Sonoco FRESH Announces New Industry Advisory Board Leadership

The Industry Advisory Board (IAB) for the Sonoco FRESH initiative at Clemson University is pleased to announce the election of its new leadership:

Board Chair
Elizabeth Rhue
Vice President, Environmental, Sustainability and Technical Services
Sonoco

Member-at-Large
David McLain
Senior Director, Sustainability
Printpack, Inc.

Membership Chair
Josh Mellinger
Chief Revenue Officer & Global Head of Carbon
Perennial

Elizabeth Rhue, Vice President, Environmental, Sustainability and Technical Services, is responsible for leading Sonoco’s global sustainability programs for all of the Company’s Consumer- and Industrial-related packaging businesses, including working directly with Sonoco’s key customers to achieve improved product sustainability. Elizabeth started her career at Sonoco as a Research and Development Engineer with Sonoco’s Rigid Paper Container business and has held several technical and commercial roles, including Sustainability and National Accounts Manager for Sonoco Recycling, focused on delivering landfill diversion solutions for major CPG accounts, and Director of Marketing for Sonoco’s Flexible Packaging division, working directly with large consumer product goods customers. Elizabeth holds a B.S. in Packaging Science from Clemson University.

After graduating in 2000 from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an initial five years in the automotive industry, Dave McLain began his career in packaging with Printpack’s Rigid Division in late 2004 as Maintenance Manager located in Williamsburg, VA. Over a five-year period, he held various operations roles of increasing responsibility, eventually serving as Plant Manager for two rigid facilities. Dave’s next move after Virginia was to Bloomington, IN for a short time as the site representative for Printpack’s reinvestment in bread bag converting. Dave and his family then relocated to China, where he lived and worked for five years as the General Manager of Printpack Suzhou.

As of January 2016, Dave is now based in Atlanta at Printpack’s global headquarters. He spent several years in Marketing and Sales focused on Printpack’s P.E. business and sustainability. Dave serves on the Board of Directors of GreenBlue, and co-chairs SPC’s Next Markets Collaborative as well as various other industry initiatives. He now leads Printpack’s efforts to help customers realize a more sustainable future through the redesign of their products.

Dave and his wife Rebecca have four children. He enjoys spending his time with family traveling, cooking all sorts of food, and being outdoors roughing it with the Scouts.

Josh Mellinger is a Food & Ag Executive, with over 15 years of experience in leading food supply chain and climate-focused organizations.  His approach to environmental sustainability and system-wide collaboration has been spotlighted in numerous publications as a blueprint for how innovative supply chain solutions can provide more nutritional, affordable, high-quality food to customers that looks better, lasts longer and feeds families (not garbage cans).

As Chief Revenue Officer and Global Head of Carbon at Perennial, he oversees commercial and market-oriented initiatives that help to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture and unlock soil as the world’s largest carbon sink.  Previously, Josh was the Head of Sustainability for a $10 billion agricultural trading company and is the former leader of Deloitte Consulting’s Sustainable Food Market Offering.  

Throughout his career, he has developed cutting-edge digital solutions that enhance the way consumers experience food by optimizing the production, procurement, logistics and merchandising of sustainable brands. The results of his work have directly led to the creation of over 1.5 billion dollars of verified shareholder value and the reduction of over $500 million in food waste across global food value chains.

“The Sonoco FRESH Industry Advisory Board includes highly committed industry experts who represent each sector of the food value chain,” said Anne Barr, Executive Director of Sonoco FRESH. “We are grateful for their insights to sustainability initiatives, support of the annual Food, Packaging & Sustainability Summit agenda and identification of industry-relevant research topics.”

The Industry Advisory Board guides Sonoco FRESH in its efforts in to create innovative sustainable solutions. Each organization represented on the Advisory Board plays a critical role in the food value chain. Visit the FRESH website for a full list of the FRESH Industry Advisory Board members.