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My name is Minerve Vicente, I am currently heading up product development at The Kraft Heinz Company for the R&D International (EMEA, LATAM, APAC) organization. The Kraft Heinz Company is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands. A globally trusted producer of delicious foods, The Kraft Heinz Company provides high quality, great taste and nutrition for all eating occasions whether at home, in restaurants or on the go. As head of product development I am responsible for setting up the different category R&D strategy, driving the innovation pipeline, core technology platforms and portfolio transformation. Within my role business needs, consumer understanding, market dynamics, technology play fundamental role as the basis but it needs to be linked to an ecosystem of knowledge within the areas seen as required or gaps. I’ve been driving innovation for the past 15 years and continue finding it a fascinating topic.
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Sweegen provides sweet taste solutions for global food and beverage manufacturers.
We are on a mission to reduce the sugar and artificial sweeteners in the global diet. Partnering with our customers, we create delicious zero sugar products that consumers love.
Sweegen delivers market-leading solutions that customers want and consumers prefer. Our portfolio includes the best next-generation sweeteners such as Bestevia® e+, Bestevia® Reb M, and Bestevia® Reb D along with our deep knowledge of flavors & Flavor modulators and texturants. Outside this extensive product portfolio we also offer other components with top demand of the F&B industry.
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Judith is a policy advisor at the ministry of health, welfare and sports within the directorate nutrition, health protection and prevention. In this directorate Judith is involved in several themes regarding food safety and nutrition. One of her dossiers is targeting product reformulation with the national agreement to improve product composition which was signed by the ministry and the food industry, supermarkets, caterers and the hospitality industry. In light of the national prevention agreement the ministry will launch a new approach to product improvement, next year. As a representative from the ministry Judith is involved in the development of the new approach.
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Juan Carlos Velasquez
Business Manager Personalized Nutrition at Nestlé Purina EMENAMore than 20 years working for Nestlé with extensive cross-field experience including business unit and operations management, strategy definition, internal consulting as well as broad international expertise in geographies such as Europe, USA, LATAM, AOA, etc. across diverse categories. Held various roles such as business manager and in business development within Nestlé Professional, Nestlé’s Out of Home focused business unit, in countries such as Mexico, Brazil and the USA, driving significant growth & profit improvement. He focused as well on innovation and new product launches, working closely with internal as well as external out of home partners such as restaurants & restaurant chains, caterers, universities, chefs, etc.
Most recently he has been part of the Nestlé Purina EMENA organization, located in Switzerland, leading the creation and launch, in collaboration with eco-system partners, of a new business model based on Personalized Nutrition for Pets. Prior to Nestlé he worked at BASF in Germany. Juan Carlos holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University.
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Dr. Esther Aarts is an associate Principal Investigator at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The research of her Food & Cognition group focuses on neural mechanisms of eating behaviour and how these food choices impact brain functioning, using neuroimaging. This research is done with personal grants (e.g., AXA, NWO-Veni, ERC-starting) and in public-private collaborations. Esther Aarts is also coordinator of the Food & Cognition research programme, a public-private innovation hub for a better understanding of Eating Behaviour and Targeted Nutrition for (prevention of) brain disorders. She is the main applicant and project leader of the NWO-crossover project MOCIA, a personalised prevention approach for maintaining optimal cognitive function in aging.
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Dr. Guus Kortman is a scientist and senior project manager in Microbiomics, he is currently appointed at NIZO (CRO in The Netherlands). His research focuses on microbiome analysis of various human samples collected in clinical trials, and in vitro microbiota fermentation models for screening of microbiota modulators, aiming to beneficially influence the microbiota composition and metabolism. Guus received his PhD at the Radboud University Medical Center (Nijmegen, NL) in 2014, his thesis was entitled “Responses of the gut microbiota to supplementary iron: a survey at the host-microbial interface.
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Lotte Sluiter is a sustainable food expert that gained her experience in the fields of journalism (NRC Media, OneWorld), campaigning (Food Cabinet) and live events. As a moderator she is sharp as a razor, loves to dive deep into the topic at hand and puts both the audience and the speakers at ease. Expect a big dose of enthusiasm and positivism combined with in-depth knowledge. Creating a great, meaningful journey through the event for all its participants is her ultimate goal.
Lotte Sluiter will be the overall summit moderator.
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Jettie Hoonhout is senior scientist at Philips Research in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Her main research interest is on food, nutrition, and how to guide people towards smart choices and improved dietary habits. An additional interest is in user centered research methodologies, in particularly in methods and tools that support the development of products that are functional and usable, and also emotionally appealing and engaging, and thus can increase the motivation to use the product or service.
She graduated in cognitive and human factors psychology at the Utrecht University (Netherlands), and after graduation, worked as assistant professor at the Utrecht University and the Maastricht University.
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As a Director within the Scientific Affairs department, Dr Bertocco is responsible for ensuring the safety and scientific integrity of products and product-related materials for the markets in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), with specific responsibility for ensuring that all product claims are scientifically substantiated and meet regulatory requirements within the EU and other EMEA markets.
Dr Bertocco joined the UK-based Herbalife HQ EMEA in 2007 as member of the Product Regulatory & Compliance Team bringing to the company a strong background in peptide chemistry and interests in subjects related to health, nutrition, supplements and sport. It was his role at Herbalife as Product Regulatory Compliance Manager EMEA and his passion for science which inspired him to further his career in 2011 in the field of Scientific Affairs.
Andrea obtained his first scientific qualification, a Laurea Degree in Organic Chemistry, at the University of Padua in Italy. After his degree in Padua, Andrea worked with DSM Pharma Chemicals, in developing bioactive peptides based on c-alpha tetrasubstituted amino acids. He then moved to Edinburgh in Scotland to pursue a PhD in Organic Chemistry, whit a main focus on molecular machines as ion transporters through cell membranes.
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Yolanda studied biotechnology and before joining Mitsubishi she was a senior scientist and head of the R&D food application department of DSM Biotechnology Centre in Delft, and global R&D director of ABF / Ohly GmbH in Hamburg. With 25 years of experience with yeast extracts, she and her colleagues in Japan, North America and Amstelveen help food manufacturers worldwide to improve the taste of among others plant-based food, and to reduce salt, sugar and fat.
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Tamara de Weijer (1981) has been a general practitioner since 2015, studied medicine at Maastricht University and the general practitioner’s programme at the University of Amsterdam. Over the years she has specialized in the application of nutrition and lifestyle advice in general practice. She is also a board member and former chairman of the Association for Doctors and Lifestyle, which she founded.
Tamara’s expertise includes metabolic disorders (obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease) and gastrointestinal disorders. She is convinced of the enormous value of a healthy lifestyle to prevent various diseases and disorders, but also as a medicine against this. On this subject she gives passionate lectures to healthcare professionals and consumers. She is also the author of the cookbook Eat Better in 28 Days which appeared in 2018 and Eat Better for Your Stomach and Intestines which appeared in 2019 at Kosmos Publishers.
In recent years Tamara was a regular guest of RTL Late Night to talk about the possibilities of nutrition and lifestyle as medicine. In addition, she has contributed to programs such as Radar, Kassa, Dokters van Morgen, Hoe word ik 100? and Broodje gezond. Tamara is an ambassador for the National Action Plan On Fruit and Vegetables, the Gastric Liver Bowel Foundation and the Foundation That I Like.
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Guido Camps has a background in AI, Data Science, and Veterinary medicine, and currently works as a researcher and lecturer at the division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University & Research. He also works as a domain expert and researcher at OnePlanet Researcher Center. His current focus is in the field of sensor development and algorithms to understand ingestion, digestion, and overall health (big data, artificial intelligence, and food). He lives in Zeist with his family, dog, cat, tortoise and honey bees.
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María Mascaraque is a Global Industry Manager at Euromonitor International with a focus on Food and Nutrition. Based in London, she has more than 8 years of experience in the industry.
María drives the content and quality of Euromonitor’s global food industry research, provides global expertise and forward-thinking insights and identifies latest product developments and key market trends.
María advises clients on food and nutrition trends and has a special interest in the dairy industry, plant-based eating and health and wellness trends.
She holds a PhD in Nutrition from Complutense University, Spain.
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Kees (C) de Graaf is professor in Sensory Science and Eating Behavior (SSEB) at the Division of Human Nutrition & Health of Wageningen University, the Netherlands. The mission of the SSEB group is “to make healthy choice the happy choice”, and is focused on the psychobiological mechanisms underlying food choice and eating behavior.
De Graaf is educated as a nutritionist and obtained his PhD in 1988 in taste psychophysics. De Graaf has published about 300 scientific papers, mostly on the psychobiology of eating behaviour. His work has been cited more than 11.000 times. Research and teaching activities focus on the meaning of sensory signals, such as taste, odor, and texture for eating behaviour and the regulation of energy intake.
A substantial part of his recent work focuses on the reformulation of foods to moderate energy intake while maintaining the palatability/liking of foods. Key properties of foods are the eating rate (g/min) and the energy density (kcal/g), together making up the energy intake rate (kcal/min). The energy intake rate may possibly considered as a measure for the obesogenic capacity of a food. This perspective may help to design innovative and attractive foods of which people do not easily overeat.
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Nick Popovici is the CEO and Co-founder of Vita Mojo, the tech company transforming foodservice with its market-leading digital ordering and back-of-house solutions. Built, tested and refined in the company’s own restaurants, the Vita Mojo Operating System (VMOS) is now powering the digital transformation of leading brands including Leon, Yo! Sushi, Brewhouse & Kitchen and Honest Burgers.
Vita Mojo’s mission is to improve the way the world eats through innovative technology. During the recent crisis their system has been a lifeline for businesses struggling to adapt to the new normal. It enables restaurants, pubs and coffee shops to increase their operational efficiency, deepen customer loyalty and transform their bottom line.
VMOS also enables more personalised ordering experiences through its intuitive menu flow, allergen transparency and AI-driven smart recommendations. The Vita Mojo vision is for a world where no-one eats a meal that’s wrong for them. Ever.
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Dr Mensink received his MSc in Health Sciences, specialization movement sciences, and his medical degree (MD) from Maastricht University. He completed his PhD at the same university, within the project: “Relevance of genetic predisposition and lifestyle factors in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes”. After a post-doc period on muscular fat accumulation and insulin action, he moved to Wageningen University, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, chair Nutritional Biology. Dr Mensink is responsible for the research theme Nutrition, Physical activity and Sports and involved in the themes Nutrition and Ageing and Metabolic Health. He coordinates the course Nutrition and Sports and developed the MOOC Nutrition, Physical activity and Sports
Field of research is Nutrition, Energy Metabolism & Health, in particular how nutrition and physical activity (exercise) can regulate energy metabolism and affect health and performance. Main interest is aerobic exercise, cardiorespiratory fitness and macronutrient intake and balance, in particular protein and carbohydrates.
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Ignace is a born entrepreneur with experience in food, retail and pharma. Today he is fully engaged to bring those three worlds together with SmartWithFood, a Belgium-based scale-up. SmartWithFood is a B2B Food Intelligence platform enabling highly personalised food & health experiences by taking the complexity out of shopping for the right food.
Ignace studied a master’s in economics at the university KULeuven – Belgium, followed by a Msc in project management at the University of Lancaster, UK. After his studies, he built-up real-life experience in finance and accounting at Avery Dennison. For GlaxoSmithKline & ArcelorMittal, Ignace led the team through the implementation of a new project management methodology and corresponding (SAP) software.
Ignace’s vision to prioritise investments in preventative over curative healthcare was formed during his role as the project lead in patient recruitment for the largest PhaseIII oncology trial, an international study in 34 countries in lung cancer ever done at GlaxoSmithKline.
In 2011, Ignace joined Colruyt Group (leading Belgium retailer) in various roles. Currently he is leading the ‘Corporate Garage’ team, directly reporting to the board. The Corporate Garage is an internal incubator to drive disruptive innovations in anticipating future retail. Agility, hands-on and business driven innovation are the key drivers and building blocks of the incubator.
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Cyrille Filott is global strategist for Consumer Foods, responsible for setting and executing the research agenda for the Consumer Foods franchise within Rabobank globally. This includes thematic and industry research as well as company insights.
He and the team publish research that is relevant to food companies worldwide. Next to that Cyrille is the host of the Consumer Foods-to-Go podcast series, a bi-weekly podcast that discusses important topics in the food sector.
Cyrille spends most of his time discussing sector issues with food&agribusiness corporates. He is frequently invited at C-suite meetings to bring insights and to discuss business strategies in food.
Based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, he is a business economist with a great deal of experience in fund management and equity research. Since the beginning of 2014 he is the strategist for the Consumer Foods sector. He joined the research team at FAR (Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory) in 2008. Before he worked at M&G Investments in London and ING Investment Management in The Hague. Prior, he earned a Master’s degree in Economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and also holds a VBA designation.
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In 2001, after graduating from the Erasmus University Rotterdam with a degree in business, Marjolein started working in the energy sector. Initially in the traditional oil and gas industry followed by jobs in renewable energy and (later) sustainable materials. Over the years, she has worked in business development and management roles (MT), product, process and / or system innovation being the common thread.
From 2015 onwards Marjolein has worked on ecosystem innovation for the benefit of societal transitions (e.g. linear -> circular economy). In 2020 she started her role as Managing Director of Foodvalley NL, a wonderful organisation with dedicated professionals who work at facilitating the transition of the global food system with the aim to make healthy food accessible and affordable for everyone. This role is the perfect mix of her past experience, competencies and personal beliefs.
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Luc van Loon is a Professor of Physiology of Exercise at the Department of Human Biology at Maastricht University Medical Centre. Luc has an international research standing in the area of skeletal muscle metabolism. Current research in his laboratory focuses on the skeletal muscle adaptive response to exercise, and the impact of nutritional and pharmacological interventions to modulate muscle metabolism in health and disease. The main research interests of his laboratory include muscle metabolism, sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, adaptation to endurance and resistance type exercise, and the use of physical activity and/or nutritional interventions to improve health in chronic metabolic disease and aging. The latter are investigated on a whole-body, tissue, and cellular level, with skeletal muscle as the main tissue of interest.
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Jochem Bossenbroek, MSc, MBA, is strongly driven to create opportunities for healthcare and prevention through entrepreneurship. He is co-founder and CEO of Verdify since 2017. Verdify develops AI-powered software for enabling personalized nutrition in the food industry, targeted at creating shortcuts to healthy eating. Jochem was CEO of Dutch biotech company BunyaVax that develops vaccine technology from 2017 to 2019 – taking the company from the idea stage to the start of a clinical development program for a human vaccine against Rift Valley Fever. In 2009 Jochem co-founded the life sciences consultancy firm ttopstart and was partner of the company for seven years. During this period, he had a key role in initiating and attracting funding for large-scale R&D programs in biotech and medtech. Ttopstart was acquired by PNO Group in 2018. Creative thinking, problem solving and strategy building are Jochem’s favorite topics. Social impact is his main driver. Jochem studied Life Sciences & Technology at Leiden University and Delft University of Technology. He received a master’s in management & Entrepreneurship in Health and Life Sciences at VU University Amsterdam. He finished an Executive MBA at Rotterdam School of Management.
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Emma is a Global Food Science Analyst at Mintel. She specialises in ingredient trends, developments in nutrition, health and wellness as well as innovations in food science and technology.
Emma is part of Mintel’s London based Food & Drink Research team and has over ten years of experience in the food industry.
Prior to joining Mintel Emma worked as a Food Technologist for a major UK retailer, taking ownership for product quality, nutrition, safety, ethics and legality.
Emma has also held the position of NPD Manager in the food to go division of a leading international convenience foods manufacturer, accountable for key retail and food service accounts, working closely with customers and suppliers to deliver market leading and commercially successful product ranges.
Emma creates unique, but realistic and solid strategic insight from her research into food-tech developments, nutrition health and wellness, ingredients and additives, food labeling and regulatory trends. Some examples of bespoke client projects Emma has completed include ‘the role of natural nutrition and clean label in targeting millennial consumers’ and ‘ingredient and functionality trends in vitamins and dietary supplements’. -
Edith Schippers, as Chairman of the Board of Foodvalley NL, is in a personal capacity our guest of honour during the Food & Health Summit.
Edith Schippers was the former Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, and is currently next to Chariman of the Foodvalley NL Board, also President of DSM Nederland.
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Iris Bogers studied International Business Communications at Radboud University in Nijmegen. Her career began with various marketing positions at a number of organizations and later as a consultant at Berenschot. She is currently employed by health insurer Menzis, where she is Strategic Product and Proposition Manager. From an organization-wide perspective she creates value by identifying which of the latest market developments have real potential and translating them into new products and services. She is working on Menzis’ online program SamenGezond aimed at facilitating sustainable lifestyle changes. SamenGezond stimulates people to lead a healthy lifestyle and helps them to make healthy choices.
Iris Bogers is a Foodvalley Champions jury member for the Food & Health theme.
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Joost is a program manager paying attention to your needs in food innovations. What gives him a lot of energy is having discussions with (potential) clients out of the food industry and getting them connected with the right scientific experts at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. Getting the collaboration started in order to bring our scientific knowledge in practice is making his job unique. His program is called ” Food innovation for responsible choices” and therefore very much aware of all activities going on in the field of reformulation. Joost joined Wageningen early 2018 after working for 14 year at the Dutch organization for applied scientific research, TNO, as business development manager for the food industry.
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After his study of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, Nard Clabbers worked for the food industry for more than a decade as the liason between marketing and science for many different brands and products ranging from infant milk formula to muesli bars.
In 2011 Nard joined Dutch research organisation TNO to lead their nutrition and health team. Also at TNO, he then set up the world’s largest public-private research consortium on personalised nutrition and health. His current position is Chief Science Officer for the startup company FoodNed.com. FoodNed helps consumers choose and buy the best foods based on their personal profile.
In his spare time, Nard rides mountainbike marathons as fast as he can for the Dutch SforZ Mountainbike Racing Team.
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Amelia leads the Health and Wellness Science and Technology team who provide the science to support Unilever’s nutrition commitments to improve the health and wellbeing of people and the planet. Her focus areas are personalised nutrition and the role that gut microbiome plays in many aspects of health and wellbeing.
Amelia has been with Unilever for 20 years and has had various roles across research and development including Expertise Leader for Toxicology in the Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre and Clinicals Director for Foods and Refreshment. She is a nutritionist by training and received her PhD from University of Surrey
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Hans van Trijp is Full Professor and Chair of the Marketing and Consumer Behavior Group within the Section of Business Sciences of Wageningen University and Research. His key research interest is in behavioral change both at the level of business and consumers/citizens and in the direction of more healthy and sustainable life style patterns. He explores this interface from the perspectives of marketing and consumer behavior and their interactions. Some of his current research emphasis is on sustainable packaging, nutrition information, and increasingly also the interface between data science / data analytics for better understanding of processes of behavioural change.
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Liesbeth has a background in Business Informatics and has been working for two decades in industry ICT management positions before she switched to Wageningen University & Research to develop research programs on the cross over of food, health and ICT.
OnePlanet Research Center is an innovation center for digital technology and nano technology in Agri, Food, Health and Environment. It is a multidisciplinary collaboration of chip and nano technology institute imec, Wageningen University & Research and Radboud University/UMC. At the cross-over between food, health, agriculture, living environment and high-tech, OnePlanet Research Center develops digital technology innovations with industrial partners that improve the quality of life and living environment. One of the research themes is Digital Intelligence in Nutrition & Health: innovations like next generation nutrition sensing solutions connected to AI driven applications for dietary advice, eating behavior and healthy lifestyle support.
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Jeroen Wouters, PhD, is committed to International Relations as well as Human Capital. Jeroen provides guidance and support to stimulate innovation and cooperation in food and nutrition, and is the driving force behind projects bringing together Dutch businesses, knowledge providers and governments with their counterparts in Europe and far beyond. Jeroen is also in charge of the Human Capital program which includes attracting and developing talent and career paths. He is an expert on specialized nutrition.
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Gerda Feunekes is leading the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, since 2014. This centre is in the Netherlands the authority that translates nutrition science to the consumer, to stimulate healthy and sustainable eating habits. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre is an independent foundation, jointly funded by the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Gerda studied at Wageningen University, where she received an MSc in Nutrition, and a PhD degree in Food Choice. She published over forty scientific papers, e.g. on assessing fat and alcohol intake; social aspects of eating behaviour; food labelling; and consumer perceptions related to salt reduction. She worked in the food industry, a.o. as Global Nutrition and Health Director focusing on salt reduction globally from 2008-2014.
She is in various advisory committees, e.g., Wageningen UR Social Sciences Group; World Food Centre; Action Plan Fruit and Vegetables; National Breastfeeding Council. She is chairing the European Public Health Nutrition Alliance (EPHNA), where European centres that are responsible for nutrition communication on country level join forces to take nutrition communication to the next level.
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Tamar Sharon is an Associate Professor in Philosophy of Technology and co-director of the Interdisciplinary Hub for Security, Privacy and Data Governance (iHub) at Radboud University, an interdisciplinary research center on the impacts of digitalisation on society. Tamar is PI of an ERC-funded project on the role of big tech in health and member of the WHO European Advisory Committee on Health Research.
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Chantal Goenee’s passion is to help consumers make more healthy and sustainable choices. She has studied health sciences and consumer behavior in Wageningen and is currently part of the Corporate Social Responsibility team at Lidl Netherlands. The mission of Lidl is to make sustainability and a healthy lifestyle affordable and accessible to everyone. Chantal and her colleagues approach this in many ways: from selling the best quality fruits and vegetables for the lowest prices to reducing sugar, saturated fat and salt in their products and introducing novel and healthy product innovations. She is delighted to be on the Food & Health jury and is looking forward to meeting the Foodvalley nominees.
Chantal Goenee is a Foodvalley Champions jury member for the Food & Health theme.
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Judith van der Horst is Innovation Manager Food & Health at Foodvalley NL and focuses on connecting knowledge, innovation and business in the domain of Food & Health. After obtaining her PhD, she worked for nearly 12 years in R&D at food industry multinationals. Judith continued her career as R&D Manager of Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. She was appointed Theme Director Food & Health for Applied Research by the TKI Top Sector Agri & Food and, in 2018, she became Manager Operations of Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation. In the summer of 2020, Judith joined Foodvalley NL as Innovation Manager Food & Health.
Judith van der Horst is a Foodvalley Champions jury member for the Food & Health theme.