Advisory Board

Katharina Schlegel Thummer joint Plastics Europe as Director Circularity in December 2021 and is leading the strategic council work on circularity and End-of Life of plastics.

Prior to Plastics Europe, she has been active in different functions at BASF including leading the Global Market Development of Biopolymers.

Katharina brings considerable experience in the field of plastics circularity and sustainability evaluation of plastics products.

She holds a PhD in biology from the Goethe university in Frankfurt a.M.

Jose de Barros is the Chief Decarbonization Officer for Lummus Technology. He most recently was the Vice President and Managing Director of the Ethylene Business Group within Lummus Technology. Jose managed the technical and commercial aspects of the Ethylene Business Group, which includes several key technologies for producing olefins such Steam Cracking, Olefins Conversion Technology, Methanol to Olefins and Butene-1 and Hexene-1 co-monomer production technologies.

Jose has more than 35 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Lummus Technology in 1992, Jose worked in process and operations at Braskem ethylene plants in the Camacari Petrochemicals complex, Brazil for 6 years. Since joining Lummus Technology, Jose has held different positions in the Ethylene Business Group, including Process Design Manager, Director Olefins Technology and Director Business Development. Additionally, Jose led the newly formed Process and Engineering group for Lummus Petrochemicals overseeing the Process Engineering and Mechanical Design groups in both USA and India.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering Process Design from Manhattan College, NY and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from UFPE, Brazil. Jose is also fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and French.

Over 20 years’ substantial experience in power, renewables, energy efficiency, waste and plastic waste recycling sectors, either in IPP, utilities, EPC or technology international companies (US and EU), in business development, asset management, operations and sales roles.

I hold a master’s degree in Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering and then got an MBA at MIP-Polytechnic of Milan’s Business School. I started my career in the power and renewables sector in operations and sales roles, then progressively moved to business development roles. I joined NextChem about seven years ago right after its foundation, to develop the technology business of the Sustainable Polymers division and support clients in their decarbonization goals through energy and material transition, via new technologies at various maturity stages, to best valorize plastic waste and enable the circular economy to take place.

Carolina Gregorio holds since beginning 2022 the position of EMEA Regional Business Sustainability Director for Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics business. She has in depth experience in plastics and currently leads our sustainability external engagement on plastics issues, both climate and circularity policies, including extended value chain engament activities. She is part of Europen board since mid 2023 and is the main Dow representative in key trade business associations in Europe such as Plastics Europe, Ceflex, RCI, AEPW…

She joined Dow back in 2007 and since then held several commercial and marketing roles in the Packaging & Specialty Plastics business, including global project leader for some Dow’s packaging innovation platform targeting value creation across markets and applications. She has elaborated the marketing strategy for Dow’s bio-based offering and has been leading its implementation globally.

Carolina holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Santiago de Compostela University in Spain and an Executive MBA from EAE Business School. She completed in 2024 the LEAP program by WBCSD focused on women leadership in sustainability, in partnership with Yale University in US and ESADE Business School in Spain. Very much committed with gender equity she is a mentor in several programs to reduce gender gap such as AmChamSpain and Inspira STEM programs.

Lucy is a founding partner of Archipelago Ventures, an impact focused VC investing in early stage deep tech solutions within the Circular Economy.

An environmental finance specialist who brings 25+ years experience within climate finance and low carbon investment, Lucy has a strong commercial background, having built businesses and teams across financial institutions, and has an excellent network to help startups and young companies succeed in overcoming commercial barriers.