During his speech, immediately after election at WPO's Board Meeting, he pointed out “to make the society understands that packaging is part of the solution, and not a problem”.
Pienaar also reinforced his mission established in November 2017, when he was first elected: use packaging to eradicate hunger and poverty around the globe. “We had achieved a lot regarding this goal, especially through packaging education, but there is much more to be done, especially in this pandemic period. We cannot ignore that some countries still face the extreme inequality of income between professionals and the masses being the biggest contributor toward the low GDP. Having this in mind, we need to contemplate how to reduce food wastage through the packaging industry. Packaging alone cannot fix this problem. However, when we consider all elements - design, material, innovative products, technological advancements, responsible, sustainable, reusable, environmentally-friendly packaging - we can explore the opportunities for the packaging industry in the value chain that could get more food to more people aound the globe.”
To put all these plans into action, Pierre appointed a team of high level packaging professionals to work with him in the next three years of the second term (2021-2023). The WPO new Executive Team includes:
• General Secretary – Johannes Bergmair (Austria)
• Senior Vice President Marketing - Luciana Pellegrino (Brazil)
• Vice President Exhibitions and Conferences - Soha Atallah (Lebanon)
• Vice President Education – Henky Wibawa (Indonesia)
• Vice President Sustainability and Save Food – Nerida Kelton (Australia)
• Press & Communications Liaison Officer - Liliam Benzi (Brazil)
Pienaar also appointed three WPO Ambassadors that can officially represent the organization in an advisory capacity to President. They are Carls Olsmats (Sweden), Kishan Singh (South Africa), and Chakravarthi AVPS (India). Johannes Bergmair will be responsible for Food Safety (Packaging Hygiene) portfolio and Pienaar handle Awards (WorldStar and WorldSTar Students).
