SustainPro Conference & ExpoWhile I thought I discovered something new, it turns out that the SustainPro Conference & Expo to be held October 29-30, Chicago, really WAS intentionally scheduled back-to-back with Graph Expo 08. Jay Whitehead, President and Publisher of Crossing Media Group,* told me:
"Yes, we did schedule SustainPro for Oct 29-30 to overlap with the end of Graph Expo. Glad it’s working! We encourage printing industry leaders to stay over one more day to see how the world’s leading companies are greening up."
The SustainPro Conference will have as many as 170 speakers on the topic of Sustainability, organized by Industry and Professional Function. Sessions feature companies in the 14 largest B2B industries (of which one is Paper, Packaging & Printing) and the roles of 7 major corporate operations professions involved in sustainable and environmental issues:
  • Purchasing
  • IT
  • Manufacturing & Engineering
  • Facilities & Fleet Management
  • Financial
  • HR & Administrative Ops
  • Logistics & Distribution
  • Marketing & Communications
Of particular interest to those of us in the printing/packaging/paper industries are these sessions:
  • Industry Leader Keynotes from: Chief Marketing Officer of Kodak Graphics Communications Group, EVP at Waste Management, VP at Wal-Mart, EVP of Seventh Generation, VP at Time Warner Publishing, Chief Sustainability Officer of the US Postal Service
  • Industry-Specific Case Studies from: 3 paper manufacturers, 2 printing equipment manufacturers, 2 printing multinationals, 4 packaging multinationals
  • Profession-Specific Case Studies from: 2 VPs and 2 Directors of corporate Procurement (printing), 2 VPs of Manufacturing (paper, printing technology), 5 VPs and 3 Directors of Marketing & Communications, 2 VPs and 1 Director of Logistics & Distribution (printing and packaging)
If you're flying in and out of O'Hare for Graph Expo 08, plan an extra day and stay over in nearby Rosemont. You'll be minutes from the airport for your departure after you've sampled this event too. * Crossing Media Group is publisher of HRO Today (Human Resource Outsourcing), HRO Europe, FAO Today (Finance and Accounting Outsourcing), and CRO (Corporate Responsibility Officer).