Tom is the Chief Financial Officer and a founding partner of Tyson Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Tyson Foods, the largest food company in the US. He has led the Tyson Ventures investments in and sits on the boards of Beyond Meat (exited), FoodLogiQ, Big Idea Ventures and New Wave Foods

Lavanya is the Head of Partnerships & External innovation, within the Strategy & Transformation group at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a global life science and pharmaceutical company.

Uma is a cardiologist, entrepreneur, and the CEO and co-founder of Memphis Meats. Memphis Meats is the world’s leading company producing cell-based meat: real meat grown directly from animal cells without the need to raise animals.

Patty Trevino has 20 years of marketing experience leading innovation, marketing communications, and brand strategy for CKE, Bloomin’ Brands, Burger King Corporation, and Procter and Gamble.

Sophie Egan, MPH is director of health and sustainability leadership as well as the editorial director for strategic initiatives at The Culinary Institute of America.

Seth Goldman is Executive Chair of Beyond Meat, which just had the most successful IPO of 2019 and is now in over 33,000 grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, universities, and beyond.

Sara Young is General Manager of Kellogg’s US Frozen Veggie category. She oversees one of the leading plant-based protein brands, MorningStar Farms, which offers a breadth of options including the number one veggie burger to chicken nuggets and breakfast sausage.  

Ann M. Veneman has a distinguished career in public service, serving as the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 2005 to 2010 and as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2001 to 2005.

Maisie Ganzler has more than 25 years’ experience in socially and environmentally responsible purchasing at Bon Appétit Management Company, where she has been instrumental in shaping the overall strategic direction of this food service pioneer.

Gil Phipps assumed the role of Kroger’s Vice President of Branding + Marketing + Our Brands in August of 2018. In this role, he leads the Kroger Company in branding, marketing strategy and creative.

Vince Sewalt leads the Regulatory Science & Advocacy team of DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences, a B2B business that develops bio-based products aimed at improving sustainability of our food chain, fuel supply, and consumer products.

Mohammed Oufattole is currently serving as the Vice President of Research & Development at Benson Hill Biosystems, a fast-growing Ag technology company located in St. Louis, MO. He has close to 20 years of experience in Life Sciences and Agricultural Biotechnology with a broad range of expertise in crop genetic improvement.

Marcus Keitzer is a Board Member at PHW Group. He is in charge of the Alternative Protein Business Unit and also oversees PHW’s corporate development activities including Mergers and Acquisitions and legal.

Christy Lebor is Global Innovation Lead for JBS – the world’s largest protein company – where she is responsible for creating revenue opportunities focused on the future of protein.

Mark Matlock joined Archer Daniels Midland Company in 1980. Mark Matlock was appointed Senior Vice President Food Research where he directs food ingredient and applications research. 

Eric is Chief Marketing Officer with responsibilities for the Marketing Services and Research & Development functions for Perdue. His everyday focus is stewardship and growth of the company’s brands through continuous elevation and quality, product innovation, and effective and efficient demand generation.

Celeste Holz-Schietinger, PhD is Director of Research at Impossible Foods. Since 2012, she has led flavor discovery at Impossible Foods, where she creates plant-based flavor systems and products that satisfy the cravings of the most passionate carnivores.

Dr Sandhya Sriram is the CEO and co-founder of Shiok Meats Pte. Ltd., Singapore. Sandhya is a stem cell scientist with over 10 years of experience. After graduating with a PhD from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Sandhya pursued her postdoc at A*STAR in Singapore.

Chuck Muth joined Beyond Meat as the Chief Growth Officer in May 2017 and leads a team of sales professionals. At Beyond Meat, Mr. Muth has been instrumental in building a high performing sales and commercial organization attracting top talent in the US and expanding into international markets.

Dr Kelvin Ng oversees strategic innovation at the Bioprocessing Technology Institute, one of the 20 research institutes under the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR) in Singapore. In this role, he targets biomanufacturing industries ranging from biosimilars, cell/gene therapies, to cultured meat.

Rosie Wardle is Programme Director at the Jeremy Coller Foundation (JCF), heading up the Foundation’s strategic programmes to end factory farming.

Jaime Athos is a visionary and passionate leader in the plant-based foods industry. With more than 14 years of experience building and supporting its growth, Athos is energized by the ever-increasing opportunity and adoption of plant-based foods worldwide.

Lisa Feria is the CEO of Stray Dog Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage, mission-driven companies that aim to take animals out of the supply chain with innovative products and services.

Lou Cooperhouse is co-founder, President & CEO of BlueNalu, a company focused on disrupting the global seafood industry with “cellular aquaculture”, and a sustainable, trusted and humane means of providing consumers with healthy, safe, and consistent seafood products with outstanding taste and quality.

Stephanie Feldstein is the Population and Sustainability Director at the Center for Biological Diversity. She leads the Center’s work to highlight and address threats to endangered species and wild places from unsustainable human population growth and overconsumption.

Max Elder is a Research Director in the Food Futures Lab at the Institute for the Future, the world’s leading futures thinking organization. He has led work around the world with food companies like Barilla, Hershey’s, and Campbell’s; major foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and innovative technology companies like Google and Intel.

Barb Stuckey has been at Mattson since 1997, and is currently President and Chief Innovation Officer at the country’s most successful independent developer of foods and beverages for the retail foods and chain restaurant industries. Barb is known as a taste, food trend, innovation, consumer insights, and product development expert.

Thomas is CEO and Co-Founder of Sustainable Bioproducts, a foodtech company that developed a breakthrough protein technology.

Shir Friedman, head of communication, and co-founder of SuperMeat. Shir is a passionate environmentalist and animal welfare advocate, and a talented presenter with over 10 years of experience in public speakings and communications.

Dil is an Associate Professor of Pulse Quality and Nutrition at Clemson University with ~12 years of experience in micronutrient biofortification of lentil, field pea, and chickpea.

Varun lives in Mumbai, India and studied at Carnegie Mellon University. He brings experience in healthcare, entrepreneurship, technology, venture capitalism, and knowledge of India’s plant-based market to expand GFI’s operations in India.

Darren Streiler is the Investment Director of ADM Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Archer Daniels Midland.  At ADM, Darren makes strategic investments in Series A and B startups in the Food, Agriculture, and Animal Health and Nutrition industries.  

Bruce Friedrich is co-founder and executive director of The Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit organization that promotes innovative alternatives to industrial animal agriculture.

Amy C. Rowat holds degrees from Mount Allison University (B.Sc. Honors Physics; B.A. Asian Studies, French, and Math), the Technical University of Denmark (M.Sc. Chemistry), and the University of Southern Denmark (Ph.D. Physics).

James brings over 25 years of experience building businesses as a leader and an investor. His consumer marketing and trend-spotting expertise have helped create new categories such as online photography, web-based calendaring and the Personal Digital Assistant.

Niya Gupta is the founder and CEO of Fork & Goode, which is growing pork directly from cells in Brooklyn, New York. Their mission is to produce the same delicious flavor and essential nutrition of meat without compromising on public health, the environment or animal welfare.

Dan Altschuler Malek is a Managing Partner at Unovis Partners, a global investment firm that provides early-stage funding to entrepreneurs developing plant-based and cultured meat alternatives to foods derived from conventional animal agriculture including beef, chicken, pork, dairy, egg, fish and shellfish products.

Michele Fite is the Chief Commercial Officer of Motif Ingredients, a food ingredient innovations company. A visionary food business leader & nutrition expert, Michele drives commercial strategy and execution for Motif, leading teams in business development, marketing, sales and product management.

Jessica Almy leads GFI’s work to create a better future of food through regulatory and statutory reform in Washington. She came to The Good Food Institute from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, where she served as Deputy Director of Nutrition Policy. Before working for CSPI, she worked for the D.C.-based law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.

Costa is Investment Director at CPT Capital, the venture arm of Jeremy Coller’s family office. Costa has led the building and management of the CPT Capital food and materials tech portfolio including Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats, Perfect Day, Geltor and Bolt Threads amongst others. Costa sits on the boards of Seaco Foods (Good Catch) and 3F Bio.

David Lipman is the Chief Science Officer at Impossible Foods, and joined Impossible Foods recently, in May 2017. Previously, he was the Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a division of the National Library of Medicine within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

As Associate Director of Science & Technology with GFI, Liz analyzes areas of current and future technological need within plant-based and cell-based meat innovation, catalyzes research to address these needs, and supports start-ups and investors who are moving the field forward.

Josh Tetrick is the CEO and Co-Founder of JUST, a San Francisco-based company on a mission to bring delicious, accessible, healthier and more sustainable food to everyone, everywhere.

Deepti Kulkarni, Esq. is an associate in the Food, Drug and Medical Device Regulatory practice, who counsels clients on a wide range of matters involving FDA regulatory issues. 

David Welch is the Director of Science & Technology at the Good Food Institute. He combines his background in plant biology and regenerative medicine to help companies and academic research institutions accelerate the development of plant-based and clean meat alternatives to animal products.

Anu Goel is President – Client Growth Solutions at SPINS, the only source for consumer insights; digital applications for brands, consumers, and retailers; cross-channel retail analytics; health and wellness expertise; and industry-leading consulting services. In this role, Anu leads SPINS’ Brand Growth Solutions, Consumer Insight Solutions, and Financial Partners Group.

Brian Plattner is the Processing Technology Director for the Food and Industrial Products Division at Wenger Manufacturing, Inc., one of the world’s leading suppliers of extrusion cooking systems for the food and feed processing industries.

Dr. Anja Schwenzfeier is currently part of the New Business Incubation unit of Novozymes A/S, where she works on defining new world leading biological solutions with the right industry partners.

Michael Kleindl is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Blue Horizon Ventures, a Swiss based Venture Capital Fund seeking to disrupt the existing supply chain of food with technology, innovation and best in class entrepreneurs. Plant based proteins and cellular agriculture are the main focus areas of interest.

Dr. Yuguo Lei received his B.S. in chemistry at Peking University; M.Phil. in polymer science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He then completed his M.S. in Pharmacology and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at UCLA, and postdoc in regenerative medicine at UC Berkeley.

David Benzaquen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ocean Hugger Foods, a company which manufactures plant-based seafood alternatives to address the overfishing crisis.

Gareth is a group leader within the Norwegian Center for Stem Cell Research and a PI within the Hybrid Technology Hub – Centre of Excellence in Oslo.

Jian Li is an associate professor at Beijing Technology and Business University. His research area is about molecular sensory science. During 2015-2016, he did a postdoctoral project about tomato flavor at University of Florida and USDA horticultural research lab.

Dil is an Associate Professor of Pulse Quality and Nutrition at Clemson University with ~12 years of experience in micronutrient biofortification of lentil, field pea, and chickpea.

Amy C. Rowat holds degrees from Mount Allison University (B.Sc. Honors Physics; B.A. Asian Studies, French, and Math), the Technical University of Denmark (M.Sc. Chemistry), and the University of Southern Denmark (Ph.D. Physics).

Peter Stogios is a Senior Research Associate at BioZone at the University of Toronto.  A structural biologist and biochemist by training, Peter manages a protein structure-function and engineering lab that is studying major biology and public health issues, including sustainable chemistry, agriculture, and infectious diseases.

Dr. Filiz Koksel is an Assistant Professor in Food Processing within the Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Canada. With her background in food engineering, she specializes in processing of foods and food ingredients, especially those from cereals and pulses.

Ivana Gadjanski is a Research Fellow and Senior Scientific Consultant at BioSense Institute – EU Center of Excellence for Advanced Technologies in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, Novi Sad, Serbia.

Dr. Mario Martinez is Assistant Professor in Food Engineering and the Head of the Food Innovation, Structure and Health Research Group.

Beth is the founder and CEO of Trophic, a company developing transformative technologies to unlock the potential of seaweed as a sustainable and global source of plant-based food products at large scale and low cost.

Dr Mariana Petronela (Petra) Hanga BEng, PhD, FHEA, AMIChemE is a Lecturer in Biological Engineering at Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

Mari-Liis is a research scientist at Center of Food and Fermentation Technologies (TFTAK) and specialises in plant-based product development. She has a MSc in applied chemistry and biotechnology from Tallinn University of Technology.