3rd Open Plastic Symposium

Daniel Duguay, B.Sc.A., M.Eng.

Senior Director – Sustainability | Canadian Produce Marketing Association
Since 2019, Dan has been leading the Canadian Produce Marketing Association's (CPMA) activities helping advance sustainability priorities across the fresh produce industry. His efforts encompass increasing the adoption of sustainable fresh produce packaging solutions, minimizing food loss and waste, reducing the fresh produce supply chain carbon footprint, and mitigating sustainability monitoring, reporting and audit risks. As the Secretary of the CPMA Sustainability Committee, Dan works alongside industry leaders spanning the fresh produce supply chain, from growers to retailers, as well as those enabling sustainable fresh produce supply chains. Together, they help advance the fresh produce industry's sustainability priorities in Canada and around the world.  With a mix of experience in academia, the private sector, and the federal government of Canada, Dan brings a unique skillset to assisting CPMA members and the produce industry at large in maintaining and enhancing the sustainability of the fresh produce sector.
Dan holds a B.Sc.A. in chemical engineering from uOttawa, an M.Eng. in chemical engineering from McGill, and was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, where he developed models to describe and predict the enzymatic degradation of biomedical polyurethanes. Dan is also the creator of Jishudō & trueselfvictory.org – a practice which applies the principles of martial arts to promoting emotional and mental wellness.

Ted Hsu

MPP - Kingston and the Islands
 
Ted Hsu (pronounced “shoe”) immigrated to Canada with his parents when he was six months old. He grew up and went to school in Kingston, graduating with a Bachelor of Science from Queen’s University in 1984. Ted completed a PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics at Princeton, and held postdoctoral appointments at UBC, and the Centre de la Recherche sur les tres basses temperatures in France. Ted worked as a researcher in theoretical physics at AECL, and worked in the financial sector for BNP, and Morgan Stanley Japan.  Ted then settled down in Kingston with his wife and two daughters. The eldest is currently at university, and the youngest is in middle school. 
 
From 2007 to 2011, Ted was the Executive Director of SWITCH, a sustainable energy association in southeastern Ontario. From 2011 to 2015, Ted was the federal MP for Kingston and the Islands. When former MP and Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken, stepped down, Ted won a highly contested local nomination race among five community leaders. In 2019, Ted was asked by Kingston’s Mayor Bryan Paterson to co-chair the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing. 
In 2020, Ted sought and won the nomination for Kingston and the Islands, and became MPP for Kingston and the Islands in the provincial election of June 2022. Following his election as MPP, Ted was one of four candidates to seek the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in 2023. During the leadership race, Ted travelled across Ontario and got to know many of the issues that various regions in the province are facing.
 
Ted is committed to protecting and improving the lives of Ontarians, whether it be fighting to make life affordable, advocating for a more productive and inclusive economy, or advancing sustainability and green energy to fight climate change. Ted currently holds Critic roles in the following areas: Energy, Natural Resources, and Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Wolfgang Streit

Professor, Universität Hamburg

Prof. Wolfgang Streit is a Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology at the University of Hamburg. He completed his PhD at Phillips-Universität Marburg (1989-94), Germany, where he worked on competitive growth and nodulation of Rhizobia. This was followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Phillips-Universität Marburg (1994-95) and UC-Davis (1995-97). Prof. Streit began his independent research career as a Research Group Leader in the Department of Genetics, University of Bielefeld, Germany (1997-98). This was followed by positions at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Göttingen (1998-2004), and as a Professor for Enzyme Technology in the Dept. of Chemistry, Universität Duisburg-Essen (2004-2006). In 2006 he moved to his current position at Phillips-Universität Marburg, where he has held Acting and Deputy Directorships of the Institute of Molecular and Plant Sciences and Microbiology. Prof. Streit is an international leader in microbiology, genomics driven enzyme discovery, and biocatalysis. This includes plastic degrading enzymes, where his group has led milestone studies in the discovery, structure, and function of PET hydrolases. His lab also curates the PAZy database (www.pazy.eu), which lists all biochemically characterized plastic active enzymes. The Streit lab is also highly active in the study of bacterial biofilms and the impact of antibiotics and waste on microbiological diversity in wastewater. Prof. Streit is the author of more than 140 publications, 20 book chapters, and 5 patents, which collectively have been cited more than 12,500 times.