Francesca is a public policy professional with 25 years’ experience in building partnerships between the public and private sectors. Prior to joining GS1, she worked at the European Commission and European Parliament, as well as for Ferrero as advocacy and sustainability lead. Among her biggest achievements are: the corporate social responsibility programme launched and developed to the highest public recognition for Ferrero, the convergence of environmental protection and chemical impacts in the framework of the EU chemical reform, and the fight against illicit trade through open non-proprietary standards for GS1. Francesca studied corporate social responsibility at the Harvard Business School and she holds a master’s in European law.
Read full bio
Martin Seychell
Deputy Director-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA)
European Commission
Martin Seychell is a graduate in chemistry and pharmaceutical technology. He occupied the post of head of directorate for foodstuffs and chemicals at the Malta Standards Authority between 2001 and 2006, and that of director of environment protection at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority between 2006 and 2011. He was appointed deputy director general for health and consumers at the European Commission in March 2011. Between 2014 and 2020 he was deputy director-general for health in the Health and Food Safety Directorate-General (SANTE), responsible for directorates dealing with public health and health systems and products. These covered a number of policy areas including health security, health systems, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, tobacco control and digital health. He also represented the Commission on the management board of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) between 2011 and 2020. He was appointed deputy director general responsible for human development, migration, governance and peace, and resources in DG INTPA in June 2020.
In an almost two decade-long career, Sarah Negro worked across Europe and Asia as a diplomat. She has successfully developed public affairs strategies, advocated for legislation changes and engaged with both public and private actors. In 2018 Sarah moved back into the corporate world and joined H&M Group. In her current role, she leads public affairs teams in production countries by advocating for policy developments needed for the most impactful ecosystem and meaningful business growth.
Ambroise Fayolle was appointed to his current position in February 2015. He is responsible for climate action and environment, development policy and the European Guarantee Fund. He is also a board member of the European Investment Fund. He oversees EIB’s activities in France, Germany and many countries in Africa and the Pacific. A graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, he spent most of his career in various positions at the French Treasury Department and in the IMF and the World Bank, including as a board member of the two latter institutions for 8 years.
Read full bio
Jonas Dreger
Senior Manager, Environmental Initiatives, EMEIA
Apple
Jonas has been managing environmental regulatory compliance and sustainability programmes and facilitating stakeholder conversations across Europe, Middle East, India and Africa at Apple’s environmental initiatives team since 2014. He has a background in European environmental policy and a focus on the circular economy, having previously represented Siemens on these topics in Brussels. Jonas holds a PhD on European climate and energy policy.
Read full bio
Françoise Bonnet
Secretary General
Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management (ACR+)
Françoise Bonnet joined ACR+ in 2013. She holds a degree in law from Liège University, complemented by a diploma in European law from the College of Europe and in specialised studies in environmental law from Brussels University. She has more than 25 years’ experience in legislative issues and in material resource management and policy, regularly offering policy advice, technical assistance and capacity development. During her professional life, she has worked for public authorities such as Brussels Region Administration, the UN and the European Commission, as well as for private companies. Thanks to this, she is familiar with local administration systems and North-South cooperation with the countries in the Mediterranean region.
Marc leads the Amsterdam-based impact consulting firm Circle Economy Consulting. He is a seasoned consultant with more than 15 years’ experience helping clients implement circular solutions. Marc is a recognised thought-leader on the circular economy. He is regularly invited to speak at global fora and is featured in media. He holds several external advisory roles including at WEF and the UN. He initiated the Circularity Gap Report, a global scorecard for circularity launched yearly at Davos. Marc holds a PhD in sustainable resource use.
Futurist and strategist Sharon leverages two decades of experience anticipating consumer behaviour shifts for global organisations. As a co-founder and director of the strategy consultancy Alice Labs, she merges her expertise with a passion for circularity, advocating for sustainable consumption. Her insights into evolving consumer motivations and behaviours enable Sharon to navigate complex dialogues on circular economies effectively.
Sarah Miller is founder of Ireland's national centre for the circular economy. Based in Europe's first circular economy demonstration centre, the Rediscovery Centre acts as an innovation hub, delivering education, providing research and enabling policy and collaboration to support a just transition to the circular economy. Sarah has a PhD in environmental science, a master’s in business administration and an honours degree in biotechnology. With over 30 years’ professional experience in the UK, Ireland and Australia, she has worked primarily with commercial and social enterprise start-ups, ranging from large-scale mechanical and biological waste treatment plants to community development projects. Sarah is a member of the coordinating group for the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, where she also sits on the leadership group for citizen engagement and circular behaviour. She is active in several circular economy networks, technical committees and support initiatives.
Thomas Van Oppens is Leuven's deputy mayor for waste management or, as he prefers to call it, material management. Leuven is one of the 100 European cities on a mission to become climate neutral. But what about all the materials that are needed to accomplish that? And what about the materials that are already in the city? How can we connect the dots? Thomas takes you from the high-level plans and translates them into local policies and realisations.
