Announcing the Inaugural Recipient of the Steve Fairfield Memorial Award for Flexible Packaging Innovation

Published: April 16, 2025

Packaging Strategies and Global Pouch Forum announce that Steve Gosling, president of Cheer Pack North America (N.A.), is the inaugural recipient of the Steve Fairfield Memorial Award for Flexible Packaging Innovation. Packaging Strategies will present the award during the 2025 Global Pouch Forum, taking place June 18-20 in Clearwater, FL.

The new Steve Fairfield Memorial Award for Flexible Packaging Innovation, sponsored by Skjodt-Barrett Foods, annually honors a top innovator in flexible packaging. BNP Media will present the award at its 2025 Global Pouch Forum event during a special keynote session featuring leadership from Cheer Pack N.A. and Skjodt-Barrett Foods. The session will highlight Gosling’s innovations in pouch packaging through the years, including his collaborations with Steve Fairfield, namesake of the award. Gosling and his innovative work will also serve as the basis for a special feature in the August 2025 issue of the Packaging Strategies eMagazine.

“We are deeply honored that BNP Media and Skjodt-Barrett Foods have selected Steve Gosling, Cheer Pack North America visionary, as the inaugural recipient of the Steve Fairfield Memorial Award for Flexible Packaging Innovation,” said Jeff Ward, CEO, Cheer Pack N.A.

“We received several outstanding nominations for our first year of this wonderful new award. However, naming Steve Gosling the first recipient of this annual award was a natural, ideal choice, given his pioneering work alongside Steve Fairfield in broadly commercializing spouted pouch packaging,” said Douglas J. Peckenpaugh, publisher and business leader of The Packaging Group at BNP Media.

“Steve Fairfield brought a unique mix of creativity and determination to the monumental task of convincing longstanding, glass-packing brand owners to make a change with the flexible pouch,” said Dan Skjodt, founder, Skjodt-Barrett Foods. “His sincere and good-humored approach to everything he did was an irresistible combination for success, and our ability to push the boundaries of what was possible in food packaging. Steve’s leadership at Skjodt-Barrett left a lasting impact—not just on the new products we are able to bring to market, but on the people he associated with every day.”

Steve Fairfield was a flexible packaging innovator who left an indelible mark on the baby food and fruit purée industries. His entrepreneurial and visionary contributions helped reshape the flexible pouch landscape. Steve’s passion and innovation were instrumental in the early adoption of spouted, stand-up pouches by leading global brands in the industry. This packaging format is now ubiquitous within the baby food and fruit snack categories. Steve Fairfield passed away in May 2024, leaving behind a legacy that will inspire industry innovators for generations.

“At Cheer Pack North America, we believe Steve Fairfield’s impact fundamentally reshaped the flexible pouch landscape,” said Ward. “His collaboration with Steve Gosling, beginning in 2008, marked the inception of the flexible stand-up spouted pouch and cap industry in North America. Together, their pioneering efforts introduced a groundbreaking packaging format—one that revolutionized product delivery and helped build a packaging industry now valued at over $250 million in annual sales.”

Steve Fairfield had an unmatched passion for life and an extraordinary ability to bring joy to everyone around him, continued Ward. “What’s even more remarkable is that through shared innovation and unwavering determination, the two Steves brought smiles and convenience to millions of consumers—a legacy that continues to grow. We extend our warmest congratulations to Steve Gosling on this well-deserved recognition. There could be no more fitting recipient—someone whom Steve Fairfield himself would have been proud to honor. Congratulations to both Steves for shaping an industry and enriching lives everywhere.”

For more information about Global Pouch Forum and to register for the event, visit www.packagingstrategies.com/global-pouch-forum.