Aldija spent 8 years at the most important Canadian textile research center, the CTT Group in St-Hyacinthe. While at CTT Group, launched the Smart Textile Research Group where she developed a prototyping infrastructure and supervised a multidisciplinary team of textile and electronic engineers. In 2014, she joined OMsignal, the leader in bio-sensing garments as Smart Textile Director where she led the transition from prototypes to production of smart apparel. After 12 years in Canada, she moved back to Europe in 2019, where she joined Dupont and its Safety and Construction business as the Regional Technology Manager. She is now managing technical projects and product development across multiple industries from personal protection to aerospace and stopping by automotive and healthcare.al."

A 30-year DuPont veteran, Alexa is a born problem-solver, innovator and education advocate. She champions the company’s entrepreneurial mindset to spur growth, while fostering close collaboration with customers and strategic partners alike.The business success Alexa has achieved is emblematic of her passion for enabling innovation to flourish, a consistent theme spanning her career at DuPont. Among her many accomplishments, she played a pivotal role in transforming the company’s centralized R&D model to a more responsive, market-oriented innovation machine embedded within each of the company’s businesses.Today, Alexa leads business and innovation strategy alignment to make the most impactful portfolio choices for DuPont. Her goal is to make every investment dollar count to quickly drive innovation to market.  She is passionate about elevating the role sustainability plays in these investment decisions and how DuPont can help customers achieve their own sustainability ambitions with our solutions.  

David Domnisch leads the DuPont Personal Protection (DPP) business which provides chemical, thermal, and mechanical protection to industrial workers and emergency responders around the globe. In this role, he has nearly $1B in P&L responsibility serving a diverse set of industry vertical markets with advanced protective materials and PPE finished products. He joined DuPont in 2000 and began his career as a plant engineer within the DuPont Engineering Polymers business providing high performance Vespel® parts into the Aerospace, Automotive, and Oil & Gas industries. David received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University in South Carolina and received his M.B.A. from Drexel University in Philadelphia, with a focus on International Business.

Gökhan Duman is working as an application development scientist for DuPont Water & Protection division and responsible for thermal apparel segment R&D activities in EMEA from fabric manufacturing to end user application areas according to hazard types. His expertise in technical textiles are the yarn, fabric technologies from fiber to finished good and adapting new technologies to different application in thermal, mechanical protection and composite segments. Gökhan holds BA Textile and Mechanical Engineering degrees and MSc Textile Engineering Degree. He has also Six Sigma Black Belt degree and uses this methodology in his role intensively at manufacturing and R&D processes.

Albrecht Gerland is the Product Manager for DuPont Personal Protection business in EMEA, located in Luxembourg. His key priorities include the development of an application focused product portfolio adapted to the wearer’s needs for protection and comfort for all of DuPont brands ranging from Tyvek® and Tychem®, Nomex® and Kevlar®. In the last 15 months a new aspect of his role became more important than ever before, i.e. how to deal with a situation where frontline work in the fight against a pandemic and, at the same time, necessary industrial protection needs significantly exceeded product availability. Before Mr. Gerland came into his current role, he gained experience in several managerial roles at DuPont in technical marketing, sales and supply chain. He joined DuPont in 2001 with the background as a mechanical engineer in plastics processing from the university of Aachen, Germany.

Yannick Ittner is a Certified Electrical Engineering Technologist. As the technical lead of the DuPont Arc-Man® he is responsible for rating and arc flash testing according to IEC 61482-1-1 of PPE and for supporting business and customer protective clothing developments. He works on improving international standards as a member of the technical committee IEC TC 78 and continuously tries to raise awareness of the widely underestimated yet crucially devastating phenomenon of arc flashes. In addition, Yannick performs also several electrical tests on insulating materials.

Amy Lee joined DuPont in October 2020, leading the Second Life Materials (2LM) team.  She is the DuPont Goal Leader for Circular Economy, as part of the new Sustainability Leadership Council.  Prior to DuPont, Amy worked for Saint-Gobain – leading communications and building a sustainability program from the ground up in their construction products sector, and then as part of NOVA External Venturing to scale up start-up technologies across all sectors.

Amy earned her MBA from University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Florida, US.  She is a member of ASTM Technical Committee F48, and volunteers at a local International Baccalaureate High School non-profit organization.

Rose joined DuPont in 2015 as Global Business Director, DuPont™ Kevlar® and Aramid Intermediates. In 2016, she assumed the role of President, DuPont Protection Solutions and was named President, Safety & Construction in 2017. Prior to joining DuPont, Rose held senior leadership positions at Saint-Gobain as Strategy Director, CIO of North America region and a number of General Management positions serving construction, transportation, energy and defense sectors. Rose earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from Cornell University, a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Steve holds a master’s degree in business administration and has joined DuPont in 1995. After having held various positions within the company, he is currently the training & pharma specialist for DuPont Personal Protection. He has 18 years of experience in the field of personnel protective equipment.

BSc in Textile Engineering, started in Non-Woven carpet industry as Head of Process and Quality, with Dupont since November 2018. Specialist for Hand protection. Key activities: Product development, Customer support, Technical Leader of the new Engineered Yarn Platform.   

Stéphane Nowak is graduated as a chemical engineer from the European school in Strasbourg (F). After a few years at Dow Elanco and Eli Lilly companies, he started as process Engineer at DuPont in the Typar® division in 1997. Then he held some responsibilities in PS&RA for Typar® and Tyvek®. Since 2011, he is working in Tyvek® Application Development for the Protective Apparel business, where he is developing new fabrics and coveralls for this usage.

John is currently the Global VP/GM for the DuPont Safety business, a role he has performed since March, 2017.  In this capacity he has full global P&L responsibility for the combined DuPont Kevlar®, Nomex®, Tyvek® and Typar® businesses (~$2.7B in revenue).  He works with corporate executive leadership to craft and articulate business strategy across numerous diverse, multi-industrial, markets including Aerospace, Automotive, Defense, Healthcare, Consumer & Industrial, Electrical Infrastructure, and Personal Protection and is accountable for execution implementation that delivers sustainable growth and profitability.  He leads a global organization in excess of 3,7000 talented cross-functional individuals.

Richard lives in the UK and has over 15 years’ experience in the PPE industry specializing in hand protection and other protective products. Working with end users is a passion helping customers find the right solution and providing protection from hazards found in their applications. Richard has extensive knowledge of glove standards and products to help guide customers in finding appropriate hand protection for their needs and requirements.

Clara Sorel is a textile engineer, 6 years with DuPont. Helping to define new solutions for end-users in the FR PPE field.

Bénédicte Valance has over 20 years’ experience in nonwoven technology as a scientist and developer at DuPont Water & Protection. Bénédicte is a Graduate Engineer in Chemical Engineering and holds a Ph.D degree in Polymer Chemistry. She has been developing, qualifying and certifying materials and personal protective equipment (PPE) for Chemical Industrial and Controlled Environment applications. She has led multiple programs to improve protection, breathability and comfort of garments using different fabrics and designs.

Pauline Weisser has a textile engineering background. She joined DuPont in 2015 and is working as an Application Development Specialist. She is responsible for the development of technical fabrics made of Nomex® fibers for two main markets: Emergency Response (firefighters) and Thermal Industrial, for the EMEA region. Based in Geneva, in our European Technical Center, she takes advantage of spinning, weaving and testing laboratories and capabilities to develop and characterize technical textiles.

Over 35 years of Health, Safety and Environment experience including 27 years in the pharmaceutical industry at Novartis, Johnson and Johnson, GSK and SmithKline Beecham. Marc’s primary responsibility at Novartis Pharmaceutical is to establish a risk based data driven decision-making processes for their Industrial Hygiene Program. Marc received his B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh and his M.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts, School of Public Health. He is Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and an active member of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE) where he was a contributor to the Risk MAPP and SMEPAC guidelines.

Nicholas Bahr is a global leader with over 35 years’ experience as an internationally recognized thought leader and expert in operational and enterprise risk management, process safety, resiliency,  and security.  He helps executives and senior government leaders identify, prioritize and reduce risk along their complete value chain and throughout their portfolio of operations.  He works globally in manufacturing, chemical, oil and gas, power and water utilities, aerospace, and transport industries to improve their operational risk profile.  Mr. Bahr is the author of the book System Safety Engineering and Risk Assessment used by various universities around the world; the US Federal Aviation Administration uses it as their aviation system safety model.  He is a founding member of the  International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety and has led numerous U.S. delegations on various international standards writing bodies.  He has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Reliability Engineering.

In the PPE field since 2003. Enthusiast to work in the Industry area, helping end-users to create their own PPE range.

Silke Büchl is an experienced IOHA certified Occupational hygienist with about 20 years of experience in occupational hygiene.She received the IOHA certified Occupational Hygienist after the postgraduate studies for work and health at ETH Zürich and Uni Lausanne in 2003. Before she started as Occupational Hygienist and deputy of the managing director at Praevena in 2014 she gained experiences in the different fields of occupational hygiene, Safety Data Sheets, Hazard Communication with the focus on occupational hygiene topics as well as participation in the internal board to define of Occupational Exposure Limits at Novartis.

Pablo Cuesta Lopez is a professional with 20 years of experience, mainly in the fields of Procurement, Financial & Industrial Controlling, Commodities Risk Management and Internal Control. Time and experience acquired at large industrial companies such as ArcelorMittal, Faurecia, Nexans and currently Veolia Over these years, where he maintained direct relationships with Group Management Board members as well as Operations specialists, Finance, Purchasing Managers and Internal Audit. His current position in Veolia aims to directly participate in the Purchasing Strategy as well as to manage all Purchasing Performance issues ranging from savings valuation, cash management, process and controls, to market drivers risk and supplier negotiations in order to provide the Purchasing Management and Group Management Board with accurate data and reliable sound assessments.     

After studies in chemistry and materials science in Germany and the USA, Dr. Karin Eufinger obtained her PhD in solid state physics at Ghent University in Belgium. She joined Centexbel in 2008 as Research Scientist, with a short interruption in 2010-11 when she worked for 14 months at Devan Chemicals (Belgium) as head of the R&D department. Dr. Eufinger gained her first experience with standardization when taking over the Convenorship of CEN/ TC 248/ WG31 Smart Textiles beginning of 2009. In 2015 she moved completely into standardization when taking over the position of Manager Standards & Technical regulations at Centexbel after the retirement of her predecessor. 

Michael Griffin is the Strategy and Partnerships Technical Officer for the Operations Support & Logistics unit within the Health Emergency Programme at the WHO.  He is the focal point of the Pandemic Supply Chain Network, a public-private collaboration to develop a supply chain network that can scale with the appropriate assets, resources, and expertise to respond to pandemics.  Additionally, as part of the WHO COVID-19 emergency response, Mr. Griffin leads the market development initiatives for biomedical equipment.  

Paul is a senior engineering manager and chartered electrical engineer with significant experience in operations, maintenance, engineering and project management gained in the Oil and Gas/Chemical/Steel Industries and the Military.  Paul more recently worked for Tata Steel Europe’s corporate engineering function as their lead on electrical asset integrity, during which time we wrote and implemented 15 safety critical company standards and guides including Arc Flash Risk Management; Safety Instrumented Systems Design; Machinery Safety Design and Fire Systems Design. Paul is currently a Director at Electrical Safety UK, specialising in Arc Flash Studies and Electrical Safety Management consultancy.   

Benjamin Hulot has carried out several assignments for large industrial companies (Kraft, Crown Cork and Veolia) and audit/consulting firms (Arthur Andersen and E&Y). During his career, Benjamin has developed and supervised many major projects in Cost control, Purchasing, Transformation and Management Information System. Today he is in charge of Procurement Performance at Veolia, which includes responsibility for strategy, Efficiency Plan, Multifaceted Performance, CSR and Compliance, Digitalization and process optimization. Benjamin is also associate professor at ESCP (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris), Ecole Centrale Paris and university of Besancon Veolia group is the global leader in optimized resource management. With over 178,000 employees worldwide, the Group designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries.

Lene Jul holds senior experience level within product management, portfolio strategy and sustainability management and have been in the workwear business for almost 15 years.

Lene Jul is recognized as an expert within the European workwear segment and is an active player in R&D work and strategic product management focusing on sustainability. 

As of 2011 Klaus-Heinrich Kokemüller is responsible for various appointments with Procurement e.g. Global packaging, Laboratory Supplies and PPE at BASF SE.  In previous years he was involved in Commercial education at Hoechst AG with various appointments as strategic buyer accompanying course of studies at the HS Mainz and provadis University Frankfurt (Dipl. Betriebswirt FH)  External consulting within Pharmaceutical and Consumer Industries.

Joachim Koch is responsible for the Personal Protective Equipment at BASF SE. He joined BASF SE in 1980 and did an apprenticeship as chemical assistant. In 1991 he qualified as an environmental technician. Since 2006 he has been with the Occupational Safety department and qualified 2007 as a Safety Expert. He coordinates the BASF SE team of European PPE experts and the team of Global PPE experts. He is a member of DIN, CEN and ISO working groups for hand protection and protective clothing. He is also a trainer and consultant for the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the raw materials and chemical industry (BG RCI) and a member of the PPE working group at BG RCI.

Rahel Krause, studied mechanical engineering with a major in textile technology at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. In 2020, in the course of her master thesis at the Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University she developed and validated a guideline for design and manufacturing of smart PPE for the fire brigade. As part of this thesis Mrs. Krause created an online survey on the end user´s perspective about smart PPE. She received insights from 150 German fire fighters who took part in the survey. She started working in the department of FABRIC PRODUCTION as a scientific researcher at ITA in June 2020 and is part of the coordination team on PPE. 

Mathieu joined DSS in 2013 after more than 15 years of operations experience in the automotive and mining and metals industry. Mathieu held various positions in major companies such as Rio Tinto, including HSE leadership roles and innovation roles. Mathieu is now Director at DSS in Europe and is leading the safety practice in this market. In particular, he innovated from the Bradley CurveTM by developing leadership competencies maturity models that helped multiple large and complex organizations of various industries in Europe to transform their safety culture in an efficient, impactful and sustainable manner.

Raynard Looch is the Managing Member of Klass Looch Associates. He obtained my BA.LLB at Pretoria University and joined the Department of Justice in 1983 and was admitted to the Bar as an advocate in 1984. He served as a prosecutor in the Mining Court (OHS Court) until resigning in 1986 to form Klass Looch Associates after identifying a need to offer employers a specialised service. Since 1986 he has successfully represented many employers in criminal matters pertaining to the occupational health and safety legislation. He has delivered many papers on the Act and regularly write articles on the Act to a variety of specialised magazines. He is a Corporate Member of Saiosh and is currently the moderator of the Saiosh OHS Legal Advice Forum.

Alan Murray has been in the Safety and Health Industry since the 1980’s – He has led the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) as Chief Executive since the start of 2014. The BSIF is dedicated to supporting those who keep people safe and healthy at work and passionate that Safety and Health in the UK is appreciated as the force for good that it is. In setting about to transform the Safety Industry supply chain, BSIF administers the Registered Safety Suppliers Scheme ensuring quality products are available to users through a capablesuppliers. In 2019 Alan Murray became President of the European Safety Federation, the grouping of national bodies whose work is focused on lobbying and advising within the organisation of the EU.

Co-founder and CEO at clim8. Florian supervises business development, the company’s vision and strategy. Florian has 15 years of 'experience in sport retail and technical textile brands, as Product Owner, Sales Manager Asia Pacific and General Manager.  Oberalp group (SALEWA / DYNAFIT), as General Manager Asia Pacific.  Florian graduated from a MSc in Sport Management at University Paris XII and a BBA in Helsinki Business Polytechnic. Florian has a family with 2 children. He is passionate by sport, and used to be a handball pro in France. He is an Ironman finisher.

Matts Ramstorp has a master’s degree in chemical engineering and received his PhD in Pure and Applied Biochemistry. Matts was appointed professor in cleanroom technology in 2002. (University of Lund, Sweden). Internationally, Matts was the president of ICCCS, International Confederation of Contamination Control Societies, 1998 to 2000. Since 1990, the Ramstorp family, runs three companies – all working with transfer of knowledge within the area of contamination control and cleanroom technology. Matts is a well-known lecturer within the industrial as well as the academic world, he is also a SME, consultant, and author of several textbooks.

 More than 40 years HSE Management and Leadership experience, 29 years at International level working in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Thailand, South Korea, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and almost all European Countries always promoting a simple vision “everyone impacted by our activities goes home safe & well” Starting my career in 1980 I completed 12 years’ service in the Coal industry successfully completing a City & Guilds Engineering Apprenticeship and simultaneously transitioning through their National Technical & Craft Academy.I joined the Automotive Industry in 1992 serving 12 years in Siemens Automotive Systems and 12 years in Faurecia Emissions Control Technologies respectively.I joined Group Renault in Sep 2016, my perimeter covering more than 150,000 employees in 300 sites which includes all Manufacturing, Logistics, Engineering, Dealerships and Administration locations in more than 30 Countries.I pride my work on active engagement on the gemba (the real place) observing, listening, influencing change management and establishing transversal standardization in the form of qualitative references for Health, Safety, Environment, Ergonomics and Project Management matched by ambitious quantitative KPIs. The baseline of the strategy has always brought significant improvements and enhanced performance especially in accident reduction. Since joining Group Renault accidents have reduced by 50% with roadmaps in place to continue the downward trends.

Dr Sharman is Managing Partner of RMS, a global consultancy specializing in safety culture and leadership.  His personal consulting experience spans over 130 countries with a broad range of clients from Fortune 500 organizations. Regarded as a dynamic and visionary thought-leader in workplace safety - having earned several international awards for his work - he is Professor of Leadership & Safety Culture and Program Director at CEDEP - the European Centre for Executive Development on the INSEAD campus in Paris, France.  His Lean Six Sigma Black Belt ensures that his approach is grounded in practical application and results-focused.Andrew is the author of ten books on safety culture, leadership and wellbeing.  His book From Accidents to Zero: A Practical Guide to Improving Your Workplace Safety Culture is the world’s best-selling book on safety culture with now over 90,000 copies sold.

Daniel Silvestri is the Managing Member of 911 Safety Equipment LLC and South West PPE LLC DBA Marken PPE.  Dan runs two large 3rd party verified ISP and the largest NFPA 1971 gear rental company in North America. 911SE is the first ISP to be verified to the cleaning validation portion of NFPA 1851, 2020 edition. He is active at both businesses, spending much of his time teaching fire fighters how to properly clean PPE and reduce carcinogen exposure in free seminars. In 1989 he worked for turnout gear manufacturer then spent ten years in the protective textile market. Dan currently sits on the NFPA 1971 and NFPA 1851 technical committees. He was appointed to the advisory board for the NFPA Research Foundation Validation of Cleaning Procedures for firefighter PPE and is the current President of VISPA. During his free time, he enjoys golf, fishing, and good meals with friends.

Fenike Tempelman worked at a burn centre in the Netherlands for 16 years as a burn surgeon. From the experience she gained during these years, she will give a presentation about the management of burn wounds.

With a degree in textile engineering, Henk Vanhoutte started working in the PPE sector in 1992 after some technical-commercial experience in textile companies. End of 1998 he decided to start his own consulting company, supporting PPE suppliers in the conformity assessment procedures. In 2004 he started as part-time Secretary General of the European Safety Federation (ESF), representing the PPE suppliers on European level. As such he has is the contact person for the EU Commission, Market Surveillance authorities, Coordination of Notified Bodies and many other stakeholders. He is currently also the chair of the CEN-CENELEC PPE sector forum.

Trained as an engineer for textile and clothing technology, I worked in the classic clothing industry in the areas of production planning and control, product management and sales. After a period of self-employment as a consultant for textile companies and the sale of a fashion brand, I started at DuPont in 2003 in the end user marketing department for NOMEX®, KEVLAR® TYVEK® and TYCHEM®. Until 2017 I was Value Chain Manager EMEA and responsible for the sales of NOMEX® and KEVLAR® fibers & yarns. In May 2017 I took over the position of the managing director at Fuchshuber, a manufacturer of high-performance knitted fabrics, which belongs to the Concordia Textil Group.