Speakers

Marcel Khan has worked at a senior level at some of the fastest-growing businesses in one of the most competitive sectors in the country. From how to inspire a workforce to great customer service and making your brand stand out in a crowded market, he looks at the lessons in brand, people and culture from his time with the Five Guys and Nando’s restaurant chains. As the current CEO of The Fulham Shore, Marcel is responsible for the development and expansion of their The Real Greek and Franco Manca brands.

Spending six years as Operations and Brand Development Director for Five Guys Europe, Marcel launched the US’s fastest growing restaurant chain in Europe. He oversaw over 90 restaurants including what would become eight of the company’s best-performing outlets in the world. Before Five Guys he was Regional MD for Nando’s UK for almost a decade where he helped the brand grow from 42 to over 260 sites. He became the company’s top internal management developer and was also closely involved with CSR and community programmes.

In almost 15 years at the top of some of the most distinctive restaurant brands, Marcel has defined how to stay ahead in a notoriously difficult market. His lessons are simple, but can be easily forgotten in the everyday heat of business. At both Nando’s and Five Guys he and his teams were driven to create a culture where everyone felt valued and passionate about what they did. As businesses they marked out where they could compete and focused on being the best in that area, conveying a clear message about what they offered, and ensuring they consistently delivered on that promise.

Marcel actively believes in maintaining a view from the frontline, and would regularly work in restaurants and talk to customers directly about their experience. Customer service was key, as was how the values of the staff were reflected in the brand and the restaurants themselves. He delivers practical insights and advice on how to lead and inspire a team, define and build a brand and culture, and create a competitive advantage.

Dr Morgaine Gaye is a world-renowned Food Futurologist.

Morgaine looks at food and eating from a social, cultural, economic, trend, branding and geo-political perspective. Her work involves running ideation sessions, consulting to food companies, developing new products and ideas; writing articles/ trend reports for PR and ad agencies; giving public, university and corporate lectures on specific food trends, developing new ideas for food-related TV and radio programmes and doing research on all elements of the eating experience from mouth-feel and texture to olfactory perception. She consults to leading blue chip food companies and manufacturers, delivering bespoke trend briefings and NPD ideation.

Dr Gaye works with all well-known global brands from Mondelez to Mars and Unilever to Nestle. She manages product development and ideation sessions with global teams and innovation chefs. Morgaine looks at trends up to 10 years in the future and works with texture, branding, packaging and consumer drivers. Typically, Morgaine creates and presents a custom slide deck which aims to inspire and surprise, with circa 220 images per 1 hr presentation. Although Morgaine primarily work for F&B brands, she also consults to many technology companies who have an involvement in high end tech such as Panasonic, Siemens, Sony, Samsung, DeLonghi, Braun, and BMW. Their designers and engineers use Morgaine’s trend forecasts to inspire their future products. Organisations such as law and banking (Linklaters & RaboBank) or ingredient and manufacturing companies (Ingredion & Puratos) engage Morgaine to envision future markets.

Amazon’s on-line ‘shop of the future’, features Morgaine’s predictions as one of two Futurologists giving ideas about how we may celebrate and share together in 2050. Morgaine has been a part of a recent think tank project for MoD working with global defence forces to prepare for uncertain future scenarios.

Her academic research papers have been published in a number of journals. She is a guest university lecturer in UK and Sweden and is on the reviewing panel for the International Food Design Conference, an academic journal. Morgaine gives seminars at The Founder Institute, a Silicon Valley business incubator programme. As part of the EU Commission, Morgaine was the chair at the Brussels Parliament for 2015.

Morgaine has given a TedX talk on the Future of Scent and Smelling (It Doesn’t Make any Scents), because part of her work involves haptic experiences such as touch, mouth feel perception and scent. Morgaine’s chapter on the Architecture of Scent is published in Royal Academy of Art book, Interior Futures published by Crucible Press, 2019. Her book Fashion to Fork – Why We Eat What We Eat was published in 2023.

Morgaine is a frequent media contributor. She has appeared on numerous TV shows such as BBC  World News to Sunday Brunch to Netflix, The Future of … series. She co-hosted Channel 4 Future Family and was the weekly futurologist on Chanel 5 Breakfast Show in Australia. She is a frequent contributor on radio – BBC to Five Live to NPR and she is often quoted in media from Glamour to Stylist to the Telegraph and Financial Times.

Dr. Gordon Campbell, former Managing Director of SPAR International (1994-2015), led the company’s expansion into 20 new countries, transforming SPAR into the world’s largest chain of independent food retail stores. His strategic management style and marketing background drove SPAR’s global growth, particularly in developing markets like China, India, and Russia.

Under Campbell’s leadership, SPAR’s annual retail sales reached €33 billion by 2015. His focus on building strong organisational structures and management teams contributed to this success. In 2016, he received the Outstanding Leadership Award at the World Retail Congress, recognising his contributions to the retail industry.

Currently, Campbell consults with retail and manufacturing businesses in Europe and the Middle East. He is an experienced speaker on topics such as global retail food trends, growth-driven leadership, and entry strategies in developing markets

Melissa Rodriguez has been a part of Circana for nearly 20 years, engaging and energizing clients for growth across multiple areas of the store.  As a Principal in Retail & Consumer Protein, Melissa leads client relationships with some of the largest protein companies in the world.  She is a trusted advisor to her clients, assisting with consumer focused and customer centric data analytics to drive business decisions.  She also participates in many of Circana relationships with industry associations including IDDBA, NFI and NAMI, and her insights have appeared in webinars, blogs, and Thought Leadership publications.   

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Amanda is a dynamic procurement leader with a passion for tackling challenges and transforming them into opportunities for success. With extensive experience in strategic procurement and team leadership, Amanda has built a reputation for driving meaningful change and delivering enhanced value across diverse industries. Currently serving as Group Procurement Director, Amanda spearheads initiatives that go beyond cost savings to deliver sustainable benefits for the entire business. 

Over 20 years, Amanda has developed and executed strategies that achieve measurable results in cost management, commodity sourcing, risk mitigation, and service enhancement. Combining analytical expertise with a collaborative mindset, Amanda ensures procurement is not just a functional support but a catalyst for innovation and value creation. 

Adept at building and leading high-performing teams, Amanda cultivates a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and strategic alignment. By fostering strong partnerships both internally and with external suppliers, she has consistently enhanced operational performance and mitigated supply chain risks, ensuring business continuity and competitive advantage. 

Amanda’s passion for strategic sourcing extends to delivering results that align with broader organisational goals. This includes enhancing service delivery, optimising supplier relationships, and generating long-term value through innovative procurement practices. 

Marcel joined Expana in 2019, bringing a wealth of experience in price reporting, analytics, and risk management. At Expana, Marcel leads the proprietary agri-food and industrial coverage, empowering stakeholders across the value chain to make informed business decisions and mitigate risks through best-in-class price benchmarks, news, and analytics. Since joining, Marcel has been instrumental in transforming Expana into the largest IOSCO-assured Price Reporting Agency (PRA) in the agri-food sector, leveraging advanced in-house capabilities and strategic M&A.

Marcel’s expertise in enhancing transparency within physical commodity markets stems from his outstanding achievements at global firms such as S&P Global. Marcel holds an MSc in Energy, Trade & Finance from Cass Business School and outside of work, Marcel enjoys spending time with his family and playing golf.

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Scott Wellcome is the Director of Grain Risk Management & Sourcing at GoodMills Group GmbH, based in Vienna, Austria. The GoodMills group is Europe’s largest milling company, operating in 7 EU countries with 24 milling operations, alongside its innovations, planted based-protein and pulses facilities. 

His day-to-day focus is helping the group manage its operational risks, whether they be raw material price risk, energy needs or supply chain logistics related. 

His career began in 1988 in London and as well as currently working in Austria, has also worked in Switzerland & Dubai, for both multi-national and private trading commodity companies. 

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Marc Kloepfel, CEO of Kloepfel Group, is a distinguished leader with over 25 years of expertise in Supply Chain Management and Procurement. His dedicated career involves pioneering cost optimization solutions for the mid-sized sector and propelling innovations in procurement and supply chain strategies globally. A prolific mentor and networker, Marc hosts a podcast discussing SCM trends, challenges, and opportunities, aiming to build a global community of industry professionals. He is a regular speaker at international events, sharing insights on global market dynamics and sustainability practices. Marc also invests in startups, especially those innovating in SCM, AI, and ESG criteria, alongside ventures in international real estate and cryptocurrencies. His entrepreneurial journey includes creating, and managing companies in professional services, trading, and real estate, showcasing his broad expertise and commitment to advancing SCM and procurement. 

Luana has nearly two decades of experience in the agri-food industry, including roles at major manufacturing companies such as Nestle and AB InBev. During her career, she focused on leading data and intelligence strategies to support industry players in making informed strategic decisions.

At Expana, Luana leads global multifunctional data and analytics teams. Her role involves growing and developing teams that apply quantitative and statistical analysis, as well as machine learning techniques, to enhance Expana’s data, insights, and forecasting capabilities. She also plays a critical role in integrating other businesses as part of Expana’s ambitious expansion efforts.

Luana holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Business. Outside of her professional life, Luana enjoys spending quality time with her daughter, often cycling or solving puzzles together. She’s also an avid swimmer, rugby fan, and adventurous diver, constantly seeking new spots worldwide.

Sandro Schulz is the EMEA Protein Team Lead at Mintec. During his career at Mintec, Sandro has worked on implementing and expanding Mintec’s protein coverage in Europe. His primary duties include reporting on the pork and dairy market and leading the EMEA protein team. Sandro graduated from IHK Niedersachsen, with a Bachelor Professional Degree in Business

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Rutika Ghodekar is a meat market reporter at Expana, focusing on beef and chicken markets.  As a market reporter, she provides strategic and actionable insights on commodities through in-depth market reports and client presentations. Rutika has over 12 years of experience in analysing, and interpreting commodity and agricultural market intelligence across the food and beverage industry. Before joining Expana, she worked as a market analyst and consultant for various fast-moving consumer research companies/agencies.

Rutika has a degree in Horticulture and Master’s in Business Administration (Marketing) from the University of Pune, India.

Vinay joined Expana in 2023 as CPO and is, currently, also the interim CTO. As a leader of Expana’s Product and Technology team, he leads product strategy and execution, including development of Expana’s user friendly SaaS platform. Vinay has 25+ years of experience in product development and leadership, including Motorola (Symbol), Qlik and Interos. He is skilled in developing successful products that delight customers, having helped scale startups as well as transform product organizations at large enterprises. In particular, he has focused on helping companies find product market fit and deliver against key business goals and metrics. Vinay holds a Masters degree from Harvard University as well as a BE in Computer Science and Engineering.

Vinay is a supporter/volunteer for WeSeeHope, helping create sustainable change for vulnerable children in East Africa through education, child rights and economic empowerment initiatives. Vinay is an avid runner and scuba diver in his free time.

Kyle is a senior market reporter responsible for covering the European Oilseeds and Oils markets and with significant experience Kyle has a well-established network of key industry people as his regular contacts.

Kyle’s aim is to always provide unbiased and transparent information on the market which he shares with the industry through webinars, blogs and his weekly veg oil reports.

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Dineo Komane is a Market Reporter at Urner Barry, she provides market coverage on UK beef and European whitefish markets. Dineo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from South Africa. She has over 5 years experience in the Agri-commodity and food sectors. Prior to market reporting, she has held  Account Manager roles both in South Africa and in France. Dineo lives in the South of France with her family.

John Rich is a highly experienced senior business executive with a strong background in agribusiness operations, development banking and investment. 

Nationality: Australian 

Joined the Board: 2006 

Positions: Member of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee and member of the Sustainability & International Affairs Committee 

Career and prior highlights experience: 

• Member of the Australian College of Veterinary Science and a registered financial member of the Australian College of Veterinary Surgeons; 

• 1990-2003: Executive Director, Austasia Pty Ltd (agribusiness conglomerate SE Asia); 

• 1995-2002: Director AN-OSI Pty Ltd (supply chain management for feedlot beef, poultry and dairy operations SE Asia/China); 

• 2006-2019 Senior Consulting Agribusiness Industry Specialist IFC and Agribusiness consultant to IFC invested clients until 2020; 

• 2017-2021 Financial Board Advisor to ADM Capital and Independent Non-Executive Director at three other poultry-related companies; 

Current roles: 

• Managing Director of Australian Agricultural Nutrition and Consulting Pty Ltd (AANC); 

• Recently appointed to the Food and Agribusiness Advisory Council of the London based Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC); 

• Non-Executive director of Zambeef Product Limited (Zambia); and 

• Non-executive Director of Zalar Holding (Morocco). 

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Sunil Nayak is Zone President for Europe, region CEO of Continental Europe and the executive sponsor for Global Strategic Accounts at Sodexo.

Sunil’s passion for food began when he opened a food cart on the streets of Mumbai in 1989, and continues today at Sodexo – a world leader in delivering sustainable food service and valued experiences in over 50 countries. 

Sunil joined Sodexo in 2009 as CEO Sodexo India. He went on to grow and transform the business in India and held global strategic roles including CEO Corporate Services Asia Pacific and in 2019 CEO Corporate Services worldwide.  He has been a member of Sodexo’s group executive leadership team since 2019 and in November 2022, he was appointed Zone President for Europe with responsibility for the implementation of Sodexo’s strategic roadmap across the Zone and in January 2023, he was also appointed CEO of the Continental Europe region, leading 18 countries.

Sunil is an executive sponsor of diversity, equity& inclusion at Sodexo, providing direction and leadership to SoTogether – a global advisory board driving gender balance by advancing women at all levels of the organization. Externally, he is a member of the advisory boards of Women in Food and Agriculture (WFA) and Catalyst Europe.

Beyond his professional work, Sunil champions inclusion and founded Ra Foundation, an NGO that supports children’s education, a cause close to his heart. Sunil is Indian and speaks English and Hindi.

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Jamie Chadwick is Managing Editor, directing the company’s news division in the Americas. She leads an elite team of writers, analysts, and global correspondents responsible for delivering the latest in breaking agricultural and food industry news to our network of subscribers. Serving previously as a livestock analyst for Urner Barry, she developed the framework for reporting impactful and objective intelligence for those operating throughout the entire agri-food space. Jamie has authored numerous educational resources on behalf of the protein industry and her experience has made her a sought-after speaker at industry events in the U.S., Canada and in Europe. She is a champion of the Women in Food and Agriculture initiative, serving as the Summit Chairman and campaign spokesperson.  

Dr. Ayanna R. Cummings, PhD, MBA, CDE®, SPHR, is a trailblazer in agricultural education and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) leadership. As Co-Founder and CEO of AgriEmpower, LLC, she leads initiatives to address food deserts, health inequities, and economic disparities through partnerships with community and technical colleges, minority-owned agricultural enterprises, and under-resourced communities. AgriEmpower focuses on empowering the next generation of agricultural leaders with a curriculum that integrates sustainable practices, technological innovation, and community engagement. Its mission, “Where there is food, there is life,” reflects its commitment to fostering collaboration for a healthier, equitable future. 

Dr. Cummings brings a wealth of expertise in inclusion and equity training, with over a decade of experience in cultural transformation, DEI strategy, and community advocacy. A distinguished scholar-practitioner, her work has been recognized nationally, including the Top DEI Officer Award from the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Dr. Cummings holds a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, an MBA in Marketing, and certifications as a Certified Diversity Executive and Senior Professional in Human Resources. 

Her dual commitment to equitable agricultural education and inclusive leadership positions her as a visionary voice in bridging community empowerment with sustainable food systems, making a profound impact on agriculture’s future. 

As Head of HR and a member of the Management Board at Alltech Coppens, Katja Hermans oversees human resources operations across three key locations: the Head Office and Research Center in the Netherlands, the production facility in Germany, and the HR functions for Alltech Netherlands and Alltech Germany. In her leadership role, Katja plays a pivotal part in shaping the strategic direction and organizational culture of Alltech Coppens. 

From the outset of her career, Katja has been passionate about human resources. This enthusiasm has fueled her commitment to continuous professional development and has been a guiding force in her career. She has actively pursued opportunities to deepen her expertise in HR management, labor law, and leadership. 

Prior to her current position, Katja gained significant leadership experience as a Branch Manager. In this role, she oversaw branch operations, led staff recruitment efforts, and managed client relations, delivering strong business outcomes. 

Katja has further enhanced her professional credentials through various certifications and training, including qualifications as an economic mediator and psychological coach. Her passion for employment law has also led her to serve as an independent judge at the labor court in Germany. 

With her unwavering dedication to HR, strong leadership skills, and active participation as part of the management team, Katja is instrumental in driving the success of Alltech Coppens and contributing to Alltech’s broader mission of achieving excellence.