2025 Conference Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Michael Lefenfeld
President & CEO
Hexion
Michael Lefenfeld is President and Chief Executive Officer at Hexion Inc. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hexion Inc. and serves as a member of the Board of Managers for ASP Resins Holdings LP. Michael joined Hexion in January 2023.
Prior to joining Hexion and beginning in 2018, Michael served as President and CEO of Cyanco International, where he led the world’s largest manufacturer of gold and silver extraction materials, while driving the effort to make recovery safer and more efficient. From 2007 to 2017, he was President and CEO of SIGNa Chemistry, a global chemical manufacturer of reactive metal materials serving oil & gas recovery, petrochemical refining, alternative energy and chemical processing industries. Michael also founded Alkami Consulting Group, a technology investment advisory group, and Blood Gas Diagnostics, a medical device technology growth company.
With a unique combination of executive, operational and entrepreneurial experience, Michael holds more than 100 patents and patents pending that are intended to collectively address some of the world’s most pressing environmental and sustainable product-related challenges. A serial entrepreneur, he has been named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum in 2016, while SIGNa was recognized with the EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Award under his leadership. Michael earned a Master of Philosophy and Master of Science in Chemistry from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.
Plenary Speakers
Dan Current
Head of Application Engineering
Engineered Wood Adhesives, North America
Henkel
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Chip Frazier
Professor, Sustainable Biomaterials
Virginia Tech Site Director, Wood Based Composites Center
Virginia Tech University
Frazier is the T.M. Brooks Professor of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech, and the Virginia Tech Site Director of the Wood-Based Composites Center, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (WBC). Frazier is a plant-polymer scientist emphasizing materials like wood, grasses, nutshell, soybeans, etc., and composites made from same.
Dr. Andreja Kutnar
Director of InnoRenew CoE & Professor of Wood Science
University of Primorska
Dr. Andreja Kutnar is a full professor in the field wood science at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia and director of the InnoRenew CoE. She was an Executive Board member of InnovaWood for six years and served as president of the Society of Wood Science & Technology during 2020-2021. Her areas of expertise include wood composites, therm-hydro-mechanical treatment of wood, and adhesive bonding. Her work focuses on research projects in the fields of natural science, technology, sustainable development of the wood industry, environmental impact assessment of new materials, products, and technologies from origin, manufacturing, use/alteration to reuse or recycle. For the wood industry, she performs life cycle assessments (LCA) and advises on improving environmental impacts across the wood value chain.
In 2014, she co-authored “Contemporary Slovenian Timber Architecture for Sustainability,” a book published by Springer International Publishing AG in the Green Energy and Technology series, and in 2021 she co-authored “Wood Modification Technologies: Principles, Sustainability, and the Need for Innovation”, published by Taylor & Francis Ltd. In 2016, Dr. Kutnar co-edited “Environmental Impacts of Traditional and Innovative Forest-based Bioproducts,” a scientific book published by Springer International Publishing AG in the Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes series. She was chair of COST Action FP1407, “Understanding wood modification through an integrated scientific and environmental impact approach” (ModWoodLife).
In 2016, she was recognized with the “Prometheus of Science for Excellence in Communication” award for successful multi-level communication in wood science and supporting sustainable development. In 2018, she received the distinguished Zois Certificate of Recognition for important scientific achievements in the field of wood science. And in 2020, she was included in the prestigious European Commission campaign #EUwomen4future that draws attention to outstanding women working in research, innovation, education, culture and sport.
Jignesh Sheth
Manager of Product Development
Furniture and Building Components, North America
Henkel
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Thomas Walther
Head of Wood Products
AFRY Management Consulting
Thomas Walther joined AFRY Management Consulting in 2024. Prior to this, he spent 13 years at Swedspan and IKEA Industry in Sweden, where he led the product development of wood-based panels, lightweight constructions and sustainable adhesive systems. Walther combines deep production expertise with the capability to scale concepts from inception to full industrialization.