Packaging Expert David Luttenberger RetiresPackaging Expert David Luttenberger Retires
Over his 34-year career, we were competitors, coworkers, colleagues. But I’ll remember David as a fellow packaging geek and dear friend whose insights have helped make a positive difference for us all.
At a Glance
- Packaging pioneer retires, leaving a legacy of innovation, sustainability, and global influence.
- Luttenberger’s 34-year career transformed packaging with resource optimization and sustainability as key principles.
- Marine vet turned woodworker, Luttenberger starts retirement with a “boatload” of teak decking and time for grandkids.
“Back in the early 2000s, I had a realization about this obtuse idea of sustainability and packaging,” says David Luttenberger, outgoing Global Packaging Director at Mintel. “But I really began to study it, and I realized that sustainability was not just about the environment. It was about this complete and total optimization of resources of materials, of processes.”
That idea states the obvious now. But back in the early 2000s? Wow. That was an “Aha!” moment for many packaging professionals who were struggling to adapt to new pressures from consumers, regulators, and retailers about the environmental impact of their packages.
Over the years of his remarkable career, David has always been quotable, because his insights were helpful and were often new thoughts for the industry. It’s one of the reasons many people in the industry will miss him, including me.
I had the pleasure of talking with David about his career and retirement before he leaves on Friday, January 17, 2025. Reach out to him on LinkedIn or on X at @PackagingGeek before then if you can!
We reminisced and talked about …
• his exciting first day in packaging,
• the people who have made the most impact on him,
• what he thinks the packaging industry needs now and why,
• who the leaders are today, and
• what the heck he’s going to do to stay busy in retirement. It could have something to do with the grandbabies or the “boatload” (literally) of teak wood he bought for his wood-working hobby/business.
David Luttenberger stands with a load of reclaimed teak decking in front of the battleship New Jersey. He bought all the salvageable teak — literally a “boatload” of teak — for his wood-working shop.
During our chat, we mentioned another bittersweet goodbye, back in 2021, when David parted with his collection of more than 2,600 packages that were innovative for some reason or another. I said I’d include a link.
Over the course of his career, David has given so much of himself to others.
• Recently the Global Packaging Director at Mintel Group Ltd., where he had primary responsibility for packaging insights, innovation, and sustainability activities across retailer, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and package converter markets in North, Latin, and South America, and the Asia-Pacific regions
• Former chief editor of Package Printing & Converting (now Packaging Impressions); Package Technology & Engineering; and Packaging Horizons (the former Women In Packaging publication)
• Former Managing Director, Packaging Strategies
• Former VP/Packaging Strategist, CEB Iconoculture
• Invited keynoter and featured speaker on six continents and 21 countries
• Amazon APASS ecommerce packaging certified
• Lifetime Certified Packaging Professional (IoPP)
• 13-time Lead Juror for the Dow Package Innovation Awards
• Former member of the International Packaging Press Organisation (IPPO)
• Package Technology & Integrated Solutions (PTIS) Top Packaging Thought Leader
• Packaging Digest Top Social Media Influencer
• DuPont Award for Package Innovation Leadership
• Certificate in Circular Economic & Sustainable Business Strategies, Cambridge University Judge Business School
• Certified in Generative AI prompting and applications
• Interviewed and quoted by NPR, CNN, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, and many industry trade publications globally (including Packaging Digest)
• Established and funded the Baldwin/Turner Volunteer Service Scholarship
• Retired 23-year Marine Corps veteran
• Grandpa to Lucy, Micah, and TBD April 11, 2025
• Counts Lisa Pierce as one of his best friends in packaging [David’s words, not mine; but ditto]
Bye @PackagingGeek! Have fun, Semper Fi Woodsmith!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT IS AUTO GENERATED
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Lisa Pierce here with Packaging Digest. I have the absolute pleasure of talking with David Luttenberger, who is the global executive director at Mintel for packaging. And he’s been in packaging for a couple of decades. Before he jets off, rides off into the sunset this Friday, I wanted to chat with him for a little bit.
So, David, thank you. Welcome.
David Luttenberger
Thanks Lisa. I always appreciate it.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So I thought about all kinds of questions that I could ask you, you know, 30-something year career. So much has happened over those over those years, but I do want to start with your first day because I had a very exciting first day in packaging media career. What about you? What did you do?
David Luttenberger
I had an equally exciting day. My very first day in packaging, I actually got hired on a Friday and on a Monday, I think it was … I was at Rosemont in Chicago attending Labelexpo 1989.
I got to tell you, I was fascinated.
I looked at Webtron presses, Mark Andy, Gallus, and Ferd Rüesch. And I was really inspired by the enthusiasm and the success, particularly of those entrepreneurial label printers who literally were selling labels during the day and then going home and literally printing labels on small presses in their garage at night. And I just thought, like, wow, that’s really the spirit of any industry in the ground up. But just watching the technologies and seeing the enthusiasm at Labelexpo, what a great way to start off a career.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Definitely. Definitely. I do know some people who have started their first day at a trade show in a new industry, and that really is baptism by fire, definitely. But so fun, so fun.
David Luttenberger
It is, yeah, yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So technologies, we’ll talk a little bit about that, but to me, probably what I’m going to take away from the industry the most when I leave is the people — you being one of them.
David Luttenberger
Yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
I’m sad to see you go.
David Luttenberger
Thank you.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
But who has made an impact on you over the years and why?
David Luttenberger
I really have three people that I really owe my career to.
The very first one was a woman named Maxine Golding. She was the editorial director at North American Publishing. She hired me as the chief editor at what was then Package Printing & Converting magazine, now Packaging Impressions. I spent 10 years at Napco and Maxine really instilled in me that, to understand, OK, you’ve got your labels, but what came before they were labels? And now that they are labels or flexible packages or folding cartons, then where do they go? How do they get used?
So she really pushed me to think about not just what you’re writing about or learning about today, but what came before, what came after. And, as you’re known for, always asking that next question.
Second, second person would be, and I believe he’s a man you know, Stan Zelesnik.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yes.
David Luttenberger
A former sales and publisher at Food & Drug Packaging.
Stan and I worked together when I was a chief editor at Packaging Technology & Engineering magazine.
Stan really taught me how to network, how to create and nurture business relationships and really turn them into personal relationships.
And he really emphasized to me the critical importance of always continuously being a student of your industry to learn more, to seek more, to be around those people who knew way more than I did, and again, to nurture those relationships and of course …
Lisa McTigue Pierce
I also had an opportunity to work with Stan and agree with everything single thing that you said. Yep, definitely.
David Luttenberger
Yes, Stan was the consummate professional. And consummate gentleman.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Gentleman! That’s exactly how I would describe him!
So #3.
David Luttenberger
Yeah, he was. He was.
And then the third one of course is Packaging Hall of Famer, Toshio Arita. I got the opportunity to work with Toshio for probably 20 years.
Some people may know … Some people may not know but Toshio was actually a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing. And as he went on in his life, he became a chemical engineer. He worked for Eastman United States. But he really dedicated his entire career to using packaging as a common bridge between people and countries.
But his knowledge, his energy, his friendship have meant a lot to me. Not only me personally, but my family. One of my daughters shares a birthday with Toshio.
Toshio is now 92 or 93. He is still active in the packaging industry. He is someone whose knowledge of packaging of chemical engineering … everyone in a packaging industry knows Toshio, and it was certainly a privilege for me to learn from him while I was the director at Packaging Strategies. And I continue that relationship with Toshio today. I’ve spoke to him just maybe a month ago.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Oh, fantastic. I know Toshio from the International Packaging Press Organization, which I’m a member in and serve on the board still yet.
David Luttenberger
Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So yes, I know that … He did retire, I think officially, and he’s an honorary member now of IPPO, what we call IPPO. He still does, yes, stay very much connected. I hear from him periodically.
David Luttenberger
You know it’s. Yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
That is fantastic.
Like I said, it’s … to me, that’s what matters the most in in my career in packaging is the people and there’s so many of them.
One of the things that I remember when I was, you know, just a couple of years into it is the realization that there were very few bad players. That so many of the people who are in this industry are in it to make a positive impact.
I actually think that you have made an amazingly positive impact, but I do want to ask you, I could talk about what I see as the your strengths, but what would you say has been your greatest professional accomplishment and why that?
David Luttenberger
Thank you. Thank you.
My greatest professional accomplishment? I think gosh, back in the very, very early 2000s, I had a realization about this obtuse idea of sustainability and packaging. But I really began to study it and I realized that it … that sustainability was not just about the environment, but it was about this complete and total optimization of resource of materials, of processes, of resources. And based on that, I said I am going to produce a conference called the Sustainable Packaging Forum. At the time it was the very first packaging conference in North America focused exclusively on sustainable packaging. About that same time, there was a budding organization called the Sustainable Packaging Coalition with Anne Johnson.
So I approached Anne and I said “Hey. My boss thinks I’m crazy. He has no idea what sustainable packaging is.” But I said, what if I created a conference and in tandem with that conference you held your annual members meeting? And Anne was just really thrilled with this idea.
So gosh, it was 2003 or 4, I produced the very first sustainable packaging coalition, our Sustainable Packaging Forum in Philadelphia. William McDonough, author of Cradle to Cradle, was my keynote speaker and we had about 160 people.
But what really happened was all of a sudden this idea of sustainable packaging really took off, and in its third year, the Sustainable Packaging Forum attracted 600 attendees.
It generated a seven-figure income and because of the partnership that I formed with the SPC, I was able to donate more than $200,000 back to the SPC for them to continue their projects, grow their membership. You know, really, really push that organization forward.
And I attended an SPC meeting, I think it was in New Orleans maybe last year. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was that there was, like, 1,500 attendees. But the quality, the content, the discussions, the scope, the networking. I just kind of sat there and said this is really cool and I can point to the very early 2000s and my realization that I started this, this very first Sustainable Packaging Forum and where it’s grown today.
I mean, you know, Lisa, sustainability just takes over everything today.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Everything.
David Luttenberger
It’s table stakes.
So that really been a highlight.
But one other thing very quickly that I’m very proud of is the time that I took — to share history, knowledge, insights, innovations, and while this package can or cannot be actually produced — with packaging students. On many occasions I have presented at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design the Fashion Institute of Technology package design course. Last year, two years ago, I was at Michigan State School of Packaging.
I’ve mentored a few packaging students. And it just kind of makes me feel good that I probably gave many of them much more time than maybe I should have just because I felt like it’s the right thing to do. They ask good questions, so why shouldn’t I give my time and share my experience with them?
So that’s made me feel good about my career as well.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Great. Is there one piece of advice you always give students or does it matter, like, what area that they’re interested in?
David Luttenberger
One piece of advice, gosh. I guess don’t be afraid to dare. Don’t be afraid to dream.
The industry will tell you if it’s manufacturable. But if it’s not, there’s still lessons to learn.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it does need to be manufacturable.
David Luttenberger
If they want a job, maybe it does.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yes, yes. OK, excellent.
David Luttenberger
So alright.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Well, I’m thrilled that you brought up the the Sustainable Packaging Forum because I was there in early days and also so happy that it has thrived as well as it has. And it is a very … I would say, it is the most vibrant sector of our industry today. So kudos for getting it going. Awesome.
David Luttenberger
Thank you. Thank you.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So I know we had an opportunity to talk a couple of years, couple years ago when you were celebrating your 30th anniversary. And at that time, you were getting rid of … Were you celebrating 30th or were you …? No, you were getting rid of your collection of …
David Luttenberger
Yes, I was purging my decades-long packaging collection.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
And I had an opportunity to talk with you then and asked you, you know, out of the 2600 plus — 2600 plus packages — that you had collected over the years, you know, what were your favorites and you had shared a couple, I’ll include a link here so people can go back to that article and see it. But I was wondering if you know in the just in the last couple of years if something has knocked your number one package out of its top spot.
What do you think has been the best packaging development that you’ve seen and covered over the course of your career?
David Luttenberger
Well, I still have to defer to the to the aid pod. You know just what it did for humanity, what it did to help control a disease, what it did for people and a specific underdeveloped, underserved region in the world.
The imagination, the engineering, the benefit of that is just to me still second to none. But more recently, gosh, there was I believe it was the Dow Diamond or winner two years ago. It was the click box with the laundry detergent pods and it … its genius was kind of in its simplicity.
It was paperboard box. Had barrier to prevent, you know, moisture wicking to preserve the detergent pods but it had … if you had to open it, you had to click both sides and pull it open and that was a child-resistant feature.
But also it had a positive locking mechanism. So when you closed it, it made it like an audible Click to tell you that it was closed.
It was not complex. It was not complicated, but it solved or it created a solution to children inadvertently getting into laundry detergent pods or dishwasher pods. Its genius was in its simplicity.
I’m a big proponent, as you know, of what I call solutions-based package innovation.
Is that it has to meet, you know, one of several emotional connections. And this one was certainly that emotional connection of safety, of security. And when you get those in a package, that certainly spurs brand recall and spurs repeat purchase consideration.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Mm hmm.
David Luttenberger
But it wasn’t over engineered. It was just cleverly thought out and executed.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Actually you have nailed it because simplicity and good engineering — a lot of people always ask, you know, what is a package engineer? Well, you just described the role of a package engineer to a tee, solving a particular problem in the most simple yet effective way. So excellent. I will again include a link in the article so people can see what we’re talking about if not being able to find an image and bringing it in [see photo in video].
David Luttenberger
Oh, good. OK.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So David, that would have been added to your collection if you were still collecting it.
David Luttenberger
Oh yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
But when you purged your massive collection, you told me at the time that you started another one, trying not to let your wife know.
David Luttenberger
Shhh.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
But you started another one of what? It’s kind of like older packages. I know we can say ancient but 1940, 1950, 1960s … Oh my God … does not seem that long ago to me.
David Luttenberger
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So do you still have that collection? How’s it going?
David Luttenberger
Yes, you know my other 2,600 collection that my wife, you know, conveniently separated for recycling and help me walk them to the curb … I’ve probably got several dozen — what do you want to call them? — antique or traditional packages cookie tins. Boxes that crackers came in, that sort of thing. I’ve still got a few of those that I’ve got stashed in my wood shop so she can’t see them.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Smart.
David Luttenberger
So you know, like I go out there and look at them every once in a while, but I don’t … unless I find something really interesting … I’ll probably curtail that obsession with collecting those as well.
But they’re really cool just to look back and see the time and effort that went into them, relative again to does it help transport preserve store foods, medicines, those sorts of things. Very simple, but often, again, very functional.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yep, I don’t know if this would qualify as a collection since it’s a collection of one right now. But my cousin and I have cottages in beautiful Southwest Michigan right next door to each other that our grandparents had bought. When we got the cottage, it still had a lot of the products that our grandparents had bought and here’s one of them from my cousin.
David Luttenberger
Oh, look at that. Yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
It’s iodine, I believe. Oh no. Oil of eucalyptus and a very simple paper label, hand printed.
David Luttenberger
Wow. Handwritten. Yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So. I’m guessing this was from the 1950s, but it could have been a little bit earlier even.
David Luttenberger
Could’ve been earlier. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yeah, yeah, and well used. So it’s almost empty and I just have it as both a reminder of packaging, a reminder of my grandparents and a reminder of my cousin. So it sits right there on my desk, my collection of one.
David Luttenberger
There you go. Very cool. Gotta start somewhere.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yep, Yep.
Well, David, over the years, one of the things that has struck me the most about you is how insightful your comments have been about things that you’ve seen in the industry. And I would say that a lot of times you were sharing original thoughts. You saw something, either a trend that was happening and you made it make sense or you put it into context.
David Luttenberger
Thank you.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
And by doing that, you helped people think in a new way, perhaps, and as we know, that’s how change happens. So before you go.
David Luttenberger
Yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
I’m wondering if you have a thought on … what does the packaging industry need most now and why?
David Luttenberger
What does it need right now?
Well, I’ll put something I’ve seen sort of into a context in terms of what I hope it retains. But certainly right now everybody’s talking about AI, artificial intelligence.
When I first started to learn about it, I’m like, oh gosh, please let me retire before this happens. But then I began to use it, and like it, oh, this is really good.
There’s a lot of ways that it can help and I became more and more excited about the prospects that AI holds across the entire packaging supply chain for raw material sourcing to production to distribution — just to help with insights to get started.
But I think, right now, what gives me a bit of trepidation is that, with such fingertip access to data to insights, to strategic decisions and analysis … is that the context of history, the lessons that are learned through trial and error and dependency on experience may be lost in the context of expediency.
And I think what we cannot lose sight of with AI is — what got us to this point in our quest, and we cannot forget that human element. Those what I call spirited discussions.
Spirited conversations about what worked and why, how it solved a solution.
In our quest to get to what’s next more quickly, AI is certainly going to get us there much more quickly. But I just hope that we don’t lose the leadership. And the foresight that says, let’s just take a breath. And OK, here’s it’s giving us multiple scenarios. What do … what have we learned from history that might say this is a really good idea?
We never would have thought of this on our own or this could be an idea, but let’s look back at what happened. And so I truly hope that we can embrace AI but not totally depend on it, just in a vacuum.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
I agree 100%. I am a huge proponent of AI when it means actual intelligence, which is human intelligence.
David Luttenberger
Yeah. There. There you go. There you go.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yep, Yep. Different kind of AI, but that’s what I, that’s what I like. Yep.
David Luttenberger
I like that. Very good.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So I do want to ask, though, now that you kind of have brought it up. Who do you look to as the leaders in the packaging industry today?
David Luttenberger
I gotta say, for better, for worse. I think for better … We’d be remiss if we didn’t say Amazon, at least from a supply chain perspective. You think about this: Everything that Amazon does is built to build in efficiencies and take costs out.
And unlike past initiatives from industry behemoths, the benefit is not just to Amazon. It’s to the raw material suppliers. It’s to the transportation link in the supply chain. It’s to the retailers, it’s to the brand owners. It’s to the package manufacturers. Because the more efficient that Amazon can help them be, that’s going to drive costs out of our system and help them maintain or grow their own profits.
So everything what they do is rooted of course in sustainability or what I like to call optimization.
But that’s going to trickle down to retailers, to brands, to package manufacturers and ultimately to the consumers.
From a brand owner perspective, there are so many, but I think I’ve just got to put P&G, Procter and Gamble at the forefront of the intersection of sustainability and packaging solutions. Those that meet consumer needs, particularly when you look at some of the new things that we are seeing again in these underserved regions or the rapidly emerging regions like sub-Sahara Africa. How we’re going to handle packaging waste in India? You know. So looking at companies like ITC Constantia, those types of companies that are really focusing on those particular regions of the world.
I will say you cannot have a discussion about packaging today without recognizing the contributions of such organizations like the World Packaging Organization and PMMI, these groups’ efforts toward the harmonization, harmonization of standards, regulations, training and what you’ve talked about before, which is fostering this global community of professionals and organizations with like interest, cannot be overstated.
You mentioned the International Packaging Press Organization. Without members of the packaging trade press, how much of this information and innovation do we have wouldn’t be shared. So the role you all play is vital.
One more person and I’m going to mention an individual here and tell you someone who I am just in awe of and that is a man named Brent Lindberg, who is the head of curiosity at Fuseneo. Brent thinks and executes on a different level. His command of materials, processes, design, and Insight, innovation, leadership. If you don’t know, Brent, if you haven’t had the good fortune of working with him, you have to reach out. He thinks differently. He acts differently, but he is the master at looking at how, when, why to use materials, what it means to consumers, how to bring them to market. And he’s got the world’s most awesome T-shirt collection.
Besides that, he is unique but he is unparalleled as a solutions-based thinker in our industry.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yes, I actually have a Fuseneo T-shirt.
David Luttenberger
There you go.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
I am lucky that maybe 30-40 minutes away and invited myself to his business I don’t know … I think for some reason I want to say pre-COVID but it could have been after.
David Luttenberger
Yeah. Good for you.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
So yes, I agree. Not only does he have the knowledge, but he is able to present it very entertainingly.
David Luttenberger
Yes. And simply too, he doesn’t get into. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Very simply. Yep, Yep. Which is, you know … that is a gift.
David Luttenberger
It is.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
A gift to be able to process something and just speak the salient points. Yes.
So what a career that’s been fantastic.
I’m a little surprised that you’re retiring because I know what an incredible work ethic you have.
David Luttenberger
Thank you.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
What are your plans for retirement? What are you gonna be doing for fun?
David Luttenberger
For fun? You know, you have to say, well, I’m going to play with the grandkids. You know, as long as they’ll tolerate my bad dad jokes.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Yep.
David Luttenberger
You probably know I have a pretty well-established side hustle doing custom woodworking, which I do …
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Happy customer right here!

Photo by David Luttenberger
David crafted this replica bench in his wood-working shop. I commissioned the bench as a birthday gift for my son Tim. Tim and I share a love of author Louise Penny and her Gamache series, of which the bench is a recurring feature.
David Luttenberger
There you go.
… nights and weekends. It did very well last year, so I’m going to ramp that up a little bit more, maybe even do a little advertising.
I’m an avid bicycle rider, avid kayaker.
My wife and I just returned from a trip to Iceland, so we hope to travel, but I think we’re going to focus our travel mainly on the United States.
I mean, I personally I’ve been to all seven continents. I’ve been to 65 or 70 countries, but there’s a lot of parts of the US I’ve not seen, particularly southwest and northeast.
So we’re gonna do that.
I’ve got a small package consulting company that I do some very limited work on, so I’m gonna continue to do some select projects there.
I believe I’m going to be asked to be the lead juror for the Dow Package Innovation Awards for the 13th consecutive year. The end of this year going into 2025. So I’m going to continue to do that and I do some advisory work with a multinational package manufacturer. So I’m going to have to stay up on the industry just so I can, you know, hopefully give them some continued words of wisdom.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
OK. And I’m sure you will.
So your last day is coming up very soon this Friday.
David Luttenberger
Yeah.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
What do you plan to do on your last day? How are you going to go out: with a bang or a whimper?
David Luttenberger
I think I’m gonna go out quietly because I think what I wanna do is just kind of sit back and think and reflect on, like you, all the great people that I have met around the world, many of whom I’ve known for … how long have I known you? 25 years maybe?
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Maybe more.
David Luttenberger
But I wanna think about those people and give gratitude for the opportunities I’ve been presented. For the friendships that I have made for the conversations that we have shared, those sorts of things.
And I don’t care how cold it is, I’m gonna take my grandkids out for ice cream.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Awesome, that sounds like a very productive and yet enjoyable retirement. So I wish you ...
David Luttenberger
Yeah, quiet reflection.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
Wish you all the best. Any last words?
David Luttenberger
Yeah. Last words, I’ve had a career in packaging beyond my wildest expectations. And I have everyone watching this, reading this, listening to this, including you, to thank for that.
Lisa McTigue Pierce
David, it was our pleasure. I think I can speak for so many people in the packaging industry when I say that. Best of luck.
David Luttenberger
Thank you. Thank you very much, Lisa.
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