developed the first mass market panty liner with an organic cotton top sheet, Jessa nature, for dm drogeriemarkt in 2008. From 2011 to 2021, Bernhard served as product development and sales director and 7 years as CEO for imeco GmbH & Co KG, a specialist in OEM and private label manufacturer for the medical and automotive industry. During this time he developed with his team the Ready to Fill and Ready to use disinfection wipe bag and bucket system that gave a strong growth development in the European market for heavy duty disinfection wipes. Since 2021Bernhard Awolin runs his own Consulting firm, teaches at EDANA Absorbent Hygiene Products as a tutor and amongst others, he is consulting Lenzing AG in the business development of the recently launched Lenzing(tm) Nonwoven Technology.
Nick Santoleri is Chief Operating Officer of Rockline Industries, a global private branded supplier of personal care and household wet wipe products. He has been with Rockline since 2000, and became COO in 2020. Prior to that, he spent 20 years with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, in various engineering, product and manufacturing roles, spanning product lines from Consumer Tissue and Towels to Baby Wipes.
Originally from Pennsylvania, he moved to the Bentonville, Arkansas area from Wisconsin in 1999. His educational background includes an Electrical Engineering Degree from Drexel University, a Certificate of Management from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and Supply Chain Management study at Cranfield University in the UK, Northwestern’s Kellogg school of business in Chicago and Harvard Business School, in Cambridge, Mass.
Nick has served on the International Non-Wovens and Disposables Associations (INDA) Executive Board for the past 10 years. Is a member of Elevate's CEO Forum in Fayetteville, AR, and Chief Executive Corp - Chief Executive Network.
Alison Roberts FCIM is the communications and corporate social responsibility manager at Nice-Pak International.
With over 25 years’ experience in marketing communications and 8 years at Nice-Pak, her expertise lies in crafting impactful communication strategies that bridge customer need with brand messaging to maximise engagement.
Alison’s passion for sustainability and innovation has fuelled dedication to driving sustainable change in the wet wipes industry and helps to shape industry narrative through her position on numerous communication committees.
She has a BA in Business Management and is Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. With experience across the hygiene and packaging industries, Alison had her own marketing consultancy before joining Nice-Pak.
Geoffrey Gendebien holds a Masters Degree in Engineering from the University of Liege, Belgium and a Management Certificate from the University of Toronto, Ontario
He has over 20 years’ experience in operations, sales and strategic marketing in the Composites, Polymers and, Packaging industries. He has worked and lived in Europe and North America and, has held global responsibilities.
Over the last 5 years, he has been managing product lines and Market Segments in Composites and Flexible Packaging. He is currently managing the Home and Personal Care Market for Amcor in EMEA. He is driving innovation projects and aligning internal resources to deliver appealing value propositions and, successful innovative solutions to his markets.
Phillip Mango has spent almost forty years in nonwovens, starting in 1981 with Air Products and Chemicals, where he was the Manager of the Nonwovens Group. Air Products was the major supplier of latex binders to major nonwovens used in wipes, notably airlaid and DRC (double recrepe). In 1991, he left Air Products to join Walkisoft USA as Director of Technology. Walkisoft was the largest global producer of airlaid at that time. Sensing a need for a more innovative, specialty oriented airlaid producer, Mr. Mango started his own airlaid business and designed and built a specialty airlaid line in 1997. This company, Airformed Composites, was one of the early developers of commercial multibonded airlaid for baby wipes, as well as other unique products and process advances. In 2000, Concert Industries acquired Airformed Composites and Mr. Mango. With Concert, Mr. Mango was the Director of Product Development. In 2002, Mr. Mango left Concert to start his own consulting business, Phillip Mango Consulting, LLC. Over the last 18 years, Mr. Mango has consulted extensively in the wipes market, technology, nonwovens and raw materials. He has authored numerous studies on flushable wipes, the global wipes market and technology, and other nonwovens related subjects.
Mr. Thomas Weigert joined the Go Wipes advisory board to provide his broad machinery, process and application knowledge of nonwoven production.
Since 1997 he is working at Trützschler Nonwovens, the former Fleissner GmbH, in Egelsbach near Frankfurt/Germany, who is one of the leading suppliers of nonwoven production lines and machinery.
For almost 20 years in various positions he gained wide experience in the design and development of nonwoven production equipment and also in the technological requirements for nonwoven substrates. Today in the position as Director Application Technology Mr. Weigert holds technological responsibility for Fleissner AquaJet, Through Air Drying and Wetlaid Spunlace (WLS).
Mr. Weigert got his degree in mechanical engineering at Darmstadt Technical University in August 1989 and started his professional life in the design and development of automotive brake systems before entering into the nonwoven industry.
David M Jackson completed a BSc. Chemical Engineering at UC Swansea (Wales) in 1976, then went on to complete an MSChE at University of Washington (Seattle) in 1978. David was a Senior Technical Leader at Kimberly Clark for 38+ years at headquarters sites in Wisconsin and Georgia, with a primary focus on nonwoven composites for wiping, absorbency, disposable elastic composites and treatment chemistry and processes. After taking retirement in 2018, David started a non-wovens consultancy, Material/Process Connexxions. David holds >60 US materials and process patents and > 200 worldwide
