• Ryan Xue

    Ryan Xue

    Executive Director at China Plant Based Foods Alliance (CPBFA)

    Mr. Xue leads also co-founded China Plant Based Foods Alliance (CPBFA), one of the first organization to represent alternative protein sector in China, back by State Food and Nutrition Consultant Committee (SFNCC) and numerous Government organizations in China.

    Being the leading think tank with policy influencing capacity across the region, CPBFA has excellent relationships with regulators, entrepreneurs, food innovation/ R&D, leading journalists and investors

    In his role at CPBFA, he developed a keen eye for emerging science with applications in alternative protein FMCGs – working with University academics, technology entrepreneurs help new food start-ups and national brands alike to create new food, beverage and snacking experiences with alternative protein sources.

    He has a particular interest in the factors that influence consumer attitudes towards emerging protein sources and seeks to influence policy in relation to the sustainable production and consumption of food. He is a regular speaker in Food, Agriculture and Tech conferences.

  • Laurens de Groot

    Laurens de Groot

    Laurens started his career in the police force where he specialized in combating environmental crime. After eight years, he quit his job and started campaigning against poaching of endangered species. He fought against illegal whaling in Antarctica and rhino poachers in Africa. To generate more impact, Laurens founded a number of innovative companies. He was one of the founders of Skycap, a drone service company specialized in environmental inspections (acquired by Terra Drones), Silverback Protein, a high-quality vegetable protein powder and Smart Parks with which he provides nature parks in Africa in particular with high-tech solutions for park management.

    In addition, Laurens worked for some time as a press officer in the House of Representatives, made various programs for the Discovery Channel and is the author of the book Hunting the hunters. In 2018, he received the Tech for Global Good Laureate from the Silicon Valley Museum of Innovation for his work.

  • Johnny Teo

    Johnny Teo

    Executive Director, Food, Healthcare & Biomedical Clusters at Enterprise Singapore

    Mr Johnny Teo was appointed Executive Director for the Food, Healthcare & Biomedical cluster with effect from 1 January 2020. He is also concurrently the
    Global Markets Executive Director in the Global Markets Division of Enterprise Singapore, overseeing the Northeast Asia and Oceania regions.

    Prior to the set-up of Enterprise Singapore in 2018, he was the Director overseeing the emerging manufacturing & engineering sectors such as advanced manufacturing, biomedical and cleantech under SPRING Singapore, as well as the General Manager of SPRING SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of SPRING Singapore.

    Johnny also holds a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the Imperial College in the UK.

  • Kyla Hagedorn

    Kyla Hagedorn

    Co-Founder of AnuLife

    Kyla Hagedorn is a results driven leader with over 15 years’ experience in successful social enterprise startup
    development and management, global food supply chain optimization, ingredient sales and development, and financial management. Kyla has a passion for wellness and nutrition, and a commitment to making healthy foods accessible for all.

    As co-founder and CEO of AnuLife, a company that serves the alternative protein space by developing novel plant-protein ingredients, she has been able to support the shift to a sustainable food system.

    Prior to founding AnuLife, Kyla spent 8 years living in Ghana, West Africa, where she worked on optimizing the value chain for moringa and baobab products. She founded the functional botanical  ingredients trading company, Aja Organics (now powered by AnuLife), and as its CEO for 7 years of operations, established a strong network of global moringa suppliers and international retail clients, and was one of the early leaders to introduce moringa products to the global market. This this resulted in significant impact, providing $1.5 million to over 5000 farmers through facilitating their access to international markets.

  • Wouter Muis

    Wouter Muis

    Commercial Director at GRO Together

    Before Wouter Muis started at GRO to expand their commercial and circular activities, he lived in Singapore where he worked as entrepreneur. He supported startups with his company Bamboo Branding, he launched a sustainable direct-to-consumer underwear brand and was co-founder the Startup & SME Academy. Wouter started his career at snacking company Mondelēz (former Kraft Foods) with roles in both sales and marketing. He holds a Master of Science in Marketing Management from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

    After five years in Singapore, Wouter decided that he wants to contribute to a more sustainable and circular way of food consumption and production and he met the founder of GRO during a conference. GRO produces circularly grown oyster mushrooms on used coffee grounds. Due to the food structure, taste and nutritional value, oyster mushrooms are a perfect plant-based alternative to meat. Wouter and his team use the oyster mushrooms to produce vegan, vegetarian and blended products such as burgers, croquettes, chips and carpaccio. Wouter’s goal is to offer customers three solutions: (1) repurpose coffee grounds to produce new circular products, (2) create products with a unique story and (3) accelerate the protein transition with delicious products for vegetarians, vegetarians and flexitarians.

  • Jocelyn Eason

    Jocelyn Eason

    General Manager Science, Food Innovation at The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research

    Jocelyn leads Plant & Food Research’s Food Innovation portfolio, which comprises approximately 140 researchers investigating human responses to food, the influence of food on health and wellness, and the development of nutritionally-rich functional foods. A recent focus has been strengthening the value proposition for future plant-based foods.

    The science teams focus on plant and marine-based foods, and have scientific expertise in consumer insights, postharvest quality and traceability, food safety and packaging, food-health relationships, bioresource engineering, biological chemistry, bioactive discovery and food evaluation. Customers include domestic and international food and beverage companies and industry bodies.

    Jocelyn has more than 25 years’ experience practicing and leading research in the field of postharvest senescence and genetically programmed cell death. She has developed and implemented quality control processes for premium vegetable products in order to maintain high nutritional composition through to the consumer, and implemented a web-based communication strategy for nutrition and health benefits of vegetables in Australia.

    Plant & Food Research believes science can create a better future. By finding smarter, greener options today, we can help secure the world we want to live in tomorrow. Plant & Food Research uses world-leading science to improve the way we grow, fish, harvest and share food. Every day, the company has 1,000 people working across New Zealand and the world to help deliver healthy foods from the world’s most sustainable systems. Plant & Food Research’s research teams answer complex biological questions; design innovative products and technologies; and look over the horizon for new ways to grow a smart green future.

  • Lotte Sluiter

    Lotte Sluiter

    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.

  • Shruti Srivastava

    Shruti Srivastava

    Principal at Omnivore

    Shruti is a Principal at Omnivore and brings over 10 years of experience across early stage investing, private equity and development finance. At Omnivore, she evaluates and manages investments across agricultural technologies, innovative foods and rural fintech. Prior to Omnivore, Shruti worked with Acumen, a global impact venture fund, where she focused on investments enhancing access to utilities, healthcare and retail for low income consumers. Earlier in her career, she worked with the International Finance Corporation, which is the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, looking at investments in manufacturing, agribusinesses and service sectors in South Asia.

    Shruti strongly believes that technology, fuelled by the power of conscious commercial capital, can play a significant role in addressing broader development goals, and she endeavours to do her best to support passionate entrepreneurs looking to solve these tough challenges.

    Shruti started her career on the sell side with JP Morgan. She graduated with a Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

  • Angelin Yeo

    Angelin Yeo

    Senior Development Partner, Food Manufacturing at Enterprise Singapore

    Angelin is the Senior Development Partner of Food Manufacturing division at Enterprise Singapore, the government agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry responsible for championing enterprise growth.

    Angelin is passionate about transforming Singapore’s food manufacturing sector through innovation, by supporting Singapore-based food companies and startups with access to the knowledge and resources to create new foods that meet global consumer demand. Angelin champions the FoodInnovate initiative with the vision to position Singapore as the food and nutrition hub in Asia. Topics that she is passionate about include alternative protein, food waste upcycling, health & wellness, and elderly nutrition.

    She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Food Science & Technology) with a second major in Business Management from the National University of Singapore.

  • Max Rye

    Max Rye

    Chief Strategist at TurtleTree Labs

    As the Chief Strategist, Max’s focus is on leading the TurtleTree Labs Team to transform the global milk industry. Max has more than 15 years of experience helping businesses scale with technology. He was the CEO of a Silicon Valley tech company and firmly believes that technology can solve the world’s biggest problems. Max formulates TurtleTree Labs’ business strategies and shapes the company’s direction to accelerate growth to the next level.

  • Katja Gruijters

    Katja Gruijters

    Fooddesginer at Studio Katja Gruijters

    Katja Gruijters is a Dutch pioneering food designer. She focuses on new opportunities with regard to health, quality, seductiveness, honesty and particularly sustainability.
    She has developed food concepts for many companies for over 20 years: from eating and drinking venues to catering companies and manufacturers in the food industry. Her network of creative experts give her the opportunity to work on different kinds of projects, in various shapes and sizes. She has been commissioned by companies in the Netherlands and abroad.

    For several years Katja wrote columns for the Dutch trade journal Food magazine.

    She is currently writing for the Dutch magazine Vork, a critical magazine about agriculture and the food chain. Her column ‘Food for Thought’ encourages people to rethink their eating behavior.

    Katja Gruijters is also involved in education. She has been a founding member of the food design department at the HAS Den Bosch University of Applied Sciences. In 2019, Katja Gruijters became a tutor food design at ARTEZ in Arnhem. She also teaches at the Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan, Italy.

    Katja Gruijters is specifically interested in vegetable proteins. This was also the topic of her graduation at the Design Academy Eindhoven, 22 years ago. Her first job was in a meat factory that also wanted to develop plant based products. At the time, plant based proteins still looked like meat- and often they still do. Katja Gruijters pointed out that plant based ingredients should stand on its own. “We should give green proteins their own identity.”

     

    www.katjagruijters.nl

  • Hayo de Feijter

    Hayo de Feijter

    Chief Cashew at Johnny Cashew

    Over the last decade and a half Hayo has been involved in sustainable agriculture in Africa. Initially focussing on energy crops used as feedstocks for aviation the industry. As head of feedstock at SkyNRG he set-up a smallholder program for growers in South Africa. Later on he worked as managing director at Sunchem which under his management has been recognised by the World Economic Forum as a leader in Biofuels. He’s worked and lived in Tanzania and has seen the agronomic potential of East-Africa and the need for lasting businesses. Whilst having a coffee with a friend on the matter of sustainable sourcing it was brought to his attention that cashew nuts were sourced unstainable and part of the harvest weren’t sold because they are broken. The  seed for Johnny Cashew was planted. Now fully committed to eradicate the extra food- miles and positioning Johnny Cashew as the sustainable market maker for Cashew, ALL cashew, he’s waking up consumers to a generally unknown story.

  • Eugene Wang

    Eugene Wang

    Co-Founder & CEO at Sophie's BioNutrients

    Eugene Wang grew up immersed in the vegetarian food business. For 50 + years his family has led the way in quality manufacturing of vegetarian food and distributing it throughout Asia and in North America. 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’s. In 2019, Eugene took the alternative protein to the microorganism level and started another new venture in Singapore, Sophie’s BioNutrients Pte Ltd. He won the grand prize of $1 million SGD at The Liveabilty Challenge 2019 with this new project and started his first protein fermentation facility in Singapore. Eugene started his career in 1995, at a management consulting firm in New York City, shortly after earning his MBA from Columbia University, Columbia Business School, New York.

  • Flavio Garofalo

    Flavio Garofalo

    Global Category Director Savoury Flavours and Natural Ingredients at Givaudan

    Flavio is a true international citizen, born in Peru and Italian at heart. He joined Givaudan in 1990 as a Product Development Manager, and over the last 30 years, worked in a number of technical and commercial roles in United States, Netherlands, China and Singapore.

    Prior to joining Givaudan, Flavio studied biochemical engineering and obtained a PhD from McGill University in Canada.

    When not at work, Flavio loves sailing, tennis, cycling and hiking. He is happily married with 3 adult children, of course living in 3 different countries.

  • Sander Hermsen

    Sander Hermsen

    Principal Behaviour Scientist at OnePlanet Research Center

    Sander Hermsen is a behavioural scientist and designer. He performs fundamental and applied research into digital solutions to support people in healthy behaviour change. His work uses a range of methodologies – from research through design and action research to applied and fundamental behavioural scientific research – and concerns the efficacy of designed artefacts (such as services, campaigns, products, and visual and interactive designs) and especially technological interventions in supporting people in sustainable healthy behaviour change. Another interest is supporting creative and healthcare professionals, as well as scientists from other fields, in using insights from the behavioural sciences to inform their work.

  • Will van den Tweel

    Will van den Tweel

    Project Director at Those Vegan Cowboys

    After getting his PhD in Biotechnology (1988) from the Agricultural University in Wageningen (The Netherlands), Will joined DSM in the Netherlands. During his 30+ years at DSM, he held various international management positions in Research, Business Development and Business Management. Under his leadership multiple sustainable biobased processes were commercialized (e.g. fine chemicals for pharma, semi-synthetic antibiotics, bio-succinic, and canola protein).
    Early 2020 Will joined Those Vegan Cowboys as Project Director. Those Vegan Cowboys, is a novel initiative of the founders of The Vegetarian Butcher (sold at the end of 2018 to Unilever). The aim of Those Vegan Cowboys is to sustainably produce milk proteins and their corresponding dairy products by efficient microbial fermentation processes.

  • Artem Khlebnikov

    Artem Khlebnikov

    Director Open Innovation & Strategic Partnerships at Danone

    Artem Khlebnikov is Open Innovation & Strategic Partnerships Director at the Danone Nutricia Research.

    In this role, he works closely with public & private partners and Danone colleagues brining Open Innovation to help drive science-based opportunities that activate Danone’s alimentation strategy and enable significant and sustainable growth opportunities aligned with Danone’s #OneHealth.OnePlanet approach.

    Artem holds an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, Moscow Russia, has completed his PhD in Biotechnology at the Swiss Federal institute of Technology in Lausanne, and received Post-Doctoral training in Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

  • Eugene Scholten

    Eugene Scholten

    CEO at Kennemervis Group

    25+yrs years of international experience in Food, in marketing, sales and General Management, in branded, private label and business to business environments. Worked for United Biscuits UK/NL, Sara Lee (Douwe Egberts, Duyvis and Sara Lee Australia), and was CEO Bakkersland, one of Holland’s largest Fresh PL businesses (private equity). The last 5 years he leads the Kennemervis Group (KVG), an international diversified fish processing and trading company, owned by a larger family holding.

    KVG is in transformation towards a more customer driven company. Recently KVG acquired Bobeldijk Food Group to expand its activities with Plant Based products.

  • Petra Roubos

    Petra Roubos

    Manager Foodvalley Facilities at Foodvalley NL

    Petra Roubos is managing the Foodvalley Facilities and the Shared Research Facilities of Wageningen University & Research. By connecting the facilities network of Academia, knowledge institutes and companies a huge network of facilities is available. By sharing the facilities, from research to industrial scale, together we can increase the innovation speed and facilitate the transition of the global food system.

    She has a lot of experience in the agri-food sector after studying Food Technology and Human Nutrition, started her PhD in Food microbiology, studying intestinal health effects of a fermented soya product. Followed by an industrial career at Trouw Nutrition, developing sustainable gut health product for animals, as R&D manager Feed Additives.

    In her role at Foodvalley, Petra combines her scientific and industrial expertise in facilitating the ecosystem and working together with all partners to make the transition happen towards a world with sustainable and healthy food accessible for everyone.

  • Varun Deshpande

    Varun Deshpande

    Managing director at The Good Food Institute India

    Varun Deshpande is the Managing Director for India at the Good Food Institute (GFI), where he is focused on building the future of food by working with scientists, foundations, governments, entrepreneurs, and corporations to advance the plant-based and cultivated protein sector. As the son of a cancer surgeon from Mumbai, Varun has been deeply immersed in healthcare and technology from a very young age. He spent several formative years studying Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at technology hub Carnegie Mellon University. He then went on to work on implementing digital health in India and the United States, helping vulnerable populations through care coordination, and a systems approach to healthcare. While in the United States, Varun learned about Effective Altruism, a philosophy which seeks to investigate and target the world’s most pressing problems. He came to understand the tremendous impact of industrial animal agriculture on the world, and the imperative need to transition away from it using markets and technology. In dedicating his work to the future of protein and combining his duty to human and planetary health, Varun aims to help build a more healthy, sustainable, and just global food system, starting right here in India.

  • Oxana Krutilina

    Oxana Krutilina

    Co-Founder at Sea Swell Foods

    Oxana has over 15 years of finance experience in the corporate environment. Oxana has always had a passion for seafood and had her first concerns with the collapse of the wild salmon population during her teenage years, that event affected her family and neighbourhood extremely hard as it hit the local economy.

    After moving to New Zealand Oxana became a vegan and started a business journey in the FMCG.

    Oxana’s passion for seafood, a sustainable future and the health of our planet led her to create Sea Swell, a company whose mission is to help to recover our oceans and provide people with alternative plants based foods so they will feel contributing to the betterment of the planet. She believes that the only way to change the unfairness of the current food system and save our future is plant-based foods.

  • Sonja Kalkhoven

    Sonja Kalkhoven

    R&D Director Upfield

    Sonja worked for almost 20 years in FMCG. In many different categories in Unilever and now part of an exciting journey with a big start up as Upfield.

    Sonja enjoys creating new technology solutions to bring towards the consumer and really making an impact into their lives.

    Upfiels believes with the plant based journey they can really make an impact, to make people healthier and happier with great tasting, all-natural plant-based nutrition products that are better for the planet.

  • Marjolein Brasz

    Marjolein Brasz

    Managing Director at Foodvalley NL

    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.

  • Amos Palfreyman

    Amos Palfreyman

    Business Development Manager at FoodHQ

    Amos Palfreyman is the Business Development Manager at FoodHQ in Palmerston North. He recently spent four months based in Wageningen working with FoodHQ strategic partner Foodvalley NL to develop an analysis of the emerging alternative proteins sector. Since returning to New Zealand Amos has launched “Emerging Proteins NZ” an initiative by FoodHQ to connect and enable the emerging alternative proteins sector in New Zealand. Prior to working for FoodHQ Amos worked in international trade, technology transfer and market insights.

  • Abhinav Sinha

    Abhinav Sinha

    Co-Founder & CEO at GoodDO Vegan QSR

    A scientist by training, Abhinav got his PhD in Biochemistry from Oregon Health and Science University, USA and an MBA in Marketing & Strategy from the Indian School of Business.

    After initial experience in drug discovery, new product evaluation and marketing strategy in the pharmaceutical industry, Abhinav moved into entrepreneurship in the plant-based meat space, driven by a passion to make the world a compassionate and sustainable place. Abhinav uses his expertise to lead the current operations and future growth at GoodDO, India’s first and largest all-vegan QSR. He also leads strategy at GoodDot, India’s leading plant-based meat company.

  • Emma Schofield

    Emma Schofield

    Global Food Science Analyst at Mintel

    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’.

  • Jeroen Wouters

    Jeroen Wouters

    Director International at Foodvalley NL | Program Manager Sports & Nutrition at Sportcentrum Papendal

    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.

  • Femke Mosch

    Femke Mosch

    Food innovation strategist at Vision on Food

    Food innovation strategist Femke Mosch (Vision on Food) helps food companies develop a strategy and vision for their product portfolios. With broad experience in the food sector for start-ups, scale-ups and established businesses Femke knows the food sector inside out. She believes the combination of consumer thinking, culture and values, significantly enhances the chance of a successful product or concept. The results of Femke’s innovation projects are to be found on the shelves of your local supermarket; every day, a large proportion of Netherlands’ shoppers put a Vision on Food product in their basket.

    Femke Mosch is a Foodvalley Champions jury member for the Protein Shift theme.

  • PJ Beers

    PJ Beers

    Chairman at Green Protein Alliance and Consultant at DRIFT

    PJ Beers studies and supports sustainability transitions, especially in agriculture and food. He does so at HAS University of Applied Sciences as a lecturer on New Business Models for Agriculture and Food Transition, and at DRIFT (Dutch Research Institute for Transitions), based at the Erasmus University, as a researcher and consultant. PJ has been chairman of the Green Protein Alliance for several months now.

    PJ Beers is a Foodvalley Champions jury member for the Protein Shift theme.

  • Chirag Sabunani

    Chirag Sabunani

    Founder Supplant Foods

    Chirag Sabunani is founder of Supplant Foods, an innovator with a specialty in sourcing, processing and marketing high-quality, vegan food ingredients. Supplant Foods develops and offers functional, cost-effective, sustainable products that fit the customers goals in order to develop new concepts and products that are good for people and the world around.

    ‘Developing innovative food and lifestyle ingredients for a sustainable, cruelty-free world’

  • Christian Cadeo

    Christian Cadeo

    Managing Partner Asia at Big Idea Ventures

    Christian Cadeo is currently the Managing Partner, Asia for Big Idea Ventures. Big Idea Ventures is a new alternative protein venture capital fund/accelerator based in New York and Singapore. It has major investors in the fund such as Temasek Holdings, Tyson Food (NYSE: TSN/Fortune 100 company), Buhler Group and some of the largest family offices globally

    Christian also has extensive experience working at some of the largest technology companies in the world. He spent four years at Google managing the mobile and enterprise division in Southeast Asia. Earlier in his career he worked at Microsoft managing commercial development within the online division.

    He graduated with a Bachelor of Art from the United States and will be attending the University of Oxford, Master of Science program in the fall of 2020.

  • Floor Buitelaar

    Floor Buitelaar

    Project Manager at Foodvalley NL

    Floor Buitelaar is Project Manager of The Protein Cluster, part of Foodvalley NL. There, knowledge is shared and entrepreneurs are brought together. All with the objective to stimulate plant protein innovations.

    Floor holds a Masters in Strategic Management and has worked in several commercial at retailers.

  • Ahmed Khan

    Ahmed Khan

    Founder & Editor at CellAgri

    Ahmed Khan is a cellular agriculture consultant and the founder of CellAgri, a news and market insights startup exploring the future of food with 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. Ahmed is also the author of the first cellular agriculture ebook, ‘An Introduction to Cellular Agriculture’, an easy-to-read introduction to the field.

    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.

  • Michiel van Deursen

    Michiel van Deursen

    Founder at Capital V

    Entrepreneur turned investor. Focussing on plant-based businesses.

    Started in tech, founded 2dehands.be and 2ememain.be, the market leading classified ads websites in Belgium (acquired by eBay in 2013). Founded several other successful companies, including an Amsterdam based internet agency and a tech incubator. After successfully growing and selling these companies Michiel trained for and completed an Ironman. This enhanced his passion for plant based, healthy living, and the impact this has on the planet. Since this experience, Michiel has been following his passion and has become an experienced vegan investor. As an early investor of The Vegetarian Butcher (acquired by Unilever in 2018) Michiel experienced the massive growth of the plant based food space from up close.

    Michiel is currently investing in solely plant-based companies who focus on materials, health and food. Companies that are transforming the world to one that is more sustainable by eliminating animals from the production system. Travelling and training while helping people realise their dreams.

  • Jonathan Teoh

    Jonathan Teoh

    Manager Entrepreneurship at Foodvalley NL

    Jonathan Teoh is Manager Entrepreneurship at Foodvalley NL. Responsible for creating a worldclass ecosystem for entrepreneurs in Food & Agri and stimulate and enable these ventures to make an impact in the transition of our foodsystem. Together with our ecosystem partners we create services for, build relationship with and facilitate the most innovative entrepreneurs in their journey towards impactful success.

  • Jeroen Willemsen

    Jeroen Willemsen

    Innovation Manager Protein Shift at Foodvalley NL

    Innovation Manager Protein Shift at Foodvalley NL, influencing the future of protein, and supporting companies looking to make an impact in – and profit from – the business of sustainable proteins. Many know Jeroen as ‘the green protein commissioner of the Netherlands’. At Wageningen University & Research he developed novel protein extraction and texturing techniques. 2009 saw him co-found Ojah, producer of a revolutionary new generation of meat analogues. In 2016, Jeroen started the Green Protein Alliance and, one year later, Foodvalley’s Innovation and Business Network, The Protein Cluster. Both platforms continue to shape the European plant-protein ecosystem.

    Next to speaking at the summit, Jeroen Willemsen is also Foodvalley Champions jury member for the Protein Shift theme.

  • Maiko van der Meer

    Maiko van der Meer

    Director at Novish B.V.

    After studying chemistry and business, Maiko worked for about 15 years for Unilever Speciality Ingredients based in several EU countries. His role as worldwide commercial representative at Quest lead to the step to the food industry. For 7 years he has worked in industrial bakeries in France, Belgium and the Netherlands and for the next 7 years he was a General Manager at Mowi (prior Marine Harvest) in Belgium and Poland. Lastly, Maiko was the CCO at Vion, at which he also was responsible for the conversion of the beef slaughterhouse in Leeuwarden into a Vega factory and the launch of a range of plant-based meat alternatives.

    For the last couple of years Maiko was also active as an agrifood consultant in strategy and M&A, both for investors as family owned businesses. In October 2019, together with 2 partners, they started Novish; the first European plant-based seafood company.

  • Kaline van Halder

    Kaline van Halder

    Founder of Meet Jack

    Kaline, a.k.a. Getting Things Done Leader, is one of those rare souls known for her ability to walk through closed doors. When she sets her mind on something, rest assured she’ll get there.

    For almost a decade, Kaline devoted herself to social entrepreneurs working towards a more inclusive and sustainable world. Guiding them to clarify their business goals and build strong partnerships to successfully launch their products to market. Always in silent search of that one product she would want to devote the rest of her career to.

    End of 2017 the stars aligned when Kaline tasted a jackfruit dish. She found her product and set out on a life mission to introduce it to the worldwide market.

    Jackfruit is the largest fruit in the world with a completely natural taste and meaty texture. A perfect meat replacement. And so Meet Jack was born to introduce a fruit for meat lovers to the Dutch market.

    Big ambitions need a strong team. And Kaline knows it takes a village to build a strong brand. Being firm believer in the old saying ‘alone you go fast, together you go further’, Kaline built an impressive tribe and huge network of people devoted to helping her spread the message that there is a new fruit in town and his name is Jack.

  • Alberto Musacchio

    Alberto Musacchio

    CEO Food Evolution

    Alberto Musacchio, together with his wife Malu and his son Damiano, have been vegetarian and have dedicated their lives to vegetarianism for over 30 years. He started out with a restaurant back in 1979 and he has been running the famous Country House Montali, which is considered one of the best vegetarian agritourisms in Europe, for almost 40 years now. Furthermore, he published several best-sellers about veggie and vegan cuisine together with Malu Musacchio, who is considered one of the best vegetarian chefs in the world.

    Alberto and his family created a brand-new factory which produces Food Evolution line, composed of plant-based meat analogues that are 100% natural, vegan, gluten-free, high-protein, low in fat, low-carb and easy to cook products. A distinct Italian accent is given to the clean label meat alternatives.

    After its debut in Esselunga supermarkets chain in Italy, Metro DE and other international players, Alberto Musacchio is ready to face new challenges both in Italy and all over the world with its 100% “made in Italy” products.

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