Women in Packaging, Inc. (WMPKG), the foremost packaging association for women, has launched an active program to assist government agencies, consumer goods and packaging industry companies in establishing concrete diversity policies. The association's recently formed Best Practices Committee is comprised of an outstanding team of packaging professionals. Many companies have already recognized the importance of this effort and joined the Best Practices Committee, including Astra-Zeneca, Biomeriuex, Carnaud Metalbox/Crown Cork & Seal, Coca-Cola, Contract Market Research, Cordis, CRB LINCS, Creative Retail Packaging, CSG, Design & Source Productions, Dow, J&J, Eastman Kodak, Ford, FutureBrand, Georgia-Pacific, Guidant, Holland & Knight LLP, Inland, Kraft, L Barron & Associates, Inc., Lock n' Pop, MeadWestvaco, Mocon, Netherwood Consulting, Packaging Specialists, PCA, Rock-Tenn, Smith Design, Smurfit-Stone, Sonoco, Stratix, TetraPak, The Packaging Coach, TricorBraun and Universal Folding Box.

Jonathan Asher Prior to establishing the New York office of Dragon Rouge, Jonathan Asher led the Consumer Branding and Packaging group of FutureBrand (formerly The Coleman Group). He developed the company's proprietary strategic services such as UpFront®, ConceptLab®, ShelfCheck®, and EnviroScope®, as well as its Name Development capability. Jonathan instituted the firm's Account Management function and continually encouraged a strategic approach to the design process while still placing the highest value on creativity. Asher has over twenty years experience in consumer goods marketing, beginning as a project director for Newman Stein, Inc., a leading custom research company. He has also held executive positions with Thomas J. Lipton (now Unilever) and the Lorillard division of Loews Corporation. Prior to joining FutureBrand, he was with Gerstman+Meyers (now Interbrand) as vice president, director of marketing services. There he created proprietary research and brand naming services, and provided strategic direction for a wide range of diverse clients. He is a long-standing member of the American Marketing Association, having served on its Consumer Marketing Council and its steering committee for the Edison Best New Products awards. He created and chaired the AMA's Conference on Packaging, and established the organization's Excellence in Packaging award. Asher holds a BA in industrial psychology from Queens College and an MBA in marketing management from Baruch College of Business, City University of New York.

Marilyn LaJene Baker has more than 22 years of packaging and packaging related roles with The Coca-Cola Company. She is currently a Principal in the Corporate Quality Systems Group at The Coca-Cola Company. In this role she is responsible for packaging governance issues for fountain and concentrate packaging. She is responsible for new package authorizations with emphasis on hazmat transport requirements, flexible packaging, and policy development. Baker has worked on an international assignment in France and Belgium along years of extensive international traveling. She worked in many packaging areas from plastic closure development to returnable plastic bottles. She was the team leader in obtaining the first recycle content food contact package in the US. She brings project management and team building skills as an integral component in her organization. Baker is a member of Women in Packaging, SPE, and ASME. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee. She is a mother of two children. She is involved with the community as a Girls Scout Troop Assistant Leader and her local church.

Kathy Bintz-Fertitta brings a strong retail and marketing background to her position as President of Creative Retail Packaging. After graduating from Miami University in Ohio, she was one of two selected by Eastman Kodak to join their exclusive Executive Management Program. In 1980 Bintz-Fertitta became Marketing Director for Abercrombie & Fitch, where she played an integral role in the integration of the legendary brand after its bankruptcy. At Abercrombie & Fitch she developed and implemented all advertising, marketing, direct mail, public relations, and packaging programs. When joining Creative Retail Packaging in 1996, Bintz-Fertitta was responsible for new business development. In 1998 she bought out one of the co-owners and now serves as President. Bintz-Fertitta has served on the board of the American Red Cross and Volunteer Houston, as well as other service organizations.

Jill Breton has been involved with the packaging industry for almost five years. She is currently in a dual role for the polyolefin resins business at The Dow Chemical Company. Breton is a Market Development Manager for SARAN (Trademark) barrier systems and is primarily focused on growing the market for SARAN into food packaging. She is also a senior account manager for the food and specialty packaging markets and sells resins to large converters. In addition, she has also held leadership positions for the past three years in the Women's Innovation Network (WIN), which is an employee network within Dow. Breton has been with Dow for 11 years and has a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Penn State University.

Rosanna Cavanaugh has been a part of Lock n' Pop known in earlier times as Key Tech Corp, for approximately 20 years. In March 2001, she was made President and CEO, which is the position she maintains at this time. During her time with Key Tech, Rosanna has had positions as Product Development Chemist, R&D Manager for New Product Development, Technical Service Manager of the Chemical Division, Marketing Technical Coordinator, and Applications Manager. Prior to Key Tech, Rosanna had worked for Hunt Chemical Corporation as a Product Development Chemist for Liquid and Dry Toners and before that for Lever Brothers, in a similar capacity in the development of dishwashing liquids. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry. She is an active member of IOPP, ISTA, and the American Chemical Society as well as an Alumni Ambassador for Cornell University, School of Arts and Sciences. She resides in New Jersey with her husband and two boys ages six and 13.

Ann Marie Chuprevich is a food-packaging specialist, born in the US having lived and studied in Norway. She graduated with a degree in Biological Science, then continued on to acquire Master degrees in Industrial Technology and Packaging Science. She has spent 12 years in research and development for Blue Ridge Paper Products, formerly Champion International, where she acquired two patents for developing polymer barrier structures for extending the shelf life of fruit juices. Her background work has involved the development of paperboard packaging with improved barrier systems. She previously worked with Dupont in the development systems for regulation and manufacture of film coating materials. Chuprevich now works for Tetra Pak, a Swedish multinational company with over 150 offices worldwide, specializing in packaging innovations and packaging machinery. As Manager for Packaging Performance, Chuprevich continues her work in material development; support of Tetra Pak's business areas with an emphasis on customer satisfaction.

Sharon P. Derbyshire is a freelance market researcher focused on servicing the packaging and specialty chemical industries. She has over twenty years work experience spanning all facets of the packaging industry, from raw materials application (Dow Chemical), to converting of packaging (Amoco), through end user (Burger King). Sharon is a noted author of many technical articles and industry papers and earned the Food & Drug Packaging Achievement Award for foamed polystyrene barrier roll stock. The use of this product by major food companies resulted in total industry sales of $50MM. Since founding Contract Market Research in 1998, Sharon has utilized an established network of key industry leaders and associates to conduct primary and secondary market research in support of numerous custom reports, publications and multi client studies including; Packaging Strategies' Packaging Outlook 2004, Opportunities in Shrink & Stretch Labels 2007, Keymark Associates, and Oxygen Absorbers in Packaging: Hit or Hype?, BRG Townsend. Proprietary services offered by Contract Market Research include comprehensive market analysis, support of product development, competitive intelligence, SWOT analysis, value chain analysis and assistance in strategic planning. Sharon is an active member of Women in Packaging, Institute of Packaging Professionals, and the American Chemical Society. She holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry and M.B.A. degree with emphasis in Marketing from Central Michigan University.

Suzanne Fenton is the Director of Marketing for TricorBraun, the largest package design and development company in the industry. She is a 20-year veteran in the packaging industry, all with TricorBraun. Fenton began her career with TricorBraun in the operations end of the business, gaining varied skills as the company grew. After serving as Director, Customer Service for several years, she began performing many marketing functions, enabling her to take on her present responsibilities. As part of the marketing role, Fenton oversees the content and functioning of www.tricorbraun.com, TricorBraun's website, including the RapidFind™ packaging database tool. In addition to directing the marketing activities, Fenton conducts TricorBraun's Technical Training sessions several times a year for both employees and customers. The sessions are a basic "bottle school" and introduce newcomers to the packaging industry to basic terms and manufacturing processes.

Jan Gates is a packaging engineer working in a new cross-divisional position for the Guidant Corporation. The divisions include Cardiac Rhythm Management, Vascular Intervention and Endovascular Solutions medical devices. Her main focus is to develop international distribution test methodology for the divisions while supporting packaging development for new and existing products. Experience with project management, cross-functional teams, labeling, product filings, and a variety of standards balanced with practical packaging functionality and testing ingenuity allows Jan to be uniquely qualified for the cross-divisional position. She has over 25 years experience in the medical device industry and consumer packaging with a BS in Food Science and a MS in Packaging from Michigan State University. She is a member of WMPKG, IoPP, and the ASTM D10 committee.

Alexis Gladstone has more than 14 years of experience in organizational change and training & development both within and outside of the paper and packaging industry. She currently serves as Director of Leadership Development for Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, the largest integrated producer of paperboard and paper-based packaging products in North America. She is responsible for recruiting and developing leadership talent for more than 140 plants within Smurfit-Stone's Corrugated Container division. Most recently, Gladstone served as manager, leadership development, at Baxter Healthcare. She has also served in leadership, organizational change and human resource management and consulting positions at Becton Dickinson, Champion International and Amoco Corporation. Gladstone earned a BS from Indiana University and an MBA for Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Lindy Griffith is the Senior Manager of Packaging Technical Services, for AstraZeneca at the Newark, DE facility. She has over 23 years of experience working for a number of Fortune 100 companies in manufacturing, corporate engineering and strategic sourcing. Lindy served on the board of the AgContainer Research Council from 1994 until 2001 and is a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Women in Packaging. Lindy is a graduate of Michigan State University's School of Packaging. She also has an MBA from Wilmington College and is a CPM.

Amy Hall is the general manager of the Flexible Packaging Division at Universal Folding Box Co., Inc. in Northern New Jersey. She was recently promoted to this position from director of marketing. Hall holds an MBA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and is a graduate of the Industrial Design program at Rochester Institute of Technology. She began her packaging career as a packaging designer for Weyerhaeuser in New Jersey. Hall gained valuable sales experience while with Weyerhaeuser. As a member of Women in Packaging for five years, Hall has participated in various Women in Packaging events, leadership and chapter programming.

Darcey Johnson graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor's of Science in Packaging. She began her career at Eastman Kodak Company as a Packaging Engineer. Throughout the 27 years she has been with Eastman Kodak, she has held a variety of packaging related positions servicing the Photochemicals, Thermal Media, and Worldwide Color Paper Flow. For 4 years, Johnson has sponsored a packaging technology team within Kodak. Currently, she is the Manager of Worldwide Photographic Roll and Sheet Paper Packaging as a part of the Package Engineering and Graphics Design Department. Johnson has served over 3 years on the Greece Girls Soccer and the Women's Forum of Kodak Employees Board. In addition to formal Board positions, she has supported their activities through leadership of committees and subcommittees. In 2002, Johnson received the Mary Jo Spears Award for volunteerism from the Women's Forum. For 2 years, she led an Explorer Post for high school students focused on packaging as a potential career choice. She has mentored over 10 packaging interns from both Michigan State University and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Betty Kauffman is Account Manager for MOCON, the leading provider of instrumentation and testing services for materials assessment, odor analysis, and package integrity testing. Customers encompass every aspect of packaging, including resin developer, extruders, converters, and end-users in various industries. Prior to joining MOCON, Kauffman was involved with Sales and Marketing at Genesis Machinery Products (former division of WEST Pharmaceutical Services). In this role, she dealt with the sale of vial capping equipment as well as instrumentation and services used to determine seal integrity of vials. She was also an active member of PDA, ISPE, and TQM. Betty has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Widener University, PA, obtaining this degree while working full time, raising a family, and attending classes at night and on weekends. Kauffman is a member of Women In Packaging, IoPP, and IFT.

As Vice President of Business Operations at Packexpo.com, Betsy McBride is a relative newcomer to the packaging industry, but a seasoned veteran when it comes to managing customer support services. This March celebrates her 3rd anniversary at Packexpo.com, a joint venture between The Packaging Machinery Institute (PMMI) and Cendex Corporation. Packexpo.com is the largest, most widely used online resource for packaging buyers. McBride came to Packexpo.com having served in an executive role at a large Managed Behavioral Healthcare Organization where she was responsible for the successful administration of managed behavioral healthcare services for over 3 million lives nationwide representing $35 million in annual revenue. Tasked with maintaining a profitable cost center, McBride oversaw a staff of 248 servicing 137 different clients and delivering a variety of product lines. Areas under her supervision included clinical, customer service, and claims operations with responsibility for client relations and financial management of contractual responsibilities. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Stanford University and Masters and Ph.D. at the University of Georgia.

Janet Morrison is a account executive in the packaging industry for over 15 years. She has delivered the highest quality of client support with a personal touch that has instilled an incredibly loyal following among her clients. The majority of her accounts have been with her for as long as she has been in packaging. One of her largest accounts began when she regularly hand delivered 1 case of tape for almost a year back in 1990 and now that account has blossomed into a loyal, six figure account for over 10 years.

Barbara J. Nawrot, Manager Packaging & Labeling Development, is a 15-year veteran of Cordis Corporation located in Miami Lakes, FL. Nawrot and her global staff successfully provide packaging design, labeling and graphic services for Cordis products supporting new product development and global production facilities including external manufacturers. Nawrot's packaging career began in the late 1980's as a graphic designer in New Product Development before moving into the Packaging Department when it was created in the early 1990's. Nawrot holds an Associate Degree in Business and will obtain a her Bachelor's Degree in Business Management & Marketing in September 03 from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL.

Jennifer O'Donnell is the manager of product labeling and documentation at bioMerieux, Inc. She graduated from Michigan State University in the packaging program and has 9 years experience mostly in the medical/pharmaceutical business. She started her career with an internship program at McNeil Consumer Products Company and then upon graduation she took a full time position at Syntex Pharmaceuticals in Palo Alto, CA. She then continued on in her career and held different titles and levels of responsibility at Nestle Beverage Company, Shaklee, Elan Pharmaceuticals and now with bioMerieux. In her current position, O'Donnell is in charge of the administration and management of all packaging and labeling development for the company. She is responsible for the development of packaging for new products, supporting changes in existing products, controlling all labeling activities, and interfacing with outside vendors. O'Donnell is also responsible for the package testing of new products, documentation and specifications. She manages the packaging engineering, labeling and technical writing staff members and their activities to meet R&D, Manufacturing and Marketing needs. She insures minimal investment in multiple package finishes, consistent with efficiency of operation, cost and marketing needs. She presently resides in Raleigh-Durham, NC with her husband and daughter Kaitlyn.

Eva Peters is Section Manager for the Growth Packaging Development Group for the BSC Division of Kraft Foods. Eva has been with Kraft Foods for 22 years and has a vast experience base in all facets of packaging development and design. One of Peters' most notable accomplishments was as Technical Leader for Nabisco Strategic Sourcing Flexible Packaging Initiative which resulted in a multi million dollar productivity program. In Peters' current role she and her staff are responsible for identifying and driving packaging innovation in support of her respective business units. Her staff recently developed and launched Altoids Sour in an innovative round tin. Outside of work Peters enjoys bicycling, kickboxing and coaching her daughter's basketball and softball teams.

Kathleen Ritchie began her professional packaging career in 1992 with Nestle USA. She graduated with her Packaging Engineering degree at Michigan State University in 1993 and her MBA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1999. For the last 10 years she has worked at various consumer product companies from Chocolate to Cars- Hershey Foods N.A, Unilever N.A, and Ford Motor Company. Her various positions over the years have broadened her expertise in many areas: packaging design and development, quality, production management, product design, product and packaging optimization, supplier integrations, product line launches, packaging project management, e-business project management, and supply chain management. She has been a member of IoPP, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Women in Packaging, Sigma Alpha Alumni, and Ford's Professional Women's Network (PWN). She volunteers for Junior Achievement, Habitat for Humanity, and Detroit Youth Day annually. She currently serves on Ford's PWN Centennial Committee, Ford's Supply Chain Management diversity team, and her neighborhood board, as the president. Ritchie is married and currently resides in Farmington Hills, MI.

Mary Schilling has been involved with the litho and flexo printing industry since 1984 and has been credited in a multitude of Printing Technology Divisions including Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Resort Condominiums International and Woodfield Prepress and Design Services. She has spent 11 years in the preprint and postprint flexo printing industry specializing in design, prepress and web/digital press development. Schilling joined Inland Paperboard and Packaging in 1991 years ago as lead designer to Inland's first start-up preprint facility Her passion for innovation has led her to become the Manager of Design/New Technology Development of a Inland's new Digital Printing Division; which has developed the first non-impact, variable data, web workflow, 1000fpm-rigid packaging press currently in production in Dallas Texas. She serves on Indiana's Business Moderization and Technology Council, Scitex's Joint Technology Council, member of Xplor and is a frequent trainer/speaker at US printing colleges and trade shows.

Dale Tepp is the Director of Human Resources for Color-Box, LLC. Color-Box is the largest U.S. manufacturer of litho-laminated packaging and is a company of Georgia-Pacific Corporation. She has more than 25 years experience in the pulp and paper industry, the last 3 in packaging. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin and is currently working on her MBA and Masters in Human Resource Management.

Laura Tufariello is a leader in Secondary & Gift Set Packaging. Founder & President of Design & Source Productions, Inc. she holds various patents and works with large corporations in the cosmetic, specialty food, and cruise industries to design & produce solutions for special packaging or promotional needs. Her packaging expertise includes molded plastic containers, extruded polypropylene, PVC, fabric & custom paper gift set boxes, as well as various metals, glass & wickers manufactured and imported from overseas. Her company's main office is located in New York City with offices in Miami, Hong Kong and Ningbo, China. Design & Source Productions is a certified Women Owned Business Enterprise.

Additional team members include Laraine Blauvelt, Linda Carducci, Darcey Johnson, Dawn Mastro, and Greg Trentacosta.