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Speakers 2024

Final Speakers To Be Announced Soon

Abin Kuriakose serves as the Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at World Business Chicago (WBC), the City of Chicago’s economic development organization. In this role, he spearheads initiatives targeting technology, innovation, and startup entrepreneurship. Abin manages a portfolio of programs aimed at fostering startup growth, attracting STEM talent, and forging partnerships with corporations, universities, and national labs to bolster the region’s innovation sector. He’s the lead organizer of the Chicago Venture Summit Future-of-Food, which saw successful editions in 2022 and 2023, including the largest summit in 2023 with over 1,000 global participants. A native of Chicagoland, Abin brings a wealth of experience in economic development and public policy, with a background in Cook County Government, one of the largest counties in the United States. Recognized as an Emerging Leader by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in 2022, Abin is also a 2018 Civic Leaders Academy Fellow of the University of Chicago. Additionally, he was appointed by Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2019 as a member of the State of Illinois’ Asian American Employment Plan Advisory Council.

Abin Kuriakose

Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer

Adam Yee is the CTO of Sobo Foods, a new plant-based ethnic food startup. Adam has created a variety of different products and projects such as cofounding Better Meat Co, being an early employee at Motif Foodworks and podcast producer of My Food Job Rocks.

Adam Yee

CTO and Co-Founder

leh Manchuliantsau is a serial entrepreneur, 2 exits, father of 3. As a Founder and CEO of Planetarians - a Climate/FoodTech company focused on affordable and healthy plant-based products through ingredient innovation - Aleh is currently on a mission to reverse climate change by making better-for-you meat alternatives 10x cheaper than beef. Featured on the cover of Alt Meat Magazine, COP 28 and TechCrunch.

Aleh Manchuliantsau

Founder and CEO

Alex Shirazi

Andrew Arentowicz is the CEO of 50/50 Foods, Inc., a pioneering food company dedicated to cutting our meat consumption in half by crafting delicious, healthy, sustainable meat products made with 50% real meat + 50% real veggies. Andrew realized in 2020 that it was an impossible to goal to expect all consumers to turn into vegetarians, so he decided it was better to meat in the middle and give consumers exactly what they say they want…meat, just less meat. 50/50 Foods’ flagship product, the BOTH Burger, is the first and only USDA approved 50/50 burger on the market. Andrew leads the team in charge of culinary innovation, supply chain management, government affairs, manufacturing, logistics, marketing, and sales. Born in Philadelphia (Go Birds!) and currently living in Marina Del Rey, CA Andrew is also an avid photographer, skier, and squash player, as well as a devoted "girl dad," finding great joy in raising his two remarkable daughters with his exceptional wife, Andrea. Connect with Andrew on Instagram (@bothburger) or via email, drew@5050foods.com, to learn more about his journey to change the world one 50/50 burger at a time.

Andrew Arentowicz

Andrew is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Bluestein Ventures. He is responsible for driving the firm’s strategy, leading its investment committee, and advising its portfolio companies. He sits on three boards and is an observer on another three, including Factor_, Bizzy Coffee, and Local Foods. In addition to his work at Bluestein, Andrew has been a judge at Kellogg’s & Booth’s new venture competitions and a mentor to the Good Food Business Accelerator and 1871 communities. Andrew brings to Bluestein a deep and diverse background working with emerging leaders to grow their businesses. Andrew spent over seven years as a strategy consultant at Monitor Deloitte, working on corporate, competitive, marketing, and organizational strategies with a diverse set of retail, CPG, hospitality, and business service clients. Andrew has an MBA with distinction from the Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations with Honors from Cornell University. Outside of work, Andrew loves to spend time with his wife, Kate, and their two kids, Vivienne (7) and Aidan (5). Andrew is an avid Chicago Bears, White Sox, and Bulls fan, struggles to reclaim his high-school golf glory days, but thrives elevating his barbeque and tailgate experiences.

Andrew Bluestein

Managing Partner

Andrew Sayles

Co-founder & COO

Arpad leads GEA’s alternative protein (New Food) business in North America. His global experience in industrial plant building and process technology solutions spans two decades across industries including food, beverage, chemical and metals. Prior to joining GEA, he oversaw the expansion of Danieli Group in China as Director of Strategy, where he headed M&A and led the Operational Excellence program driving significant revenue and profitability gains for the company. Arpad holds engineering degrees from the University of Colorado and lives with his family in Charlotte, North Carolina. GEA
GEA is one of the world’s largest systems suppliers for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical sectors with market-leading solutions in growing industries. Our New Food business helps start-ups, ingredient suppliers and food processors to develop, scale-up and produce the nutritious new foods consumers look for. Our extensive knowledge from food and beverage, brewery and biopharma systems makes us the leader in precision fermentation. GEA test centers let you test processes, machines, ingredients and recipes with support from our expert engineers, food scientists and technicians. These sessions and machine trainings are available on-site or remotely and are key to getting high-quality goods to market quicker.
Contact us to get started.

Arpad Csay

Senior Director New Food NA

Dr. Pam Ismail is the Founder and Director of the Plant Protein Innovation Center and is a Professor at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota. Dr. Ismail has over 28 years of experience in Food Chemistry research focused on analytical chemistry, protein chemistry, and chemistry and fate of bioactive food constituents. Her research focuses on structural characterization and enhancement of functionality, safety, bioavailability, and bioactivity of food proteins, following novel processing and analytical approaches. She is the recipient of a “Distinguished Teaching Award” and an “Outstanding Professor Award”.

Baraem Pam Ismail

PPIC Founder & Director, Professor, University of Minnesota

As Director of Strategic Partnerships, Bart acts as the lead liaison between The Cultivated B and the cellular agriculture industry, identifying new opportunities and driving strategic partnerships. With over 15 years of experience in leading roles at internationally active engineering, manufacturing, and industrial service companies, he is passionate about innovation and promoting collaboration. Prior to joining TCB Bart was a Board Member of Holland House Canada and worked as a Management Consultant at Toronto Global, where he helped West European entrepreneurs expand their businesses to North America and the Toronto Region.

Bart Deelen

Director, Strategic Partnerships

Ben heads investment advisory for BERA, and works closely with clients on their alternative protein investment portfolios. He has invested as an angel in plant-based, precision fermentation, and cultivated meat alternative protein companies for over a decade. Previously, he worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, was an investment analyst at Allianz, headed marketing for a leading Asia hedge fund, and raised billions of dollars from institutional investors. He has an MA from the University of California, Berkeley, and has earned the right to use the CFA designation.

Ben Happ

I'm a dedicated problem-solver interested in all things food and bioprocessing. Are you looking to scale a new food ingredient, design a processing facility or equipment line, or just want to talk business strategy? I'd love to chat! I have experience working with dozens of food and industrial biotech companies developing new ingredients, products, and processes across a wide range of technologies including fermentation, commodity crops, alt protein, liquid separations, extrusion, and functional beverages. I also have led teams designing and building facilities or processes at the laboratory, pilot, or production scale. I enjoy a hands-on leadership style and am equally excited to build and develop a team as I am to dig in independently and conquer the next challenge. I am open to networking or consulting/advising opportunities, and always willing to help connect into my network of industry professionals, business leaders, job seekers, equipment manufacturers, pilot facilities, co-packers, and others.

Brian Jacobson

Associate Director of Strategic Operations

Brian P. Sylvester is a Partner at international law firm Perkins Coie, resident in the firm’s Washington DC Office. He is a leading authority on food tech regulation, and serves as a trusted advisor to global brands, startups, life science companies, investors, and trade associations. Brian’s regulatory practice spans FDA and USDA regulatory strategy and compliance from “farm to fork” and includes new product development, labeling and advertising and crisis management, corporate transactions and litigation. In the area of food and beverage, Brian has extensive experience developing regulatory strategies to commercialize a range of food tech innovations, including transgenic crops and alternative proteins like cultivated meat and fermentation-derived food ingredients. He draws on his tenure as a former regulator at USDA to counsel clients on strategic considerations around engagement with and advocacy before USDA and FDA on numerous complex issues, including those of first impression. Brian is a prolific author and frequent speaker at industry-leading events in the United States, the European Union, China, Israel, and other parts of the world, and is regularly called upon to offer insights on trending legal issues by preeminent industry and global publications.

Brian P. Sylvester

Brittany Chibe is a serial entrepreneur passionate about world-changing ideas that restore the oceans, increase food security, and protect the planet for future generations. In her role as co-founder and CGO, she leads Aqua’s growth efforts across sales, marketing and operations. Brittany started her career working for a global dairy company where she acquired, managed and grew businesses with the top national restaurant chains and retail grocers in the world. While pursuing her MBA, she founded a predictive analytic tech company with a DOE technology to detect and forewarn damage in civil infrastructure. After graduating from business school, she founded a grain-free snack company, profitably growing the business to an exit in six years. Brittany holds an MBA from the University of Illinois Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.

Brittany Chibe

Co-Founder & CGO

Geem, a bold seaweed snack venture by Harvard Business School '23 alum Candice Choi, is set to revolutionize Western snacking. Rooted in the Korean culture wave, sustainability, and founder-led authenticity, Geem’s seaweed snacks offer a more snackable and satisfying revamp of the traditional seaweed sheets. Geem has recently earned accolades such as winning Foxtrot’s Up & Comer Contest, earning Expo West sponsorships and being a Startup CPG Salty Snack finalist.

Candice Choi

Christie Lagally is the powerhouse founder and CEO of Rebellyous Foods, a food production technology company working to make plant-based meat price-competitive with animal-based meat. Lagally began her career in the aerospace industry working on testing, designing, and manufacturing commercial airplanes at Boeing. Now at Rebellyous, she uses her expertise to pioneer novel manufacturing equipment that tackles the two most significant obstacles facing the plant-based meat industry: cost and quality at scale. Lagally isn't just a CEO; she's a visionary engineer, revolutionizing the future of food.

Christie Lagally

CEO and Founder

Daniel (Dan) Kennedy has been in protein for over 20 years. Starting out with International Home Foods as a Food Technologist Dan quickly moved on to Nuvex Ingredients where he did product development extruding proteins for bars, cereals and meat extension as well as exploring the boundaries of extruding animal and plant-based proteins. Dan moved into a business role in the early 2000’s and started selling and marketing nut meats with H&W Ingredients. Dan joined Solae in 2007 and continued his relationship protein as Solae became a part of DuPont Nutrition and Health and the portfolio of products grew well beyond protein. Dan came to PureCircle, in late 2019, and then joined the Plant Based Protein platform with Ingredion. Dan has served in both a regional and global leadership capacity on the Plant Based Protein platform. Dan also holds a B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Minnesota.

Daniel Kennedy

Director, Platform & Business Development, Plant Based Protein

As a strategic leader in the food manufacturing sector, David has a client-focused and solutions-oriented approach that centers on manufacturing scale-up, risk management, and strategic planning. He serves as the Market Lead for Food & Beverage at Stantec. Passionate about the future of food, he works with precision fermentation, cultivated meat, other food tech, food innovation, and alternative protein solutions. He brings engineering, project management, and leadership expertise with cross-functional teams to food innovation capital projects, helping companies sustainably solve their manufacturing infrastructure challenges. David resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife and 3 boys, and when he’s not creating innovative solutions, he enjoys hiking, outdoors, reading, and anything related to youth baseball.

David Ziskind

Market Lead, Food & Beverage

Deb Anderson

Director of New Business Development - NA

Elysabeth Alfano is the CEO of VegTech™ Invest, the Advisor to the Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF, EATV, listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Elysabeth is an expert in investing in food systems transformation and speaks internationally on the intersection of investing, sustainability, and our global food supply system. She recently spoke at the U.N. Global Leaders Compact Summit, the United Nations Climate Change Summit, COP27 and COP28, Yale University and several Bloomberg Intelligence events. Elysabeth began her career with Kellogg Company working on Special K and Frosted Mini-Wheats before investing for a small family office. A graduate of Northwestern University and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Elysabeth consults and advises, through her company Alfano Advisory Services, C-Suite Executives on the sustainable food industry landscape, direction and whitespaces. Lastly, Elysabeth hosts the Plantbased Business Hour, a podcast which features the CEOs and business leaders in the industry. The Plantbased Business Hour is considered “The Gold Standard” for those who want to understand, participate in, and capitalize on the growing Plant-based Innovation sector. She is also the host of Upside & Impact: Investing for Change, distributed on the New York Stock Exchange website platform, ETFCentral.com. Elysabeth contributes to ESG Clarity, WGN Radio, Vegconomist, CAIA and FinTechTV on a regular basis. Linkedin here.

Elysabeth Alfano

Currently, Eric is Founder and Principal of GoodHumans Strategy and Design, which is full-service strategy and design firm to assist founders, pre-revenue organizations, VC, and regulators/governments to position and mature innovations that have the potential to fight climate change while still enjoying the traditions that make us human.
Eric is a professional molecular biologist and leadership team member that specializes in federal-level cultivated meat, poultry, and seafood policy as well as pioneer product food safety establishment. He has developed the approach and led the team that has secured the first-ever FDA safety greenlight for a cultivated meat product. Eric has led the establishment of the world's first Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory Affairs team for a cultivated meat company as well as the associated federal policy to complement. He also has established and led the world's first cultivated meat cell line development team and first cultivated meat food product design team, and food safety/quality assurance team.
As a former Federal regulator, Eric has developed and executed regulatory policy for pioneer products within food and animal biotechnology industries for the US FDA. He has also served in a federal STEM education policy role for the US NSF, as well as advised the Roundtable for Transforming Undergraduate STEM education at the National Academy of Sciences.

Eric Schulze

Founder (Former VP, Product, Upside Foods)

Eugene Wang grew up immersed in the vegetarian food business. Since 2010, his vision for launching Sophie’s Kitchen, the first Plant-Based Seafood Alternative, has manifested into a viable category innovation lauded by the press and social media thought leaders. Sophie’s Kitchen had won numerous recognitions from companies like PepsiCo and Chipotle. In 2019, Eugene took the alternative protein to the microorganism level and started another venture - Sophie’s BioNutrients. The Singapore-based company, which grows microalgae in bioreactors and has recently expanded to Europe. The company created the world’s first allergen-free microalgae-based dairy alternatives and microalgae-based burger patties with its microalgae protein concentrate.

Eugene Wang

Led by her passion for cheese, Fengru co-founded TurtleTree to harness biotechnology to revolutionize the dairy industry. Before boldly launching a biotech startup, Fengru accumulated valuable experience in sales and business development with leading tech companies, including UL (previously Collis Asia), Salesforce, and Google. Fengru leads TurtleTree’s growing team, where her innovative mindset and solution-oriented vision drive the company’s work to bridge the gap between sustainable farming and conventional dairy.

Fengru Lin

Co-founder & CEO

Francisco (Paco) Codoñer is CEO of ScaleUp Bio, a Singapore-based joint-venture between global nutrition leader ADM and Temasek’s wholly owned Nurasa. ScaleUp Bio pioneers Singapore's first - and among only a few worldwide – submerged microbial and precision fermentation facilities dedicated purely to supporting food tech start-ups from home and around the world. Paco previously served as the senior team leader of the systems biology team for Danone Nutricia Research in Utrecht, the Netherlands. During his tenure, he also led the microbiome centre for Danone Nutricia Research in Singapore. Before Danone, Paco was the joint CEO and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Lifesequencing, a pioneering biotech company in Valencia, Spain. His expertise in research and development (R&D) includes work at institutions like Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, Muenster University in Germany, and the AIDS Research Institute in Spain. Paco holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Genetics, a Master of Science degree in Molecular Evolutionary Genetics and a PhD in Biology (Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics) from the University of Valencia. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Bioinformatics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Francisco Codoñer

Fred Schneider Jr. has been a driving advancements in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry for many years. After working in sales at Thermo Fisher Scientific, he went on to found MopHius Analytics, a company focused on developing new tools for the field.
His time at Thermo Fisher helped him develop skills in sales and building partnerships. This experience gave him a well-rounded understanding of both the science and the business side of things. When he joined Hamilton in 2014, he was able to exponentially drive sales growth and make their technology more widely available.
In 2018, he founded MopHius Analytics with the goal of improving process analysis and quality control in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The company's work gained widespread recognition, even being named a top biotech solution provider in 2019.
Hamilton saw the value in MopHius's work and acquired the company. This led to Fred's current role leading their bioprocessing division. As Vice President, he's still involved in developing new technologies to advance the field of bioprocessing.

Fred Schneider

VP of Sales & Operations

Guy Furman

Hamid Noori

Hanah Tran

Founder & Chief Strategy Officer

Haotian Guo

Founder and CEO

Jamie Valenti-Jordan, CFS is the CEO of Catapult Commercialization Services Inc, a 90-person consulting group focused on providing technical and operational solutions for food and beverage companies. Prior to this, he has spent his 20 year career at Campbell Soup, Del Monte Foods, and JUST in process R&D, engineering, and operations. During his career, he has installed over $100M in capital equipment, commercialized over 1000 products, and received a patent in tomato peeling. He teaches Food Engineering and Food Processing at Mount Mary University. He serves on the Board of Directors for IFT and is a strong advocate for emerging and scaling brands. He also serves as Cubmaster for his son's Scout Pack and Dungeon Master for his weekly D&D campaign.

Jamie Valenti-Jordan

Janet Helm is a registered dietitian nutritionist and culinary professional who has built a career in nutrition communications and food marketing. For more than 20 years, Janet was the chief food and nutrition strategist for Weber Shandwick, a global public relations agency. She also tracked trends as a global food analyst for Mintel, a global market research firm in Chicago. Most recently she left to start her own consultancy, Food at the Helm where she helps clients intersect with food culture, tell their food and nutrition story, and deploy influencers. Janet is a sought-after speaker on food trends at national conferences and has discussed the latest nutrition topics in the media, including segments on Good Morning America, Today and CNN. She is a former media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a recipient of the Academy’s Media Excellence Award.
She also frequently writes about food trends for various publications including U. S. News & World Report and Forbes, where she is a regular contributor.

Janet Helm

Jeffrey Emmons

Jennifer Estevez

Venture Associate

Jim Slama is a Solutions-driven leader, early innovator, and connector in the natural products industry. Jim is the Managing Director of Naturally Chicago, a good food and natural products association that helps grow this fast-growing industry in the industry. Jim has a history of innovating with local foods. His Good Food Expo created markets for many local and sustainable farms and brands. He played a key role in launching Whole Foods Local program in 2006, working with their senior leadership to do so. He launched the one of the first food financing conferences and Pitch Slams in America in 2009 in partnership with the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. Jim created the Good Food Accelerator, in partnership with Whole Foods Market, to support numerous early-stage companies, many of which are owned by women and/or minority owners, to help them get funded and grow. Naturally Chicago recently created the Locally Made a program to give local companies access to major retailers and then get promoted on shelf. Jim is a senior advisor to Greener Grazing, Fantastic Fungi, and Iya Foods and founded Good Food Catalyst, a leading non-profit in Chicago to support equity and access in food.

Jim Slama

Managing Director

John Sheehy

Global Key Account Manager-Alternative Proteins

Jon Hanley is the Head of Food & Nutrition Partnerships at Triplebar where he is responsible for forging commercially focused business to business relationships with like minded organizations to bring products to market. Jon’s interests are at the intersection of food, sustainability and creating a kinder world. As a dad of 3 Jon hopes that each generation can begin to leave our planet better than we found it. After 15 years of experience in a variety of Marketing and Commercial roles across the food Industry Jon has become acutely aware of the need for technological innovation to better allow humans to live sustainably at scale. Our collective food choices have a tremendous impact on animals, people, human health and the planet. Jon is a believer that cultivated meat and precision fermentation are two tools in our tool box to drive the food system transformation our planet so critically needs. Jon received his BA in Geography from the University of New Hampshire and MS in Marketing from Southern New Hampshire University. Outside of work Jon enjoys spending time outdoors with his family Hiking, Biking and Skiing.

Jonathan Hanley

Head of Food & Nutrition Partnerships

Joshua is a Senior Program Analyst with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), where he develops regulations and policies governing the safety and labeling of meat, poultry, and egg products. Since 2020, Joshua has served as the lead analyst for issues related to the oversight of cell-cultured meat or poultry food products. In this capacity, he has been intricately involved in building the legal framework that has facilitated the introduction of cell-cultured foods into U.S. commerce. Joshua also leads the development of labeling requirements for cell-cultured meat or poultry food products. In addition, he acts as the FSIS liaison to FDA to ensure they are effectively collaborating as envisioned under the interagency agreement on the oversight of human foods produced using animal cell culture technology. Prior to FSIS, Joshua spent several years with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, where he helped establish and maintain stable markets for fruits, vegetables, and specialty crops as well as enforce consistent national standards for organically produced agricultural products sold in the United States. He has also served as an enlisted environmental response and preparedness specialist in the U.S. Coast Guard. Joshua is a licensed attorney with a master’s degree in environmental policy.

Joshua Ayers

Regulations Development Officer

Joshua Errett

Investment Consultant

Julian Melchiorri is the CEO and Founder of Arborea, a mission-driven company to feed the world without costing the Earth. He has been recognized by Forbes as the top 30 EU’s leading entrepreneurs under 30 years of age, is the winner of the Simon Perez Award for Social Innovation and a TED speaker. He is a multidisciplinary entrepreneur with a background in engineering, biomimicry and innovation. Julian graduated with Masters in Innovation Design Engineering at Imperial College London and RCA.

Julian Melchiorri

Julieta is a journalist working on the future for food, animals and the environment. She has experience writing for Vox, hosting a video podcast, Tomorrow's Plate for UnchainedTV, and now is at Sentient Media. A graduate of the NYU Animal Studies MA program, her thesis was on collaboration in cellular agriculture.

Julieta Cardenas

Kaitlin is Director of Strategic Partnerships and Public Affairs at Clever Carnivore, Chicago's first cultivated meat company, working at the intersection of strategy, partnerships, innovation, and commercial growth. Kaitlin previously worked in development for the Good Food Institute, a global alternative protein think tank and serves on the External Committee for the Chapel Hill Alt. Protein Project at her alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill.

Kaitlin Grady

Director of Strategic Partnerships and Public Affairs

Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., CFS, IFT Fellow, teaches food safety regulations at Johns Hopkins University, and is a principal at Corvus Blue LLC, a food science and research firm that expedites development and commercialization of new food products and technologies with science and sensibility. Kantha is a member of the Faculty Advisory Board on Food and Agriculture at McGill University, Montreal, and the Faculty Advisory Board at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, Tempe, Arizona. She is a contributing editor for Prepared Foods magazine, and PLMALive! video magazine. When not teaching or working with clients, she helps advance the understanding of food science and nutrition, food safety, and regulations in the marketplace.

Kantha Shelke

Senior Lecturer, Regulatory Science and Food Safety Regulation

Karsten Schellhas

Senior Consultant

Karyn Knox serves as the Chief Development and Partnerships Officer for the Educated Choices Program (ECP), an international academic non-profit organization focused on providing free science-based education surrounding the impact of food choices and our current food system on human and planetary health. As CDPO, she has spoken at numerous conferences about education's critical role in food-related behavioral change, including the 15th International Conference for Climate Change in Vancouver, the Massachusetts Council on Aging Conference in Boston, and Plant Based World Expo NA in NYC. Karyn is committed to helping people create a healthier life and planet and is dedicated to empowering individuals to be the change they want to see in the world. She firmly believes that when people are given the proper information and opportunity to make positive changes for themselves and the world around them, they will rise to the occasion! Karyn holds degrees in Non-Profit Management and Wildlife Conservation and has years of experience working within the non-profit sector. She brings with her a unique perspective on education's role in behavioral change and how the younger generation thinks about and accepts the concepts surrounding alternative proteins, plant-forward dietary choices and their widespread impact

Karyn Knox

Chief Development and Partnerships Officer

Kathleen leads Ollila Law Group's global trademark prosecution and counseling practice. She has over twenty-five years professional and legal experience, with over ten years of experience in trademark law and other related disciplines of IP law domestically and internationally representing CPG companies such as Hershey, Lindt and Emerson. Most recently, Kathleen received a Masters in Law in International Animal Law, aiming to incorporate her extensive legal experience to support efforts to reduce reliance on animals in industrial animal agriculture, focusing on the promotion and support of plant based and cultivated meat products. Of particular interest is supporting emerging alt-meat companies understand and navigate new regulations and laws around branding and labeling of alternatives to animal products. At the 2023 INTA Annual Meeting in Singapore, Kathleen moderated a table topic for labeling for protein alternatives, including plant-based meat and cultivated meat. Branding is critical when labeling alt-meat products considering the legislation and litigation in the US, EU and other countries. The topic was widely appreciated by INTA attendees interested in the growing alt-meat industry.

Kathleen Ryan

Kerry’s primary focus is patent drafting, prosecution, opposition and appeals before the European Patent Office but he also has extensive experience in all phases of foreign patent prosecution. He also provides FTO/infringement advice. He undertakes work in a wide variety of technology areas including pharmaceuticals, biologicals, biochemistry, microbiology, cell and molecular biology, immunology and diagnostics including sequencing technologies. Kerry has a particular interest in food technology, including alt proteins, fermentation, cultured meat and cellular agriculture, food ingredients, food feed and food enzymology, advising a variety of companies at various stages of development on IP strategies to attract funding or IP due diligence in preparing for acquisition, and advising on proactive attacking or defensive strategies in relation to third party IP. Kerry acts for a wide range of clients including start-ups and investors, research institutions, universities and spin-outs, mid-size companies and international corporations. Kerry works with private equity and venture capital investors to assess and mitigate IP risks associated with an investment. Kerry particularly enjoys working with investee companies to develop IP strategies which support the business plan and to secure commercially relevant IP whether that be to secure funding or increase growth and market share.

Kerry Rees

Partner, Patent Attorney

Kim is a safety and regulatory consultant working with Vireo Advisors since 2014. She brings expertise in evaluating the safety of novel foods and helps companies achieve regulatory approval for their innovative products. She works with industrial, governmental, and academic collaborators on the safety, benefits, and risk assessment of alternative proteins and other biobased materials. She was the lead author of seminal papers on food safety considerations for the cultured meat and seafood industry (Ong et al. 2021, Ong et al. 2023), and is helping lead the New Harvest/Vireo Cultured Meat Safety Initiative (CMSI) to bring together industry, regulators, academia, non-profits, and other stakeholders to address safety questions and stimulate public research on the safety of cultured meat and seafood. She served as a Vice-Chair on the 2022 FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the Scientific Advice on Cell-Based Food Products and Food Safety Considerations. Kim received a Ph.D. in Physiology, Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of Alberta, a M.Sc. in Environmental Management and Policy from Lund University in Sweden.

Kimberly Ong

Safety and Regulatory Consultant

Laine Clark serves as the Senior Corporate Engagement Manager, Innovation, for the Good Food Institute. In this role, she helps emerging as well as established companies in the alternative protein sector navigate scaling milestones. In addition to founding her own company that she exited through acquisition in 2016, she has worked with numerous startups for more than 20 years. Since 2017, she has been an Entrepreneur in Residence for Georgetown University’s Entrepreneurship Initiative at the McDonough School of Business. Additionally, she has served as an entrepreneurship mentor for George Washington University’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, including engagements with the NSF I-Corps Program and the Korean Innovation Center. Laine holds a BA in Communications from Wake Forest University. She is based in Raleigh, NC.

Laine Clark

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager

Lauran Madden, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer at BlueNalu is a driven technology, biology and engineering problem-solver. With more than 15 years of multidisciplinary experiences in the design and development of novel biomaterials, cell expansion methods, and 3D tissue fabrication, Lauran sees the challenge of the unknown as an opportunity to innovate and create game-changing technology solutions. Under Lauran's leadership, BlueNalu developed a robust technology platform with the capacity to produce a wide array of seafood products from a variety of species. Lauran continues to grow the expert R&D team and achieve critical technology milestones. Prior to BlueNalu, Lauran was a Scientist at Organovo, a national leader in the design and development of functional human tissues using 3D bioprinting technology.
Lauran received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. She is an avid trail runner, rock climber, and overall outdoor enthusiast who wants to see new technology protect the environment and provide consumers with safe seafood.

Lauran Madden

Chief Technology Officer

Leonidas Bell

Luiza is the founder of unClassic Foods, a company that makes specialty mushrooms fit inside classic meat applications like nuggets & beef strips. She is a food scientist with over 5 years of experience in product development for the plant-based industry, born and raised in brazil, she moved to CA to study biology and statistics

Luiza Villela

Meera Zassenhaus

Head of Communications

Mervyn de Souza Ph.D. is a passionate and seasoned business leader with a unique combination of commercial and technical experience, having driven R&D innovation and commercialization of new products. He has been successful at identifying new market opportunities, connecting value delivery with financial success. Mervyn has developed and executed sustainable growth initiatives at Cargill inc., Sensient Technologies, Tate & Lyle and Edlong Flavors. Most recently he served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Ferment.co before joining Ginkgo Bioworks, where he is Senior Director, Business Development. Mervyn does not shy away from challenging the status quo, while focusing on growth opportunities and working cross-functionally to drive win-win outcomes across a wide range of disciplines. He is delighted to be on the advisory board for the FPP meeting in Chicago and have the opportunity to speak about synthetic biology solutions to realize the need for affordable, high quality, sustainable protein production globally.

Mervyn de Souza

Senior Director Business Development

Michael Spinelli is a visionary leader at the forefront of sustainable food innovation, holding decades of experience intersecting business development with food system innovation. With a passion for challenging the way we think about agriculture, food production, consumption, and sustainability, Michael has dedicated his career to pioneering solutions that address our pressing global challenges. Throughout his career, Michael has developed a wealth of experience in various facets of sustainable food and process innovation. His journey began at Ben & Jerry’s with a commitment to social and environmental justice carrying this passion forward in his roles at Unilever and Sabra. With a passion for plant-based, Michael founded ingredient technology leader, Nutriati. Following the company’s exit to Tate & Lyle, Michael led global protein strategy in R&D and Open Innovation. At NewEpoch, Michael is now sharing his skills in mentoring, strategizing and consulting with those most promising startup companies and purpose-led investors.

Michael Spinelli

Founder & Chief Strategist

Dr. Nadji Rekhif is currently a principal scientist at Nestle development center Solon Ohio, leading the Flavor stream of Frozen Meals, Pizza, and snacking food categories. Over the past 6 years, he has been driving flavoring systems development and application in meat analogues. He is a member of IFT Protein division and Food Sciences leadership. Dr. Nadji Rekhif received his Master and Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Food Industry from Poly-Technique Institute of Lorraine in Nancy, France. He’s a Senior lecturer at The University of Akron, School of Nutrition and Dietetics. He holds many scientific papers and patents.

Nadji Rekhif

Principal Scientist

Nate is a Principal at Blue Horizon, a global agrifood impact investment firm based in Zurich. To date, they have deployed over $750M into an ecosystem of over 75 companies across 6 continents. Nate also writes the environmental biotechnology newsletter, Fifth Industrial, and previously worked at the Good Food Institute, a biotechnology incubator, and holds a Juris Doctor in Commercial Law.

Nate Crosser

Neeru is a Principal in BCG’s San Francisco office, with over nine years’ experience serving clients in the UK and US across multiple areas including consumer, sustainability, and social impact. Neeru's passion for sustainability shapes her leadership in BCG's efforts on alternative proteins and mitigating the environmental impact of animal agriculture, a topic on which she has spoken at multiple global conferences and webinars including 'The Good Food Conference,' 'Vegan Women's Summit', 'FMI Midwinter Conference' and 'Food Innovation and Investment Summit.' She has authored three BCG thought leadership publications, read by over 25,000, including 'Taking Alternative Proteins Mainstream.' Neeru’s work has been featured in the Washington Post, World Economic Forum, The Atlantic, CNBC, USA Today, Forbes and others. Neeru is the recipient of the 2024 Consulting Magazine Rising Stars of the Profession award recognizing the industry's most impactful changemakers. She was also one of 11 consultants globally selected for BCG’s 2023 marketing campaign showcasing BCG’s most impactful work, and her YouTube video sharing research insights has amassed over 30,000 views.

Neeru Ravi

Nick is the Editor of Protein Production Technology International, the international digital resource for the alt proteins industry. The alternative protein industry is dynamic, with ever-advancing technologies, decreasing cost curves, changing regulations and increasing consumer adoption, which should lead to substantial gains in market share for alternative protein over the coming decade. This magazine follows these trends, with a quarterly format designed to showcase the many developments in plant-based, fermentation-derived, cellular agriculture and other novel food technologies. Covering the entire value chain from source materials through raw material optimization to process optimization, this interactive industry resource investigates the design and engineering of innovations to help companies scale-up and capitalize on this still nascent meat substitute marketplace.

Nick Bradley

Co-founder & Editorial Director

Nicki Briggs

Founding Chair/Founder

Nil Zacharias is an entrepreneur, author, and strategic advisor with a passion for food systems change. He is Founder and CEO of Plantega, a company that's on a mission to make plant-based food easier to access everywhere. He also hosts the Eat For The Planet Podcast and co-authored the Eat For the Planet books. Nil has previously co-founded a number of startups and continues to advise organizations in the climate solutions space.

Nil Zacharias

Panchali has over 17 years in the Flavor Industry. She has widespread experience in application
development of high protein products across all segments; expertise in Food proteins, Fermentation, Enzymolysis, Complex Flavor Chemistry, Precursor Technology and Taste Modulation. Within Givaudan she has held multiple positions across different functions - R and D, Innovation and Flavor Creation & Application. Panchali pioneered the Plant Protein Enablement within Givaudan, which transformed into a multimillion dollar platform across the globe. Despite having a broader commercial role Panchali maintains a high level involvement in Alternative Protein related innovation. She has a MS in Food Process Engineering from South Dakota State University and a graduate certification in Nutrition from University of Cincinnati.

Panchali Chakraborty

Technical Director, Savory and Snacks

Panos Kostopulos is the Founder & CEO of Proxy Foods, a pioneering company that offers an AI Recipe Formulation SaaS platform designed to turbocharge R&D and catalyze innovation in the Food & Beverage industry. Panos is also the Co-Founder and Director of Cell Ag Greece, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cellular agriculture research and fostering collaboration between academia and the industry. Born in Athens, Greece, Panos completed his graduate studies and research in chemical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He then moved to the USA, where he extended his journey into Biotechnology with further research and graduate studies at Georgetown University in Washington DC. With over a decade of experience in biotech and food R&D, his work encompasses product development, innovation, and commercialization. He has hands-on experience with various technologies, including fermentation (biomass and precision/recombinant proteins), plant-based, cell-cultivated, and traditional agriculture. His entrepreneurial journey has navigated multiple settings, from academia to startups and corporate environments. Panos currently lives in the US, where he leads the mission of Proxy Foods while actively participating in the international food-tech community, advocating for animal welfare, and is dedicated to reshaping the way we feed our planet.

Panos Kostopulos

Paul is the Chief Commercial Officer at Arborea and responsible for business building, product development and strategy. Prior to Arborea, Paul had global responsibility for AB Enzymes' Food, Feed and Tech businesses. And previously held various business, sales and marketing leadership roles at Clariant and Novozymes starting his career at Boston Consulting Group working on various sets of strategic assignments. Paul holds a Phd in behavioral economics and is a lifelong advocate of the need to constantly innovate and change.

Paul Schierz

Chief Commercial Officer

Peter Mortimer

Ricardo holds a PhD in grain science & industry from Kansas State University (USA), a master's degree in food technology from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil), and a bachelor's degree in food engineering from Universidade Federal de Vicosa (Brazil). With over seventeen years of experience in the food industry, Ricardo has worked in both human food (Nestle and Southeastern Mills) and pet food (Hill's Pet Nutrition and Instinct). He has expertise in extruding food, including ingredient/product/process development, production line commissioning/support, and serving B2B and B2C markets. Ricardo's experience spans local and global markets. Since joining Nestle, he has focused on the global development, implementation, and support of the Plant-Based Meals Solution platform.

Ricardo Moura

Principal Manufacturing R&D

Ryan brings a diverse set of process instrumentation and automation in terms of experience, working in demanding flow applications over hygienic valves through the physical layer for signal transmission and a uniform access to device intelligence.
After his engagement with Emerson Process Management, Brooks Instrument, GEA Tuchenhagen GmbH and Turck, Ryan leads the Global Industry Division Food for the KROHNE Group.

Ryan Kromhout

Manager Global Industry Division Food

Sara is an Associate in BCG’s San Francisco office, serving clients across diverse areas including energy, clean technologies, and net zero transitions. Sara is a core member of the Climate & Sustainability practice area at the Boston Consulting Group and is passionate about decarbonizing the energy and transportation sectors. She has co-developed numerous research publications, including a report with Third Way titled ‘How the US Can Gain an Edge in Clean Tech’, which examines the market opportunity and competitive positioning of clean technologies in the U.S. and recommends policy actions to accelerate their deployment. She also collaborated with Breakthrough Energy to publish a ‘Clean Tech Policy Impact Assessment’ analyzing the effect of recent legislation on 10 clean technologies (including Electric Vehicles).

Sara Kopunova

Sarah-Marie Cole

Chief Marketing Officer

Scott Glassman

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Senator Lakesia Collins

State Representative

Shannon is an accomplished corporate strategist and investor focused on accelerating climate solutions. With years of experience developing high-impact strategies for Fortune 500 companies including Kroger and Walmart, she has a proven track record of translating ambitious sustainability goals into executable roadmaps. Shannon has managed a $20B climate program, taken businesses from $0 to $1bn revenue in under two years, and partnered directly with C-suites to scale climate-smart innovations worldwide.

Shannon Theobald

Shayna Harris

Co-founder & Managing Partner

Sid Mehta

Director Ancillary Services

As Program Manager Proteins for Life at Wageningen University & Research, Dr Stacy Pyett is responsible for aligning protein-related research to stakeholder needs. Stacy is committed to making protein systems more sustainable and equitable, and to maintaining a science-based and nuanced dialogue in what can be a contentious domain.
Stacy got her PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, and began her career in the dairy industry as a research scientist at Campina (now part of FrieslandCampina). She later expanded her work toward new protein sources while working as a group leader at NIZO research. For the last 6 years, she has focused on relationship and strategy management, maintaining a focus on protein research and the protein transition.

Stacy Pyett

Program Manager Proteins for Life

With extensive startup experience, Stephanie is a highly skilled marketer passionate about building and scaling brands from humble beginnings. She began her career in social strategy and media planning at Ogilvy Chicago, before venturing into the worlds of CPG and restaurant tech. Her combination of B2B and D2C experience in various food and beverage verticals led her to AQUA Cultured Foods. She’s beyond excited to share the story of AQUA’s fish-free seafood and make waves in the alternative protein space.

Stephanie Bernstein

Director of Marketing

Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Dr. Stiffy Hice received their BS in Biological Science, with minors in Printmaking and Psychology, from the University of Tulsa in 2014; and their PhD in Food Science and Technology with a certificate in Food Safety and Defense from Iowa State University in 2019. After graduating from Iowa State University, Dr. Hice joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2019 as a Regulatory Review Scientist and Microbiology Reviewer in the Division of Food Ingredients (DFI) within the Office of Food Additive Safety (OFAS). Dr. Hice has managed the review of numerous Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notices—with particular emphasis on microbial-derived ingredients, bacteriophage preparations and live microbial cultures—as well as approval of direct food additive and color additive petitions that have been submitted to the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) at FDA. As a Regulatory Review Scientist, one of Dr. Hice’s primary duties is managing both GRAS evaluation teams and petition review teams. Many submissions have robust regulatory and scientific considerations, which must be evaluated to: (1) issue a response letter regarding the safety conclusions made by the submitter of a GRAS notice, or (2) approve a food or color additive in response to a petition. As a Microbiology Reviewer, Dr. Hice is charged with evaluating the microbiological safety of ingredients intended for use in conventional foods. Dr. Hice is also a member of several workgroups, including the Human Food Made from Cultured Animal Cells Premarket Consultation Working Group and the DFI Infant Formula Working Group.

Stephanie Hice

Regulatory Review Scientist and Microbiology Reviewer

Steve Gaither

EVP of Growth and Strategy

Steve Simitzis

Stu Strumwasser

Managing Director

Sue has extensive leadership experience in the food sector and an impressive track record in pioneering in the plant-based field. Before joining The Protein Brewery, she was CEO of Alpro and established Alpro as the plant-based pioneer and leader across Europe. Sue started her career at PepsiCo and further developed her commercial skills at New York Bakery.

Sue Garfitt

Susana Soares

Assistant Researcher, PhD

Thomas Jonas

CEO & Co-Founder

Thomas is a Senior Policy Adviser at the Food Standards Agency, focusing on the design and development of food policy in Great Britain in partnership with Food Standards Scotland; since the start of 2024 he has been focusing on GB’s approach for a variety of novel foods including alternative proteins. Thomas has served as a policy professional within the Agency since 2019, developing expertise in a wide array of policy areas including chemical contaminants, precision breeding, food waste and fortificants. Since 2022 Thomas has been intricately involved in the Agency’s work on cell-cultivated products, working in partnership with industry, academia and wider Government to gain insight into emerging technologies. Prior to joining the Food Standards Agency, Thomas completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Southampton (UoS). Later he completed a masters in chemistry from UoS in partnership with the Australian National University specialising in supramolecular chemistry and graphene analogues.

Thomas Horgan

Senior Policy Advisor

Tony Pavel, a partner with international law firm Keller and Heckman, brings over 20 years of experience as a counselor to the food industry and has handled a broad range of issues, including obtaining the authorization of new food ingredients, complying with manufacturing requirements, labeling and advertising, and regulatory compliance in the global supply chain. Tony has been named one of the leading food lawyers in the U.S. by Chambers and Partners, Law360, as well as Top Corporate Counsel by DCA Live. Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Tony led Global Food Law at Perfect Day, a billion-dollar start-up and the first company to bring fermentation-derived dairy whey protein ingredients to market, where he was responsible for greatly expanding the company’s global regulatory footprint in less than two years, as well as the development of the company’s regulatory, marketing and advertising compliance programs. Before joining Perfect Day, Tony led the Global Food Law Team at Cargill Incorporated. Tony was responsible for food law across Cargill’s global businesses, including partnering with the QA function for Food Safety Modernization Act implementation at Cargill’s domestic and global manufacturing facilities; R&D ingredient approval strategy; M&A/JV regulatory diligence implementation and execution; labeling, advertising, and communications compliance; as well as advising the Government Relations function on food regulatory matters. Tony has also served as the General Counsel and Secretary to the Enzyme Technical Association and as a member of several advisory boards, including the World Food Law Institute, the Food Protection and Defense Institute, and as the past Chair of the Institute of Food Technologists Food Laws and Regulations Division.

Tony Pavel

Udi Lazimy works with companies around the world to build and transform supply chain and sustainability strategies, from farm to product. He has over 20 years experience leading sustainable food system policy, sourcing and innovation at companies and organizations like Eat Just, Beyond Meat, Upcycled Foods Inc, The Good Food Institute and Organic Farming Research Foundation. Most recently, Udi led both the sourcing and sustainability programs for Eat Just, makers of world-famous Just Egg and Good Meat brands. More can be found at https://udilazimy.com

Udi Lazimy

Founder and Principal

Vahid Hosseini is multiple founder, entrepreneur and scientist with 24 years of experience in research, and innovation. He holds a PhD in Bioengineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, an MSc in Materials & Nanotechnology from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden and PharmD in Pharmacy. He served at multiple scientific/executive roles, secured multiple grants, and founded/cofounded multiple manufacturing companies. He filed over 18 patents, published over 35 peer-reviewed articles, and won several awards and honors for his outstanding works. Before founding Hatchless, he served as Chief Scientific Officer of a cultivated meat company and contribute to design and development of one of largest cultivated meat facility to date with >20,000 L bioreactor capacity. He is passionate about advancing science and technology for the benefit of humanity, animal and the environment.

Vahid Hosseini

Vanessa Small

Yingqing Huang

Zoe is the CEO & Co-Founder of New Wave Biotech, where they develop AI Downstream Process (DSP) Optimisation Software to help alt protein and other synthetic biology businesses scale bioprocesses better, cheaper and faster. By doing this, they aim to accelerate the sustainable transformation of food production.

Prior to New Wave Biotech, Zoe spent 10 years mostly as a consultant launching new products, services and ventures for large corporates across healthcare, tech, finance, energy and consumer product sectors. She also founded Sourcery, an Online Wholesale Marketplace for Sustainable Consumer Products, and co-founded CoVis, an app using location and public data to predict individual COVID risk and immunity that won the MIT COVID Challenge.

Beyond her work, Zoe also supports the startup community through training, coaching to entrepreneurs via organisations such as The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN), Hatch Enterprise, Hyper Island City University and Kingston University.

Zoe Yu Tung Law

CEO & Co-founder

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