Board of Directors
IAPRI Officers
Yves Wyser
President, IAPRI
R&D Expert in Packaging, Nestle Research Center, Société des produits Nestlé, Lausanne Switzerland
Term 2025-2028
Yves holds a PhD in Materials Science from the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL). Since over 25 years, he is working at Nestlé Research, at the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Science, supporting Nestlé’s 2025 commitments on packaging with science based research, a special focus on the assessment of the performance of novel packaging materials & technologies, and Shelf-life prediction tools development. Further, he is since January 2018 an associate editor for Wileys Packaging Technology and Science, focusing on manuscript related to new packaging materials.
Yves is the representative of the first Corporate IAPRI member and, as such, has attended most IAPRI events since 2006 and co-organized the 2017 Symposium with the The School of Engineering and Management Vaud.
Mieke Buntinx
Vice President, IAPRI
Associate professor, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Hasselt University, Belgium
Staff member of Materials and Packaging Research & Services, Institute for Materials Research IMO-IMOMECl
Term 2025 - 2028
Mieke is a bio-engineer in chemistry with a strong interest in R&D of sustainable, smart and safe packaging. As professor, she motivates young engineers of UHasselt, KU Leuven and UGhent to study and tackle current and future packaging challenges. The MPR&S team has built expertise in gas permeability, physical-mechanical material characterization, impact of environmental variables, seal technologies, and (bio)polymer processing technologies.
Mieke is supervisor of PhD research on functional barriers such as EVOH that can protect against migration, and on modeling process, structure, property and migration relationships in functionalized biopolymers, which are produced by extrusion and injection molding, centrifugal fiber spinning, ultrasonic spray coating, compression molding. She’s very open to collaboration with the industry and other research institutes in applied research projects on intelligent packaging, bioplastic innovations, and safe and sustainable applications of recycled packaging materials.
On the board, Mieke wants to continue to promote international networking and student exchange. She wants IAPRI to motivate engineers and scientists to help solve packaging challenges in a circular economy.
Roland ten Klooster
Immediate Past President, IAPRI
Chair of the Packaging Design and Management program
University of Twente, The Netherlands
Term 2025-2028
Rolands's core research is on packaging decision making in the fields of sustainability, convenience, efficiency. He led the team at the University of Twente hosting the very successful IAPRI member conference in 2019. He is also co-owner of Plato product consultants, an agency in structural packaging design.
Roland desire is to make the field of packaging (hopefully) a (little) bit more professional without disqualifying the work that has been done.
His goals for IAPRI include to show the outer world that packaging is a profession. Packaging is a serving entity that will never have the first attention. We must make sure that packaging is taken up in decisions about the product, about production, design, transport, costs, sustainability etc.
Various working groups of the Association of Dutch Packaging Experts is were Roland volunteers.
Edward A. Church
Secretary General, IAPRI
East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Ed was President of the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), serving in that capacity from 1995 until 2016. He is a graduate of the Michigan State University School of Packaging with both a Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Packaging. He is an IoPP Fellow and Lifetime Certified Packaging Professional and has an extensive background in transport packaging performance testing.
He was one of the founders of Lansmont Corporation, serving in many capacities including President. He is a member of the ASTM D-10 and past board member of IAPRI. Church is a Past President and Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) and is an Honorary Life Member. He has been inducted into the National Packaging Hall of Fame and the MSU Packaging Hall of Fame. Ed is also the recipient of the ISTA 2016 R. David LeButt Award.
In his 58-year career in packaging, he has given over 100 conference presentations around the world.
Ed became the Secretary General of IAPRI in January of 2018.
sg@iapri.org
Institutional Board Members
Rafael Auras
Professor, Amcor Endowed Chair in Packaging Sustainability
Michigan State University, School of Packaging, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Term 2024-2027
Rafael holds the Amcor Endowed Chair in Packaging Sustainability and serves as a professor at Michigan State University’s School of Packaging. Leading a dynamic research team, he focuses on mass transfer in polymers, biodegradable polymers, life cycle assessment, and the design of sustainable packaging systems. His extensive collaboration with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies underscores his deep expertise in the field. Rafael has authored over 200 publications and four books, establishing himself as a preeminent expert in packaging sustainability.
Since attending his first IAPRI meeting at MSU in 2002, Rafael has actively participated in most IAPRI events, valuing the organization’s role that IAPRI provides as a global nexus for advancing R&D in packaging.
Alexander Leo Bardenstein
Business Development Manager for Materials, Plastics, and Packaging Technology
Danish Technological Institute, Taastrup, Denmark
Term 2025-2028
Alexander holds an MSc in Engineering Physics and a PhD in Solid-State Physics. With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Bardenstein specializes in advanced packaging materials, including cellulose-based barrier packaging solutions, active and antimicrobial packaging, packaging for cold chain maintenance, and microwaveable food packaging. His expertise extends to plasma processing, as well as the application of plasma, ultrasonic, and radiation technologies to food safety and packaging recycling. Dr. Bardenstein has a substantial record of peer-reviewed publications and patents. Since 2012, he has actively participated in IAPRI activities and has represented the Danish Technological Institute in IAPRI since 2019.
Péter Böröcz
Associate Professor - Head of Packaging Laboratory
Széchenyi István University, Gyr, Hungary
Term 2024-2027
Peter is a transportation engineer with a PhD in packaging. His main research topics are: Packaging testing methods for transport simulation purposes; Packaging dynamics during distribution; Mathematical optimization of packaging solutions with game theory and fuzzy method. Author of more than 40 peer-reviewed papers in international packaging journals, and presented more than 40 papers at packaging conferences. Supervisor of many PhD research works, and furthermore actively participates in researches and scientific papers in international cooperation. Member of IAPRI (International Association of Packaging Research Institutes) and ISTA (International Safe Transport Association), board member of Hungarian Association of Packaging and Materials Handling and for COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Packaging Action (CA19124).
Witchuda Daud
Director of Advance Polymer Technology Research Group
National Metal and Materials Technology Center, Thailand
Term 2023 - 2026
Witchuda has attended two IAPRI Member Conferences and has contributed to several conference and peer-reviewed papers as a co-author over the past 10 years. She contributed to IAPRI's monthly e-newsletter, where she wrote about a practical training program that MTEC is currently organizing. Sharing this valuable information with the IAPRI community and contributing to the promotion of sustainable packaging practices.
Witchuda brings a diverse range of experience to IAPRI with an extensive experience in packaging research and development, including modified atmosphere packaging, climate and environmental controlled film, plastics film processing, and polymer compounding. She also has experience in project management, having overseen several large-scale packaging projects from start to finish.
She has experience organizing training courses, seminars, and forums related to packaging technology and circular economy. She served on Thai Industrial Standards' Sub-committees and has gained a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities related to sustainability and circularity in the packaging industry.
Witchuda feels that IAPRI should focus on advancing the science, technology, and sustainability of packaging, while promoting collaboration, innovation, and education.
Carlos Diaz
Professor
Packaging and Grpahic Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, New York USA
Term 2025-2028
His research group focuses on developing novel, sustainable packaging materials. Dr. Diaz mentors graduate and undergraduate students who are engaged in research including biochar to capture carbon dioxide, compostable plastics to reduce waste, and active packaging to reduce food spoilage. His work has been published widely in a range of scholarly journals, periodicals, and books, including Nature Nanotechnology and its innovative nature has led to two patents with a third in process. His start-up, Cinterest, develops scalable, cutting-edge carbon sequestration technologies to address climate change.
Carlos has a Ph.D. in Packaging from the School of Packaging at Michigan State University and a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Univerisdad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. He is actively engaged in his profession and has served as Chair of the IAPRI Sustainable Packaging Community of Practice since 2015.
AJ Gruber
President & CEO, Internationa Safe Transit Association (ISTA)
East Lansing, MIchigan USA
Term 2025 - 2028
The International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), is an association focused on minimizing product damage throughout distribution and optimizing resource usage through effective package design. Gruber also serves as President of the ISTA Educational Foundation. His 20 years of experience in the packaging industry have been focused on distribution dynamics and packaging for transit. Prior to joining ISTA as the Vice President Technical in 2012, Mr. Gruber spent six years focused on the specific concerns of transport packaging and dangerous goods at UPS where he led the development of the UPS Eco Responsible Packaging Program. His various industry activities include the Editorial Board for the Cal Poly Industry Advisory Board, the MSU Distribution Packaging Research Consortium, and the Cal Poly Research Consortium.
Laszlo Horvath
Professor, Director - Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design, Virginia Tech, USA
Term 2025 - 2028
Laszlo has a Ph.D. in Forest Biomaterials Science from North Carolina State University, two Master of Science degrees and a BS from the University of West Hungary.
He leads the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design which is a research and testing center focusing on developing innovative technologies and information to optimize the global distribution of goods. Laszlo is an expert in pallet and unit load design and the industrial design sector.
As an Associate Professor, his teaching focuses on protective and industrial packaging to undergraduate level students and advanced packaging dynamics for graduate students. His research is focused on the investigation of the physical interactions between the components of unit load and increasing the sustainability of the packaging supply chain through more efficient distribution packaging design.
He participates in ISO, ASTM, and ANSI working groups and committees and as a US delegate to the ISO.
Laszlo is one of the few Packaging Laboratory Professionals that hold the Professional level certificates. Laszlo was also awarded the Best Scientific Presentation Award in 2017 at the 28th IAPRI Symposium on Packaging.
Johanna Lahti
Senior Scientist,
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Sustainable Materials and Products, Finland
Term 2023 - 2026
Has been an active member since 2019 through Tampere University (TAU) and changed in 2022 to VTT. She has a lot of experience in academic research and education at different levels - BSc, MSc and doctoral levels at different universities, with experience in supervising students and thesis works.
Johanna has given presentations at conferences and educational events, having worked on many different types of projects. This has given her quite a large network in the field of packaging. In addition, her research has always been very close to industry, so she also has good contacts in relevant industries.
Serving on the board, she wants to contribute to development of packaging education and to promote the research in packaging field, because there are lot of different things that could be developed in the packaging sector, but it requires collaboration between different parties. Supporting researchers and education in the packaging field is important.
Eric Martine
Head of Packaging Laboratory, School of Engineering and Management Vaud (HEIG-VD), Switzerland
Term 2025 - 2028
Eric had a BSc in Instrumentation & Measurement from Sheffield Hallam University in England and a Packaging Engineering Degree (ESIEC) from Rheims University in France.
As Head of the Packaging Laboratory, managers all activities of the lab including strategy development, budgeting, research, and the staff. He brings to the board a strong scientific knowledge and skills (especially in the field of the performances and choice of packaging) as well as a global overview of the field of packaging.
He has attended most IAPRI events since 2006. He was a co-organizer of the 28th IAPRI Member Conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2017 with Nestle Research Center. Eric is involved with many other packaging organizations, including Cluster Food and Nutrition, Swiss Plastics Cluster, Schweizer Verpackung Institute, and Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry Association.
Eric wants to actively promote and develop IAPRI more globally. He wants to assist IAPRI to new opportunities to organize (new types of) international events to promote the field of packaging in relation to current and future challenges.
Marit Kvalvåg Pettersen
Senior Research Scientist, Food Safety and Quality
Nofima, Norway
Term 2023 - 2026
Marit has attended IAPRI conferences almost every other year since 2005. She has participated on scientific committees, and an active participant in Communities of Practice.
As a researcher at Nofima, her focus has been applied research within food packaging. This includes material science, food quality, interaction food/packaging. - with a focus on sustainability and challenges and issues related to packaging. She has been a project manager of several national research programs as well as EU projects, often with involvements of the industry. She has a strong connection to the industry and potential to identify their challenges and needs.
She believes that IAPRI is an important global scientific network, and it highly encourages her to be a part of the future packaging and to be able to help to define/design the role of IAPRI for the future. I would like to participate in promoting the importance of packaging in relation to sustainability. The goals of IAPRI should be sustainability – not just in words but in practice.
Carmen Sanchez
Technical Director
ITENE, Spain
Term 2024 - 2027
Carmen has 26 years of work experience, being at ITENE since 1997 where she leads a team of more than 100 researchers. She wants to share her experience and knowledge to ensure the success of IAPRI as it adapts to the new times and new generations.
Carmen knows well the world of technological dissemination and events organization; the value of networking and her experience will contribute to the growth of IAPRI and to its impact on the world of packaging. She feels strongly that IAPRI, with its global scope, can strengthen networking and establish more reinforced collaboration bridges.
She is a Food Engineer with a PhD., with experience as a researcher, technological speaker, research projects manager, involvement in innovation management, the organization of events (technical conferences, exhibitions, training activities, etc.). She has coordinated more than 10 European projects, which has brought her in contact with many members of IAPRI.
Zhi-Wei Wang
Professor in College of Packaging Engineering & Director of Packaging Engineering Institute
Jinan University, China
Term 2024-2027
Zhi-Wei has been engaged in packaging since 1995, serving as college dean at both Jiangnan University and Jinan University. In Jiangnan, he founded the first PhD program in packaging in China, nurturing his country’s first PhD holders in this domain. In Jinan, he established a complete packaging program nurturing Bachelor, Master and PhD students.
He is the deputy director of the National Steering Committee of Universities Education for Light Industry Majors and director of the National Steering Sub-Committee for Packaging Engineering Major under the Ministry of Education, Chairman of Deans Joint Conference of National Packaging Colleges, Director of Metal Container Sub-Committee of National Packaging Standardization Committee, Executive Director of China Society of Vibration Engineering and Chairman of Packaging Dynamics Committee.
His research focus is on logistics packaging and food packaging safety. He has chaired a number of national key research projects supported by National Key R&D Program of China, National Science and Technology Support Program of China, and National Natural Science Foundation of China, and published over 300 peer-reviewed papers and four books.
He has been involved in IAPRI activities since 1996, served as Board of Directors (2007-2013, 2024-), organized the 21st IAPRI conference in 2018, and co-organized the 17th IAPRI conference in 2010.
Selcuk Yildirim
Professor, in food packaging
Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland
Term 2024-2027
Dr. Yildirim chairs the Community of Practice Food Packaging and is actively involved in collaborative research projects in both EU programs and industry-financed research programs, maintaining strong connections to the industry.
Selcuk thinks IAPRI is the most important scientific network in the area of packaging that brings the scientist and the industry in this field together and facilitate scientific exchange for research and teaching. He hopes with his experiences he can contribute to strengthen this exchange and the collaboration, especially collaboration between the scientific community and industry.
Corporate Board Members
Eric Joneson
Vice President of Technology
Lansmont Corporation, USA
Term 2023-2026
Eric has a BS in Packaging from Michigan State University is a subject matter expert in the areas of supply chain environmental measurement, analysis and development of directly associated laboratory testing applications. He has over 35 of experience in various roles with Lansmont including eleven years managing dynamic laboratory testing facilities.
Eric has actively participated in, and supported workgroup research efforts that resulted in new, or modified industry test standards with ISTA, ASTM, and ISO. He serves on the ISTA Global Board of Directors, and has served as past Chair.
He serves as Lansmont’s professional Liaison with the higher education and research communities which has included numerous guest lectures at Packaging Universities and over 25 years of active participation in global Packaging research events and conferences. Eric currently sits on Rochester Institute of Technology’s Packaging Industry Advisory Board.
Eric has been active within IAPRI for many years as well as ISTA, ASTM D10 on Packaging and EUMOS.
IAPRI Past Presidents
Secretary Generals
