Program 2023

With 25 years of experience in Consumer Insights in multiple Food & Drink categories, Selma is most passionate about driving growth through innovation. Her career spans local, regional and global roles at several leading CPG companies across the world, including Kraft Foods UK, Heinz and Unilever in the Netherlands and Mars Wrigley in Chicago, USA. As Chocolate Portfolio Insights lead at Mars Wrigley, she leverages human insights to identify growth opportunities for brands such as Snickers, TWIX and Dove/Galaxy. Over the past few years, she has played a pivotal role in the innovation transformation at Mars Wrigley towards consumer-centric, fast-paced and agile innovation. Selma firmly believes that consumer empathy should be at the heart of all innovation initiatives. Only then are we able to develop products and packaging that truly delight our consumers? Our ultimate goal is to inspire moments of everyday happiness.

With 25 years of experience in Consumer Insights in multiple Food & Drink categories, Selma is most passionate about driving growth through innovation. Her career spans local, regional and global roles at several leading CPG companies across the world, including Kraft Foods UK, Heinz and Unilever in the Netherlands and Mars Wrigley in Chicago, USA. As Chocolate Portfolio Insights lead at Mars Wrigley, she leverages human insights to identify growth opportunities for brands such as Snickers, TWIX and Dove/Galaxy. Over the past few years, she has played a pivotal role in the innovation transformation at Mars Wrigley towards consumer-centric, fast-paced and agile innovation. Selma firmly believes that consumer empathy should be at the heart of all innovation initiatives. Only then are we able to develop products and packaging that truly delight our consumers? Our ultimate goal is to inspire moments of everyday happiness.

Adam has been involved in the food industry for 25 years. His career began in retail and food service roles which eventually landed him in quality and research/development roles at several major food companies before finding his home at the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. As the Vice President of Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory Compliance at Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Adam works with Wisconsin dairy industry partners to provide education, training, strategy, and support in the areas of research, food safety, quality, regulatory compliance, sustainability, and crisis communications.

Adam has extensive product and process knowledge in natural cheese, frozen appetizers, dairy and non-dairy-based sauces, dairy ingredients, seasoning blends, and both fresh and frozen meat products. He is also knowledgeable in the areas of new product development, dairy product food safety, process improvement, analytical and microbiological laboratory techniques, and supplier management.

He is a proud Phoenix (University of Wisconsin Green Bay - Chemistry) and Wildcat (Kansas State University – Food Science).  He is also a Certified Food Scientist, ASQ Certified Six Sigma Green Belt, ASQ Certified Quality Process Analyst, ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, and Preventive Controls (PCQI) Lead Instructor.

He is currently on the Board of Directors of the American Cheese Society and is a former Chair of the Regulatory & Academic Committee. He is also Chair of Wisconsin Dairy Rules Advisory Committee, Chair of the Wisconsin Laboratory Association, Treasurer for the Wisconsin Association for Food Protection, and Chair of the Wisconsin Agro-Security Resource Network.
He has been married for 17 years, has 4 children, and In his spare time, he coaches youth sports and supports local FFA and Master Gardener programs in the state of Wisconsin.

Jonathan Deutsch, Ph.D, CHE, CRC is Professor in the Department of Food and Hospitality Management in the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Drexel University. He is the Founding Program Director of Drexel’s Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs. He is the Vice President of the Upcycled Food Foundation and previously was the inaugural James Beard Foundation Impact Fellow, leading a national curriculum effort on food waste reduction for chefs and culinary educators. He was named a Food Waste Warrior by Foodtank. Before moving to Drexel, Deutsch built the culinary arts program at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York (CUNY) and the Ph.D. concentration in food studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and School of Public Health. At Drexel, he directs the Drexel Food Lab, a culinary innovation and food product research and development lab focused on solving real-world food system problems in the areas of sustainability, health promotion, and inclusive dining. He is the co-author or -editor of eight books including Barbecue: A Global History (with Megan Elias), Culinary Improvisation, and The Anti-Inflammatory Family Cookbook, and numerous articles in food studies journals, public health and hospitality education. He earned his Ph.D. in Food Studies and Food Management from New York University (2004), his culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of America (AOS, Culinary Arts, 1997), and is an alumnus of Drexel University (BS, Hospitality Management, 1999). A classically trained chef, Deutsch worked in a variety of settings including product development, small luxury inns and restaurants. When not in the kitchen, he can be found behind his tuba.

Luis Carlos Chacón leads the BusinessCase team, a global boutique consultancy that works with multinational FMCGs to identify emerging and future business opportunities. Also, he has been a columnist for Forbes Latin America for several years (being nowadays top-rated) and currently finishing a postgraduate degree in Global Business at the University of Oxford (where he previously graduated in Strategy and Innovation); his educational background includes studies in Design Thinking of Stanford, and Futures at The University of Manchester, and Houston. In business, he has worked for more than nineteen years for the operations of Fortune 500 Companies such as Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, LVMH, Diageo, Kellogg’s, Unilever, Dannon, and AbInbev, among many others. Behavioural economics enthusiast (understanding the cross between needs and contexts) and believer in connecting the distant (linking the disconnected but inseparable) under the influence of socio-cultural changes in industries and consumption.

Miri is an economic and organizational sociologist at Northwestern University, specializing in food consumption in the US and Western Europe markets. Highly accomplished academic and winner of the emerging scholar award from the food studies research network in 2021. In addition to her academic career, Miri is a Senior Research Analyst At Euromonitor International, researching the food and beverage industry in the US.

Olaf Gruess has over 23 years of experience in the food industry, having led new product development (baked goods, yoghurt, cereal bars, shelf-stable and frozen meals), strategic research initiatives (sodium reduction technology, human taste perception), as well as roles in Marketing, Connected Innovation and early start-up evaluation. Gruess was the Head of Connected Innovation and led strategic partnership development at General Mills’ long-term research platform. Gruess focused on identifying technologies externally, developing implementation strategies for those technologies in the broader organization and developing mutually beneficial external partnerships around the globe.
Gruess serves as a judge and mentor at MassChallenge, the world’s most start-up friendly accelerator and the European Food Venture Forum; he was on the Industrial Board of the Integrative Food and Nutrition Center at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Institute for Food Technology (DIL).
Gruess received his master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Science from the University of Bonn, Germany and the University of Ghent, Belgium, as well as a PhD in Food Science from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Gruess holds several patents and shares his expertise globally through keynotes, summits and conference presentations as Director of Partner Development for Cargill.

Insights leader. Creative mind. Big picture thinker. Chaos Pilot and agile problem solver.
Experience: 16 years of experience in insights, sales, and marketing in local and global roles across different FMCG categories.
Currently part of the Global Agile Innovation team focused on building the innovation pipeline for the next 3-5 years.
Methodology tester and pilot enthusiast. Sustainability advocate.

Debbie has expertise in engineering microorganisms for protein and chemical production as well as whole microbe products using synthetic biology and classic approaches like mutagenesis and screening.  She also has experience scaling microbes from lab to production and the use of beneficial microbes in applications. Before joining Nature’s Fynd in September 2021, Debbie spent two decades at Novozymes, where she was Managing Director of the company's site in California and Director of Production Strain Technology. She is an inventor on > 40 issued patents; is an author on > 20 peer-reviewed publications; serves on several advisory boards, and has been the recipient of multiple awards, including the inaugural Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology from Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

Michael Frankel is Vice President of Sales in North America for Selerant Corporation, a leading global provider of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions for process manufacturers in the food and beverage, personal care and speciality chemical industries. Michael has been with Selerant since 2011 and has over 15 years of highly successful PLM sales experience working with leading global companies to both justify and automate their product development processes. The topic of his presentation on "Analytics Utilization in PLM for Decision Support and Project Visibility" is a critical component of consideration in the extended value of PLM for food manufacturers.

Alex is the Director of the R&D – Scientific & Regulatory Affairs Team – North America at Cargill.  He has over 20 years of experience as a toxicologist and risk assessor for FDA-regulated products. He received his BS degree in biochemistry from the University of Dayton and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Iowa.  In addition, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Mayo Clinic Division of Oncology Research. He has been an active member of the Society of Toxicology as well as the American College of Toxicology since 2004.  He has been board-certified in toxicology since 2005 and currently serves on the American Board of Toxicology Board of Directors.

John Sweeney is the Director of R&D Shared Capabilities for Cargill North America. John leads the shared NA regional teams across Facility Management, Food Applications, Sensory services, Enterprise and Shared Sales Technical Services and Scientific and Regulatory Affairs.

Most recently, John was the Director of Food Applications for Cargill North America, responsible for the Applications teams for Beverages, Bakery, Snacks and Cereals, Personal Care, Convenience and Sensory Analysis in North America.

Previously John was the Vice president of Technical Sales and Service for Cargill’s Cocoa and Chocolate Business in North America, where he was responsible for Quality, Technical Service and Product Development.

John is a native of Northern Ireland and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science & Technology from Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland. He obtained a master’s degree in Food Science from the University of Nebraska.

John has worked for Cargill for over 30 years in technical roles across a range of Food Ingredients businesses; his experience includes Quality Assurance manager, Beverage Technical leader, VP of Technical Sales, Director of Food Applications and now as the Director of R&D Shared Capabilities. John became a member of the inaugural team of the Institute of Food Science Certified Food Scientists in April 2013. John is passionate about, Leadership, Innovation, Product Design, Product Innovation and Lifecycle Management

Rachel Calomeni is the SVP of Growth & Innovation at HowGood, the world’s largest product sustainability database. HowGood’s platform helps brands measure their environmental and social impact, as well as identify opportunities to improve sourcing locations or practices to create products that are better for our planet. Rachel has 25 years of experience working in or alongside consumer goods companies, such as Procter & Gamble. She holds a Law Degree from the University of Western Sydney and an MBA from Fairfield University. Her passion for preserving our planet stems from her childhood, where she grew up in the picturesque Blue Mountains in Australia, a UNESCO World Heritage Listed site.

Arne Saupe is the Director of Engineering at Farmer’s Fridge, where he is currently focused on having the team create scalable systems and the foundational architecture to allow Farmer’s Fridge to grow to the next level. Arne has over 25 years of experience as a leader and an engineer working in a wide variety of industries including Commodities, Retail and Insurance. He is passionate about removing the technical barriers and giving the business freedom to thrive. He has learned how to strike the balance between delivering solutions that scale without over-engineering the solutions and maintaining the company’s ability to pivot. Arne graduated from Kent State University with a B.S. in Computer Science.

Lori Taylor is the Founder & CEO of The Produce Moms®, a global community and Certified B Corporation that is on a mission to get more fruits & vegetables on every table. Lori sold fresh produce to retailers for ten years and often appears in the media as a produce industry spokesperson. The Produce Moms branded fruits & vegetables are sold at Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Kroger, Safeway Albertsons and other grocery retailers throughout the United States.

Lori is the host of The Produce Moms Podcast, a seasoned Keynote Speaker, and a recipient of many accolades including the inaugural Forbes Next 1000 initiative which spotlights start-up entrepreneurs that are changing the world through influence and innovation. Follow along with Lori and The Produce Moms @theproducemoms or by visiting theproducemoms.com

Joaquin has developed a successful career in Sigma for more than 15 years, where he has held various positions in the R&D department. He has also overseen the development of products in the categories of Cold Meats and Prepared Meals and held the position of General Business Manager of the cold meats regional brand Nayar.
Joaquín is a graduate of the Food Engineer career from Tecnológico de Monterrey and has a Master of Science in management science and engineering from Stanford University.

Derived from its activities, it has participated in developing a large number of products across different categories, including the first healthy package meat line, Balance San Rafael and the portfolio of the vegetarian and vegan products of the Vegalia by Campofrio brand in Europe and Better Balance. He has played a vital role in the internalization of Sigma and participated in the most important M&As, Bar-S in the United States and Campofrio Food Group in Europe.

He is currently in charge of more than 100 people focused on research, development, and validation of technologies developing different solutions for 6 product categories and three areas of research service: sensory analytics, packaging and IP management. He led the team that envisioned Sigma's open innovation initiative, "Tastech", and has fled as a mentor and evaluator for many startups that have gone through the program.

Joaquín's vision has been crucial for developing the company's long-term vision in terms of innovation and the generation of new technologies in the 18 countries where Sigma has a presence.

 

Ding Wang has over 10 years of experience in the food industry, focusing on monogastric animal nutrition research and food product development (farm animal feed, pet food, pet treat, and supplement). Ding works for Bright Pet Nutrition Group as the Director of Research and Development; Ding focuses on identifying new technologies and new ingredients and turning new concepts into pet food products.

Ding has done intensive research on food ingredient nutrient profiles, animal nutrition requirements, and the application of functional ingredients. Ding has developed a comprehensive system to customize pet food based on the unique requirements of pets and pet owners.

Ding graduated from the University of Kentucky, receiving his Ph.D. in Monogastric animal nutrition. Ding received his Master’s degree in Animal Nutrition from China Agricultural University. Ding has over 32 publications, including research papers, conference abstracts, and books.

Paul is a veteran product development and product marketing professional with over twenty years in the technology and consulting industries, with a longstanding focus on the food and beverage, restaurant, and retail verticals. He has worked with, and learned from, some of the largest and most dynamic brands in the industry and is a passionate but pragmatic advocate for the power of technology to help businesses achieve the resiliency and scale necessary to thrive in a complex global marketplace.

Simon Carr is VP and Head of Evalueserve’s CPG practice. He has over 20 years of experience in the CPG space in innovation and IP-based roles. With Mondelez International, he was IP & OI Manager for their global coffee business and Crown Holdings as Global IP Manager. He has a degree in Engineering Design and a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from the Säid Business School, University of Oxford. He has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in their 2016 production of King Lear.

Rich Dillon is the CEO of leading cultivated meat company Ivy Farm, a disruptive food-tech start-up on a mission to create the best guilt-free, real meat, to tackle one of the world’s biggest climate polluters - industrial agriculture - and to help the world reach its net zero goals.

Andria is a leading growth expert and Food & Beverage Executive with  over 20 years of brand innovation and consumer insights experience across 5 Fortune 1000 companies food companies in the intensely competitive CPG space.
She has a proven track record of growth on over 12 brands and 30 categories across food and beverage and at top tier food companies like include Sara Lee, Kellogg, Keebler, and M&M/Mars.
She has built two Innovation Centers of Excellence from scratch in her roles as Vice President of Innovation & Strategy at Sara Lee and Vice President of Innovation & Consumer Insights at Johnsonville.
At Johnsonville, she led operations of a freestanding, independent operating unit focused on generating growth and consumer insights. At Sara Lee, she led the entire food & beverage North America Retail and Foodservice businesses during the transformation with a $1 billion growth P&L. 
Andria is known for scaling for growth and delivering  over $2  billion in revenue from sustaining innovation launches  like Cheez-It Cheddar Jack,  Ball Park Burgers and Gripz.
Andria leverages her deep expertise in innovation, brand and  strategy by providing advisory services to companies looking to accelerate growth, serving on the boards of Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network, Matot Inc., Neuco, Wesco and University of Florida Business School and speaking on cutting edge topics in the industry.

Eric is, first and foremost, a research scientist with a biology and food science background. He began his career in 1994 working for The Keebler Company as a pilot plant technician. From there, he went on to work for Kraft Foods, where he spent nearly 13 years as a research scientist and qualified specialist. During this time at Kraft, he became deeply involved with R&D and Quality specification management systems. After leaving Kraft, he spent several years working as an industry consultant for Siemens. Later, he went back into the industry and worked for Wrigley / Mars in their global quality organization. In total, he has 20 years of working experience in the process manufacturing space. Eric joined Infor in 2014 to support the process manufacturing PLM team as a solution consultant. He has been integral to the continued growth and expansion of Infor’s PLM practice in North America.

Over the past nine years, Ian has partnered with brands across food and beverage to help them leverage data to understand their current and potential customers better. Harnessing big data to provide usable insights has propelled him in previous roles at Datassential and currently at Tastewise. He's excited about the food industry's future in embracing generative AI and observable data along with a passion for pizza and Korean food.

Scientist, marketer, and innovator: Natalie Taake has spent her 20-year food & beverage career translating food science, culinary arts, consumer insights, and trend prediction into actionable business strategies.  A magnetic speaker and master taster, Natalie’s expertise has been featured on CNN, Food Network, and America’s Test Kitchen.

Andrew is a supply chain and operations nerd who enjoys building things - teams, businesses, financial and operational models, highly complex vertical farms, and never-ending home renovations.

He gets energy from bringing together people with diverse backgrounds to achieve things that are significant.

Andrew brings 15 years' worth of a uniquely broad set of professional experiences from many industries, functions,  and company sizes, and takes pride in never being the smartest person in the room.

With 25 years of experience in Consumer Insights in multiple Food & Drink categories, Selma is most passionate about driving growth through innovation. Her career spans local, regional and global roles at several leading CPG companies across the world, including Kraft Foods UK, Heinz and Unilever in the Netherlands and Mars Wrigley in Chicago, USA. As Chocolate Portfolio Insights lead at Mars Wrigley, she leverages human insights to identify growth opportunities for brands such as Snickers, TWIX and Dove/Galaxy. Over the past few years, she has played a pivotal role in the innovation transformation at Mars Wrigley towards consumer-centric, fast-paced and agile innovation. Selma firmly believes that consumer empathy should be at the heart of all innovation initiatives. Only then are we able to develop products and packaging that truly delight our consumers? Our ultimate goal is to inspire moments of everyday happiness.

Sergio is a Food Science and Technology professional with more than 25 years of experience working in the food industry, mostly in the R&D of new products. During this time, he could launch more than two thousand products to the market in 5 continents and more than one hundred countries. He got his bachelor's Chemist degree at the University of Buenos Aires and his post-degree studies in Food Science and Technology at the same school. He worked in international food companies in different R&D roles in three continents and five countries which allowed him to gain a big and diverse experience in terms of managing consumer-centric innovation.

With 12 years in the Food & Beverage industry, Sara is consumer obsessed. As an Associate Director and Product Owner in Kraft Heinz’s Agile Disruptive Innovation group, she applies Agile and design thinking principles to uncover and solve unmet consumer needs. Her experience spans both sales and marketing, where she has established expertise in field sales, headquarters sales planning and disruptive innovation.

Leveraging her diverse background and a dual degree in Marketing and Business Process Management, Sara leads cross-functional teams, develops and executes winning growth strategies, and commercializes breakthrough innovation across multiple categories.

Anne Babirak is a senior Insights, Strategy and Innovation leader in the food industry.  Currently, at KraftHeinz, she is an Insight Lead for Disruptive Innovation.   Her portfolio of experience includes roles in Insights, Strategy, Innovation, Marketing and Finance.  This foundation enables Anne to bring broad business expertise to her projects and teams.  Before joining KraftHeinz, Anne held Home Chef and Halverson Consulting positions.  These roles followed a successful 25-year career with McDonald’s.

In addition to her undergraduate degree in Accounting from DePaul University, Anne recently completed a graduate degree in Product Design and Development (MPD2) at Northwestern University.

Anne is an avid Audible ‘reader’ and loves just about any type of food with family or friends.

Katie Hotze is the Founder of Grocery Shopii, a Charlotte-based tech startup that uses machine learning to fuel online grocery shopping with fresh recipe content. With 20 years of experience in digital marketing, data analytics, and business strategy, Katie was able to turn a personal frustration with online grocery shopping into a nationally-recognized retail tech disrupter that’s rapidly expanding in North America.

Patrick Pilz has been advising companies on computer technology applications in the food industry for over three decades. He started his professional career as a butcher and food engineer before joining the emerging software industry. He has co-authored a book on quality management, helped develop world standards on traceability and has published articles in leading magazines around the world. He is currently advising companies on innovation automation as a business consultant at Centric Software.

 

Twitter: @PatrickPilz

Frederic is a Technology as a Business Solution expert in the Global Grocery Industry. With diverse experiences and in-depth knowledge of the Retail, Brand Development Management, Manufacturing and Food Service applications. His focus is on assisting retailers and manufacturers to leverage Centric PLM to deliver more, innovative and sustainable amazing products faster to market.

Regional sales manager at Fuchs NA since 2017. She received her B.S. in Biology from Villanova University and M.S. in Nutrition at NYU. She worked in clinical nutrition in various settings for 15 years before switching her focus to ingredient sales and culinary nutrition.

Dan Grazaitis - Dan Grazaitis works as the Director of R&D at Fuchs NA in Hampstead, Maryland, since 2019. He received his B.S. in Biology from Towson University before entering the food science workforce.  He has extensive experience applying seasonings and hydrocolloids in end-use applications, including dairy, bakery, dressings, sauces, beverages, confections, and non-food applications. Dan has shown success in taking innovative concepts from development to broad market launches in a wide variety of applications. His skill set includes Seasonings, hydrocolloids, proteins, sweeteners, rheology, applications development, innovation pipeline management, and product scale-up.

Chris Hellmann was the Global Vice President and General Manager, Freestyle Division at The Coca-Cola Company. In this role, he is responsible for leading North America’s Equipment Innovation Center and technical R/D team encompassing strategy, customer and commercial leadership, innovation, equipment & software engineering, supply chain development and e-business to advance the global growth of this vital Company platform. There are currently +50,000 Freestyle dispensers globally and the Equipment Innovaton center operates as a vital innovation hub for The Coca-Cola Company. Chris is responsible for the Freestyle P/L which represents a $1b business for the Coca-Cola Company. Prior to this role, he was the Global VP leading the SUBWAY Restaurant business overseeing all of the Coca-Cola business and contractual agreements for approximately 45,000 customer outlets in 100 countries. He was responsible for leading sales, marketing, finance and operations as well as managing the Company P/L for this customer business. Previous to the above role, Chris was Vice President, Global Commercial Execution. In this position, he was focused against the Europe and Eurasia Coca-Cola Business units and was responsible for building Customer Leadership Capabilities for both Bottler and Company associates. He built and deployed The Coca-Cola Modern Trade Customer Management System across the global system. Chris was previously Marketing Director for Coca-Cola North America, responsible for planning and executing marketing plans for large-scale Coca-Cola Foodservice customers in the Northeast Region. Chris also served as a Segment Marketing Manager, where he was responsible for identifying and developing new opportunities for growth among U.S. customers in the casual dining trade channel. Chris joined Coca-Cola North America as a Marketing Manager and later as Assistant Brand Manager for brands including Minute Maid, PowerAde and Hi-C. Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Chris held several positions in advertising and marketing, most notably BBDO South, where he was responsible for developing and executing marketing and advertising campaigns. Chris received a B.S. in Journalism from Ohio University, and a Masters in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University – Carey School of Business.

As a former professional baseball player in the Chicago White Sox organization and college coach for the Nebraska Huskers, Jeff Tezak has always had a passion for sports and an interest in sports nutrition since it was always an important component of his performance. Sports nutrition led to an interest in everyday nutrition as he transitioned out of competitive sports. He found a passion for providing himself and others with natural nutrient dense foods while living overseas in Australia, where he started, owned, operated and sold a food company that sourced and sold local products. He returned to the U.S. to coach Division 1 baseball at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and received a Masters Degree in History with a thesis focused on international commodity trading. His passion for nutritionally dense food, trade and sustainability came together when he met one of his co-founders Harrouna from Burkina Faso, who was in graduate school with him. Harrouna introduced Jeff to the baobab fruit and they soon started Tiiga which uses the nutritionally dense, wild harvested baobab fruit.

Bill Grand has been a successful entrepreneur for over 45 years. His experience has covered corporate management, sales, marketing, manufacturing, product development, retail, distribution, logistics and general administration. He has led companies to success in domestic markets, Canada & other international markets across a wide range of categories, including Retail & Private Label manufacturing, Direct Sales.

Over the last 13 years, he has built NutriFusion into a world leader in plant-based, nutritionally dense powders derived solely from fruits & vegetables.

Jana is passionate about helping those in food and agriculture earn consumer trust. Joining in 2013, she brings a wide range of experience to CFI with a long career encompassing broadcast news, and public and media relations.

From project management and training to writing and video production, Jana dons many hats to help the food industry reach important audiences with the right messages.
After working in radio and television news early in her career, she joined the Office of Public Relations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and then pursued a freelance career as a public relations specialist, writer, video producer and on-camera/voiceover talent. ABC and NBC News, “Extra” and “America’s Most Wanted” were among her clients.

Armed with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the UNL College of Journalism, Jana also taught professional/technical communications courses for the UNL College of Journalism and the prestigious Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Business Management.

Angela Latorre is the R&D Director in Team Foods, an Alianza Team strategic business group focused on B2C. She leads innovation and development of new products for retail business and BK and Food Service. 

Angela obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master's in Process and Product Design. She is also certified in Nutrition Science at Stanford University

Angela has been working in R&D for more than 12 years in Alianza Team, working mainly in the edible fats and oil segment but also in categories where lipids have strong participation or have functionality, including nutrition and health benefits. Angela has developed new categories for the retail business, such as functional foods (powder beverages incorporating functional lipids), plant-based beverages and some others.  She also has commercial experience working in Alfa Laval as Sales Engineer in North Andina, Central America and Caribbean.

Caroline Cotto is the Co-Founder & COO of Renewal Mill, a venture-backed startup upcycling the byproducts of food manufacturing into premium ingredients and delicious plant-based products. A food marketing and nutrition specialist, Caroline has experience at the UN World Food Programme, the White House (for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative), Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator, and HubSpot, where she ran the women’s diversity program globally. Caroline grew up in food, working for her family’s ice cream business in the town of Sandwich, MA. She serves as the inaugural Board President of the Upcycled Food Association and formerly served as a Fulbright Fellow in Taiwan. In 2022, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and the 50 Best's 50 NEXT lists.

Luis Carlos Chacón leads the BusinessCase team, a global boutique consultancy that works with multinational FMCGs to identify emerging and future business opportunities. Also, he has been a columnist for Forbes Latin America for several years (being nowadays top-rated) and currently finishing a postgraduate degree in Global Business at the University of Oxford (where he previously graduated in Strategy and Innovation); his educational background includes studies in Design Thinking of Stanford, and Futures at The University of Manchester, and Houston. In business, he has worked for more than nineteen years for the operations of Fortune 500 Companies such as Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, LVMH, Diageo, Kellogg’s, Unilever, Dannon, and AbInbev, among many others. Behavioural economics enthusiast (understanding the cross between needs and contexts) and believer in connecting the distant (linking the disconnected but inseparable) under the influence of socio-cultural changes in industries and consumption.

A passionate global brand marketing and innovation leader, Yanchun Liu has spent 12 years with Mars Wrigley across continents, categories, and functions. Yanchun has led multiple Mars intrapreneurial Health and well-being innovation initiatives via agile processes across the globe. She’s keen to translate good ideas into a great value-added business model for the right purpose – for people and the planet! Yanchun was born in China, worked in the UK and now lives in Chicago. She’s personally interested in how cultural diversity can influence business and create ideas. She is currently an MBA candidate at Booth business school, University of Chicago.