Speakers
Our industry-leading speaker panel has been curated to provide you with a diverse mix of unique voices shaping the future of food systems.
BIRGIT CAMERON
CO-FOUNDER AND HEAD
PATAGONIA PROVISIONS
Birgit Cameron is the Global Director of Patagonia Provisions, founded in 2012 by Birgit and Patagonia founder/owner Yvon Chouinard as a way to broaden Patagonia’s environmental mission. Under Birgit’s direction, Patagonia Provisions has introduced a varied line of mission-based food products intended to address critical environmental issues while establishing a model to help restore or rebuild the food chain. In 2016, Birgit produced Unbroken Ground, an award-winning documentary detailing the critical role food plays in solving the environmental crisis. Later that year, working closely with The Land Institute, she introduced Patagonia Provisions’ Long Root Ale, the first commercially available product made with a perennial grain called Kernza. In 2018, she worked as part of a larger Patagonia effort to establish the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA).
JOHN STEEL
CEO
CAFÉDIRECT
John Steel is a business leader and social entrepreneur with a passion for making business a force for good. Under his leadership Cafedirect has become profitable and maintained its sustainability commitments to its producers. John is determined that Cafédirect plays a pivotal role in leading the change agenda. In 2018 Cafédirect became the 1st coffee company in the UK to be B Corp certified and was recognised as the Social Enterprise of the Year. John first pursued a career in marketing, with organisations such as Nestlé and Weetabix. Subsequently he held leadership positions in large corporations and start-up businesses. John is a passionate believer in the need for real change in the way business contributes to society.
RICH CLOTHIER
MANAGING DIRECTOR
WYKE FARMS
Rich Clothier is a third-generation family member and MD at Wyke Farms. His family has been making award-winning cheddar on their Somerset farm since 1861. With Rich leading the business, the Wyke Farms brand has grown consistently by over 10% year on year and increased distribution to more than 160 countries worldwide. Rich has been pivotal in propelling Wyke Farms to become one of the leading South West food businesses and instigated an on-site biogas plant, which is the cornerstone to Wyke Farms’ 100% Green mission. Wyke Farms has since been named as the most sustainable business in Europe. The company employs 250 people directly across three sites and works with 1500 other businesses across the region and nationally.
NICOLE ATCHISON
CEO
PURIS HOLDINGS
Nicole leads the team at PURIS Holdings as the company continues to bring to market new innovations in food and ag that support a sustainable food economy. Spanning from sustainable cropping systems that are grounded in genetics that were designed for food and field performance to commercializing new plant-based food products and technology - PURIS Holdings is focused on leveraging the PURIS history to expand a sustainable food system. Nicole works with partners throughout the value chain to expand the company's reach and impact from soil to scale.
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TYLER LORENZEN
CEO
PURIS PROTEINS
Tyler is the CEO of PURIS Proteins and a board member for all the PURIS family of companies. PURIS was honored as Fast Company’s Most Innovative Food company in 2021 because of its sustainable food platform powering the plant-based food movement. Tyler, second generation to the founder, Jerry Lorenzen, joined PURIS in 2011 to launch the company into the plant protein space which is now the largest pea protein manufacturer in North America. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Tyler majored in International Business Management and was captain and starting quarterback of the school’s football team. His football career continued in the NFL, where he won the Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints.
DR. EMMA KELLER
HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY
NESTLÉ UK
Emma is Head of Sustainability for Nestlé’s UK&I, focusing on delivering the ambitious net zero climate commitment and driving the business to be a force for good. Prior to joining Nestlé at the end of last year, Emma led a team at WWF on food system transformation and before that was in Unilever’s sustainability team working on bringing the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan to life. She also holds a doctorate in supply chain sustainability.
ANNA TURRELL
HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT
TESCO
Anna is Head of Environment at Tesco, where she is responsible for the Company’s climate change agenda, as well as other areas including sustainable agriculture, forests, marine and the Company’s partnership with WWF. Prior to joining Tesco, Anna was Head of Sustainability for Nestlé UK & Ireland, where she led the development and roll out of an integrated sustainability strategy across the multi-category business. Whilst at Nestlé, Anna was seconded to the Swiss HQ to manage Nestlé’s global human rights due diligence programme, and was instrumental in the development and publication of Nestlé’s global plastics and packaging commitments. Before moving in-house, Anna spent 10 years in sustainability consultancy in Europe and Asia.
JOE FRANSES VP, SUSTAINABILITY, COCA-COLA EUROPACIFIC PARTNERS
Joe Franses oversees CCEP’s sustainability strategy focusing on sustainable packaging, energy, climate and water stewardship. He is responsible for stakeholder engagement, sustainability reporting and external engagement with NGOs, policy makers, customers and suppliers. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Joe spent three years with Cable & Wireless, overseeing corporate responsibility, sustainability reporting and disclosure as well as community and NGO partnerships. Joe began his career working in the charitable sector and spent four years working in public affairs and communications consultancy, focused on supporting businesses to develop and communicate their corporate responsibility strategies and community partnerships.
CAITRIN O'BRIEN
VP, ESG, FOUR SEASONS HOTELS AND RESORTS
As Vice President of ESG for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Caitrin is responsible for developing the company’s global ESG strategy, overseeing deployment of initiatives, and managing internal engagement and external reporting. Prior to joining Four Seasons, Caitrin led Hilton’s global sustainability strategy and ESG reporting efforts. Caitrin established Hilton's 2030 environmental goals, including leading the company’s food waste reduction efforts. Caitrin’s previous experience includes EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practices in London and Washington, DC, and positions at ICF International and the US EPA. Caitrin is a LEED-AP and holds a B.A. in Environment, Economics and Politics from Claremont McKenna College.
DOROTHY SHAVER GLOBAL
MKTG. SUSTAINABILITY LEAD, UNILEVER
Dorothy Shaver is a Registered Dietitian focusing on food system transformation with unique experience in and passion for driving behaviour change for positive health and environmental outcomes. Over the past seventeen years she has worked across media, retail, health care, marketing, AI, and the fitness industry championing food choices to enable personal and planetary health. Dorothy’s current role is Global Sustainability Marketing Lead for Unilever’s largest food brand Knorr, in addition to a founding board member of The Food for Climate League and Senior Nutrition and Wellbeing Advisor for syd (iamYiam).
JULIE GREENE CHIEF
SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER
OLAM GLOBAL AGRI
Julie Greene is Chief Sustainability Officer at Olam Global Agri. She fosters sustainable strategies for producing, sourcing and trading agricultural raw materials and products, with particular emphasis on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods. She spent over 15 years living and working in West Africa before recently relocating to Asia. Her experience spans leadership roles in the private sector, as well as working in international development for humanitarian and environmental NGOs. Julie also serves as Chairperson of the African Cotton Foundation.
CATARINA ENGLUND GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MGR, IKEA
In 2015 Catarina joined the Sustainability Innovation team as Global Sustainability Innovation Manager at the IKEA Group. Catarina explores and visualises new business opportunities within food and water to create transformational changes with sustainability as a base for the IKEA Business. She leads global initiatives covering the whole value chain. Catarina joined IKEA of Sweden in 2011 at the corporate level as Global Business leader becoming responsible for a part of IKEA Home Furnishing Business. The second assignment was as Global Range Manager for IKEA Food services. Catarina has a long experience from managerial positions in sustainability, marketing, sales and innovation in Fast Moving Consumer Goods within the area of food.
ANDY GRIFFITHS
HEAD OF VALUE CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY, NESTLÉ UK
Andy is responsible for the development and delivery of the Environmental Sustainability strategy within the operation and across the value chain. He has worked for Nestlé for over 20 years, originally in operational and engineering roles. He is a chartered environmentalist and IEMA fellow and a chartered engineer (IET). He is focussed on bringing together the engineering expertise, operational experience and environmental insights of the organisation alongside collaborative partnerships with academia and key delivery partners to develop and implement robust and effective sustainability programmes. Andy co-developed the LENs model with 3Keel to enable effective shared interest investment, at scale, into the regeneration of multifunctional landscapes.
CECILIA MCALEAVEY
DIRECTOR SUS. EATING & PUBLIC AFFAIRS, OATLY
Cecilia McAleavey is a committed spokesperson for the plant-based revolution. She joined Oatly in the beginning of 2016, a science-based company which in 2019 was recognized by Fast Company as one of the top ten most innovative companies in the world. In her role as Director of Sustainable Eating and Public Affairs at Oatly she is advocating a shift to plant-based diets to tackle climate change and public health challenges. In addition, Cecilia McAleavey is the President of Plant-foods Sweden, a Swedish Industry Organisation promoting plant-based production and consumption of plant-based foods. Furthermore, she is representing Oatly on the Steering Committee of the Brussels-based European Alliance for Plant-based Foods (EAPF) which she has helped setting up.
SIMON REID
HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY
INNOCENT DRINKS
Simon has led on innocent’s commitment to sustainability and championing business as a force for good since joining the company in 2016. As part of his role, Simon focuses on ensuring that innocent’s own operations and supply chain is as sustainable as possible – from carbon and water, to waste, farming practices and packaging. Simon has nearly 20 years’ experience in the environmental sector. He started his career with the charity Earthwatch, which helped businesses achieve their sustainability goals. Since then, Simon has worked for WRAP, Marks & Spencer and 3 Keel. Simon has a Master’s degree in Environment and Development and is a Chartered Environmentalist and member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).
SARA BURNETT, VP FOOD
BELIEFS, SUSTAINABILITY & PR, PANERA BREAD
Sara Burnett serves as the VP of Food Beliefs, Sustainability and PR at Panera where she manages strategy for a wide range of issues including food policy, sustainability and societal impact in addition to brand-wide public relations. She is responsible for the policies that shape the company’s perspective and commitments on food issues ranging from animal welfare to food additives. Prior to this role, Burnett worked for more than a decade on the Quality Assurance team, overseeing special projects including the creation and implementation of the company’s Clean food initiative, raised without antibiotics program, animal welfare standards and 2014 food policy.
HENRY UNWIN
DIR. OF SUSTAINABILITY
DAYLESFORD
Henry has worked in sustainability for over a decade for a range of organisations including environmental start-ups, charities, regional government and environmental consultancy. After advising Nando’s as a consultant Henry went on to join the restaurant group as their Head of Sustainability. Over his 5 years at Nando’s Henry and the team reduced the carbon footprint of their average meal by 40%, reduced direct emissions by 98% and donated over 2.5 million meals through their industry leading food donation programme. Henry recently joined Daylesford Organics as their Director of Sustainability where he is responsible for keeping this pioneering business at the forefront of sustainable food and farming.
JUDITH BATCHELOR OBE
DIRECTOR, FOOD MATTERS
INTERNATIONAL
Judith has worked in the food and drink industry for over 30 years and is a Biochemist and Registered Nutritionist. She has a particular interest and expertise in building resilient and sustainable farming and food systems. Prior to setting up Food Matters International, Judith was Director of Sainsbury’s Brand. Prior to Sainsbury's, Judith held a similar role at Safeway, spent twelve years in the Food Division at Marks & Spencer, most latterly driving their Health and Well-being strategy, and prior to this worked in manufacturing for Mars and Bass.
IRINA TURCAN
CO-FOUNDER
ERBOLOGY
Irina Turcan is the co-founder of Erbology. In 2016, she launched Erbology with her brother as a response to diet myths, excessive consumption of synthetic supplements, and intensive agriculture practices. Erbology scour the world for the finest plant-based ingredients and personalise them to their customers’ health goals. Prior to co-founding Erbology, Irina worked in finance and contemporary art in London. Irina holds an MSc in Management from London Business School and is fluent in 6 languages. She is passionate about nutrition, loves cooking, contemporary art and sailing.
MARK HASSENKAMP
GLOBAL HEAD OF AGRICULTURE, LIVEKINDLY
Mark has 20+ years' experience in horticulture investments, production and projects in Africa, Central & South America, Middle East, and Asian Sub-Continent. Mark is currently Global Head of Agriculture for The LiveKindly Company where he is responsible for global raw materials planning and sourcing for plant-based foods. Livekindly is an evolution of Blue Horizon, where Mark was previously an agri-tech advisor. Prior to this, Mark was Chairman Operating Boards within the Pioneering Ventures Group, Director of Operations Africa for Chiquita Brands International, and MD of Du Roi Laboratory. In 2014, Mark established RedSun Hortitech which now produces macadamia and avocado trees for growers across Southern Africa.
MARC ZORNES
FOUNDER
WINNOW
Marc Zornes was a former McKinsey Engagement Manager where he was a leader in the consumer & sustainability practices. While at McKinsey, Marc co-authored the McKinsey Global Institute report on Resource Revolution. In developing this report, his team highlighted food waste as one of the biggest issues globally and yet very little was being done about it. Marc then left McKinsey to found Winnow to help the hospitality sector cut food waste using technology. Winnow builds AI tools to help chefs run their kitchens more efficiently focusing on helping them understand and prevent food waste. Since launch, Winnow has been deployed in 45 countries and is saving its customers over $42m a year by reducing food waste.
RENSKE LYNDE
GENERAL PARTNER
1ST COURSE CAPITAL
Renske is General Partner of 1st Course Capital, an early-stage food & agriculture venture capital fund. 1CC is typically among the first institutional capital in pre-seed to seed stage companies that are transforming how we grow, produce and distribute food. Renske has been actively developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in food & agriculture since 2012. She has invested as an angel investor in companies including Imperfect Foods, Lineage Logistics, and Full Cycle Bioplastics.
Renske is also a Co-Founder, former CEO and current Board President of Food System 6, a non- profit accelerator. FS6 has graduated seven cohorts and maintains a 90% survival rate.
ASHISH GADNIS
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO
BANQU
Ashish Gadnis is the Co-founder and CEO of BanQu, a fully digitized and secure platform for supply chain traceability used by global brands like Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch. BanQu was named to the TIME Magazine 2019 Innovators, 2020 Meaningful Business Leaders List, and top innovations for circular economy by the World Economic Forum and Accenture. Mr. Gadnis previously founded multiple technology startups; the last was acquired by a $1.5 billion global consulting firm in 2012. He has received awards from MIT, the World Economic Forum, and others for private and public sector contributions. He holds a Bachelor’s in Systems Engineering (Bombay University), an MBA in Finance and Marketing (Carlson School), and an Executive Education in Global Leadership and Public Policy (Harvard).
MARJAN DE BOCK-SMIT
MANAGING PARTNER
IMPACTBUYING
Marjan is a purpose-driven entrepreneur who has established several successful companies in the international FMCG area. She is a strong believer in the positive impact that companies can have on their supply chains. Supply chain Information Management has contributed to a positive impact in transparency and insights in the supply chains of her clients and their customers. However, it did not lead to a proven positive impact in every part of the supply chain. Therefore, she decided to set up ImpactBuying. Marjan’s experience evolved around compliance, auditing, data and technology, and in addition to running her companies, she is active as a strategic advisor for initiatives that deliver solutions for impact-related topics. She supports several Steering Committees within the Consumer Goods Forum and IDH on topics including food safety, social compliance, living wage and environmental topics.
CAROLINE ASHLEY
SYSTEM CHANGE DIRECTOR
FORUM FOR THE FUTURE
Caroline leads global programmes focused on accelerating the transition to a just and sustainable future. A socio-economist by training, Caroline’s career has focused on innovation in international development. In the last decade, she worked with a wide range of challenge funds, impact investors, corporates and social enterprises, developing inclusive and sustainable business models. At Oxfam GB, she led innovative programming to transform economic systems, focusing on women's economic empowerment, reform of agribusiness value chains and climate resilience. In previous roles, she lived in Tunisia and Namibia, worked with communities and governments, led policy research at the Overseas Development Institute, and grew her own consulting company focused on inclusive business models.
MARIA LETTINI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FAIRR INITIATIVE
Maria has oversight of the creation and execution of FAIRR’s strategy and work plans. She previously worked for the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) where she lead the PRI's signatory relations and outreach strategy with the aim to raise awareness of material sustainability/ESG issues amongst the institutional investor community and ensure their incorporation into investment policies and practices. Maria has 20+ years’ experience in global investment banking, business and finance, working at both J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank. She serves on the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB) Standards Advisory Group and is also a member of the Intentional Endowment Network (IEN) Steering Committee.
JULIANE CAILLOUETTE-NOBLE
MANAGING DIRECTOR
SRA
Juliane Caillouette-Noble came to the Sustainable Restaurant Association as Development Director in 2016 after five years of running Jamie Oliver’s programmes for improving school food and food education across the UK. The SRA is a not-for-profit membership organisation committed to accelerating change toward an environmentally restorative and socially progressive hospitality sector in the UK. As Development Director, Juliane’s role included designing and developing strategic partnerships and campaigns, ensuring that the impact and influence of the SRA grows along with the size of the membership body. Juliane became the MD of the SRA in January and looks forward to working with the industry to build back better and greener post Covid.
EMMA CHOW
FOOD INITIATIVE LEAD, ELLEN
MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
Emma serves as the Lead of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Food initiative, which has been mobilising industry towards a nature-positive food system based on the principles of the circular economy since its inception in June 2019, following the Cities and Circular Economy for Food (2019) report. Emma and her global team engage players from across the food value chain, along with city municipalities, to take a systemic approach to unlocking the powerful positive potential of the food system to play a key role in tackling climate change and building biodiversity.
LESLEY MITCHELL
SUS. NUTRITION DIRECTOR
FORUM FOR THE FUTURE
Lesley leads Forum’s global work on food, with an expert team covering innovative topics including the future of protein, sustainable animal feed and regenerative agriculture. Previously Lesley directed an independent consultancy and worked across a range of international environments to promote large scale change toward sustainable food and farming. She helped shape UN policy recommendations on livestock, animal welfare and food security, and worked with major multi-stakeholder processes including the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock.
Lesley began her career as an animal welfare scientist at Oxford University, working with industrial poultry producers to adapt animal environments to improve welfare outcomes.
CHARLENE COLLISON
VALUE CHAINS DIRECTOR
FORUM FOR THE FUTURE
Charlene works to make value chains of land-based commodities regenerative, resilient and just. She leads multi-stakeholder collaborative initiatives across a range of sectors and themes, including directing the Cotton 2040 initiative. Charlene also leads strategy projects with brands, retailers and foundation partners, with a focus on using futures tools to diagnose and act on complex systemic challenges in commodity value chains. Charlene is a lead facilitator on Forum’s School for Systems Change and supports Forum’s thought leadership on systemic and collaborative change processes. Previous roles included futures and scenario planning with the UK Department of Business and Innovation & Skills, communications and narrative leadership.
EMMA PIERCY
HEAD OF CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY POLICY, FDF
Emma joined the Food and Drink Federation in October 2019 and has led on developing and now delivering the sectors Roadmap to Net Zero. Emma spends time working with stakeholders across the farm-to-fork supply chain and with other industrial sectors, to help food and drink manufacturing in the decarbonisation challenges ahead. Building upon the momentum created by the UK hosting COP26, Emma is focused on industry alliances to tackle the shared challenges and align on industry led solutions. Before joining FDF, Emma held a number of policy and regulation roles with RWE AG, RWE Npower Cogen, Elexon, Sustainable Energy Association, First Utility (now Shell Energy) and National Grid Gas.
SISKA POTTIE
SG, EUROPEAN ALLIANCE FOR PLANT-BASED FOODS
Siska Pottie is an experienced public affair professional and founder of Fjutjer BV, a consultancy guiding organizations through transitions. She has 20+ years of experience in Regulatory, Medical, Public and European Affairs and in international association management. With an academic background and Ph.D. in food and agronomy she exercised the functions of Medical and Public Affairs Director at Nutricia and Danone. For the last 6 years, she has also been MD of IMACE, the European and International Margarine Association. This year she created the European Plant-based Food Alliance, a multi-stakeholder platform, gathering like-minded companies and organizations around the common goal to advance plant-based foods as a vital part of the transition towards more sustainable and healthy food systems.
MIKE BARRY
STRATEGIC ADVISOR & SB
COMMENTATOR
Mike is a leader in sustainable change. One of the pioneers of green business in the corporate world he helped to develop, launch and implement Marks and Spencer’s ground-breaking sustainability programme, Plan A (because there is no Plan B for the one world we have). In ten years, Plan A delivered £750m of net business benefit and over the years won 230 awards. He helped the business engage in some of the world’s leading collaboration platforms. His external leadership ensured that Plan A leadership and learning was leveraged into wider change throughout the global economy. Upon leaving M&S he formed mikebarryeco ltd in order to support organisations across society and the economy to deliver sustainable change.
DUNCAN WILLIAMSON
FOUNDER
NOURISHING FOOD SYSTEMS
Duncan has worked on food systems for over twenty years. In 2020 he founded Nourishing Food Systems working with Greenpeace, The Changing Markets Foundation, Planet Shine, Organix, Merchant Gourmet, McDonalds, WWF, Chatham House, Nourish Scotland and Action Against Hunger. Previously he worked for Compassion in World Farming as head of policy. At WWF UK he created the programs on sustainable diets. He worked closely with the corporate sector and was seconded to IKEA food for two and half years, and worked with M&S, Sodexo, Tesco, Innocent, Waitrose and Nestle. He is a founder and vice chair of Eating Better.
