Introducing the speakers

Bernard Lombard 
Trade & Industrial Policy Director, Cepi 

Bernard Lombard is in charge of trade and industrial policy at Cepi, the Confederation of European Paper Industries, which regroups 500 companies and 900 mills across Europe, ranging from SMEs to multi-nationals with a €90 billion turnover and a global production share of 22%. 

A French national with an economic background and a strong experience of public affairs at EU level, he is in daily contact with companies and EU institutions officials advocating on behalf of an industry sector striving for competitiveness, sustainability and jobs. He has an extensive network of contacts with the European Commission and Brussels-based organisations such as Businesseurope, the Alliance for a Competitive European Industry, the European Shippers’ Council and AEGIS Europe where he chairs the Carbon Border Adjustment Task Force. Trade, industrial policy and EU legislation impact assessment, competitiveness, business intelligence and transport are among his files. 

Bernard Lombard holds a Master in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Paris Nanterre and a degree in Business cycles analysis from the University of Paris-Dauphine.

Amelia Kallman
Futurist, speaker and author

Recently named one of the 'Top 25 Women in the Metaverse' Amanda is an innovation and technology communicator, regularly consulting brands, agencies, and governments on the impact of new technologies on the future of business and our lives. She forecasts global trends and behaviours, helping clients navigate innovation, build strategies and deliver industry leading initiatives. She specialises in the emerging opportunities - as well as the risks - of XR, AI, big data, and IOT. Recent areas of study include the future of the metaverse, NFTs, tech responsibility, and the surfacing human rights issues of tomorrow.

Originally from a theatrical background, Amelia started her tech career by chance in 2013 at a creative technology agency where she worked her way up to become their Global Head of Innovation. She's opened, operated and curated pop-up and permanent tech labs in London, Scotland and Dubai, working with clients including Accenture, PWC, WIRED, and EY. 

Coming from a non-traditional technology background, she has a unique talent for making the complex accessible. 

Artur Paras​
Paper Machine Manager​, JACK-POL​

Artur Paras was born in Opoczno in central Poland and grew up in Piotrków Trybunalski. After studying philology, specializing in German studies, he started working at a school.​
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In the following years, first as a translator and then as a leader, he led projects for the dismantling and relocation of papermaking installations in Western European countries. He consolidated his experience during postgraduate studies in modern technologies in papermaking at the Lodz University of Technology. He has been living in Oława near Wrocław for 20 years, where he finally found a job as a paper machine manager at Jack-Pol.​
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Currently, he manages a team of 30 people, which he is constantly expanding - this was helped by postgraduate studies in management at the University of Economics in Wrocław. He has just finished a huge project of launching a pilot line for the production of tissue paper from waste paper, and now he is working on optimizing the entire line.​

Rickard Fornell 
Senior Researcher industrial transition and system innovation 

Rickard has extensive experience of working with environmental and sustainability issues in industry. He has worked for several years as an environmental engineer in the process industry and received his doctorate in the field of industrial energy systems with questions concerning cross-sector collaborations and the development of new energy-efficient and innovative solutions for biorefineries integrated with forest industrial facilities. 

For the past 11 years, Rickard has worked as a researcher at RISE (formerly SP) with industrial transition, and for the past 6-7 years the focus has been mainly on cross-sector cooperation such as industrial and urban symbiosis. 

Federica Moretti 

Born in Benevento in 1991, she began her studies in Tourism Management, she graduated in 2013 in Tourism Sciences and started to acquire skills in European planning. After graduation she began the collaboration with Metropolis with the role of financial and creative planning, coordination of human resources and projects managment. She was the Production Manager of "The Imago'', which won the Best Production Award in MIFF 2015. From 2016 she has been tour manager of many music productions in Italy and Europe. From 2013 to 2020 she was the general manager of the Lucca Biennale Cartasia, the biggest event of art, design and architecture of paper. Now she is the Director of the event. 

Since 2016 she has produced the shorts made by the Tuscany Film Academy students. 

In 2017 she was the Producer of "The Little Things" that won the "Best Cinematography" award at Festival Corti d'amore and "Best Direction" at Via dei Corti. In 2018 she produced the documentary Paperman which obtained the Special mention of the Youth Jury at Visioni dal Mondo Festival in 2020. In 2018 she co-founded the company 9 Muse srl that manages 5 brands on music, filming, art and education. 

Kurt Adams
Vice President of R&D, Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group

Kurt Adams is the Vice President of R&D for Georgia-Pacific’s Consumer Products Group, the largest retail and commercial tissue and tabletop business in North America with familiar consumer brands including Quilted Northern® and Angel Soft® bath tissue; Brawny® and Sparkle® paper towels, Vanity Fair® napkins and the Dixie® brand of disposable tabletop products including plates, cups and cutlery.  He is responsible for GP’s Neenah Technical Center in Neenah, Wisconsin, the central site for research, development and lab services for the Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group. The teams there focus on both advancing technology platforms as well as product development, and work closely with product/category teams on innovations across the full breadth of current and future offerings, as well as providing technical consulting and assistance to the operating locations.

He was previously employed for over 27 years by DuPont, where he held a variety of technology and business leadership roles, most recently as Vice President of Technology and Innovation for DuPont Packaging and Industrial Polymers, a leading supplier of high performance polymers serving packaging, consumer, and infrastructure markets and applications.

Dr. Adams holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.

Arvid Johansson
Director Tissue Mills Technology

Arvid Johansson started his career in Valmet 2008 and has held several different technical roles in Valmet. In 2010 he moved to China to work with Tissue engineering in Valmet´s Xián office. In 2012 Arvid joined the R&D department at Valmet and has been deeply involved in the development of the AdvantageTM NTT® concept, 2015 Arvid took on the role as Concept Manager for Dry Crepe Tissue technology. Arvid is currently Director Tissue Mills Technology at Valmet.   

Arvid holds a university degree in Mechanical engineering from Karlstad University. 

Giovacchino Giurlani 
Managing Director, Tissue Converting

Giovacchino has an in-depth knowledge of the tissue market and technologies. After graduating in Electronic Engineering at the University of Pisa, he began his professional career at Fabio Perini S.p.A. where he was in charge of sales as Area Sales Manager and Key Account, then passing to the role of Production Mechanical Technical Manager. 

Giovacchino then co-founded Focus S.r.l. of which he became Managing Director before the merger of the Company with Futura S.p.A. At Körber Tissue Fold, he led the company's global development for folded products. 

Now, with our transition to Valmet in November, Giovacchino's wealth of experience positions him strategically within our organization. His vision extends beyond borders, boosting our company globally. 

Jhon Sebastian Niño Cabezas 
Sales Manager, roll and fold technology, Tissue Converting

Jhon Sebastian Niño Cabezas holds a University MSc. degree in Management Engineering from the polytechnic of Milano and a Graduate Certificate Degree in Logistics and Supply Chain from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has held several different roles in Valmet since starting in 2018 as a Management Trainee.  

He held the position as Sales and Product Manager for tissue converting in Lucca and in Munich from 2018 until 2020. He then took on the role of Digital Solutions Manager for all the Tissue markets promoting and selling solutions such as digitalization, connectivity, e-training and artificial intelligence software. 

Jhon Sebastian took over the responsibility for Valmet’s tissue converting technology as Sales Manager, offering rolls and fold tissue machines, both in converting and packaging processes in 2023.  

Johanna Pihl
Project manager at Tissue machinery R&D

Johanna holds a Master degree in Material Science and Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. 

She has been at Valmet for six years and mainly leading development projects besides being assisting project manager at the pilot machine. Johanna manages cross functional projects from wet to dry end, but her area of expertise is winding technology. 

Prior to Valmet Johanna has worked five years in the defense industry. 

Kenneth Appel
Senior Sales Manager, Global Tissue Service

Kenneth Appel  holds a Bachelor of science in Electro engineering at Karlstad University. He joined Valmet in year 2000 and has a long background and experience in different positions in Tissue Machine and Tissue Services such as Manager for Tissue Machine Controls and Automation, Director and Business manager in Tissue Service, with a focus of putting the customer in the front seat and coordinating the Lifecycle service. 

Viktor Bergström   
Concept Manager, Dry Creped Tissue

Viktor holds a University MSc degree in engineering from Karlstad University and has held several different roles in Tissue machine design and Tissue R&D since starting in 2014. Viktor took over the responsibility for Valmet DCT Technology 2022. The main task is to lead and coordinate the strategic work for DCT technology to secure Valmet Best Available Technology  

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Maciej Ossowski​
Application Department Manager​

Maciej Ossowski was born in Jelenia Góra in 1977. Currently he lives in the same town with his family. He graduated from Wroclaw University of Technology, where he obtained a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Environmental Science in 2001 and followed by a Master's Degree in Computer Science in 2003.​
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He started his professional journey as a draftsman by joining PMPoland S.A., a member of the PMP Group. He progressively advanced holding positions such as: Designer, Senior Designer and Senior Application Engineer. Since 2018 he has assumed the role of Application Department Manager.​
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His professional focus is located in the optimization of energy consumption in tissue machines, thereby contributing to the reduction of the carbon footprint in the paper industry.

Nicolò Squarzoni
Product Manager, Tissue Converting 

Nicolò is responsible for packaging machinery and digital portfolios. He holds a Bachelor and a Master degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bologna and he joined Korber Tissue in 2018 as Technical Sales Trainee within the Korber Technical Sales Program. 

He spent the first part of his traineeship in the sales department of the packaging plant in Bologna and then he moved to Eisenberg in Germany to support the sales department of Korber Supply Chain Automation. 

Then he moved to the headquarter in Lucca to start his role as Product Manager for packaging machinery and digital portfolios. In this role he is responsible to support the innovation process in accordance to the company strategy, translating new market needs into specific product requirements necessary for the R&D to develop new technical solutions. 

Novella Buonaccorsi
Manager for Global Digital, Tissue Converting

Novella holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering, Telecommunication from University of Pisa and she joined the Business Unit in September 2019 as Digital Value Creation Lead. She has a strong management and strategic delivery skills, leading an outcome focused team and approach that is underpinned by advanced AI and data driven methodologies. 

Novella took over the responsibility of developing business for Valmet's Tissue Converting in September 2023. Her primary responsibility is formulating and implementing a comprehensive digital strategy aligned with the overall business objectives. 

Jenny Lahti Samuelsson
Vice President Tissue Mills Sales

Jenny holds a University MSc degree in engineering from Royal Institute of technology  and has held several different roles in Valmet since starting in 1995 as R&D Engineer.

Jenny took over the responsibility for Valmet’s tissue making technology including tissue machine concepts, mill technology and process automation in 2018. The main task is to lead and coordinate the strategic work for technology development within the global organization to secure Valmet Best Available Technology. Since 2023, Jenny is the Vice President Tissue Mills Sales leading the global sales department. 

Gianfranco Agnusdei
Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Services, Tissue Converting 

Gianfranco Agnusdei joined former Fabio Perini, 2016 as Customer service sales manager for the packaging division. In 2018 he took on the responsibility for the global service business area. Today he is the VP of Sales, Marketing and Services in Valmet Tissue Converting. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from the University of Turin and his previous experience includes various roles in customer experience, sales and marketing activities for B2C companies such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Yamaha Motor Company. 

Jonas Johansson
Head of Tissue Industrial Internet

Jonas is currently leading the Valmet Industrial Internet tissue offering. He has over 30 year's experience from automation technology, mill maintenance and Internet of Things within the board and tissue industry. 

Mikko Talonen
Director, Quality Control and Machine Vision Systems, Automation

Mikko Talonen, M.Sc. Paper Technology, Helsinki University of Technology, is heading Valmet Automation System Quality Control and Machine Vision Systems business globally since 2023. Prior current position Mikko has worked several different positions in product management, business development and sales. Before joining Valmet in 2008 Mikko worked in paper machine production management in Finland. Based on his measurement technology know-how and solid experience from different web-based processes, his professional ambition is to improve tissue manufacturing process efficiency by high-precise online measurement systems, multivariable control systems and intelligent data solutions. 

Zhang Kai
Sales Director Tissue Mills Technology, China

After studies of the Pulp & Paper process at Tianjing University of Sience and Technology, Zhang Kai joined Valmet 2010 as a sales engineer. Today he is Sales Director responsible for Tissue concept sales in China. During the years he has witnessed the remarkable growth of the tissue capacity in China going from 8 million tons to current 20 million tons per year.

Danilo Marcos
Concept Manager Structured Tissue

Danilo Marcos started his career at Valmet tissue business in 2007 as project and product development engineer. Since 2016 he is located in Sweden, first as senior process engineer and from 2018 he joined R&D and the global Tissue Technology team as concept manager for structured tissue and Valmet Hybrid technologies. Danilo has a degree in mechanical engineering with a specialization in paper and celluloses technology.