The international Cardia Bioplastics team is an elite group of pioneering bioplastics specialists. Together, this team draws on hundreds of years’ of skill and experience in solving packaging and plastics products challenges.
With our industry experts based in Australia, Asia, the Americas and Europe, we understand your local regulatory and technical issues, and are close at hand to collaborate with your team in the development of your new sustainable packaging or plastics product solution.
Pat Volpe, Chairman
Cardia Bioplastics is one of a number of the Australian Stock Exchange listed companies that Pat has pioneered from the start up stage. He is an astute visionary, who recognises growth venture opportunities, and has established an incubator model for high technology businesses, such as agricultural and medical biotech, mineral exploration, natural pharmaceuticals, and water treatment. Pat’s proven track record in capital raising built on his earlier career in stock broking and senior management positions in listed companies. He is a member of the Australian Society of Certified Public Accountants, and holds a Bachelor of Business and Graduate Diploma in Taxation.
Frank Glatz, Managing Director
Frank has overall responsibility for the business and the strategic direction of the company, with particular focus on international commercialisation and business development. Prior to joining Cardia Bioplastics, Frank was employed by Plantic Technologies to establish their European operations and to commercialise their technology internationally. Before joining the bioplastics industry, Frank worked for more than ten years in the plastics and packaging industries in general management, commercial and technical roles with ICI Australia, Qenos and Orica. Prior to this, Frank conducted polymer research in Germany and Japan. He holds MSc, PhD and MBA qualifications.
John Scheirs, Director
A plastics technologist, with a Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry, John specialises in analysis, development and recycling of plastics. He authored the plastics recycling book Polymer Recycling - Science, Technology and Applications, and edited the new reference book Feedstock Recycling and Pyrolysis of Waste Plastics: Converting Waste Plastics into Diesel and Other Fuels. He is a member of the editorial board of the international journal 'Polymer Degradation and Stabilization', Elsevier Scientific, Netherlands, and a founding member of the Australian Standards committee for biodegradable plastics.
Chen (Jacky) Yi, Director, General Manager China
An experienced packaging specialist Jacky has commercialised a number of bioplastics technologies. Based at the company’s Nanjing facility, as General Manager he is responsible for the Cardia Bioplastics business in China. Jacky was instrumental in Biograde winning the exclusive supply of certified biodegradable packaging to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. He is a graduate of the University of Science & Technology, Beijing, and has a Diploma of International Trading from the Management College of China in Beijing. He also holds a Bachelor of Science from Upper Iowa University, USA. He is a regular speaker at bioplastics conferences in Asia.
Markus Leufgens, Technical Manager
With a sound background in polymer engineering, Markus is responsible for global application development and technical support. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the plastics and packaging industry in Europe and Australia with global companies, such as Dow Chemical and Amcor Packaging. His roles included research and development, technical service, manufacturing, plant engineering and product development. Prior to joining Cardia Bioplastics, Markus worked for 5 years with Plantic Technologies in application and product development where he complemented his technical expertise with an in-depth knowledge of bioplastics,
Chen, Changping, Technical Director, China
An excellent polymer scientist with more than 20 years experience in the field of bioplastics product development, Mr Chen invented our product technology. Based at the company’s Nanjing facility, he is responsible for the Cardia Bioplastics global product development and manufacturing.
Li (Brian) Jun, Vice General Manager China
With many years experience in international supply chain management and sales, as Vice General Manager China Brian is responsible for managing Cardia Bioplastics export business and leads the China sales team. Brian has in-depth experience and excels in an international and export oriented customer environment.
James Beck, Business Development Manager, the Americas
Canadian educated, James has 28 years’ packaging experience as a senior manager in sales, marketing and product development. He was Division Manager with Price Daxion (now Unisource), General Manager of United Shipping Supplies, was founding President of Dove Sales and Marketing packaging distribution, and was a founding consultant of Enviro Smart Packaging promoting biodegradable plastic technologies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.