Stephen Drake

Stephen Drake has over 28 years of experience in the packaging and production industry. Stephen began their career in 1990 as the Package Development Manager at Unilever - Thomas J. Lipton Company, where they were granted an engineering patent that resulted in a 64% reduction in defects for the $400mm+ Tea Business. Stephen also completed cost reduction programs that delivered over $670m in savings in 1994 and $1,200m/year ongoing, and implemented 17 separate production process and package improvements. In 1991, Stephen moved to Unilever - Lever Brothers as a Senior Packaging Engineer, where they were responsible for the development and coordination of packaging redesign projects on both the divisional and corporate levels. Stephen then moved to Intercosmetics Inc. in 1995 as the Director of Operations, where they were responsible for the development, purchase, production, quality and logistics of new and existing products for both domestic and global markets. In 1999, Stephen became a Partner at D & G Consulting, a full service Management Consulting firm providing packaging sourcing and technical support to the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and personal care industries. From 2003 to 2009, Stephen was the Director of Technical Package Development at L'Oreal, where they directed the purchase and development of all regular business and promotional products. Stephen then moved to Tarte Cosmetics in 2015 as the Director of Packaging, where they developed over 10 SOP's and processes improvements for product procurement and evaluation. In 2016, Stephen joined Stila Cosmetics as the Vice President Package Development, where they developed a strategic sourcing and production planning process that delivered 2017 savings of over $900m while improving quality and service. Stephen then moved to Church & Dwight Co., Inc. in 2018 as the Team Leader, R&D Value Engineering.

Stephen Drake obtained their MBA from Iona University's Hagan School of Business, where they studied Marketing and Finance. Stephen also earned a BS in Engineering from Rutgers University.