Webinars

Glenda R. Lewis is currently the Director of the Retail Food Protection Staff in FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Office of Food Safety, and has been at FDA since 1996. She served as a Team member and then, prior to her current role, served for 14 years as Team Leader of CFSAN’s Retail Food Policy Team with responsibility for leading the team in developing, revising, and interpreting regulations, model codes (such as the FDA Food Code) and Federal guidelines that pertain to retail-level food operations (e.g., restaurants, retail food stores, food vending, institutional food service (health care facilities, schools, child and adult day care; penal institutions, and contract feeding operations). Prior to FDA, Ms. Lewis served for 8 years with the Volusia County Health Department in Florida as an Environmental Health Specialist. Ms. Lewis has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Spelman College, Atlanta, GA and a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Deb Mazzaferro (aka Coach Maz) has been the go-to sales and marketing strategist in the specialty food industry since 2001. With her single-minded attention to revenue growth, she has consulted with over 200 companies on all facets of building and sustaining highly profitable and beautifully packaged specialty food products.

Having had an extensive, successful career as a National Sales Manager prior to launching her own practice, she expertly guides companies to establish a results-oriented sales process that meets or exceeds all industry standards, protocols and best practices.

Deb’s unique team building approach recognizes that it takes more than great strategic direction to achieve success. Using her process, Deb’s clients become equipped to implement the ideal strategy that delivers all the desired financials with an action plan specifically designed for their product and resources.

Over many years, Deb has perfected a unique 2-day workshop that unites all stakeholders and aligns their roles resulting in all activities executing the same priorities. This proprietary approach was perfected as she completed an intense ICF accredited Gestalt coach training program. Coach Maz acknowledges: “This extensive two-year accreditation was the best thing that I ever did for my clients and myself. It showed me how to ensure my clients had the tools to stay on the path to success. Most specialty foods start off with great intentions, but the majority fall off the tracks without the focus to unite the entire team along with the business’s objectives and the primary goal of revenue generation.”

Coach Maz has been a featured speaker at many major specialty food events including the Specialty Food Association’s Fancy Food Shows, The Vermont Specialty Food Association, The Virginia Department of Ag Specialty Food Summit and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise conferences.

Her latest book, “Have the Most Successful Tradeshow Ever” is an industry bible and available at Growing Your Specialty Food Business.

CoachMaz has a BS in Business from Rochester Institute of Technology, is certified by the Master court of Sommeliers and The Prioritized Leader.

You can reach Coach Maz at Deb@CoachMaz.com or 727-258-8015 for a free one-hour consultation or go to Growing Your Specialty Food Business to learn more.

Jared is a skilled Industrial Engineer, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Operations Consulting Leader with experience in delivering a wide portfolio of projects across a number of different and complex industries. Jared has experience end-to-end, from planning, receipt of raw materials, to the movement of product through the supply chain, to corporate shared services and beyond. Jared has led hundreds of projects with primary expertise in manufacturing, supply chain and logistics. Bakery, Meat, Dairy, Deli and Produce are the most heavily supported niche industries in his career to date. In addition to helping serve and grow The Poirier Group, who was recently acknowledged as one of the fastest growing Canadian companies, Jared has been a part-time lecturer at The Ohio State University, is a public speaker and webinar presenter, active with the Institute of Industrial Engineers and is most recently published as a coauthor in the Industrial Engineering handbook. Jared balances academic and research-based insights with his core operations and hands-on approach to solving business challenges.

Rob Veidenheimer is a Partner and President at Pentallect Inc.. Mr. Veidenheimer has worked as a consultant across the food supply chain and private equity industries. Focus areas of his consulting practice include strategic planning, market segmentation, organizational design, go-to-market model development, M&A due diligence, performance and investment benchmarking, broker engagement and management, evaluating operating practices for improved business performance and targeting growth acceleration opportunities. Prior to Pentallect, Rob was a Principal at The Hale Group, a food industry strategic consulting firm. He has also held leadership positions at consumer products companies including Campbell Soup Company subsidiary Pepperidge Farm; French’s Food Company, a member of the Reckitt Benckiser Group; and James River Corporation. Rob holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and a BA from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

In this webinar, Jason Ortega, VP of Public Affairs, and Brad Gething, VP of Science and Technology for the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA), will provide an overview of the wood pallet industry's critical role in building a sustainable supply chain.

Shawn Stevens, the founding member of FIC, is a nationally-recognized food attorney who has dedicated his entire firm to "Going All-In for Food and All-Out for Those Who Produce It."

Shawn works closely throughout the U.S. and abroad with food industry clients (including the world’s largest growers, processors, restaurant chains, distributors and grocers) helping them protect their brand by complying with FDA and USDA food safety regulations, reducing food safety risk, managing recalls, and defending high-profile food safety cases.

Shawn also speaks regularly to audiences on a wide variety of emerging scientific, technological, regulatory and food safety legal trends, and routinely authors columns for Meatingplace, The National Provisoner and Food Quality and Safety Magazine.

Jeff Gholson joined Rise Baking as Senior Vice President of Procurement in September, 2021 after the purchase of Brill Inc. where he held a similar role since 2013. Jeff has oversight of a North American Strategic Sourcing team where success means exceeding expectations in delivering delicious traditions through the purchase of raw materials, packaging and indirect.

Jeff has served on the Board of Directors of Sweetener Users Association representing American Food & Beverage Manufacturers who use sugar in their products.

He was also a past President of Southeastern Grain and Feed Association made up of companies servicing agribusiness in the Eastern United States.

He has held various Procurement and Commodity Risk Management roles during his 35 plus year career, with major brand companies such as Keystone Foods, Cocoa-Cola, GoldKist (Now part of Pilgrims Pride) and FC Stone (now known as StoneX). Over the 35 years he has managed various sourcing initiatives in the Americas and around the globe.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University.

Sherry Frey brings more than two decades of industry experience to her role as VP of Total Wellness at NielsenIQ. With a background in market research, innovation and consulting, she has elevated clients across the fresh, CPG and wellness industries, providing forward-thinking insights, combined with practical strategies. In addition to leading NielsenIQ’s Total Wellness team and industry engagement, Frey has been a featured speaker at many national and international industry events, and is often sought as a media and analyst resource on topics related to consumer health, wellness and environmental issues. Her view of health and wellness spans beyond personal health and wellness, encompassing how we collectively think about the health of the planet.

Myron Baumann, owner of P&M Pest Consulting has 48 years' experience in food processing and pest management including production, sanitation, and lab work. He has serviced commercial accounts and provided leadership for teams with up to 230 associates. He also has experience building a food processing technical team and has worked in Canada in two different capacities. He has been consulting for three years.

Jonna has been an innovator in the fresh foods space for nearly two decades driving the evolution of consumer-centric decision making and big data analytics throughout the perimeter. Jonna joined IRI in 2016 and leads IRI’s Fresh Foods practice which unlocks the big data power of IRI for perishables suppliers and retailers. She spearheaded developing IRI’s Integrated Fresh solution for sales and shopper tracking across total food and beverage, in partnership with IDDBA and other industry leaders. Jonna has talked fresh foods to outlets such as NPR and CNN and many others. She co-authors the monthly IDDBA and fresh industry articles with 210 Analytics’ Anne-Marie Roerink and was one of Progressive Grocer’s 2020 Top Women in Grocery.

Anne-Marie Roerink is the president of 210 Analytics, a research firm specialized in food retailing. Working closely with retailers, wholesalers, producers and trade associations, Anne-Marie has developed an excellent perspective on the ever-changing wants and needs of the consumer in a one-size-fits-no-one world. She understands the challenges and opportunities in the food retailing today as well as the drivers of success tomorrow. She works in many different areas from deli and meat to candy and bakery — uncovering the trends in our ever-changing marketplace.

Originally from La Habra, CA., Scott A. Rankin is Professor and Chair of the Food Science Department and recipient of the William F. Vilas Trust Estate Award at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Rankin earned degrees from Brigham Young University and Oregon State University. He leads programs in dairy manufacturing, covering such topics as milk pasteurization, cleaning and sanitizing, dairy chemistry, and frozen desserts while conducting research on reaction chemistry.  His research program has resulted in millions of dollars of intra and extramural funding, numerous publications and several patents and focuses on the area of small molecule chemistry applied to dairy and food issues. Primarily as a result of his research activities, Dr. Rankin has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Eckelman Foundation Fellowship; Society of Flavor Chemists Memorial Fellowship; Invention of the Year Finalist; Award of Honor for Outstanding Contribution to Cooperative Extension Service, the ADSA Foundation Scholar award; the ADSA Foundation Food Specialties award, and Brigham Young University Alumni Achievement Award. He also served as the elected president of the American Dairy Science Association  (2013/14) and the Federation of Animal Science Societies.

Amy Levine is a director at Clarkston Consulting, focused on consumer engagement strategy. Amy is an experienced industry professional with a focus on brand, marketing, sales, and innovation. Prior to joining Clarkston, she spent over 20 years driving change and strategy in CPG, including brand strategy, shopper marketing, eCommerce, consumer and category insights, and innovation. Amy is an expert at navigating corporate structures with an entrepreneurial mindset and delivering long-lasting results by translating strategic plans into tactical executions. She thrives at the intersection of creativity and analytics to build strong brand strategies and systems. She is solutions-focused and drives change by working cross-functionally and inviting people into the process. Amy is passionate about the power of business to be a force for good. Amy has an MBA from FW Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and a B.S. in Government from Skidmore College.

Ryan Mulligan is a manager at Clarkston Consulting. Ryan is an experienced industry professional with deep functional and industry expertise in the consumer products industry with a focus on sales and marketing strategies, processes, and technologies. He has expertise in Trade Promotion Management, Marketing Analytics, Marketing Strategy, Sales, and Forecasting. Ryan has managed the implementation of multiple TPM systems, helped design trade policies for numerous companies, and he regularly authors thought leadership articles on various subjects including TPM, Trade Marketing, and Revenue Growth Management. He is an avid follower of the sport of Rugby League and has been involved with the sport as a player, coach, and league/team administrator for over 15 years.

Heather Nelson leads Technomic’s syndicated research support team, helping suppliers and operators maximize insights to address unique business questions. Drawing from more than 15 years’ experience serving the needs of foodservice clients in a research and marketing capacity, Heather specializes in consumer insights and menu trends.