Responsibility Summit

Laura Smith, the Sustainability and Compliance Manager at Storm Creek, has been the driving force behind many of her company’s biggest sustainability milestones, including earning B Corp certification and achieving an EcoVadis Gold rating. She makes big goals feel doable—turning ambitious ideas into meaningful, measurable results.  

Laura’s work is all about balance: connecting long-term vision with the everyday details that make it real. Thanks to her leadership, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword at Storm Creek—it’s woven into the way the company operates.  

Boaz is a seasoned consumer product lawyer. He has extensive experience advising and representing a wide range of companies on product safety compliance, policy, and enforcement. Boaz provides practical advice, tailored to a company’s business and culture, informed by a deep understanding of consumer product safety laws and regulations, and the internal workings of CPSC.

Boaz has worked with a diverse range of companies, ranging from leading retailers, private labelers, and manufacturers, to innovative startups, platform sellers, licensees, and franchisers. He has experience dealing with the full range of products under the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC). In addition to his product safety work, Boaz regularly advises clients on other regulatory matters such as U.S. and international labeling requirements, environmental marketing claims, warranties, right-to-repair laws, and extended producer responsibility (EPR).

Rick Brenner is President of Product Safety Advisors, where he advises manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, importers, retailers, law firms and product insurers on product safety, regulatory compliance, quality management systems, recall readiness, and product safety risk management.

He has more than 25 years of experience in product safety, compliance and quality management including 12 years as CEO and senior compliance office of Primeline. Rick is a past president of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO), past chair of PPAI, a founding member of the PPAI Product Responsibility Action Group (PRAG), a co-founder of PPAI’s Product Responsibility Summit, a founding board member of the Quality Certification Alliance (QCA), and chair of QCA’s compliance committee for seven years.

Rick serves on multiple ASTM subcommittees and UL standards technical committees responsible for developing voluntary consumer product safety standards including UL2056 (powerbanks) and UL2738 (wireless chargers). Rick has testified as an expert witness in several product liability litigations involving product safety processes, quality systems, supply chain oversight, and standard of care.

Sandeep Khatua is the Global Technical Director at TÜV SÜD, where he leads regulatory strategy and technical solutions for consumer products across global markets. He works closely with brands, retailers, importers, and manufacturers to navigate complex product safety, chemical, labeling, and sustainability requirements throughout the product lifecycle.

With extensive experience in apparel, footwear, hardlines, toys, furniture, and promotional products, Sandeep helps organizations strengthen compliance programs, improve supply chain transparency, and prepare for emerging regulatory requirements. His areas of expertise include CPSC product safety regulations, CPSC eFiling, chemical compliance, product certification, digital compliance, traceability, and global sustainability initiatives.

Sandeep is an active contributor to leading industry organizations, including AAFA, AHFA, BIFMA, ASTM, ICPHSO and PPAI, where he collaborates with regulators, brands, retailers, and industry experts to advance practical compliance solutions. He is recognized for translating complex regulatory requirements into clear, actionable strategies that help businesses manage risk, enhance product stewardship, and maintain market access in an evolving global regulatory landscape.

Dr. Pratik Ichhaporia is a recognized expert in quality, safety, and environmental issues affecting the textiles, toys, and hardlines industries. As the Vice President of Technical Services for Consumer Product Testing North America at Eurofins, Dr. Ichhaporia has extensive experience in guiding companies through complex compliance landscapes. He leads efforts in developing and implementing robust compliance programs, helping brands navigate regulatory challenges such as California Proposition 65, REACH, and other chemical management regulations.

Dr. Ichhaporia’s work involves not only advising clients but also actively engaging with regulatory and standards bodies like AATCC, ASTM, and ISO. He contributes to the development of standards that shape industry practices, ensuring they align with evolving legislative and safety requirements. His hands-on experience with compliance program implementation, legislative monitoring, and industry standards development makes him uniquely positioned to address the compliance challenges facing today’s consumer product companies.

Conor O’Brien is the Sustainability Policy Specialist for the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA). Conor joined AAFA’s policy team in 2024 after completing his Masters in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia University. Prior to joining AAFA, Conor worked for several years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Boston, where he engaged with RCRA compliance, state coordination, climate adaptation planning, and environmental justice application. Initially trained as a chemist at Princeton University, Conor combines scientific research with policy analysis and application to provide holistic approaches to sustainable resource usage in pursuit of a more circular economy. Conor supports the work of the AAFA Environmental Committee and AAFA Product Safety Council by engaging with public and private stakeholders on issues of sustainability, product safety, and chemical management germane to the apparel and footwear industry.

Tyler Brooks is the Director, Supply Chain Social Responsibility at 4imprint, where he leads the company’s global supply chain responsible sourcing strategy. He works closely with suppliers, technology providers, industry partners, and internal stakeholders to enhance supply chain transparency, evaluate supplier risk, and drive continuous improvement across a global supplier network. His work focuses on leveraging data, technology, and emerging AI capabilities to scale programs, inform decision-making, and help organizations better understand and manage supply chain performance and risk.

Josh Kagan has an in-depth understanding of both the opportunities and challenges that international trade and customs laws can create for clients.  

Josh helps clients ensure compliance with U.S. trade and customs law, and also to utilize these laws to ensure fair competition. Josh guides clients in navigating tariffs and other trade policy changes in turbulent times, utilizing his advanced knowledge of international trade and customs law, as well as his experience regarding how U.S. government trade policy is developed and implemented.  

As a former Assistant USTR for Labor Affairs, and before that as an attorney in USTR’s Office of the General Counsel, Josh played a key role negotiating and enforcing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and other U.S. trade agreements. He has in-depth knowledge of the USMCA rules of origin and works with clients on USMCA import and export issues. As part of the USMCA’s 2026 review process, Josh helps clients ensure that their voices are heard on possible changes to the Agreement.  

Josh established the U.S. government’s process for developing, reviewing, and enforcing cases focused on facilities in Mexico under the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM). He helps clients develop and implement bespoke RRM risk audits to address risk factors and avoid RRM liability. He is uniquely able to identify and resolve RRM matters before they become active enforcement cases.  

Josh is an internationally-recognized authority on forced labor trade enforcement, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), and Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (Section 307). He served on the U.S. government’s Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, overseeing implementation of the UFLPA and voting on UFLPA entity list additions or removals. Josh co-leads Kelley Drye’s Forced Labor Trade practice, which includes conducting supply chain mapping and due diligence to identify forced labor enforcement risk; developing traceability packages needed to clear shipments from UFLPA detention; and assisting clients in navigating detentions pursuant to withhold release orders (WROs) and findings under Section 307. Josh understands the risk factors that lead to detentions, as well as how to quickly and effectively address them and resume commerce.  

Josh knows that economic competition is not fair if a competitor utilizes forced labor or otherwise skirts its labor-related trade obligations. Utilizing his vast network of contacts around the world, Josh helps clients develop and anonymously file petitions to address these issues and ensure fair competition under the USMCA RRM and Section 307, as well as the USMCA forced labor import prohibitions of Canada and Mexico.  

Josh is sought-after as an advisor and speaker on the USMCA, international trade and customs issues, trade and labor, and business and human rights. His recent publications have focused on the USMCA, the RRM, and Section 232 automotive tariffs. Josh has served on the International Labor Organization’s Advisory Committee on Integrating Trade and Decent Work, as well as the U.S. State Department’s Federal Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct. He is a trusted advisor to a multitude of multinational companies and trade associations, helping them navigate a rapidly changing international trade environment.  

Sheila A. Millar, a partner with Keller and Heckman LLP, counsels corporate and association clients on regulatory compliance and public policy issues.  

Ms. Millar heads the Firm’s consumer protection practices, advising clients on advertising and labeling, privacy, product safety, extended producer responsibility, green chemistry and other laws. 

Ms. Millar chairs the International Chamber of Commerce Marketing and Advertising Commission’s Working Group on Sustainability and is the principal author of the ICC’s globally-recognized Framework for Responsible Environmental Marketing Communications.  

Ms. Millar can be reached at 202 434-4143, or via email at millar@khlaw.com.