Rick Stein joined FMI in 2014, and is responsible for developing a portfolio of services and activities to assist members in formulating and executing their fresh food strategies. These categories include everything from – dairy, frozen, meat, poultry, seafood, and produce to service departments – deli, bakery and fresh prepared meals and related solutions for take-out or in-store dining. Prior to joining FMI, Rick spent 30 + years in a wide range of retail grocery merchandising and marketing responsibilities. Most recently Stein was the Vice President of retail marketing execution for Safeway Stores, Inc. Previously he held both divisional and corporate responsibilities in his tenure at Safeway in retail/store operations, category management, sales, and marketing/merchandising. He has experience in virtually every facet of the retail food business and helped lead Safeway to achieve operational excellence and increased market share and revenues. Stein graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor of Arts in Behavioral and Social Sciences. He has earned continuing educations credits in marketing, merchandising and management, most recently with the Disney Institute. Rick serves on numerous nonprofit boards such as the Children’s Cancer Foundation and Easter Seals of DC/VA/MD.

Jose is president of dunnhumby in North America, with responsibility for leading expansion in the region. With nearly 15 years in the industry, Jose brings a wealth of retail, consultancy and brand experience. Prior to this, he was Managing Director of Latin America and Africa, where he led dunnhumby foray into Mexico and Argentina. He helped personalize the customer experience for the shoppers of major Latin American and African Retailers and FMCGs, such as Raia Drogasil, Grupo Exito, Grupo Pão de Açucar, Shoprite and AB Inbev. Before joining dunnhumby, Jose worked in investment banking with BPI.

Chef Paul Wahlberg was born in Dorchester, MA one of nine siblings, which include his famous younger brothers, Actor Mark Wahlberg and Musician/Actor Donnie Wahlberg. While Mark and Donnie spent their childhood daydreaming of their inevitable rise to fame as performers, Paul spent his time in the family kitchen with his mother Alma. According to Paul, his cooking was influenced by the Sunday suppers he shared at home with family and friends. At age 16, he began working for a caterer and after graduating high school, he spent time in several kitchens around Boston including The Charles Hotel, The Four Seasons Hotel and Bridgeman’s Restaurant in Hull, MA where he served as Executive Chef for nine years. Following nine years at Bridgeman’s, Paul embarked on his first solo venture opening Alma Nove, an Italian/Mediterranean restaurant in Hingham, MA. Shortly after opening Alma Nove, Paul opened his first Wahlburgers directly across the street. Wahlburgers, the subject of an A&E reality show which wrapped 10 successful seasons just last year, offers a fun, casual music-filled atmosphere where guests, like family, share great food, a few laughs and lots of love. While its interior decor is filled with photos and memories celebrating the brothers' life journeys from Dorchester neighborhood kids to rising Chef and international superstars, Wahlburgers makes food the real star. Wahlburgers currently has 49 locations throughout North America and Europe.

Rachel Shemirani understands the value of good food at good prices as Barons Market Senior Vice President. Born and raised in San Diego, Rachel began working at the family-owned market in high school, running the register and stocking shelves before working her way up to her current role. Rachel oversees advertising, marketing, brand strategy and community engagement for Barons Market. She also serves as the gatekeeper for new products, leading weekly food panels to hand select high-quality and affordable products.

Art Sebastian is the Vice President of Digital Experiences at Casey’s General Stores and he has been in the role since late 2018. As VP, Digital Experiences he is responsible for leading the development and implementation of the company’s E-Commerce business, Digital Technologies, Guest Loyalty Program, Digital Marketing and Guest Insights & Analytics. Sebastian joined Casey’s from Meijer, where he was Vice President of Digital Shopping responsible for the E-Commerce business, Digital Product Management, Digital Marketing and New Business Ventures. Prior to Meijer, he spent 6 years at Kraft Foods as Vice President of Category Leadership & Shopper Insights. Before Kraft, Sebastian worked at analytics and consulting firm IRI Worldwide and with Albertsons Inc. Sebastian holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from the University of DeVry Chicago. He, his wife and three children currently reside in Des Moines, IA.

Gina is obsessed with grocery stores, food retailers, international travel and her favorite place in the world is the 6th Arrondissement of Paris. She has covered the retail and CPG industries for various business publications since 2014. Previously she was a writer and editor for the Tampa Bay Times. She served on the editorial board of the Washington Post and as an assistant editor there for more than 13 years. She has also worked for the Hartford Courant, Tallahassee Democrat, and Miami Herald. In 2010 she was awarded the Wharton Fellowship for Business Journalists, allowing her to study and earn business journalism certification from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. In 2006 she was awarded the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard University, where she spent more than a year studying retail, agribusiness and teaching journalism. She has received the Hispanic Media 100 Award, Women in Communications Leadership Award, Tallahassee Democrat Award for Newsroom Excellence, Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Intern Award and Hearst Journalism Award. She has also been selected as a fellow by Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Poynter Institute, the Maynard Media Academy and American Society of Newspaper Editors. A native of Miami, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from Florida A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tampa. When she is not geeking out about grocery and retail news, Gina loves hiking with her Border Collie, Riley, and planning her next trip to Paris. Gina speaks fluent English, Spanish, Italian and is trying really hard to learn French.

At the Good Food Institute, Emma manages projects to catalyze corporate innovation that will radically transform the food system, including leading the Good Food Retail Report benchmarking of the top 15 U.S. grocery chains on their product assortment, merchandising, and marketing of plant-based foods. She has previously worked in strategy, marketing, and communications in the design industry as well as the health education and access sector. Emma also has a background in the TED community, founding and curating regional TEDx events and helping thinkers hone their ideas worth spreading. She holds a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Cornell University.

How can we bend our food system to massively improve human and environmental health? This is the motivating question for Matt's career. Matt is the co-founder & CEO of Afresh--a fresh food technology company. Prior to founding Afresh, Matt launched a snack company called Statfoods, worked in foodtech at The Production Board, and managed operations at Simple Mills. Matt holds an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Scott Schuette’s passion for Produce began in his family’s backyard farm in Glendale, Arizona. His career spans over thirty years in the industry, including senior roles at Bashas’ Family of Stores, Sprouts, and his current role as VP of Produce at Fresh Thyme Market. In just five years, Scott and his team members opened eighty store locations, establishing a strong natural, organic foothold in the Midwest market that brought healthy, affordable food to hundreds of thousands of hungry customers.

Darryl Rosenblatt has been a lead engineer and conceptual designer for the casino gaming industry for 25 years. Mr. Rosenblatt holds patents in both gaming technology and UVC Technology. Mr. Rosenblatt attended SUNY Alfred in New York State and is a champion Magician and counts some of the world's best magicians as students of his unique style of sleight of hand. Mr. Rosenblatt, during the pandemic, formed an organization of engineers and biologists to develop products to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in public gathering places,- specifically casinos. Mr. Rosenblatt was one of the key inventors of both Sterilane and Safeplay, UVC solutions proven to destroy covid-19 on a molecular level.

Steven Mandernach (Mawn-dur-knock) is the executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO). Prior to becoming executive director in 2018, Mandernach was the bureau chief for food and consumer safety at the Iowa Department of Inspections. Mandernach is a past president of AFDO and current co-chair of the Association’s Laws and Regulations committee. He has also served as the chair and co-chair for the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Alliance. He is a past president of the Mid-Continental Association of Food and Drug Officials. Mandernach has a J.D. from Drake University Law School. He has completed graduate work in Food Safety at Michigan State University. Prior to becoming executive director in 2018, Mandernach was the bureau chief for food and consumer safety at the Iowa Department of Inspections. Mandernach is a past president of AFDO and current co-chair of the Association’s Laws and Regulations committee. He has also served as the chair and co-chair for the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Alliance. He is a past president of the Mid-Continental Association of Food and Drug Officials. Mandernach has a J.D. from Drake University Law School. He has completed graduate work in Food Safety at Michigan State University.

Juan Romero founded api(+), a leading food retail store design firm, in 1990 after working with some of the most respected industry leaders and architectural design firms in the world. He is passionate about helping retail organizations grow through great design, smart branding and creative thinking. Juan directs teams of talent to create retail environments that function, entertain, move product and inspire shoppers. api(+) has worked closely with major companies both nationally and internationally, including Publix, The Fresh Market, Hannaford, Lowes Foods, Walmart and many more.

As a Principal, Vice President and CFO at Field Paoli, Christen specializes in Food and Beverage retailing. With over 20 years of experience in all phases of design and construction for national and local brands, her unique perspective, passion for sustainability, and willingness to think outside of the traditional parameters of architecture enables her to bring a well-rounded view to any project. A nearly fifteen-year relationship with the Northern California region of Whole Foods Markets has resulted in 18 new store openings and countless remodels of their growing fleet. From brewery and taproom design to in-store spas and a coffee roastery, Christen has demonstrated numerous times her capacity to think creatively about how spaces can be designed and used to build community and brand loyalty.

Gabby Rosi is a Design Executive with more than 20 years of experience in the retail and foodservice industry, almost all of that with Whole Foods Market, where she designed and opened more than 70 stores in the western U.S. and Canada. Today, she's bringing her multidisciplinary mojo to work as a leader and project consultant, helping brands on a mission create physical environments that shine. Gabby is a brand strategist who can help you find your unique place in the market and bring that to life in the real world—and have a whole lot of fun all along the way. She can pretty much do it all—from concept development to strategic planning to execution of the tiniest detail. And there’s nothing that makes her happier than working with smart, passionate people to create and build retail and hospitality environments people love to spend time in. She lives in Oakland, CA. When not working, she explores the beauty that is the Bay Area, checking out the latest food trucks (read: eating), visiting local independent retailers (read: shopping), and volunteering to make our city and our world a better place.

Lynn Neal is the Chief Product Officer at SellCheck. SellCheck increases shopper conversion by optimizing creative – combining behavioral science, neuroscience and marketing expertise to increase sales. SellCheck has served over 1000 brands. Prior to SellCheck, Lynn was a Senior Director at Procter & Gamble, serving as one of the global leaders for the application of behavioral science to shopping. Lynn owned the evolution P&G’s North America Innovation center, ‘The I’.

Rick Stein joined FMI in 2014, and is responsible for developing a portfolio of services and activities to assist members in formulating and executing their fresh food strategies. These categories include everything from – dairy, frozen, meat, poultry, seafood, and produce to service departments – deli, bakery and fresh prepared meals and related solutions for take-out or in-store dining. Prior to joining FMI, Rick spent 30 + years in a wide range of retail grocery merchandising and marketing responsibilities. Most recently Stein was the Vice President of retail marketing execution for Safeway Stores, Inc. Previously he held both divisional and corporate responsibilities in his tenure at Safeway in retail/store operations, category management, sales, and marketing/merchandising. He has experience in virtually every facet of the retail food business and helped lead Safeway to achieve operational excellence and increased market share and revenues. Stein graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor of Arts in Behavioral and Social Sciences. He has earned continuing educations credits in marketing, merchandising and management, most recently with the Disney Institute. Rick serves on numerous nonprofit boards such as the Children’s Cancer Foundation and Easter Seals of DC/VA/MD.

Krystal Register, MS, RDN, LDN is the Director of Health and Well-being at FMI - The Food Industry Association. She serves as the lead coordinator and issue expert for health and well-being programs and activities, nutrition policy, operations, and communication issues for FMI members. Krystal was a retail dietitian with Wegmans for 12 years and made significant contributions to company-wide wellness programs, health messaging, community events, and local media response in the National Capital Region. Krystal’s background includes environmental and nutrition sciences with degrees from the College of William & Mary and James Madison University, with clinical and personal coaching experience.

Jonna has been an innovator in the fresh foods space for nearly two decades driving the evolution of consumer-centric decision making and big data analytics throughout the perimeter. She has worked extensively in each perimeter department: meat, bakery, deli, produce, seafood, dairy and floral with both suppliers and retailers. Jonna joined IRI in 2016 and leads IRI’s Fresh Center of Excellence focusing on solution enhancement, thought leadership and client consultation across both suppliers and retailers. As an industry thought leader, Jonna has regularly contributed content to and been quoted in publications including Bakery and Snacks, National Provisioner, Winsight Grocery Business and CSP Daily News. She has also participated in notable events including the FMI Midwinter Executive Conference and IDDBA Show.

Kevin Brown is the CEO and Co-founder of Innit. Kevin is an accomplished entrepreneur and executive, with more than 20 years experience in the food tech, search, security, and cloud sectors. Prior to Innit, Kevin served in roles including CEO of Kidaro (acquired: MSFT), Vice President at Decru (acquired: NTAP), and VP/GM and founding team at Internet infrastructure pioneer Inktomi (NASDAQ: INKT, acquired: YHOO). Kevin is a Fellow at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business where he sits on the Dean's Advisory Circle, and earned his Bachelor's and MBA degrees at UC Berkeley, where he served as MBA class president.

As Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Attention Span Media, the business and marketing strategy agency, Garrett leads strategy development for campaigns and clients. Prior to ASM, he was focused on television and broadcasting, M&A and tech. Garrett helped launch Global Outsight – a media strategy and M&A consultancy based in Cambridge, MA and was on the staff of the mayor of Boston. A Harvard graduate who majored in engineering and the History of Science, Garrett serves with several non-profits, including as a board member of the Cancer Nutrition Consortium and Find the Cause Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Scott Aakre is vice president of consumer insights and corporate innovation for Hormel Foods, a global branded food company. In his role, Aakre leads the company’s global corporate innovation, new product development and consumer and shopper insights. Aakre and his team have been instrumental in driving insight led innovation within the company’s world-class portfolio of brands, while also developing new products for the global marketplace. Under Aakre’s leadership, the company has received numerous awards and accolades for its innovation efforts. Aakre joined Hormel Foods in 1990 and has held a variety of management positions in both the refrigerated and center store retail businesses.

Jeff Frank is vice president of marketing for the foodservice division at Hormel Foods. In this position, he is responsible for the overall development of advertising, brand strategy, and financial performance for the foodservice division. Frank began his career with Hormel Foods in 1998 as a meat products sales representative in San Francisco, Calif. A year later, he transferred to the world headquarters and steadily progressed to the position of senior product manager in 2003 overseeing iconic brands such as Hormel® Black Label® bacon and Hormel® Cure 81® ham. In 2005, he advanced to the position of director of retail marketing at the company’s former business in Los Angeles, Calif., and was promoted to vice president of retail marketing in 2007. He transitioned to the company’s joint venture with Herdez del Fuerte S.A. de C.V (Mexico), MegaMex Foods, in 2009 as the vice president of marketing. He was named president & CEO of MegaMex Foods in 2013 where he successfully led the global supply chain and drove business growth with on-trend brands such as Wholly Guacamole® dips and Herdez® salsa. He assumed his current role in 2018. Frank holds an executive certificate from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and Spanish from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Stefan is the Co-Founder and CEO who leads the talented Shelf Engine team. Stefan started his career in the food industry in 2009 when he founded Molly’s, a grab & go food company. While growing Molly's to over 400 regional retail locations, he discovered the problem of food waste first hand. Hungry for a better solution, Stefan co-founded Shelf Engine in 2016. He studied Actuarial Science and got a degree in Mathematics and Economics from Western Washington University. Stefan feels most inspired at Shelf when he gets to witness the numbers reflecting a reduction in waste and the immediate positive impact that has on customers. His favorite thing about working at Shelf is the team's tireless ability to innovate at warp speeds. When Stefan isn't making it happen at Shelf, you can find him with his wife hunting for fresh tracks, on WhatsApp catching up with his family in France, or baking bread at 2am.

Laura Nicklin is a seasoned market researcher with extensive experience in research consulting and storytelling with Fortune 500 clients. Within EnsembleIQ, she oversees a team of senior-level research consultants and partners with the Path to Purchase Institute to provide business intelligence relevant to brands, agencies, and retailers in the shopper marketing industry. Nicklin has worked closely with hundreds of clients in consumer goods manufacturing, retail, technology, and agencies to understand their business goals and design research programs to inform their decisions. Prior to EIQ Research Solutions, Nicklin led a research team at Maritz Research and was responsible for the design and execution of customer experience programs within the retail and hospitality industries. She has also worked in product development research with several large CPG manufacturers. Nicklin holds a Master of Marketing Research (MMR) degree from Southern Illinois University and has over 17 years of experience in the market research field.

Edris Bemanian is the CEO of the four-time Inc. 5000 listed AI and SaaS pricing company, Engage3. He is the recipient of Sacramento Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Innovators in 2019. Edris is a panelist, contributor and domain expert with Brick Meets Click, an organization dedicated to exploring how technology impacts consumers and the implications for retailers and manufacturers. Prior to Engage3, he led initiatives across companies like Sodexo, AndNowUKnow, and other tech start-ups. Edris earned dual degrees in Economics and Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from UC Davis.

Wesley Wilson is the Head of Agriculture, Food and Beverage at the World Economic Forum, focused on catalysing industry transformation to drive positive health and environmental outcomes. With a background in strategy and innovation, he has served as a founder, corporate officer and board member for various multi-stakeholder collaborative initiatives on food, consumer goods, human rights, and the environment.  Wesley joined the Forum from Walmart, where he built strategy and partnerships to grow social and environmental compliance across Walmart’s global supply chain, and developed the first comprehensive responsibility strategy for Walmart’s international retail business. He has also served as Senior Advisor to two heads of agency at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and developed a strategy advisory board for the Board of Directors at Mars, Incorporated.  Wesley has been involved in innovation throughout his career, including launching an awarded public-private innovation collaboration at USAID, building a new U.S. Government corporation focused on international development, and expanding innovation policies and programs at NASA.

Will Decker is a Silicon Valley VP who co-founded the Media & Advertising program and leads the global Brand & Retail program at Plug and Play. Over the past 16 years, he has advised board members, C-level execs and startup founders, helping build and grow products and operations across multiple industries and geographies. He founded an ecommerce company, has advised on enterprise innovation and helped grow the largest global mobile consumer and advertising audience while at Yahoo!. Will has a BA in Mathematics from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Rick brings over 30 years of proven industry leadership to his role as CEO of Chowbotics. Since joining the company in October 2019, Rick has led the company to the forefront of the food robotics industry and most recently to its best performing sales quarter since inception. Prior to Chowbotics, Rick served as CEO of both Mojo Networks and Pliant which he led to successful acquisitions. He was also part of the management team at Aruba Networks as it conducted its IPO.

Driven by a vision to create an ecosystem of better efficiencies, Chris joined Wakefern Food Corp., a $16 billion supermarket cooperative in the northeast, in early 2017 leading the Retail Technology team. Soon thereafter he launched the Wakefern EDGE team, focused on shepherding innovation throughout the cooperative to navigate the disruption landscape. His focused leadership propelled a modernization of retail technology, including a migration to user friendly mobile retail applications, Artificial Intelligence for retail replenishment order recommendations, IoT for queue management and warehouse temperature monitoring, computer vision for out of stock detection, AI for anomaly detection, robotics for retail culinary, and a soon to be launched connected shopping cart. With more than 20 years experience, Chris’ work spans a range of industry verticals and includes launching and growing start-ups, such as OpenHire, Outtask, Curb and Karhoo. He is also the former CIO for Red Apple/Gristedes. Chris holds an Engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Rutgers. *** Wakefern Food Corp. is a member-owned retail cooperative that operates 354 stores in nine Northeastern states under five distinct banners, including ShopRite, Price Rice Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market in New Jersey, as well as the recent addition of three Manhattan-based Gourmet Garage stores, with a combined 70,000 associates. Wakefern Food Corp. was formed in 1946 by eight independent grocers who were looking for a way to compete with the national supermarket chains that were beginning to emerge following World War II. Their early success led them to create a single trade name under which they would operate, and in 1951, the ShopRite brand was born.

Anthony is the co-founder and COO/CFO of Dexai Robotics, a venture-backed startup that automates activities in commercial kitchens using flexible robot arms. Prior to Dexai, Anthony worked as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, focusing on growth strategies. Anthony holds a MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Mathematics from the American University of Beirut. Outside of work, Anthony enjoys chasing soccer balls and exploring sunken sea treasures.

Catherine Lee is currently Co-Head of Consumer at Wolfe Research. Wolfe Research is ranked #7 on Wall Street according to II magazine. Prior to Wolfe Research, Ms. Lee was a Director at Citigroup covering consumer (for over 15 years) where her team was ranked #1 in Leisure (for the past 9 years), #1 in Restaurants (for the past 2 years) and #2 in Food Retail (last year). She has been ranked Rising Star in both the Restaurant and Leisure categories and most recently ranked #4/Runner Up in the Leisure Category. She graduated from Rutgers University with a dual major in Economics and Spanish.

An 18-year Real Estate Executive with a diverse retail real estate background and a concerted focus on Lifestyle, Hospitality and Food & Beverage Real Estate. Jessica Curtis is the Leader of CBRE’s U.S. Restaurant Specialty Practice specializing in Emerging Brands. Ms. Curtis has a finger on the pulse of trends in retail, dining and hospitality and spends much of her time traveling throughout the United States maintaining her knowledge base, building relationships and searching for the next great concept.

I believe that Food is one of the most powerful levers to create positive human, societal and planetary change. In my role as Accenture’s global Future of Food lead, we are working to accelerate industry transformation through creating Food with Purpose, Building Resilient and Transparent Supply Chains and Re-imagining Eating Experiences in a post-Covid world. Prior to leading our firm’s Food practice, I was an intrapreneur who founded Accenture’s Product & Service Innovation business which partners with clients to create new, breakthrough products, services and business models.

Designer and farmer- not as odd a combination as one might think. Simply put, both serve people- improving life, health, family and the planet. As a designer, I lead What If Innovation’s team of highly skilled ‘design thinking design doers’. We invent new-to-world products and services, connect Accenture’s deep portfolio of emerging technologies, and lead initiatives from human insight to real world impact. As a farmer, my family grows organic produce to finance a global network of feeding programs. As a thought leader, I‘m a proud champion of Accenture's Future of Food platform. and am defining our methodology for Inclusive Invention. Prior to joining What If, Jeremy lead many of the world’s leading design and branding agencies, with clients Including ABInBev, Pepsico, Diageo, Delta Airlines and Proctor & Gamble.

Xulin Guo is the Chief of Staff and Business Assistant to the CEO of Alibaba’s New Retail grocery business Freshippo, which provides seamless online and offline shopping experiences to Chinese consumers. Freshippo currently has more than 200 stores in over 20 cities in China. Before joining Alibaba, Xulin was an entrepreneur in China where he founded two companies, including an e-commerce platform for professional services and a boutique financial advisory firm. Prior to that, he was with Goldman Sachs, IDG Capital, and J.P. Morgan.