Advisors, Faculty and Instructors

Todd Bukowski

Advisor, Packaging Education Alliance
Associate, Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions

Todd has 25 year's experience in food and pharmaceutical packaging. He has worked in both R&D and operations with companies including Kraft Foods, M&M/Mars, and Tap Pharmaceuticals.

Todd is an Associate at PTIS, working on technology search, package development, process improvement workflows, and packaging strategy projects. He has been instrumental in many PTIS sustainability initiatives. He also tracks consumer, channel, sustainability, and technology trends. Todd was a lead presenter at the Future of Packaging 2007-2017 and Future of Sustainable Packaging 2008-2018 programs. Todd is also an instructor for the Sustainable Packaging Coalition's Essentials of Sustainable Packaging course.

He holds an MBA in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University.

Ross Lee, Ph.D.

Advisor, Packaging Education Alliance
Senior Associate, Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions
Instructor, Packaging Innovation

Ross Lee is an experienced technology leader with more than 36 years experience with the DuPont company (retired July 2009) spanning a wide variety of technology, product and new business developments including films, resins and innovative packaging systems. In his most recent position, Ross was responsible for bringing new technology to packaging through open innovation and was instrumental in developing DuPont's alliances with Plantic and Scanbuy. Ross was a recipient of DuPont's 2008 Sustainability Excellence award. He holds more than 20 patents and publications. Ross is currently an Adjunct Professor at Villanova University where he teaches green science, industrial chemistry and engineering entrepreneurship. He has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Michigan State University and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Rochester.

Phil McKiernan

Advisor, Packaging Education Alliance
Instructor, Strategic Steps to Packaging Development
Principal, Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions

Phil McKiernan brings more than 20 years of new product development, productivity enhancement, and process-oriented business leadership to PTIS. Phil joined PTIS as a principal in 2008, with prior work as a PTIS Senior Associate. His resume includes leadership positions at organizations at Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Sweetheart Cup Co.

As a leader in creating new products and packaging, Phil guided cross-functional teams in the development of multi-year product and intellectual property plans, leveraging consumer insights, technology trends and qualitative and quantitative research. Phil delivered a number of speed-to-market, cost savings and quality enhancements. Phil is also a leader in sustainability and sustainable packaging. He is an expert in the Walmart Sustainable Packaging Scorecard and modeling software and is qualified to teach the Sustainable Packaging Coalition Essentials of Sustainable Packaging workshop.

Jim Peters

Instructor, Retail Packaging

Jim is a communication consultant who focuses on packaging. He has 25 years in packaging and leverages big-picture insights on the community's structure and information flow to deliver positive results.

His experience includes being the Director of Education for the Institute of Packaging Professionals; founding Editor, BrandPackaging magazine and Vice President, Editorial Director, Stagnito Communications. His publications and seminar appearances include being principal author of multi-client studies including, Contract Packaging: Strategic Opportunities and Club Store Packaging and Beyond; author of, "Peters' Packaging Principles," a column in P-O-P Times magazine, and presentations at the Packaging Summit Conference, the In-Store Marketing Institute and the Brazilian Packaging Congress. He's a Fellow of the Institute of Packaging Professionals and a former chair of the Chicago Chapter of the Packaging Institute, USA.

Mike Richmond, Ph.D.

Director of Content, Packaging Education Alliance
Principal, Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions
Instructor, Holistic Packaging Design

Richmond is a strategic business and technical leader with 25 years of experience. He co-founded PTIS in 2000, building on experience with Kellogg, Kraft, and Michigan State University. At Kellogg, Mike developed and started up departments including Technology Discovery and Global Packaging Innovation. Mike was instrumental in developing and implementing strategic plans and programs nationally and globally for both Kraft and Kellogg. He led the research and development component of strategic sourcing at both companies, resulting in millions of dollars in savings.

In addition to strong vendor knowledge, Mike has brought new consumer and trade focus to the development of superior solutions to packaging problems globally. He also has is an expert in benchmarking and best practices. Mike has completed executive business programs at both Harvard and Thunderbird and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Alliance Foods.

Brian Wagner

Advisor, Packaging Education Alliance
Principal, Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions
Instructor, Consumer Insights

Brian Wagner is business and technical leader known for innovative solutions. He is a principal of Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions, and he builds on more than 20 years of business experience. His career includes positions with Kellogg, Sara Lee, Multiform Desiccants, Carton-Craft Corp., Burger King, and General Foods. He entered the Michigan State University School of Packaging Hall of Fame in 2008. He was also recognized as a Western Michigan Business Review 2008 Thought Leader.

Brian's career spans packaging, business development, sales, marketing, and operations. His hallmark is developing and communicating practical solutions to complex problems. This process is driven by knowledge of consumer and retailer needs, and Brian has led cutting edge consumer insight programs and worked to drive new methods to quantify packaging's value in the marketplace.

Michael Wintrob

Strategy Director, LPK
Instructor, Holistic Packaging Design

Michael Wintrob is Strategy Director at LPK, an international design agency based in Cincinnati. Wintrob is responsible for creating, developing and leading strategic content for client brands and internal teams. He has been a brand director and brand account director for LPK.

He is an adjunct instructor at the University of Cincinnati where he developed the curriculum and content for the course, "Fundamentals of Brand Building" taught at the school's College of Business. He has and MBA from the University of Cincinnati, and earned a BA in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.