Mr. Ciobanu-Dordea is a Director of Circular Economy in the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment. He has been previously in charge of the Directorate responsible for enforcement, investments and environmental governance in the same DG. Before joining DG Environment in 2014, he was Director for "Equality", in charge of fight against discrimination in DG Justice. He joined the European Commission in 2009 as Director for "Fundamental Rights and EU Citizenship" in the same directorate.

Mr. Ciobanu-Dordea is a lawyer and holds an LL.M. degree from the University of Illinois (US) and a Ph.D. from the University of Bucharest (RO).

Monika Romenska has held senior positions in public administration, Local authorities’ and Industry organizations in Bulgaria. Since 2014, Ms Romenska is Regulatory & Public Affairs Manager at the Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance (EXPRA) based in Brussels, which acts as the authoritative voice and common policy platform representing the interests of all its 32 member packaging recovery and recycling organizations founded and run by or on behalf of obliged industry. She has extensive experience in local and regional self-government, sustainable development, incl. waste management (with a focus on packaging), regional development, communications and project management.

Steve Claus is the Secretary General of Steel for Packaging Europe.

An entrepreneurial professional, Steve has more than 25 years of experience in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), collection, sorting and recycling of packaging waste and sustainability in general.

Having initially joined the association, formerly known as APEAL, in 2018 as Sustainability Manager, Steve has played a crucial role in various technical projects for packaging steel including recyclability, recycling rates, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and recent discussions on Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).

He previously held positions at Fost Plus, the Belgian EPR scheme for household packaging in Belgium, and provided guidance in and outside the EU to both industry and authorities in establishing innovative and sustainable circular models based on EPR.

He holds a master's degree in applied economics from the University of Antwerp.

Marius is a passionate packaging professional with over 20 years of experience, driven by a mission to create sustainable, impactful solutions for people, the planet, and businesses through packaging innovation. Having worked for leading global companies in global and regional Packaging senior leadership roles, such as Wrigley, Mars Wrigley, and Danone SN, Marius has leveraged his deep expertise, curiosity, and collaborative approach to develop and implement forward-thinking packaging strategies.

Throughout his career, he has co-created and championed numerous packaging innovations strategies and initiatives, built and led high-performing teams worldwide, and mentored future talent. His passion for sustainability and innovation has consistently delivered measurable, market-impacting results. 

In 2024, Marius launched his own company, ViaPackaging UG. ViaPackaging collaborates closely  with leading consortiums such as CEFLEX (circularity of Flexible Packaging)  and CELAB-Europe to advance the circularity of specific packaging materials. 

Gabriel Moiceanu is President of the Federation of Intercommunity Development Associations (FADI) and Executive Director of the Intercommunity Development Association Servsal Argeș. Mr. Moiceanu has over 30 years of experience in the field of public services and 15 years in integrated waste management.

Together with FADI members, he was actively involved in promoting the interests of Intercommunity Development Associations that represent over 2900 territorial administrative units, as well as in the development of integrated waste management systems at the county level. FADI, as a professional association, was and it is an active partner for central and local authorities, being present in working groups whose activity resulted in proposals to improve waste legislation. The experience exchange and best practices took place in more than 35 conferences and public events related to municipal waste management, as well as in the 7 working groups organized within the federation.

"I hope that the forum will provide the perfect platform for communication at a professional level, both with specialists from Romania and from other countries."

Ovidiu Slăvoiu is consultant for strategy within the National Bank of Romania (NBR). Starting November 2024, he coordinates within the NBR’ Chancellery the activity of the Sustainability and Green Economy Office. Throughout his career, mainly in the financial-banking system (NBR, TRANSFOND, ING Bank), he has strengthened his skills in strategy and change management and, complementary to them, those in customer experience management, social responsibility, digitization and innovation. Additionally, he developed professional interests in technology and education.

The concern for sustainability and responsible organizational behavior started in college, his bachelor's thesis dealing mainly with the social responsibility of multinational companies. Throughout his career, he has been systematically involved in activities associated with these fields, constantly acting as a member of CSR or sustainability committees and as a volunteer, especially in financial education activities (students, companies, NGOs)

Horst Mueller, is member of the Board of ECN and CEO of Mueller Waste Projects GmbH. He is an agricultural engineer and started his business as a consulter for the benefitial use of compost and biosolids in 1987. At this time the source for compost was mixed waste. During the following years source separation of biowaste was installed in Austria. Horst Mueller is an expert in standardisation groups for biological waste treatment at the Austrian Standards Institut since 1987 and is involved for creating standards and legal frameworks in the field of separate collection of biowaste, composting/anaerobic digestion (www.3A-biogas.com) and use of compost. Further activities are standardisation in the field of biosolids on the European level in CEN/TC 308 WG 2 and 3 and on international level in ISO/TC 275 WG 1 and 4.

Marc Tijhuis

Marc Tijhuis is the Managing Director of the International Solid Waste Association, based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. ISWA is the only global, not for profit association, working to promote and develop sustainable and professional waste management worldwide and the transition to a circular economy.  

In this position Marc leads the General Secretariat which is the engine behind the association connecting and serving its members in more than 110 countries. 
Marc comes with a rich combined experience in managing international profit and non-profit organizations across development aid, health, pharmacy and food sectors, and boasts an impressive track record in reorganization and restructuring of internal and external processes & organizations. 
Marc was born in the Netherlands and obtained a degree in Chemistry from the State University of Leiden and a post graduate in governance.

On behalf of ISWA, Marc represents the association in major global fora such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Environment Programme and is an invited speaker and moderator at international events.

Jean-Benoît is an environmental engineer holding a degree in general engineering from the École Centrale de Lille (France) and a Master degree in environmental engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. He has worked for 9 years for the Paris Region Waste Observatory (ORDIF). He is now a Senior Project Manager and Senior Expert at ACR+, specialized in waste monitoring and benchmarking.

Andreas Pertl is a graduate of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU University), studying “Civil Engineering and Water Management”. After completing his studies in 2009, he worked as an university assistant at the Institute of Waste Management at the BOKU University, mainly dealing in the field of life cycle assessment of waste management processes. In 2015, he moved to the newly established Packaging Coordination Office (VKS) as head of the “Waste Management and Sustainability”, of which he became authorized representative in 2018. In July 2022 he was appointed managing director of VKS.

Cristina Bîcîilă is the General Director of AFF, a Social Enterprise - non-profit organization with economic activity, of public utility, having as mission to integrate vulnerable people or people in difficult life situations into the labor market, through four socio-professional integration workshops.

Previously, she held the position of CEE Sustainability Manager at Danone, where she contributed to the development and implementation of the company's sustainability strategy in the Central and Eastern Europe region (Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) and to obtaining B Corp certification.

Ateliere Fără Frontiere is a reference for Romanian’ Social enterprises of insertion, the organization's mission being to reintegrate people from vulnerable categories into the labor market. Through its four workshops – educlick, remesh, bio&co and logietic, AFF's activity is unique in Romania combining social impact (offering to people considered "unemployable" a chance for a dignified life, belonging and security) with the circular economy, biodiversity and care for the environment.