2023 Speakers

More speakers to be announced soon
microphone on a lecturn for a conference about sustainable food
Adrien Villalonga joined Big Idea Ventures to help launch their Paris-based accelerator program. He is now in charge of managing global dealflow and investing in early-stage companies in the alternative protein and ingredient space. Prior to this he worked as a venture capital analyst for two early-stage venture capital funds and as a financial auditor for Mazars. Additionally, he has experience in Supply Chain Management in the aerospace sector. Adrien holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from ESSEC Business School (Paris) and a CEMS Master’s in International Management from ESADE (Barcelona).

Adrien Villalonga

Big Idea Ventures
Senior Investment Associate
Ahmed Khan is a cellular agriculture consultant and the founder and editor of CellAgri. A news and research startup that aims to be the homepage of the emerging field of cellular agriculture. CellAgri provides the latest updates and insights on a range of topics and trends relating to cellular agriculture. CellAgri’s platform also tracks all the major and upcoming players in the field. Providing them the ability to post and share their latest news and opportunities. Ahmed is a co-founder and member of the board of directors of Cellular Agriculture Canada, a non-profit organization advancing and promoting the cellular agriculture industry in Canada. Ahmed has previously spoken about cellular agriculture in Canada, England, Singapore, and the United States. Ahmed first learned about cellular agriculture while studying at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Ahmed Khan

CellAgri
CEO & Founder

Aneke Schwager

Impossible Foods
Director Government Relations
Dr. Barak Zohar joined Ever After Foods (EAF) in 2022 and currently serves as Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Zohar has 15 years of experience in bioprocessing and tissue engineering in both industry and academic settings. Prior to joining EAF, Dr. Zohar served as Head of Bioprocess Technologies at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Earlier in his career, Dr. Zohar held the positions of Production Manager at Biological Industries and Bioreactor Process Development Team Leader at Pluri. Dr. Zohar holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, MBA, and BSc in Biotechnology and Food Engineering from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Barak Zohar

Ever After Foods
CTO
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

BERA
Partner
I'm Benjamin Debonneville, a Swiss entrepreneur who has ventured to over 30 countries while building my career. As the founder of Debonne Agency, my focus lies in creating captivating pitch decks. With a talented 360 team by my side, we cover all angles necessary to deliver top-notch presentations. Beyond work, I find joy in the strategic game of chess, exploring breathtaking hiking trails, and immersing myself in different cultures through travel. I believe that a well-rounded life fuels creativity and innovation. Whether I'm crafting impactful pitch decks or embarking on new adventures, I strive to find the perfect balance between work and play. Join me on this exciting journey as we explore new horizons and push the boundaries of presentation design

Benjamin Debonneville

DEBONNE.AGENCY
Co-founder
Biochemist at the University of Navarra. MBA in biotechnology companies, CESIF. 5 years of commercial and business development experience in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and food industry. Since 2018 being part of the commercial area of AINIA Centro Tecnológico. Previous start-up of Biotech Service: Marketplace for biotech services

Bosco Emparanza García

MOA Foods
CEO & Founder
Brad Vanstone is co-founder of Willicroft proudly serving their CEO - Mother Nature. Brad is the grandson of a dairy farmer turned plant-based cheese maker. Having launched Willicroft at 500 supermarkets, Brad is aiming to prove that plant-based cheese can be just as delicious as its dairy alternative.

Brad Vanstone

Willicroft
Co-Founder and Head of Impact
Cai Linton has an MEng in Molecular Bioengineering from Imperial College London and combines technical knowledge in tissue engineering & data science with management experience. His motivation to create a sustainable future using biotechnology led him to co-found Multus to shorten routes to market and lower entry barriers in the cultivated meat industry. Multus creates the key ingredients for the affordable scale-up of cellular agriculture. The company's growth media formulations and ingredients are the building blocks of cellular agriculture and enable the affordable at-scale production of real animal products, including meat, dairy, leather, and more, using cells instead of animals.

Cai Linton

Multus
CEO
Carlotte Lucas is the senior corporate engagement manager at the Good Food Institute Europe. The Good Food Institute Europe is an international NGO helping to build a more sustainable, healthy and just food system by transforming meat production. Carlotte works with companies and investors across the globe to drive investment, accelerate innovation, and scale the supply chain of alternative proteins—all faster than market forces alone would allow.

Carlotte Lucas

Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe
Senior Corporate Engagement Manager
Dr. Christophe Schmitt is Expert Scientist leading Plant Protein Strategic Network at Nestlé Research (Switzerland). He previously managed the Proteins team in Lausanne and led the Nestlé R&D Protein Knowledge Network. He is developing sourcing strategy and supporting research and product applications using animal and plant proteins. He owns a PhD in Biotechnology and Food Processing from Nancy University (France). His main research interests are related to phase separation phenomena in food as well as protein aggregation upon physical treatments in dairy and plant matrices. He has published 94 papers in collaboration with numerous academic researchers worldwide. He is co-inventor of 65 patent applications supporting several Nestlé product launches and contributed to oral lectures in 57 international scientific conferences. He is member of the American Chemical Society, division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and serves the advisory board of the Bridge2Food Protein Summits and Global Plant-Based Foods & Proteins EcoSystem.

Christophe Schmitt

Nestlé Research
Protein Expert - Leader Plant Protein Strategic Network
Daan Luining has been working as a molecular biologist from at the start of the cultivated meat movement. He was part of the team that made the first cultivated meat hamburger in the world, and has been working on his dream to make cultivated meat a reality ever since. New Harvest, THE non-profit for cellular agriculture, was Daan’s next destination, for which he helped develop their fellowship program that now supports over a dozen researches around the world. When back in Europe, Daan developed a unique plan to make cultivated meat available for everyone and founded Meatable. Meatable is pioneering a way of producing real meat without harming anyone or anything. It isn’t like meat, it is meat. Efficient. Sustainable. Cruelty-free. And most importantly of all, delicious. The new natural.

Daan Luining

Meatable
Founder & CTO
Daphna has over 20 years of experience and a proven track record in establishing and growing successful biotechnology companies. She brings extensive expertise in managing both early-stage and mature technology-based companies, including demonstrated successes in raising substantial funds and developing significant strategic partnerships. In 2021, she co-founded and has been leading Wanda Fish which produces a whole-cut premium cultivated bluefin tuna. The company collaborates with Prof. David Kaplan, a leading cellular agriculture academic authority from Tufts University. Daphna earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Daphna Heffetz

Wanda Fish
Co-founder & CEO
Diana currently works within the European Innovation Council Fund (EICF) – the Europe’s flagship innovation programme with a budget of over €10 billion. EIC focuses on solving greatest challenges by supporting the best scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs developing deep tech, climate tech and health tech solutions. Within it, Diana works on investors outreach – developing a community of relevant investors aligned with the EIC values and connecting companies with relevant investors. Prior, Diana worked in project management and SME Instrument and in the financial services on various EU programs. Diana is a Newton Venture Program Fellow – a program set up by LocalGlobe, Silicon Valley Bank and London Business School (LBS) with the purpose of making the venture capital environment more diverse, she followed several trainings on venture capital and she is currently following an executive MBA on Food and Agribusiness by TIAS and Wageningen University in Netherlands.

Diana Rucinschi

European Innovation Council
Investment Advisor
Dr. Efrat Avigad Laron is the Molecular Biology Team Leader at BioBetter, an Agri-Tech start-up company developing a cost-effective, plant-based protein expression platform for producing growth factors for the cellular agriculture industry. Efrat leads a talented team responsible for designing and cloning innovative genetic expression tools and developing analytical methods. Previously, Efrat worked as a pharmacology and project manager at Salzman Group, an Israeli-American pharmaceutical company. Efrat holds a Ph.D. in developmental biology from Bar-Ilan University, School of Medicine, Israel. Efrat is a passionate scientist who believes in the power of Agri-Tech to solve global food and environmental challenges.

Efrat Avigad Laron

BioBetter
Molecular Biology Team Leader
Elsa Guadarrama is a dedicated and passionate professional with a wealth of international experience in market research and consumer understanding. With a deep appreciation for diverse cultures and cuisines, Elsa draws inspiration from the multitude of flavors and culinary traditions found around the world. Originally from Mexico, she brings a unique perspective to her work. As the Consumer & Market Research Manager at ProVeg International, Elsa is fully committed to spearheading positive change within the food industry. Since joining the organization in February of this year, she wholeheartedly contributes to ProVeg's mission of transforming the global food system. With a goal of replacing 50% of animal products worldwide with plant-based and cultivated alternatives by 2040, Elsa plays a crucial role in driving this ambitious agenda forward. Elsa's expertise in market research and consumer understanding enables her to identify key insights and trends, informing ProVeg's strategies and initiatives. With her unwavering dedication and commitment to creating a more sustainable and ethical food system, Elsa Guadarrama is a valued member of the ProVeg team, working tirelessly to make a positive impact on the world.

Elsa Guadarrama

ProVeg International
Consumer & Market Research Manager
Dr Emily Telford is a dynamic R&D Scientist at 3D Bio-Tissues responsible for the development of some of the company’s proprietary technologies. She has a BSc in Biomedical Research from Newcastle University and a PhD in Target Discovery in Prostate Cancer from Cardiff University, UK. Upon returning to Newcastle in 2020, first to work in a project supported by the Good Food Institute and subsequently as part of 3D Bio-Tissues, Emily quickly became one of the most prominent CellAg scientists in the industry. Her research was fundamental for the creation of City-Mix™, a range of chemically defined medium supplements capable of greatly boosting cell and tissue culture performance while reducing the levels of expensive growth factors required in media. Emily’s research also contributed to developing new and more efficient Tissue Templating methods to produce high yields of engineered tissues emulating the structure and composition of natural meat and skin. Together, City-Mix™ and Tissue Templating technologies have the potential to enable other Cultivated Meat and CellAg companies to reach price parity for their products.

Emily Telford

3D Bio-tissues
City-Mix Product Specialist
Emma graduated from Tulane University with a degree in Neuroscience. Her fascination for the fungal world brought her to Bosque Foods as one of the first employees. Her foundational understanding of biology, chemistry, and physiology stands as a testament to her ability to bridge scientific disciplines, offering a unique perspective that fosters innovation. Her research in fermentation makes her an expert in mycelium production and process development. She actively contributes to developing the company's intellectual property portfolio by shaping knowledge-based products that define the industry's trajectory.

Emma Giancaterino

Bosque Foods
Head of R&D
Emmie Dumont is a highly accomplished scientist with a Master's degree and Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Ghent University, Belgium. After her Ph.D. she joined the Pfizer Analytical Research Centre as a PostDoc. Over the past 16 years, she has worked at the RIC group, by its acronym in English (Research Institute for Chromatography) a privately owned analytical R&D lab situated in Kortrijk, Belgium. Throughout her career, Emmie has dedicated her efforts to developing methods for analyzing various small molecules in diverse matrices such as food, pharmaceuticals, and the environment. Currently, as the group leader of the small molecules team at RIC group, she oversees a passionate group of individuals who are committed to assisting customers in solving their analytical challenges. Recently, the group has embraced new endeavors within the emerging field of novel food production. were they bring in their extensive experience in sample preparation, chromatography, electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to deliver in-depth process understanding to their clients: from ingredients (e.g., detergents, antifoam), across recombinantly produced products (e.g. milk proteins) to complex cell-based cultures (e.g. lab-grown meat).

Emmie Dumont

RIC resolve
Analytics Group Leader
Erika is Managing Director at ERIDIA GmbH, a Joint Venture of the Bühler and the ZETA group, since June 2022. Prior to this, Erika looks back on 7 years with the Bühler Group, first in the UK and then in Switzerland where she held different roles, the latest as Head of Bioprocessing for the Bühler Group. In this role, Erika shaped Bühler’s Future of Food program and oversaw the group activities in the bioprocessing space. Erika holds a PhD in Food Process Engineering from the Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany and graduated in Food Science & Technology from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires in Nancy, France.

Erika Georget

Eridia
Managing Director
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

Sophie's BioNutrients
Co-founder & CEO
Floor Buitelaar is a Managing Partner and co-founder at Bright Green Partners, the global alternative protein consulting firm. She is an accomplished leader in alt proteins, and has directed 25+ projects for global clients like Ajinomoto and Kraft Heinz within the alternative protein industry. She is also a sought-after conference speaker, sharing her insights on industry trends, challenges and opportunities and an honoree of Forbes 30Under30 2023 European Manufacturing & Industry list.

Floor Buitelaar

Bright Green Partners BV
Co-founder & Managing Partner
Frans-Willem is CEO at Ecochain. In addition, he is an investor and board member at several B2B tech companies across Europe and a founder of tech startups in mobile, Internet, and energy. He has over 20 years of international experience in telecoms, cable television, mobile, Internet, and IT services. And is the former CEO & Managing Director of several Liberty Global operations across Europe.

Frans-Willem de Kloet

Ecochain
CEO
Fred van de Velde is group leader and principal scientist protein functionality at NIZO (Ede, the Netherlands). He has a PhD in biocatalysis from the Technical University of Delft and over 20 years of experience in food ingredients and proteins, including both dairy, plant and alternative proteins. His work field of protein functionality ranges from extraction and separation from different sources to application in food and feed products. This includes downstream processing, molecular characterisation, functionality and sensory properties as well as interaction with other ingredients in complex matrices, including dairy and meat alternatives. Fred his expertise’s are on the relationship between the molecular structure of food ingredients, their interactions, microstructure and texture on the one hand and product stability and sensory perception on the other hand. His has two major interest: expanding the use of plant protein by improving their functional properties and up-scaling and developing sustainable extraction processes for the food industry. To date, he has published more than 90 research articles and book chapters and he is (co)-inventor of 12 patent applications. Moreover, Fred is the chair of the biannual NIZO plant protein functionality conference.

Fred van de Velde

NIZO food research
Principal Scientist & Group Leader
Hannah is a leader in novel food regulations and has over 15 years experience in developing veterinary, animal feed, and food products for regulatory approval in the EU and other global markets. She is passionate about alternative proteins and foodtech, and founded Atova Regulatory Consulting in 2022 to help companies navigate the complex requirements needed for regulatory approval. She has worked extensively on cell-cultured products, fermentation and precision fermentation products, algae and seaweeds, and traditional foods - preparing regulatory roadmaps, providing support on study design and statistics through to preparing novel food dossiers & traditional food notifications.

Hannah Lester

Atova Consulting
CEO & Principal Consultant
Hermes Sanctorum (°1981) is CEO and co-founder of Paleo. Member of Parliament and Senator in Belgium for 10 years. His major battlefields in politics were animal welfare, climate change, agriculture and sustainability. Hermes Sanctorum studied bio-engineering and obtained a PhD in environmental chemistry. Author of the book ‘Eigen soort eerst’ (‘First our own species’).

Hermes Sanctorum

Paleo
CEO
Cofounder & CEO of KindEarth.Tech | CellBased Foodtech Board Member | Founder of ToothCamp | NextNatureNetwork Fellow |KindEarth.Tech (KET) Amsterdam, Netherlands Founder, organizer, designer and speaker With my legacy as daughter of The Godfather of CellAg “Willem van Eelen” and the largest network in this field, I support innovation through KindEarth.Tech and let you embrace the huge potential of this future foods industry …. that is here today. All routes, small, medium and large will play an important role in getting it to our plates for many to enjoy, therefore I find it important to take the role agriculture can play into account with RESPECTfarms. My passions for design, software system integration, preventive oral health care and educating teenagers are important elements in my lives journey.

Ira van Eelen

KET
Founder
Isha Datar is the executive director of New Harvest, a nonprofit dedicated to ending our dependence on industrial livestock production by growing foods like meat, milk and eggs from cells instead of animals. After publishing one of the first papers to discuss cultured meat in academic literature, she coined the term "cellular agriculture" to create a new category for agricultural products produced from cell cultures rather than whole plants and animals. In 2014, Datar cofounded two of the world's first cellular agriculture companies: Perfect Day Foods (formerly Muufri) and The Every Company (formerly Clara Foods). She promptly donated all of her founding equity to New Harvest to establish a public endowment for cell ag research. Now, she works to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and steward cultured meat such that it serves the public good.

Isha Datar

New Harvest
Executive Director
Jaclyn manages the global New Foods division at Donaldson Filtration Solutions. Jaclyn has a degree in Chemical Engineering and a background in fermentation research and process engineering. She previously worked as a Technical Business Specialist for Plant-Based Food and Beverages at Donaldson and now continues to work with a team of technical specialists to support the process and product integrity of New Foods customers through application of innovative filtration solutions.

Jaclyn Simons

Donaldson
Global Business Development Manager - New Foods
John is the Programme Manager at the Alternative Proteins Association, one of the largest its kind in Europe, designed to promote the value of alternative proteins in the UK. The APA aims to tackle the challenges of food insecurity, climate change, and intensive farming by helping the UK become a world leader in alternative proteins and inspiring collective action. John was previously a Net Zero Energy Consultant Engineer at Arup & Partners delivering projects, working with stakeholders including energy and finance companies, local government, universities and the PM’s Business Council. He also brings experience working as a Policy Advisor at DEFRA, working on an iGEM synthetic biology research project and serving on the Gen Z Advisory Board at Aleph Farms. He holds a masters degree in Engineering from the University of Exeter and has a passion for alternative proteins, even founding his own alternative protein company during university!

John-Felipe Murphy

Alternative Proteins Association
Program Manager
Justyna is Pen & Tec’s regulatory expert in human food and nutrition, specialising in novel food product registrations, foods for special medical purposes, food supplements and has extensive experience in the registration of feed additives in the EU and other jurisdictions. Justyna has an MSc in food technology and nutrition as well as a degree in biomedical engineering. For over 8 years, Justyna has been supporting Pen & Tec’s clients by managing product approvals, providing regulatory advice and designing training sessions for regulatory teams. Justyna has also presented at industry leading conferences on topics such as the novel food approval process in the EU and has delivered live webinars on cellular agriculture and dossier submission to the UK FSA.

Justyna Palasinska

Pen & Tec Consulting
Regulatory Affairs Director – Human Nutrition
Marine Scientist with a background in running ingredient businesses in Asia Pacific and Europe with DSM and most recently CEO of Veramaris which produces natural marine algal Omega 3 oil. Now leading a multi-functional biotechnology project to produce 'protein without footprints' for use in food applications and animal feed production.

Karim Kurmaly

DSM
Director of Smart Protein
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

HGF
Partner, Patent Attorney
Kevin Camphuis is the co-founder of Shakeupfactory, a prominent business accelerator and open innovation boutique specializing in food and agtech. With 20 years of experience in strategy and breakthrough innovation management at a leading global corporation, Kevin's expertise drives the success of ShakeUpFactory. Based in StationF, Paris, the organization brings together over 300 international startups and corporations, collectively shaping the future of the food economy. Kevin's passion for innovation and deep understanding of the food and agtech industries position ShakeUpFactory as a reference point in the field. Through impactful collaborations, he drives industry transformation and sustainable solutions for the challenges facing the food industry. Kevin Camphuis is a respected figure actively shaping the future of food and agtech.

Kevin Camphuis

ShakeUpFactory
Co-Founder
Kianti is the CEO and founder of Upstream Foods. She is a tissue engineer by trade and has done research on using 3D-printing technology to create tissue for medical purposes at both Utrecht University and Harvard Medical School. She felt a strong need to contribute to a better world and started looking for that sustainable application of the tech she was already working on. That led her to the cultivated meat industry. She gathered a team around the mission to remove animals from our supply chains, starting with fish. Upstream Foods is developing a novel cultivated fat ingredient, to bring the authentic taste, creamy mouthfeel, and all the health benefits of traditional seafood, to plant-based seafood. Their ingredient enables plant-based seafood producers to create better products. With a small number of cultivated cells, we can have a big impact on the quality of the product: seafood without a catch.

Kianti Figler

Upstream Foods
Founder & CEO
Laurice is a research scientist and expertise leader ‘Protein technology’ at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Laurice trained as a protein chemist in France, after which she acquired her PhD in the Food Chemistry chair group of WUR, studying potato proteins. Laurice further pursued interest in plant proteins at NIZO, a contract research institute, and subsequently at Cargill, where she gained experience in (mild) fractionation, structuring and application in food products using a broad range of plant proteins. Laurice is driven to contribute to improving the quality of new sources of protein and delivering sustainable and tasty food products.

Laurice Pouvreau

Wageningen University & Research
Expertise Leader Protein technology
Dr. Lisa Zychowski is a food industry professional with a strong background in ingredient functionality within the plant-based sector. Lisa holds a Bachelor's degree in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin Madison and completed her PhD in Food Chemistry at UCC in Ireland. Lisa has gained valuable insights and expertise within the CPG sector by working in companies such as Nestle, ConAgra and Leprino Foods. Additionally, she led specialized consultancy services within a firm dedicated to ingredient innovations and optimizing scale-up processes. At Planted Foods AG Lisa leads a team focusing on raw material properties, quality, and processing methods to create exceptional vegan meat products. Her passion for sustainable food solutions and commitment to creating environmental impact drives her in shaping the future of plant-based alternatives.

Lisa Zychowski

Planted
Lead Scientist
Lorena is the Innovation Programme Manager at EIT FOOD CLC South specilaizing in Healthy Nutrition and Protein Diversification since 2018. With over 20 years of international experience in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods and Horeca sectors, she made significant contributions in the areas of Innovation, business development, and marketing. She has worked in renowned companies such Kraft Foods and Burger King and has also served as senior business consultant of prominent food industry companies on designing and implementing clean label and sustainability product strategies. She pursued a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Food Science and Technology at Universitá degli Studi di Milano and she received a Master’s in Nutrition and Dietetic for Health Promotion at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. To enhance her leadership and managerial skills, she completed an Executive Education Program (PDD) at IESE Business School.

Lorena Savani

EIT Food
Innovation Program Manager
Marina Schmidt is the Founder and Editor in Chief of the impact media outlet Red to Green Solutions. Red to Green hosts the most in-depth podcast on food tech and sustainability, covering each topic in 12 episodes. It is ranked in the 5% most shared and followed globally with a loyal listenership spanning over 160 countries. Red to Green has been listed and recommended as the top agrifood podcast by various industry insiders, including the MIT Food and Agriculture Club calling it an “excellent food tech series.” The past seven seasons covered the topics of cellular agriculture, plastic alternatives, consumer acceptance, food waste, and biotech in food, to name a few. Marina Schmidt combines a background in science and technology history focused on agriculture and food, with hands-on experience in entrepreneurship, communication, and market analysis. Marina co-founded Karrierehelden GmbH, a career consulting company working with the German government. The company is still up and running more than 10 years later. She then headed the Fightback Movement, a European collaboration platform focused on health & climate, working closely with the World Economic Forum. Before founding Red to Green Marina worked as a Lead Venture Developer for Creative Dock, the world’s largest independent corporate venture builder. She currently lives in lovely Lisbon.

Marina Schmidt

Red to Green Podcast
Founder & Editor in Chief
Prof. Marcus Johannes “Mark” Post is Chief Science Officer and co-founder of Mosa Meat. Mark was born in Amsterdam and obtained an MD and PhD in pharmacology from Utrecht University in 1989. He went on to serve as a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dartmouth Medical School, Technical University Eindhoven and Maastricht University. He has held the title of Professor of Vascular Physiology and Tissue Engineering at Maastricht University since 2002. In 2008, Mark joined a team of researchers including Peter Verstrate working on tissue engineering muscle for meat consumption. On August 5, 2013, he presented the world’s first cultivated beef burger in London. In 2016, Mark and Peter co-founded Mosa Meat to commercialize cultivated meat. The company currently has over 165 employees from 34 countries and remains a leader in cellular agriculture.

Mark Post

Mosa Meat
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr Masami Takeuchi is a Food Safety Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), providing various food safety scientific advice to countries and to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, an international food standard setting body. Her main responsibility lies on food safety risk assessment that deals with emerging issues & technologies (biotechnology, cell-based food, gene editing, genome sequencing, precision fermentation and so forth) and cross-cutting issues. While she takes up various normative global initiatives on food safety, she also assists countries and regions for their food safety capacity development.

Masami Takeuchi

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Food Safety Officer
Creating new value from co-products. Responsible for connecting the technological characteristics of (ingredients from) co-products to their potential in the market (food, pet-food, feed, H&PC, bio-based, etc.).

Myrthe Wessels

Duynie Group
Technical sales manager
My educational background combines deep scientific expertise with an entrepreneurial mindset. I obtained my undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Newcastle University before directly moving on to pursue a PhD at the University of Cambridge. My PhD was focused on structural and mechanistic aspects of protein behaviour in bacterial and mammalian cells. Apart from investing my time in research I have also completed two entrepreneurship courses at the Judge Business School in Cambridge, where I gained invaluable knowledge and experience in starting my own company. In the last year of my PhD I joined the Carbon 13 venture builder program with a focus of meeting co-founders and building a business that will help us to combat global warming. That's how BravelyCultured was born – a company dedicated to sustainable protein production by precision fermentation, which is critical for addressing the challenges of global warming. I am now proud to serve as co-founder and CEO of BravelyCultured. As a fun side note, I also discovered a passion for improvised theatre during my PhD. Going on stage in front of an audience without a single line of script is therefore a usual part of my weekly routine.

Natalija Stepurko

BravelyCultured
Co-founder & CEO
Nesli Sozer is a research professor in smart and sustainable food production at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and adjunct professor at Helsinki University. She has more than 20 years expertise on food material science and food ingredient/product design. Nesli is passionate in immersing food science and technology into novel concepts. Currently, she is leading large national and EU funded projects focusing on plant proteins, meat alternatives and cellular agriculture which involves various stakeholders.

Nesli Sözer

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Research Professor
Dr. Neta Lavon is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of cellular agriculture leader Aleph Farms. Based in Israel, Aleph Farms diversifies the supply and decentralizes the production of high-quality animal proteins and fats. Under its first product brand, Aleph Cuts, the company is launching the world’s first cultivated beef steaks. Prior to her current role, Dr. Lavon was the COO of Kadimastem (KDST), where she developed cell therapy products for ALS and diabetes patients. Previously, she also worked as a researcher at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California, where she established over two dozen novel pluripotent stem cell lines. Dr. Lavon holds a PhD in Genetics, an M.Sc. in Biotechnology, and a B.Sc. in Food Sciences from the Hebrew University in Israel. She is an expert in stem cell applications in biotechnology.

Neta Lavon

Aleph Farms
Co-Founder & CTO
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. ‍ The April/May 2023 edition will be published on 26 April 2023.

Nick Bradley

Future-Proof Group Media
Co-founder
Nicolas Morin-Forest is GOURMEY's CEO and co-founder, a pioneering cultivated meat company based in Paris, France, creating sustainable meat delights from state-of-the-art cell cultivation techniques combined with culinary arts. Nicolas has a background at the crossroads of consumer goods companies (L'Oréal) and the nonprofit sector (several environmental organizations) as he was involved in several development aid missions, particularly in Latin America around the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. Nicolas is a Science Po Paris graduate.

Nicolas Morin Forest

GOURMEY
CEO
Paulien started working for Griffith Foods in 2018 and is currently 5 years in her role of coatings innovation technologist. Paulien has a background in food technology and is passionate about creating delicious food that is nutritious & sustainable.

Paulien Berrens

Griffith Foods
Innovation Technologist Coatings Europe

Peter Mortimer

Future of Protein Production
Event Manager
Pieter joined DSM Venturing as Managing Director in 2012, which became dsm-firmenich Venturing in May 2023. He built a world-class team in the US and Europe which invested in 55+ startups since then. This set the stage for a multitude of strategic agreements with dsm-firmenich’s businesses, enabling them to gain early access and experience in new areas, and meanwhile realing healthy investment returns on portfolio exits. Pieter has extensive hands-on startup operator and board experience. He currently serves on the boards of Vivici, Hologram, Miach Orthopeadics, DSM PPE Plus and MassChallenge Switzerland. Before dsm-firmenich Venturing he was co-founder/CEO of OrthAlign (privately owned, 2008-2011) and IsoTis (ISOT, acquired by Integra Life Sciences) (1997-2007) in California. Pieter’s early professional years were in international M&A, investment management and transaction advisory. He holds a masters in law from Leiden University, NL. Pieter works and lives in the US since 2004, and this summers relocates to Switzerland to further advance the impact of dsm-firmenich and Venturing globally.

Pieter Wolters

dsm-firmenich Venturing
Managing Director
Randy Jagt is a Future Food & Strategy partner at Deloitte, specializing in accelerating responsible and future-proof business models in the food industry. With a focus on Growth, Digital Strategy, and Commercial Excellence, he collaboratively supports clients in defining and realizing strategic transformations. Randy has worked with Fortune 500 companies globally, including Cargill, Coca-Cola, FrieslandCampina, KraftHeinz, Nike, PVH, Ahold, Costco, Pfizer, and DSM. With his passionate and high-energy approach, Randy is a trusted advisor, leveraging his expertise to drive success and growth in the ever-evolving food industry landscape.

Randy Jagt

Deloitte
Future of Food & Strategy Partner
Dr. Raya Liberman-Aloni holds a PhD in Plant Sciences from the Hebrew University and is an accomplished scientist and plant biotechnology expert with expertise in plant metabolic engineering. She has both academic and industry R&D experience. Raya, along with her partner Maya, founded PoLoPo, a company aimed at revolutionizing the food industry by using plants to create animal-based proteins. As a long-time vegan and animal shelter volunteer, she holds the belief that animals should be treated with greater compassion, and from a scientific standpoint, abstaining from animal-based foods and products represents the most sustainable solution for our planet.

Raya Liberman-Aloni

PoLoPo
Co-founder & CTO
Rob holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering (North Carolina State University) and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering (Duke University). He spent over 10 years in the regenerative medicine industry, where he led the development of a cell-based process for manufacturing tissue-engineered blood vessels from the small-scale, pre-clinical phase to the industrial-scale, GMP-compliant phase. For the past 2 years, he’s been the Head of Science at Jellatech, where he is leading the development of a platform technology for producing complex animal proteins, such as collagen, directly from animal cells. In these positions, he has played a key role in fundraising from pre-seed through IPO, specifically in demonstrating the promise of the science/technology and in presenting long-term company strategy. Overall, Rob has a passion for building and developing technical teams to address global challenges as a part of dynamic, emerging companies.

Rob Schutte

Jellatech
Head of Science
Robert is Head of Public Affairs for Mosa Meat, the Dutch food startup that pioneered the first cultivated beef in the world. He also serves as President of Cellular Agriculture Europe, a Brussels-based industry association that represents 14 companies making beef, pork, chicken, fish, milk and foie gras using cellular agriculture technology. He has over 24 years of experience working in advocacy and government affairs and is a classically trained chef from the Culinary Institute of America with a Master's in Business & Entrepreneurship from the London School of Economics and a Master's degree in Political Management from The George Washington University.

Robert Jones

Mosa Meat
Vice-President, Global Public Affairs
Roman is an entrepreneur and has built or co-founded several companies, such as Home Institute, Global E-learning, and Global DTP. He has been a founding member as well as a Program Director at Future Port Prague, the largest international futuristic event in Central Europe. Thanks to his network and knowledge gained through the Future Port journey, he decided to not only organize events about future technologies but to take action. Thus, in 2020, Roman founded Mewery, the first European cell-based food-tech startup developing cultivated pork on a microalgae base with the potential to change the entire cultivated meat industry.

Roman Lauš

Mewery s.r.o.
CEO
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.

Ryan Kromhout

KROHNE Group
Manager Global Industry Division Food & Beverage
Dr Sheena Fraser joined Roslin Technologies in November 2022 from South Africa, bringing with her 20+ years of experience in bioprocess innovation and product development across various life science and health-focused industries, including cultivated meat. Roslin Technologies, originally spun out from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, home to Dolly the Sheep, is the leading B2B cell line provider to the cultivated meat industry. They specialise in the development and supply of multi-species infinitely renewing pluripotent stem cells which can differentiate into both fat and muscle cells which are the base ingredients for cultivated meat. Sheena leads the team focused on accelerating the delivery of quality-controlled cell lines, animal component free growth media, scalable protocols, and ongoing technical support enabling Roslin Technologies’ cell line customers to deliver high quality products to market faster and more efficiently.

Sheena Fraser

Roslin Technologies Ltd
VP of Product Development
Dr. Wong joined TurtleTree as VP of External Innovation in August 2021 and was promoted to Chief Innovation Officer in August 2022. At TurtleTree, Shou leads the BD and Licensing teams by working closely with R&D to identify and collaborate with leading industrial and academic partners in the development of tools and processes for the production and commercialization of cell-based dairy and milk bioactive products. Prior to joining TurtleTree, Shou worked as Global Head of Innovation Scouting at Merck KGaA’s Silicon Valley Innovation Hub in Menlo Park, California where he was an integral part of Merck KGaA’s newly established Cultivated Meat Innovation program by identifying and collaborating with key cultivated meat startups and leading academic labs to work on culture media, scaffolds, bioreactors and cell line areas. Shou received his PhD in Molecular Genetics and did a post-doctoral training in Molecular Neurobiology at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. Shou also did a 2-year sabbatical in Synthetic Biology at the Church lab at Harvard Medical School before he joined Life Technologies (acquired by Thermo Fisher) as Director of Synthetic Biology Business Development.

Shou Wong

TurtleTree Labs
Chief Innovation Officer
Stephan joined Vivici as CEO in March 2023. Prior to that he led the Dairy Cultures & Food Enzymes business unit at IFF, building on the experience gained in the food enzymes business at Novozymes. Stephan has worked in and helped scale two start-ups: Evolva, a company producing high-value natural products through fermentation, and Biognosys, an advanced protein analytics company. Stephan is a senior strategic leader passionate about working in organizations that innovate with purpose, whether they are start-ups or large market leaders. In his nearly 20 years in the biotechnology and food industry Stephan has gained experience across sales, marketing, business development, R&D and business unit leadership. Stephan lives with his wife and two children in a small village at the Dutch coast.

Stephan van Sint Fiet

Vivici
CEO
Susan has spent her 30 year career founding, building and managing businesses either focused on or located in global emerging markets, with the last 13 years spent primarily in Africa. After having been trained as a lawyer, Susan’s early work experience included senior management roles with JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. In 1997, Susan co-founded a hedge fund and, on its sale, focused on food security in Africa. In 2016, Susan co-founded Holistic Agricultural Investments Group Ltd, a venture capital company specialising in sustainable agricultural early stage investments. In 2020, Susan co-founded Sustainable Planet, an agri tech start up focused on addressing food security and climate change concurrently. In 2022, she co-founded and Chairs GLIDE Fund, a gender lens investment fund to finance and mentor female-led SME’s across Africa. In January 2023, Sustainable Planet won, out of 667 companies across 79 countries, the global Food Tech Challenge agri-tech award and was also nominated for the 2023 Earthshot Prize. In June 2023, Sustainable Planet won the Regional Finals, Southern Africa of the African Start Up Awards, coming top 71 out of 8,200 companies, and is now in the final. Susan was previously awarded a Shell UK Woman of the Future Award, was twice listed by Financial News as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Women in European Finance”. She is also an Advisory Board Member of the African Agri Council and was previously on the World Bank Supervisory Committee establishing Guidelines on Global Agricultural Practises and on the UN FAO Advisory Council on Private Investment into Agriculture. Susan has a BA Hons, MA, LLB (Law) and MBA diploma and has studied at Oxford University, England; McGill University, Canada; St Andrews University, Scotland and London School of Economics. She is also an Executive Coach and a distance runner on both the Great Britain and the England Masters Athletics teams, and most recently won on Team GB the 2023 World Championship Gold (Half Marathon) and Bronze (X Country).

Susan Payne

Sustainable Planet
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
Susanne is the Investment Manager for Alternative Proteins at Nutreco NuFrontiers, the strategic innovation and investment department of Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed. The aim of NuFrontiers is to accelerate technological change to enable 'Feeding the Future' and to identify, develop and invest in next generation sustainable products, models and services throughout the feed and food protein value chain. Susanne dedicates her time to building an investment portfolio of alternative protein start-ups and scale-ups, and exploring business opportunities for Nutreco as cell feed supplier to the cultivated and fermentation-based protein industry. Prior to joining Nutreco, she worked as deputy head of business development at a leading European biopharmaceutical company and in strategy consulting with McKinsey&Co

Susanne Wiegel

Nutreco
Investment Manager for Alternative Proteins
Sònia Hurtado is the CEO and cofounder at Poseidona. She is a seasoned food scientist specialized in plant based protein products. Her extensive career spans across various prominent companies, where she has played a pivotal role in the development of plant-based analogs for meat, seafood, dairy, and egg products. Notably, she was co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Current Foods (formerly known as Kuleana), an innovative alternative seafood company located in the heart of San Francisco, which received backing from YCombinator. Now, at Poseidona, Sònia is spearheading a noble mission to take the concept of alternative proteins even further by harnessing the power of the ocean. Her vision is to provide sustainable, ocean-based alternative proteins as a means to safeguard and preserve our precious marine ecosystems.

Sònia Hurtado

Poseidona
Founder and CEO
Tom is an experienced Process Engineer with a strong background in NPD within CPG. Tom holds a Master’s degree in Physics from Lancaster University, UK. Keen to enter the FMCG world, he joined Mars inc as a graduate and gained a decade of experience in various research and development roles within the Pet Nutrition and Confectionary business units, with a more recent focus within Process Engineering. He now leads the Process Engineering team within Quorn Foods (Marlow Foods) who are tasked with developing the next generation of processing technologies which can deliver novel and innovative products to the market. Tom is passionate about creating sustainable food alternatives which also delight consumers.

Tom Walker

Quorn foods
Process Development Manager
Will Milligan is CEO and Co-Founder of Extracellular, the world’s first CDMO dedicated to supporting cultivated meat. Extracellular has established world-leading capabilities in the UK, with expertise in small-scale optimisation for process development, high-throughput media development, and scale-up capabilities to produce large quantities of cultivated meat.

Will Milligan

Extracellular
Co-founder & CEO
XL Lin is the Founder, President & CEO of Esco Aster as well as Executive Director & Deputy Group CEO of Esco Lifesciences Group. He graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences from the University of Sydney, joining Esco Lifesciences Group upon graduating. He started the Esco Group of Companies' Healthcare business unit from beginning to end as a "Discovery to Delivery" platform. He conceptualized the commercial, chemical, and biomanufacturing platforms which are used in 9 commercial human/animal health vaccines.

Xiangliang (XL) Lin

Esco Aster
Founder, President & CEO

Yves Meyvis

RIC resolve
Director BD, Sales & Marketing
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