The U.S. Plastics Pact is changing leadership, with plastics executive Jonathan Quinn taking over for outgoing head Emily Tipaldo.
Quinn, the global vice president of marketing & sustainability for Accredo Packaging and the API Group in Sugar Land, Texas, assumes leadership of the pact immediately, the group said in a July 10 statement.
Tipaldo, who joined as the pact's first executive director in 2020, will stay on temporarily as a strategic adviser during a transition period, the statement said.
"Emily has been instrumental in shaping the U.S. Plastics Pact into a leading force for sustainable innovation in the plastic packaging industry," said Holli Alexander, chair of the pact's board and a strategic initiatives manager at Eastman Chemical Co.
"Jonathan's extensive experience in plastic packaging, sustainability and market development will be invaluable as we continue to advance our goals and engage more stakeholders in our vision for a circular economy," she said.
Quinn comes to the pact with more than 15 years experience in plastics packaging, including with sales and marketing roles at Pregis LLC, Nova Chemicals and ITW.
The pact includes large consumer brand companies and retailers that collectively put about one-third of the plastic packaging used in the U.S. on the market. Its membership also includes local governments, trade associations and environmental groups.
In June, it announced revisions to its 2025 goals for plastic packaging, pushing back some goals to 2030 and adding a new target, to reduce the amount of virgin plastics its companies use by 30 percent.
The pact said Quinn would focus on scaling tangible efforts to meet those new targets, called Roadmap 2.0, and fostering collaboration.
"This is a pivotal moment for our industry, and I am eager to work with our diverse consortium of businesses and organizations to accelerate our progress toward a circular economy for plastics," Quinn said.
In a series of profiles of sustainability leaders last year in Plastics News, Quinn described himself as a "plastics loyalist" while Tipaldo said the growth of plastics has been at times "too much of a good thing" as society has struggled to manage waste and to fully understand the environmental and human health impacts of some additives.
In a July 10 email to PN, Tipaldo said she "could not be more excited for Jonathan coming into the role" and was stepping back after serving as the pact's first executive director.
"Over the last four years I've poured my heart and soul into the U.S. Pact, and I am stepping away after bringing it to the precipice of its next road ahead," she said. "The U.S. Pact is strong and well positioned to grow in its successes over the next few years."