Join us for our next event in the 2021 Innovation Series. The Innovation Series is the longest running series in CFBN's programming and originated in partnership with Fifty Gazelles as "Innovation Breakfasts" originally hosted at Blue Dog in the West Loop.
Today, this virtual series tackles a series of innovation topics of interest to all of us in the food and beverage industry. Our attendees join us every other month on the second Thursday to explore where food is headed, what companies are making a true impact in the market, and who is helping to change the way we all do business!
At Technology Behind the Scenes, you'll hear from ingredient and taste technology experts and get firsthand insights, trend take-aways, and new ideas and technologies for your next creative product. You’ll also hear from industry leaders in enabling technologies in food and beverage for an insider’s scoop on disruptive ideas and technologies within the market.
Agenda:
- 9:00 am General Welcome
- 9:05 am Taste & Ingredient Technology Panel
- 9:50 am Enabling Technology Panel
- 10:35 - 11:00 am Post-Panel Networking
First Panel: Taste and Ingredient Technology
Jeremy Anderson (Moderator), Founder, Fifty Gazelles
Jeremy is a business development professional with a passion for getting new ideas into market. Fifty Gazelles’ practice focuses on building long-term contract manufacturing partnerships and adding capacity and external expertise to commercialization teams.
Mervyn de Souza, Chief Innovation Officer, Edlong Corporation
A graduate of the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences, Mervyn holds a Master’s degree in Microbial Engineering and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics. Mervyn brings with him a multi-disciplinary skillset and deep category experience. Prior to joining Edlong, Mervyn held high-level leadership roles within the industry and is the recipient of multiple patents for his work.
Andy Dratt, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer, Imbibe
Andy has over 20 years of experience in the flavor and ingredient industry, working with and developing products for some of the largest companies in the food industry. I joined Imbibe eight years ago and have led the company to become one of the leading beverage development resources for CPG, QSR and private label brand owners.
Jennifer Howell, Director of Regulatory Innovation, FONA International
A FONA leader for over 18 years, Jennifer is a passionate advocate for helping customers find solutions to their regulatory challenges. A strong voice in the food and beverage landscape, she is adept at communicating complex and future-forward ideas in effective ways, embodying the spirit of FONA’s “dare to be different” approach. Jennifer is a lead faculty for FONA’s Flavor University and has spoken at conferences for IFT, FlavorCon, PMCA and the Product Stewardship Society.
Second Panel: Enabling Technologies
Matthew Botos, CEO, ConnectFood
Matthew Botos is the CEO and Founder of ConnectFood. ConnectFood offers a step-by-step food safety plan generator to help companies comply with food safety regulations and the Food Safety Modernization Act. ConnectFood provides On-Demand plan reviews from a national network of food experts. Mr. Botos is currently on the Food Safety and Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) International Subcommittee and Chairman of the FSPCA annual conference. He is also one of approximately 30 approved Train the Trainer instructors of the FSPCA Lead Instructor program launched in October 2015 and has taught over 1000 of the nation’s leading food safety experts.
Megan Dailey, Ph.D., Director, Metropolitan Food & Environmental Systems,
Executive Director, Center for Food Systems Security
Dr. Dailey obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and spent 20 years studying the relationship between the nervous system and nutrition before becoming the Director for new programming in Food Systems at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She uses her skills learned as a Fellow in the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching to develop educational programs to fill the gaps in the workforce pipeline of students entering food & ag industries. She is also involved with building private-public partnerships to solve the most challenging problems related to the integration of digital and physical infrastructures across the food supply chain to ensure food security at the local, national, and global levels.
Suparna Kadam, Sr. Director of Business Development, Pivot Energy
Suparna Kadam is a Sr. Business Development Director with Pivot Energy focused on providing enterprise clients with comprehensive solar and storage solutions with a compelling, long-term ROI. Pivot Energy develops, finances, builds, and manages community and commercial solar and storage projects around the country. With over 15 years in the solar industry, she has worked throughout the solar value chain at solar manufacturers and within commercial and residential sales and business development. Throughout her career, she’s led the efforts to make solar cheaper and simpler for customers.
Jeff Ramsauer,VP Technology & Analytics, DMA (Distribution Market Advantage, Inc.)
Jeff started his career as a management consultant focused on technology and supply chain, working with some of the world’s largest foodservice and consumer packaged goods brands. Jeff has commercialized, sold, and implemented enterprise-level solutions focused on supply chain and operations efficiency to leading brands such as Whole Foods Market, Subway, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A and others. Much of Jeff’s work has been focused designing and delivering technologies and processes to enable commercialization strategies, profitable growth, and M&A activities.
Alan Reed (Moderator), Executive Director, Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network
Alan Reed is the Executive Director of Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network. Prior to this role, Alan was Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation at Dairy Management, Inc., and was responsible for creating and driving innovative strategies to grow dairy demand. Alan has a degree in Telecommunications from Indiana University and an MBA in Management & Strategy from Northwestern University.
*This event will be on HOPIN. Instructions and link will be sent 3 days prior to the event.
We appreciate the support and collaboration of our sponsors for this event: 
We also appreciate the support and collaboration of participating companies:
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Don't worry! All previous events in the Innovation Series are available for viewing in our Virtual Content Library - FREE to all CFBN Members!
