Meet our Innovation Managers

Cefic has recently welcomed two new members to its Research and Innovation team who will both play a significant role in SusChem’s development of its EIP/PPP proposals. Many SusChem stakeholders will have met Antonia Morales Perez and Ed d’Hooghe at the Amsterdam Stakeholder event, or via various SusChem workgroups, but for those who haven’t yet met them we profile our two new Innovation Managers below. Welcome!

Antonia
Before joining Cefic, Antonia Morales Perez (right) was Technical Service and Development Manager at Repsol’s Polyolefins Business Unit. Antonia’s career at Repsol, the Spanish energy and chemicals company, has focused on identification of new market needs and business opportunities including close monitoring of market trends and solutions.

Prior to her position in Polyolefins, Antonia was PE Film and EVA Copolymers TS&D Manager where she was responsible for product portfolio development and technical support to customers. Previous roles included technical positions working with EVA Copolymers and Polypropylene Injection moulding. In 2004 she was “Transition Team” leader for Repsol during the acquisition process of a Portuguese Petrochemical Site from Borealis.

Antonia has been extremely active in national and international industry representative bodies including ISO. From 2006-2009 she was chair of the International Committee of Plastics for Agriculture (CIPA). Antonia has also been a long-term member of the Spanish Committee for Plastics in Agriculture (CEPLA) including serving as its Secretary General and Chairperson.

Antonia obtained a degree in Biology from the Universidad Complutense Madrid before taking a Master in Science and Technology of Polymers at CSIC – Madrid. She also studied Business Administration at the IESE Business School in Madrid.

Antonia’s role in Cefic includes responsibility for the Innovation Union Flagship PPP/EIP projects on Raw Materials for a Modern Society and the Water Efficient Europe proposal.

Ed
Ed d’Hooghe (left) will be responsible for driving innovation activities around the Innovation Union Flagship PPP/EIP projects on Sustainable Technologies by the Process Industry (previously known as Resource Efficiency in the Process Industry) and the Smart Cities initiative.

Ed worked in various customer interface and R&D roles for The Dow Chemical Company before the move to Cefic. He joined ABS product R&D in 1990 and moved to Appliances and Consumer Goods in 1991. In 1994 he took on a new role focussing on new application and product development for TPU and ETPU markets which led to the development of various patent protected technologies. In 2000 Ed was named Global Technology Leader for the FULCRUM Thermoplastic Composites business and in 2001 he transferred from The Netherlands to Texas to build a new market development and production facility. In 2003 he returned to Europe to take on the leadership of the automotive EU TS&D department – a role which was later expanded to include global leadership of the automotive plastics value growth team. In recent years Ed took on additional assignments as Global Composites Platform Leader with the mandate to define a participation strategy for this market.

Ed received an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Technical University Eindhoven. He has been a recipient of the Dow 'Bob Cramer' Developmental Scientist award for 'Excellence in Technical Development' in 1998 and the 2000 Dow European Scientist Award. He is also a certified Six Sigma ‘Black Belt’.