Save the Date:
November 1-2, 2023
More details will be available soon.
This inaugural one-of-a-kind event focuses on the nexus of critical operational, legal, and business strategy issues affecting brands and businesses in the beauty industry today.
Hear from thought leaders across the indie beauty spectrum on topics including:
- The latest updates in PCR and EPR plastic legislation and regulation in the US and abroad from Beveridge and Diamond Law Firm (named the “2022 Environmental Firm of the Year” by U.S. News – Best Lawyers)
- Insight on market drivers of ingredient availability and cost from raw material suppliers, distributors, and supply chain professionals and how to mitigate risk
- Case Studies on the impact of industry collaboration to tackle Big Sustainability Initiatives with Pact Collective
- Practical advice on setting up Responsible Sourcing practices for organizations of any size or at any growth stage from Burt’s Bees
- How to balance style and substance in sustainable packaging—supply outlook and how to leverage sustainable deco in the supply chain
- Learn how Supply Chain Resilience and ESG Strategy have emerged as critical diligence standards for investors and retailers, and what to do to prepare your business for success
Agenda
- Day 1, October 19th, 2022
12:00 – 12:15 pm ET Welcome
Don Frey, President & CEO, IBA12:15 – 1:15 pm ET Regulatory and Legislative Updates in Packaging and Waste Management for the Beauty Industry Updates on critical post-consumer recycled (PCR) mandates and extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation enacted in the US and abroad.
Allyn Stern, Principal, Beveridge and Diamond
1:15 – 1:30 pm ET BREAK – Sponsored by Biorius 1:30 – 2:30 pm ET Discussion of market drivers and supply/demand balance for traditional and sustainable packaging options, including virgin and PCR resin, aluminum, glass, and paper-based materials. Explore rise of refillables and role of deco in supply and sustainability. Tim Bohlke, Director of Sustainability, Resource Label Group
Jen Novakovich, Science Communicator, The Eco Well
Michael Tognetti, Senior Director, Global Sustainability & Sourcing, WWP Beauty2:30 – 2:45 pm ET BREAK 2:45– 3:45 pm ET Case Study with Pact Collective: Industry Collaboration to Drive Sustainability Impact Review three case studies with Pact Collective on the power of collaboration to tackle tough sustainability challenges and achieve meaningful impact within the beauty industry and beyond.
Mia Davis, Co-Founder, Pact Collective; VP Sustainability & Impact, Credo Beauty
3:45 – 4:00 pm ET BREAK – Sponsored by Prestige Testing 4:00 – 5:00 pm ET Implications of Sustainable Packaging Requirements: Practical Advice for Beauty Brands and Businesses Panel Discussion with brand, supplier, and manufacturer perspectives on implications of sustainable packaging regulation and supply, along with concrete actions companies should be taking and considerations for future development.
Melissa Niebes, Chief Commercial Officer, Federal Package
Dan Kolhoff, Director of Regulatory & Legal Affairs, John Paul Mitchell Systems5:00 – 5:15 pm ET Closing Remarks Don Frey, President & CEO, IBA
- Day 2, October 20th, 2022
12:00 – 12:15 pm ET Welcome
Akemi Ooka, Head of Supply Chain & Sustainability, Independent Beauty Association12:15 – 1:15 pm ET Raw Material Updates: Insights for the Beauty Industry
Discussion on supply, capacity, and market drivers of key ingredients in the industry. Factors affecting availability and cost of materials, with real examples and context provided from raw material supplier and distributor perspectives.ㅤ
Thembisile Mashinini, International Business Development Manager, Co-Head of Commercial, Cirebelle Fine Chemicals
Erin McCusker, Product Manager-Personal Care, Barentz
Tricia Heidemann, Co-Founder, Supply Chain Consultant, Athena Beauty Group/BAM Solutions1:15 – 1:30 pm ET BREAK 1:30 – 2:30 pm ET Learn the elements of setting up a responsible sourcing program tailored to beauty industry ingredients using practical advice and tools for businesses at any growth stage. Discover what checks and balances should be in place, how to build respectful relationships with suppliers, and how to help key suppliers to grow responsibly with you. Shannon Hess, Director Responsible Sourcing, Burts Bees
2:30 – 2:45 pm ET BREAK 2:45– 3:45 pm ET ESG, LCA, GHG—What are they, who wants to know, and how are they measured? Understand key elements of sustainability definitions and metrics, and how to validate, measure and incorporate them into your business strategy. Learn more about the increasing role of information technology in sustainability compliance, transparency, and target setting.
Gracee Shorter, Senior Enterprise Account Executive, EcoVadis
Anisha Gupta, Co-Founder, Bluebird Climate3:45 – 4:00 pm ET BREAK – Sponsored by Bluebird Climate 4:00 – 5:00 pm ET How ESG strategy and supply chain resilience are playing into retailer requirements and investor decisions How does ESG compliance protect and grow revenue, and how is supply chain resilience figuring into diligence discussions? Hear from investors, retailers, and industry experts on these questions and more as ESG strategy and supply chain initiatives take on larger importance for emerging brands and businesses in the beauty sector.
Andrea Freedman, Operating Partner, Next World Evergreen
Juli Lassow, Founder & Principal, JHL Solutions
Chris Hosbon, President & CEO, Rare Beauty Brands5:00 – 5:15 pm ET Closing Remarks Don Frey, President & CEO, IBA
Title Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
Friend Sponsors
Media Sponsors
Featured Speakers
Tim Bohlke
Tim Bohlke is the Director of Sustainability for Resource Label Group. Bohlke has more than 25 years of management experience working with and for brand owners in various functions to include sustainable solutions for best-in-class materials. He leads a Sustainable Champions team at Resource Label Group, a full-service label manufacturer with locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Mia Davis
Mia Davis is an expert Corporate Social Responsibility strategist and the VP of Sustainability & Impact at Credo Beauty, the largest clean beauty retailer. She created the Credo Clean Standard, including its Sustainable Packaging Guidelines—the strongest "clean" formula and packaging standards in retail.Mia sets a high bar for meaningful safety and sustainability standards for the beauty industry and other consumer products. In 2021, she co-founded the nonprofit membership organization Pact Collective to tackle hard-to-recycle beauty waste, and to bring beauty stakeholders together to move toward circularity.
Mia is a big-picture thinker and a DO-er, a strategic leader and activist committed to environmental health and systemic equity. She is committed to helping forge authentic paths for brands so that they can deliver positive social and environmental impact.
Andrea Freedman
Andrea is an Operating Partner with private-equity fund NextWorld Evergreen and has over 25 years’ experience as an operator, investor and board member building beloved consumer products companies. Leveraging her expertise in finance, supply chain, HR, legal and governance, she’s relied upon for successfully navigating periods of fast growth while being a steadfast brand partner and strategist. She currently serves on the boards of Credo, Sambazon and Cora, and prior to that, Ilia and Lifefactory.From 2014 through early 2018, Andrea was CFO/SVP Finance & Operations for Kendo Brands, the LVMH beauty incubator. From 2004-2013 Andrea served as CFO for method products PBC, leading to the successful sale of the company to Ecover. Andrea is a UC Berkeley grad and except for her love of travel has never left the Bay Area since. She lives in SF and tries to get in as much hiking and yoga as possible.
Anisha Gupta
Anisha is a cofounder at Bluebird, a climate tech startup founded in early 2021 building software that is helping consumer brands tackle the 95% of company emissions that live within their products and supply chains. Bluebird's platform provides actionable tools to enable brands to make and market lower waste and carbon products from the start of their product development process, make reductions, and track progress over time. Bluebird currently works with health & beauty brands like Versed, Function of Beauty, Glossier, Dieux, Beautycounter, and Ritual.Prior to founding Bluebird, Anisha began her career at Unilever. She held roles across supply chain, formulation, and process engineering, largely focused on projects driving operational efficiency and sustainability. Following Unilever, Anisha worked with early stage startups, where she worked with numerous consumer brands to build and scale their supply chains and operations. Through this work, Anisha was able to see firsthand the cost and complexity involved in building sustainable products, inspiring the inception of Bluebird to solve this need.
Anisha holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, with a focus in Sustainable Engineering, from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and a master's degree in Sustainability Management from Columbia University in the City of New York. She was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 2022 list in the Social Impact category.
Tricia Heidemann
Tricia is an Executive in the Consumer Product Goods & Global Supply Chain, Operations Management arena, with 15+ years’ experience in CPG, FMCG, Medical Device, Pharma, OTC, Biotech and Nutraceutical categories. She also co-chairs a $90mm executive team and is a board member of a natural CBD skincare brand based out of Santa Monica, CA. With a passion for fostering a sustainable supply chain and building multi-year operational plans, Tricia has helped emerging brands scale strategically across product development lifecycles, domestic and global operations, sourcing and contracting, and production and inventory management. She has key expertise in sourcing/negotiating contracts with the Asian, Europe, AU, North America, and Mexico regions. Tricia has also been in-demand supporting multiple scale up opportunities for buyout, IPO and Post-merger Integration--all driven by her core capability in working with startup to mid-tier companies to optimize their supply chains, manage resources and reduce operating expenses, all while maintaining focus on a passion for healthy people=healthy planet.
Shannon Hess
Accomplished corporate responsibility and supply chain thought leader with more than 15 years of global experience directing risk management endeavors and transforming sourcing practices to build brand equity for fragrance, cosmetic, food and household product manufacturers. Known for her professional reputation and an individual with a finger on the pulse of corporate responsibility industry issues. Extensive experience leading sustainability strategies with mass and luxury multinational consumer goods brands, while managing cost and balancing complexity of a dynamic supply chain with increased transparency and traceability demanded by investors, customers, consumers and NGOs. Expert in social, environmental, and reputational risk mitigation, regulatory compliance and ethical sourcing practices, including natural and organic supply chains. Excel at integrating corporate responsibility into cross-functional activities across organizations and enabling collaboration via multi-stakeholder engagement.
Chris Hobson
Dan Kolhoff
Dan Kolhoff is an attorney with 20 years of experience with consumer product companies, handling international development and regulatory affairs. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his law degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Dan has worked at Herbalife, Nestle USA, Murad, and Guthy-Renker and currently oversees Regulatory Affairs for John Paul Mitchell Systems. The scope of products he has worked on includes cosmetics, OTCs, foods, supplements, medical devices and consumer products.
Juli Lassow
Juli Lassow is an accomplished retail executive with 20+ years of experience in the disciplines of sourcing, merchandising, inventory planning, and analytics. As the founder and principal of JHL Solutions, Juli helps businesses navigate the complex world of global retail sourcing and private label product development by supporting retailers and suppliers in finding, developing products, and better negotiating with each other. She is also passionate about supporting organizations in their efforts to embrace circular economic strategy and business models. Before establishing her business, Juli held several progressive leadership roles at Target Corporation.
Thembisile Mashinini
Thembisile Mashinini is the International Business Development Manager, and co-Head of Commercial for Cirebelle Fine Chemicals. Her regional focus is The Americas, Asia Pacific, and Turkey.Thembisile’s career journey started as a Lab Technician, but she soon fell in love with the personal care industry after joining one of the leading Consumer-Care brands in South Africa. She then entered the fine-chemical distribution industry, where she transitioned from the lab to chemical supply chain, then shortly after that flowed into external sales and product management. Thembisile is a qualified Analytical Chemist with sixteen years of commercial experience, ranging from technical support, business development, key account management, and product management within the chemical industry.
Her accolades range from Salesperson of the Year to graduating Cum Laude for her Management Development qualification with Gibs Business School. She currently sits on the PR Committee for the South African SCC division, Coschem South Africa, and is currently pursuing her MBA through Gibs Business School.
Erin McCusker
Erin McCusker is the Product & Marketing Manager for the CARE vertical at Barentz North America. Erin plays a key role in developing and executing business growth strategies with principal suppliers. She is responsible for tracking market insights and trends in the Personal Care industry in order to help create customer success. She also ensures maximum profits through forecasting, strategic buying and cost management, and supports the growth of supplier relationships.Erin has been with Barentz since December 2016, and has worked in Personal Care distribution for over 10 years, in both sales and product management. Erin is a graduate of the University of Delaware.
Melissa Niebes
Melissa Niebes is a growth-focused and accomplished professional with over a decade of marketing and sales experience in beauty and personal care. She currently serves as the Chief Commercial Officer for Federal Package, a beauty and personal care contract manufacturer, where she recently helped launch their new Eco Smart® sustainability platform. Previously, she held roles as Vice President of Customer Marketing at L’Oreal USA and Vice President of Sales at Reckitt Benckiser. Her years of experience also include retail roles as a Buyer at Dollar General and e-Commerce Project Manager at Target.
Jen Novakovich
Jen Novakovich is a science communicator and cosmetic scientist and is the founder of The Eco Well. As a consultant, Jen helps companies with their formulation, product development and claims substantiation needs. As a science communicator, Jen has interviewed hundreds of scientists from diverse fields and shares in her podcast and social media feeds. She also regularly moderates industry panel events and has developed and produced several larger-scale “Sci-Comm” conferences. Jen currently serves on the NextGen Advisory Committee with the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and on the newly formed Supply Chain and Sustainability Resource Committee by the Independent Beauty Association. Jen holds a degree in formulation chemistry, a masters in environmental science, and is currently in the process of completing a graduate certificate in the Policy and Science of Climate Change.
Gracee Shorter
Gracee Shorter is a Senior Enterprise Account Executive at EcoVadis. She is responsible for building sustainable beauty supply chain initiatives across the Americas at EcoVadis, after joining the sustainability industry in 2020 with one goal in mind: to help educate the corporate world about the opportunity—and responsibility—to build our future in a more sustainable way.With a background in make-up artistry and Beauty & Cosmetic retail, Gracee combines consumer insights with technology solutions to advise beauty, apparel and consumer brands of all sizes on sustainability strategy planning and validation. She is focused on helping companies commit to Science-Based targets, Net Zero Emissions, the UN-Global Compact and more, all with the goal of driving end-to-end supplier transparency and involvement, and in making responsible procurement a business imperative.
Allyn Stern
Allyn, a former regulator with 30 years of experience at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, uses her expertise to help businesses develop proactive environmental compliance strategies, navigate governmental regulations, and negotiate with agencies to identify reasonable and implementable solutions to enforcement matters. Her practice also includes a focus on recycling, plastic packaging, PFAS, and green marketing issues. Allyn co-chairs Beveridge & Diamond’s Textiles and Fashion group and the Environmental Law practice group. She also co-chairs the Women in Environment & Energy Law Affinity Group of the National Association of Women Lawyers and the Waste & Resource Recovery section of the American Bar Association.
Michael Tognetti
Michael Tognetti plays a key role in leading the development of future-focused sustainability initiatives at WWP Beauty. Michael’s background in manufacturing includes work in the beauty, pharmaceutical, and liquor industries covering a wide range of manufacturing processes. His experience also includes work in the resin industry creating custom plastic masterbatch formulations, establishing global distribution partnerships, and facilitating audits of manufacturing facilities.Hosts
Don Frey
Don Frey is the President/CEO of the Independent Beauty Association (IBA), formerly the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors Association (ICMAD). Don has over 35 years of experience in the Personal Care and Cosmetics business. His experience has primarily been in Research & Development including formulation, package engineering, safety and toxicology, consumer insights, and regulatory and claims development/substantiation. His professional experience has spanned many companies and brands, both large and small, including Procter & Gamble, Cover Girl, Gillette, Jafra Cosmetics, Avon, Method, and The Honest Company. He also has experience both domestically as well as internationally including living and working in Japan for two years to help build out P&G’s Asian personal care business. Don has been active in industry organizations having served as Membership Chair and Supply Chain Sustainability Resource Chair for IBA, President of the Board for Beauty Industry West, and currently serves on Cradle2Cradle’s Standards Steering Committee.
Dr. Akemi Ooka
Akemi Ooka is currently the Head of IBA’s Global Supply Chain and Sustainability Resource Program. With over 20 years in the CPG industry, from Fortune 500 companies to small startups, Akemi’s experience ranges from product development to sourcing and supply chain transformation.Akemi worked at The Clorox Company on key brands like Armor All, Soft Scrub, and Clorox, beginning in product development, and then moving to product supply, leading the chemical procurement group sourcing innovation, commodities, and specialty chemicals for multiple plants and contract manufacturers.
Akemi then moved to method as Procurement Director and created the company's first direct sourcing team for raw, pack, and contract manufacturing. She then transitioned back to product development as Senior Director of formula and fragrance development.
Akemi was most recently VP of Product at J.R. Watkins, where she drove product innovation in hand care, personal care, home care, and OTC remedies, overseeing development, quality, regulatory compliance, claim support, and third-party manufacturing.
Akemi has a B.A. in Chemistry from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.