Gary Crutchley graduated in 1990 with an honours degree in Applied Chemistry, awarded by Aston University in the UK. Between 1990 and 2000 he was employed by Dunlop Tyres UK in various tyre materials development roles including compounding and cord reinforcement. In 2000 he joined Kumho European Technical Centre, where he undertook the development of novel and existing tyre materials for the South Korean tyre manufacturer.
In 2007 Gary joined Smithers as a polymer consultant specialising in consultancy activities in relation to elastomeric materials. In his role he now has over sixteen years’ experience in working with a wide range of rubber materials, in activities focussed on failure diagnosis, development, process support, and expert witness services. Currently as Lead Consultant with Smithers MSE he manages a small team of polymer and training consultants, and has gained experience with a wide range of polymers in their diverse applications, whilst supporting a global client base to solve often technically challenging problems.
Dr Siska DEVARENNES is the polymer specialist at EDF/EDVANCE for new nuclear projects of EPR in France and worldwide. She is supporting projects for all polymers’ issues including civil engineering finishing work (caulking of opening, caulking of joint, cable wrapping for fire protection), seals (door, hatches, sluices gates), and other related topics on polymers. She defended her Ph.D. in 2010 on product development of silicone fire resistant cable, that led to several peer-reviewed articles on flame retardancy of silicones and industrial patents on fireproof coatings. Other works related to silicone products' development in a former job included food & beverage tubing, high performance seals, omniphobic coatings, flame retardant filler additives, silicone ceramisation of residues, and silicone’s structure-properties relationships
Saskia Jürgens leads the public affairs activities of Silicones Europe, a sector group of Cefic, a non-profit trade organisation representing all major producers of silicones in Europe. She is a member of the Specialty Chemicals Public Affairs team, where she manages Cefic sector groups Public Affairs activities on chemical regulatory challenges. Prior to joining Cefic Saskia worked for Brussel-based consultancies dealing with chemical, environmental and energy legislation. Saskia holds a BA in European Studies from Maastricht University, a Master in European Studies (SciPo Paris) and LLM in International Relations (Fudan University, Shanghai).
Heiko Bayerl studied Mechanical Engineering and Plastics Technology at the Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (Märkische Fachhochschule Iserlohn during this time) and received his engineering degree in 1989. He started his professional career 1989 at Bakelite AG in Iserlohn as Application Development Engineer for Thermosetting Molding Compounds. He held various positions as a team leader in Technology and Marketing.
In 2006 Heiko Bayerl joined Momentive Performance Materials (during this time GE Bayer Silicones) in Leverkusen as Market Development Manager in Automotive Marketing for Elastomers. Since 2008 he is the European Marketing Manager in this segment.
Clément des Courières is a chemical engineer by training and joined Elkem Silicones (previously Bluestar Silicones) in 2008 as an R&D scientist. He spent 2 years in Germany and 5 years in China supporting Healthcare customers projects in the field of RTV-2 formulations. Clément joined the marketing department in 2016 at the company’s regional headquarters in Lyon France and is now in charge of the Healthcare market for EMEA. He now accumulates a total of 14 years in the field medical-grade silicones for Healthcare applications.
Markus Landl is Head of International Business Development at the RICO GROUP, a network of professional suppliers to produce injection-molded parts made of elastomers and multi-shot applications, injection-molding tools and automation. Since November 2015 he is responsible for developing global strategies and he coordinates the development of markets and innovation potentials for the RICO GROUP locations in Austria, Switzerland and the United States. Mr. Landl received his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Applied Science in Steyr, Austria.
Cátia Ruivo: Cátia Ruivo is a Manager at Turtle Petals, bringing a wealth of experience in the injection molds and molding industry. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Aveiro and an Executive MBA in entrepreneurship and innovation from Vienna University in collaboration with MIT. In 2021, Cátia co-founded Turtle Petals with her sister Sandra Ruivo.
François DE BUYL received his PhD in Organometallic Chemistry from University of Brussels, Belgium (1991) and an MSc in Advanced Material Sciences from University of Surrey, UK (2003). He joined Dow Corning Europe in 1991 and worked on various silicone based materials development and applications, such as, e.g., silicone sealant & adhesives, organosilanes, thermoplastics and (silicone) rubbers reinforcements, and coatings, before joining the Dow Silicones Belgium Silicone Elastomers TS&D team back in 2011, helping for instance lighting and optical companies (Tier 1 and OEMs) using silicone in their LED lamps and luminaires designs, with products such as, e.g., optical moldable silicones, optical encapsulants, thermal interface materials, adhesives and coatings for lighting fixtures protection and assembly.
2005 - 2010: M.Sc. Chemistry (Universtit´a degli studi di Milano) 2010 - 2017: Different research position in Germany (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg) Since 2017: ALLOD Werksoff GmbH & Co. KG
Dr. Pierre Furtwengler joined Renault engineering team in 2018 and is in charge of polymer material development and prescription for under bonnet applications. He is know technical polymer specialist for Renault Group. He obtained his PhD at ECPM (Strasbourg) in the BioTeam in renewable polyol synthesis from sorbitol and PU foams formulation. He received the 2018 best PhD award from French Plastic Engineer Society (SFIP).
Dr. Michael Backer studied chemistry at the Technical University of Munich and at the Humboldt University at Berlin where he obtained his PhD in 1999 in Organometallic (organosilicon) Chemistry.
He joined Dow Corning in 2000 as senior chemist. Today as Senior Research Scientist at DOW Silicone Deutschland GmbH, he is leading development activities of new LSR technologies, as well as supporting commercialization of these products into various markets. His functional experience includes chemical synthesis, material science and industrial applications of silicones in Consumer and Mobility & Transportation Market.
He is responsible for Global Product Line Management of Sealing Products at Aptiv.
Thomas joined Aptiv in August 1989 as a Product Engineer for Electronic.
He Holds an Diploma for Electric Engineering / Communication Electronics from
University of Applied Science in Bochum , Germany
Thomas owned multiple different Positions and Roles in Aptiv.- Electronic development, Advanced Engineering, Technology Development, Electrical System Architecture and Tool Development
I worked as Senior Material Engineer in Honeywell Aerospace Yeovil, but I have since taken another position as Obsolescence Case Manager. I started my career in Poland and moved to the UK 15 years ago.
My education includes Chemical Technology and Engineering MSc and Engineering degree. I also attended Leadership training, have experience in aerospace investigation and finished 3D manufacturing training at MIT.
I have experience working as a Chemist and Polymer Scientist in:
- Producing breathable foils for female products and nappies
- Working in analytical laboratories and operated as a mobile testing chemist
- Working in the packaging industry
- Automotive industry
- Aerospace industry
- Obsolescence Management
Mr. Olsen holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington and a Masters of Science in Technology Management from the Howe School of Management at Stevens Institute. Mr. Olsen has worked in polymer technology and business in a variety of industries for over 30 years. His many presentations and publications range from silicone technology to thermoplastic modification. Amongst his most rewarding memories is his years in Materials & Processing for the NASA Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor program. He is presently the Global Market Manager with BRB International Silicone Division. linkedin.com/in/olsencw
Timo Hofmann has been working as a research associate at the Institute of Materials Engineering at the University of Kassel since 2022, where he is involved in the processing of high consistency silicone rubber. His tasks include the production of foams with the extrusion processes.
Anthony PELLAFOL is born in 1988 in Grenoble, France. After an Engineering science high-school degree with honors in 2007, he begins his apprenticeship course. In 2009, he obtains an industrial product design and CAD high national diploma with honors in apprenticeship with PHUSIS company (company specializing in ancillaries and absorbable screws for knee and shoulder surgery). In 2012, he obtains Industrial and mechanical engineer diploma, in apprenticeship with STERNE Company. After 3 years of professional experience in the Grenoble area (Industrial engineer and quality manager), Anthony comes back to STERNE in 2015. Now R&D and laboratory manager of STERNE Company, innovation stakeholder in Exsto group, Anthony is a bit of a “mad scientist” performing in innovative materials or process problems resolution.
He makes several conferences and technical articles about new technologies like UV curing, 3D printing of UV LSR, 3D printing of HTV LSR and now about 4D printing using silicone.
Philipp Metz is Founder and Founder & Managing Director at Psilkon since October 2017.
He work in the silicone industry for more than 18 Years and started his Career as Plastic Engineer and later as Plant Manager. In 2017 he founded with his Partner Psilkon GmbH & Co. KG.
Markus Heindl, graduated from high school in Vienna as a mechanical engineer and automation technician
Entry into the mining industry via Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology, then more than 10 years at ABB Robotics , after that more than 11 years at ARBURG Austria in sales and now for 3 years at ACH Solution GmbH in sales of silicone molds, dosing systems and turnkey projects.
Mr. Timo Gebauer has 9 years of experience in the field of plastic processing. His functional experience includes: Engineering, product management, management
His employment history is as follows:
Education: RWTH Aachen University, IKV, diploma plastic processing
University of Delaware, 2006 Research assistant
RWTH Aachen University, 2007 Research assistant
SIGMA Engineering GmbH, 2009 Application Engineer
SIGMA Engineering GmbH, 2012 Product Manager of the software SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding
SIGMA Engineering GmbH, 2015 CTO of SIGMA Engineering GmbH, Executive Manager
Stefan Betz is currently the Product Manager for the Heat Technology products manufactured by Weiss Technik GmbH. He is in the industry for more than 30 years starting his career at Heraeus Industrietechnik GmbH. Followed by management positions at ThermoFisher's automated incubator product line Cytomat he is now responsible for the industrial oven business "vötschoven" including microwave and infrared technology. Next to the product management aspect he also manages the heat technology application center at the Reiskirchen site of Weiss.
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Leo Nijhof is the Global Technical Development Manager for Crosslinking Peroxides and Polymer Additives at Nouryon. He has more than 30 years of experiences in polymer related industries.
Leo started at Akzo as a researcher covering the evaluation of polymer additives and organic peroxides applied in thermoplastics and elastomers. He then worked for Flexsys as a technical service manager supporting the product groups: accelerators, anti-degradants, white fillers and processing aids.
For his current position, Leo is based in Deventer, the Netherlands and is strongly involved with the support of organic peroxides, applied as crosslinking curatives for a variety of polymers, rubbers, specialty elastomers as well as thermoplastics.
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