Catching Up with a CMPM Alum

Dr. Julie Suggs (Academic Director @ The Packaging School):

Every packaging professional has a story. Some begin in engineering, others in marketing, design, sales, or operations. What they often have in common is that they found their way into packaging through experience rather than formal education.

That's what makes the packaging industry so dynamic, and one of the reasons I love teaching the Certificate of Mastery in Packaging Management program, or CMPM for short. A rigorous 12-week PhD-led program designed to provide a comprehensive, practical understanding of packaging.

In the CMPM, students build expertise across the packaging life cycle, from materials and sustainability to development and supply chain management, innovation, and strategy. Through the packaging development plan or PDP, they apply what they learn to a real-world project, guiding a packaging concept from idea through implementation. The result is a hands-on learning experience grounded in real industry challenges.

One of the most rewarding parts of my role is getting to know our students, their unique professional journeys, and watching them grow as they build new skills and perspectives throughout the program.

The diverse backgrounds our students bring to CMPM create rich discussions, meaningful collaboration, and a learning environment that reflects the true interdisciplinary nature of today's packaging industry.

We recently visited Atlantic Packaging in Wilmington, North Carolina, to catch up with Aidan, a CMPM graduate, and hear about his experience in the program.

Aidan brought a unique combination of innovation and sustainable thinking to the program, consistently challenging himself to look at packaging through both a creative and responsible lens.

His contributions sparked thoughtful discussions, and it was inspiring to watch him deepen his understanding of the technical, operational, and strategic elements that drive successful packaging solutions. So, let's hear from Aidan!

Aidan Robitaille (Prepress Specialist / Designer @ Atlantic Packaging):

I found CMPM on LinkedIn, and it led me to the website. I was able to sit down with my boss and look at the website, look at the course, and what it had to offer, and Atlantic was happy to invest in me and help with getting signed up for the CMPM. And it wasn't really a question once we did the research and decided it was a good fit for me.

So, the Clemson connection was definitely huge—great school, great packaging school as well.

It definitely just gave me better knowledge of the packaging industry, overall. Being relatively new to the industry, there was a lot of areas that I wasn't super familiar with, and just terminology and material and equipment that we have here at Atlantic. A lot of materials I'd never personally dealt with, or even researched, looked at, all that kind of stuff. So, the CMPM really helped me become more rounded in the packaging world.

I definitely had to carve out some time to sit down at night sometimes, and overall, it was super manageable and wasn't too overwhelming.

I did a sustainability redesign for my PDP and that ties into Atlantic's cornerstone of sustainability. Step one was trying to find something that related to our team—something that could be beneficial and realistic.

So, in my project, we swapped out shrink wrap for a paper overwrap. Again, with sustainability in mind. You know, sustainability is really important to us. Whenever we can come up with sustainable solutions, that's always great.

We decided that my product was a good idea, and it was beneficial for Atlantic, and had potential to become an actual product for us. So, we're working on it still. We have customers that are interested in the product, so we're hoping to get some trials going soon.

I would tell a future student that they should do a lot of research on their project just to make sure they're really covering everything that needs to be covered. I personally had to do a ton of research and make sure that I was using the right materials in my project and all that stuff.

I think depending on who you are, if you're already working in the packaging industry or you're looking to get into the packaging industry, it's great for anybody. For me, personally, obviously, it opened a lot of doors within my own company, so it can do the same for you.

I'm very excited about my career in packaging—I think that that was the motivation for taking the CMPM, and hopefully, I have a long career in packaging.

Nick Riedl (Video Editor & Creative Lead):

We'd like to thank Aidan for taking the time to speak with us. If you'd like to learn more about the CMPM or one of our other certificate programs, you can visit us online at packagingschool.com