Ton van der Giessen has more than 40 years of experience in the waste collection and recycling sector. In the past 13 years, he served as CEO of Van Werven Plastic Recycling with multiple branches in Europe. He was also chairman of the trade association for recycling companies in the Netherlands for 11 years, board member of PCEP in Brussels and member of the Transition Team Plastics. He currently holds several positions as commissioner/supervisor, chairman and board member in organizations and companies active in the circular economy.

Dr. Esther van den Beuken works as a principal consultant at TNO and has 20 years of experience at the interface of public-private innovation and societal themes. Esther has a broad experience with plastics. Esther is guiding nationally and internationally in the field of Circular Plastics through her role as core team member for the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda Circular Economy (KIA-CE), leader of the route of the National Science Agenda Circular Economy, participation in TransitionAgenda Plastics and the Plastic PactNL. Within the EU, Esther is leading by setting up Horizon Europe projects in the field of plastics, executing strategic projects for industry organizations, and participating in Circular Plastic Alliance and Plastic Pact EU.

As director, Marc manages the Circular Plastics NL office and the program managers and the office. Moreover, he takes care of the operational liaison with both the Ministry of EZK, RVO and NWO for launching and monitoring calls, and with the Ministry of I&W, to ensure alignment with policy, legislation, and European developments.

Marc studied chemical engineering with a specialization in materials science / polymer technology. After starting in research at AkzoNobel, he then held various positions in engineering/innovation, marketing, sales, business and general management at home and abroad. Within the chemicals division of the German family-owned company Würth, he was CEO of several companies active in coatings and specialty chemicals. Most recently, he was active in the packaging industry.

Bas Salzmann is Policy Advisor on Sustainability in Industry at the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth (KGG). Together with its partners, the ministry works towards a sustainable and entrepreneurial Netherlands: a climate-neutral society and a strong, open economy.

As management assistant, Jolanda supports the director and the board and takes care of all common back-office activities at Circular Plastics NL.

Jolanda is an experienced support professional who enjoys result-oriented work with great enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility. Thinking along and executing are important principles.

Birgit is active at Circular Plastics NL to help with the growing network collaborating on 100% circularity in the plastics chains. She takes care of CPNL's communication materials and channels and events.

In addition, she is active with various organizations, foundations, small and large companies to help with their communication goals, but most importantly discovering their social role and transition to meaningful business. She has worked as a communications consultant at Huntsman, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Municipality of Rotterdam and Dutch Coalition for Humanitarian Innovation, among others.

Roland ten Klooster graduated with an MSc in Industrial Design Engineering from Delft University of Technology in 1987 on the design of plastic packaging for beer for Heineken. He worked one year for Heineken Technical Services and at Formaat, an agency in product development.

In 1991 he was one of the founders of Plato product consultants, a firm that grew into a specialist in structural packaging design, working for multinationals and SMEs. Roland wrote a dissertation on how decisions are made in packaging design and came up with a methodical approach to optimize this process, which he defended at Delft University of Technology in 2002. Since 2006, he has held a part-time position at the University of Twente with the Chair in Packaging Design and Management.

Carlijn Röell has worked as a strategic consultant for over 12 years. After studying Technology Management at the University of Groningen, she joined Kearney as a consultant in 2011. There she worked for 10 years on strategic issues (including growth strategies, revenue improvement programs and organizational transformations) at board level for multinationals. Although she started out all round she gradually focused more and more on the Consumer Goods and Retail sector. At the end of her time at Kearney, she spent a year at Unilever on the plastic packaging strategy. Thus she entered the field of circular plastics. Then she wanted to continue in the field of circular economy and started for herself as a strategic consultant.

Since then, Carlijn worked for several programs in the field of circular plastics, including Het Schone Noorden and Plastic Pact NL. As a strategist, she was involved in the creation, strategy development and further implementation.

Louis has over 35 years of experience in plastics, in recycling, materials development and processing. His main focus is on innovation and development through collaboration in the chain.

He studied chemistry in Nijmegen followed by a doctorate in solid-state chemistry.

At DSM, he worked in the development of LLDPE and in mechanical recycling of plastics at Reko BV. He then did business development at TNO Chemie and at DPI Value Centre, including setting up company collaborations and realizing market opportunities, partly in the field of plastic recycling, and the deployment of recyclates.

At 4PET Recycling, in a managerial position, he was responsible for quality improvement through optimizations in the recycling process.

He is currently self-employed as project leader for DPI/ISPT's InReP project and advises SMEs in plastic recycling, both in the Netherlands and internationally.

Jan Willem Slijkoord is a materials scientist and entrepreneur. During his 25-year career, he has worked in process technology companies such as Akzo Nobel, Tata Steel, Norit Activated Carbon and for the National Laboratory for Applied Sciences, TNO. There he was active in various roles as a materials scientist, marketing manager or business development manager. During his career, he gained extensive experience in the PET fiber and PET recycling industry, as well as in engineering and high-performance polymer sales.

With a strong circular affinity for turning "nothing" into "something," he founded a tech startup developing sustainable materials technology, CiorC, in 2015. Examples include recycled and biodegradable polyesters for 3D printing, furniture parts based on hospital waste and advanced mechanical recycling of polyester.

Mark Demuynck is an experienced engineer and consultant with more than 30 years of experience in the polymer industry. He studied bioengineering at Ghent University and received a master's degree in Composites and Polymer Engineering from KU Leuven. Mark started his career as sales and country manager at Resinex, the current market leader in polymer distribution. In Europe, his responsibilities included PE, PS and PA as product manager. He built strong relationships with customers and partners and was a key player in the company's growth. At Ravago Europe, Mark was business manager for the recycled PE, PP and PS compounds. He was responsible for the entire chain, from raw materials to finished products. He led the development of new products and markets, and improved the efficiency of production processes. As an expert in polymer compounding and recycling, Mark has in-depth knowledge of the entire production and sales chain of these products. He is an expert in developing and implementing recycling programs that are both economically and environmentally profitable.

Mark is also active as an investor and advisor to start-ups in various sectors. He has a passion for innovation and is always looking for new ways to make the world a better place.

Tom Claessen is a Bioengineer Interphase Chemistry (KU Leuven), alumnus of Vlerick Managent School and has 15 years of experience in application development, recycling and compoundering of engineering plastics. Tom started his career at Ravago Group where as technical account manager, product manager and automotive team manager he got a broad pall on the different aspects of the plastics value chain. In addition, Tom was/is also active in the development of bio-aromatic chemicals and bio-based waste stream valorization at Cardolite Corporation, KU Leuven, VIT0, Avantium.