SPEAKERS

Madeline Comeau is a Biological Science Technician at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She works alongside Dr. Julie Hess in conducting research centered on identifying and evaluating strategies to help Americans meet recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Madeline is a clinical instructor in the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics at the University of North Dakota. Madeline received her Bachelor of Science in Community Nutrition and Master of Science in Nutrition, both from the University of North Dakota.

Julie Hess, PhD, is a Research Nutritionist at the USDA Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Dr. Hess’s research is centered on identifying and evaluating strategies to help Americans meet recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at the University of North Dakota. Dr. Hess received Bachelor of Arts degrees in French and English from the University of Texas at Austin and earned a doctoral degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Minnesota.

Ambassador Doug McKalip was nominated as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative by President Biden in June of 2022 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 22, 2022. Before joining USTR, Ambassador McKalip served with USDA with a distinguished career in farm conservation programs, agriculture marketing, and animal and plant health. He also previously advised Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on all agricultural matters relating to trade, national security, animal and plant health regulations, and a wide portfolio of domestic and international issues. Additionally, Ambassador McKalip was the Director of the White House Rural Council and served in the White House Domestic Policy Council, counseling the President on farm, ranch, and rural policy.

Oliver Kelly was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Kerry North America in January 2022. He began his distinguished career at Kerry as a sales graduate in 1991, and for more than 25 years he has held progressive leadership positions supporting Europe, North America and South Africa. In 2018, Kelly relocated to the United States in the role of Business President, Foodservice and Direct-to-Retail. Shortly after, he was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer, with accountability for food, beverage, and meat end use markets, regional sales and RD&A Teams, and the foundational technology strategies. Kelly is currently an Executive Board Member for the International Foodservice Manufacturers’ Association (IFMA) and holds a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from University College Dublin.

An adventurer, record-setter, and boundary-breaker, Darcy Gaechter is best known as the first and only woman to kayak the Amazon River from source to sea. Her three-person team also became the first team to kayak the entire river, where all previous expeditions had either hiked around or rafted portions of the whitewater in the Amazon River’s headwaters. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Gaechter inspires audiences with her personal journey of overcoming obstacles and making the impossible possible. Besides kayaking the entire Amazon River, Gaechter has achieved many “first female descents” of the world’s hardest rivers. When she is not on a whitewater expedition, Gaechter stays busy running her adventure kayak guiding business, Small World Adventures, and serving as a board member for the Ecuadorian Rivers Institute. She is also the author of The Kayaker’s Guide to Ecuador and Amazon Woman, an adventure memoir detailing her Amazon River expedition and the life challenges she faced to get there.

Timothy Larsen is Global Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey’s Consumer, Food & Retail Group, focusing on a variety of subsectors within food & beverage and consumer products, including specialty ingredients and flavors. He has advised on numerous M&A and capital markets transactions.

Larsen holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA from the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa.

Marie Wright is the President of Creation, Design & Development and Chief Global Flavorist at ADM Nutrition. She manages a team of over 1000 scientists across many disciplines including flavorists, chefs, product developers, microbiome experts, nutritionists, colorists, veterinarians, etc. As a transformational leader with extensive technical marketing and global management experience, Marie drives creative ingenuity with her team to deliver ground-breaking solutions across nutrition in the Food & Beverage, Pet, and Animal segments all over the world. Among the industry’s most prolific flavor creators, Marie has developed well over 2,500 flavors for the world’s leading CPG, private label, and quick serve food companies.

Marie has mentored young flavorists and founded a unique mentorship program at ADM, called The ADM Academy of Future Flavorists, to cultivate and nurture future talent. In addition to her role leading ADM’s Academy of Future Flavorists, she is also a renowned global educator. Marie studied Food Science and Chemistry at King’s College London, graduating with Honours First Class, and has received several awards including Women Worth Watching in STEM Award, WFFC Flavorist Recognition Award, and for 2023 the British Society of Flavourists’ Bill Littlejohn Award.

Chef John Stephanian leads a global culinary team as Vice President of Global Culinary and Innovation for ADM. In his current role, he is focused on developing culinary-forward solutions that appeal to ADM customers and the consumers they serve while keeping culinary integrity in mind. Having served in key culinary leadership roles throughout his career, John brings more than 15 years of food-centric experience to ADM, which has helped him attract an international team of ambitious culinarians with progressive views on how to evolve dishes to appeal to today’s consumers.

Ken Kraut is vice president of global savory flavor creation and chief flavorist, overseeing and supporting ADM's savory category strategy, global savory flavor portfolio, and innovation pipeline. Ken has over 30 years of flavor creation experience and research, which he shares as a mentor in the ADM flavorist academy. Ken is actively involved in developing and facilitating savory flavors and ADM’s technology pipeline globally. Ken is a long-time member of The Society of Flavor Chemists and has served on the board as President. Ken's passion for flavor creation has led him to be an inventor and contributor to multiple patents and publications throughout his career.

Ari Gastman has over 25 years of experience in the flavor industry, spanning commercial flavor creation to leading creation teams. He currently leads Citrus flavor creation globally for dsm-firmenich’s Taste Texture & Health division, where he is responsible for ensuring commercial teams have the best tools. Ari received a Bachelor of Sciences in Biology at Binghamton University, where he began his studies as a pre-med student. Prior to his role at dsm-firmenich, Ari worked for Kerry, Virginia Dare Extract Company, and Comax Flavors.

Corporate Executive Chef Robert Wallauer has over 20 years of experience in the food industry, both in operations and manufacturing. He currently leads the culinary strategy for dsm-firmenich Taste Texture and Health North America, bringing authenticity, technique, and tradition alive through flavor. He completed his culinary training at The French Culinary Institute, New York City, and earned his MS in Nutrition Education at American University, Washington, D.C. Prior to his role at dsm-firmenich, he was the Corporate Executive Chef for Unilever Food Solutions North America.

Julien Lafleur is Deputy Secretary General of the International Food & Beverage Association (IFBA). He is also Managing Director, NY of Edelman Global Advisory, Edelman’s Public Affairs and Government Relations shop. He leads a team of policy, political, and technical experts supporting clients in their strategic engagement with global intergovernmental organizations including the United Nations and other multilateral foras. He brings 15 years of experience running advocacy campaigns at the EU level, as well as in issues management, government relations, and regulatory and policy advisory, supporting trade associations and Fortune 500 companies. He additionally has experience across a variety of policies including health and nutrition, climate, and data protection, particularly for companies with consumer-facing issues such as food and beverages, toy manufacturers, alcoholic beverages, media, and advertising.

Greg Dowles has worked at Berje Inc. for 20 years. He is proud to be part of Berje’s longstanding Purchasing Team and Sustainability Team. Greg is passionate about sustainability and embodies Berje’s commitment and forward momentum in this area.

Libby Menders joined the Ocean Spray Sustainability Team in the spring of 2022. Prior to Ocean Spray, she worked in public health for the state of Massachusetts for five years. Menders works on various sustainability-related projects at Ocean Spray, from customer requests to assessing new sustainability regulations, partnering with farmer-owners on initiatives, and building Scope 3 strategies. She has a Masters in Sustainability from Tufts University.

Valerie Wieman is an Assurance Partner in PwC’s U.S. National Office with over 30 years of experience and currently serves as one of the sustainability reporting technical leaders. She is part of the leadership team responsible for crafting PwC’s response to various U.S. and international environmental, social, and corporate (ESG)-related proposals and developing the interpretations and communications about final ESG-related rules and standards as they are issued. Valerie co-led the development of the firm’s positions and drafting of the firm’s response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s 2022 climate disclosure proposal and participates on several PwC global working groups to discuss interpretations of the global sustainability frameworks.

Prior to her current role, Valerie was a part of PwC’s U.S. National SEC Services group, helping clients navigate SEC rules and regulations in periodic and transaction-based filings, and spent 20 years serving audit clients in a variety of industries. Valerie is a graduate of Villanova University and a member of the Sustainable Business Management Committee of the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Sven Ballschmiede is Executive Director of the International Organization of the Flavor Industry (IOFI). Before joining IOFI, Sven had been the Executive Director for the European Flavor Association (EFFA), while simultaneously serving as Executive Director for the German Flavor Association (DVAI) and the German Fragrance Association (DVRH). A native of Saarbrücken (Germany), Sven is a lawyer by training who studied in both Germany and Switzerland.

Prior to his career in the world of associations, Sven worked at the International Law Firm Gide Loyrette Nouel in Brussels specializing in International Trade Law and WTO Dispute Settlement. He assisted multinational companies in the context of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy procedures and advised different national governments in dispute settlement procedures at the WTO in Geneva.

Chisara Ehiemere is the Senior Research Lead, Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI™) at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, where she oversees ROSI research and partnerships. She has over 20 years of experience building sustainable supply chains and roles, including Senior Assurance Director with Field to Market and Vice President of Certification at Fair Trade USA. Chisara holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Mike Troupos is a Vice President at Foresight Management with Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and Certified Procurement Professional (CEP) designations from the Association of Energy Engineers. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering. Mike is a self-declared "energy nerd" who has spent the last ten years learning everything he can about the energy management industry. He thrives off the complex, rapidly changing nature of energy and sustainability. Mike is in his element when empowering industrial companies to strategize reductions in energy consumption and utility costs.