Speakers

Edward H Rensi, former president and chief executive officer of McDonald’s USA, retired from McDonald’s in 1998. He became a member of McDonald’s Board of Directors in 1982.

Ed Rensi has devoted his early professional career to McDonald’s, joining the company in 1966 as a grill man and part-time manager trainee in Columbus, Ohio. He was promoted to restaurant manager within a year and went on to hold nearly every position in the restaurant and field offices, including franchise service positions in Columbus and Washington, DC.

In 1972 he was named Philadelphia district manager, and later became regional manager and regional vice president. In 1978, he was transferred from the field to the company’s home office in Oak Brook, Illinois as vice president of Operations and Training, where he was responsible for personnel and product development. In 1980, he became executive vice president and chief operations officer, and was appointed senior executive vice president in 1982. Ed Rensi was promoted to president and chief operating office of McDonald’s USA in 1984. In 1991, he was named chief executive officer.

As president and chief executive officer, his responsibilities included overseeing all domestic company-owned and franchisee operations, in addition to providing direction relative to sales, profits, operations and service standards, customer satisfaction, product development, personnel, and training. Ed Rensi was directly responsible for management of McDonald’s USA, which consisted of eight geographic zones and 40 regional offices.

Rensi’s enthusiasm and commitment to the company during his 31-year tenure helped establish McDonald’s as the world’s most successful quick service restaurant. In 1985, Rensi marked a major McDonald’s milestone by serving the 50 Billionth McDonald’s hamburger with Ronald McDonald, a character known to children around the world, and Dick McDonald, one of the two brothers who created the McDonald’s concept in the late 1940’s in San Bernardino, California.

Major innovations spearheaded and overseen by Ed Rensi include the:
-Enhancement of McDonald’s breakfast menu
-Development of Chicken McNuggets in 1983, fresh-tossed salads in 1987, the McChicken sandwich in 1989, low-fat frozen yogurt in 1990, and the McGrilled Chicken Classic in 1994 and the McRib.
-Expansion of the drive-thru concept, which accounts for more than half of all of McDonald’s restaurant sales today
-Development of the Extra Value Meal concept, a key sales driver for the company.

During his 13-year term as president, McDonald’s experienced phenomenal growth. U.S. sales doubled to more than $16 billion, the number of the U.S. restaurants grew from nearly 6,600 to more than 12,000 and the number of U.S. franchisees grew from 1,600 to more than 2,700. Today 26 million customers are served each day globally at McDonald’s. Under Ed Rensi’s leadership, McDonald’s became one of the most recognized brands in the world, the next being Coca-Cola, the only soft drink supplier to McDonald’s today.

Known for his speaking ability to motivate an audience of any size, Rensi enjoyed visiting McDonald’s employees in the field and encouraging them to deliver McDonald’s famed operating principle of “QSC&V” or Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. People, Sales Profit.

Ed was once asked by a business reporter what it was like to run a billion dollar company and Ed replied ”The truth of the matter is I only ran one restaurant at a time, nearly 20,000 times.”

In another article on Ed Rensi it was once noted that his operations expertise was so startling, he can “recite verbatim product procedures, cooking times, holding times, quality guidelines, even Operations and Training Manual page numbers. If you’re looking for someone with the answers, Ed Rensi has them, and he thinks every operations person in the McDonald’s system should have them as well.”

At one point, Rensi had business cards printed up that identified his position as “Chief Hamburger Griller, French Fryer, ShakeMaker and Cheerleader.” He believed that those were his responsibilities, because “our business is to operate great restaurants, we manage restaurants for the benefit of the customer.”

When asked about his level of involvement in the field, Ed Rensi once said, “It’s so important for us all to visit those places and people where the real work gets done, where the unheralded heroes of this organization really are. I felt privileged and honored to shake the hands of these people in the restaurants who are so dedicated and care so much. I really believe they are the heroes of McDonald’s.”

While working in McDonald’s Philadelphia region in the 1970’s, Rensi was instrumental in the development of the first Ronald McDonald House, a temporary residence for families of children with serious illnesses that has grown to include 360 houses globally. He was a member of the International Advisory Board for the Ronald McDonald House Program, and previously served as its chairman.

In 1988, Ed Rensi received the distinguished President’s Volunteer Award from President Ronald Reagan for his extensive volunteer efforts with Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities and Ronald McDonald House.

He has been active in the rights of America’s disabled, lobbying for the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was the keynote speaker on the President’s Council on Employing the Disabled. This involvement was in part motivated by the fact that 75 percent of all McDonald’s U.S. restaurant employed at least one person with a physical or mental disability.

Over the years, Ed Rensi has been extremely supportive of Hispanic causes, serving as the chairman co-founder of the National Hispanic Corporate Council Institute. He also served on the Board of Governors of the American National Red Cross serving with Senator Elizabeth Dole and was involved with the League Against Child Abuse.

Rensi received various awards during his career at McDonald’s, including the 1988 Leadership Award from Restaurant Business magazine, He was named one of six “multi-Unit 1991 Golden Chain Operators of the Year” by Nation’s Restaurant News. In 1985 he was presented with the Porvello Award by The Franciscan University for humanitarianism, in 1989 he received the Prince Matchabelli National Hero Award, and in 1991 he received the Good Samaritan of the Year Award from Good Samaritan Hospital. In 1994 he received the Italian American Award and in 1995 he received the Chicago Italian-American Man of the Year Award. He has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 1976. He also received an honorary PhD from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.

His special interests include sporting clays, antique trucks, fishing, boating, aviation, photography and motorsports.

Ed Rensi has served on the boards of directors for FAT Brands, Snap On Tools, Ronald McDonald House Charities, The National Italian American Foundation, the International Speedway Corporation, Jafra Cosmetics, Great Wolf Resorts and Freedom Group.

After 14 years as a President and CEO, Ed left McDonald’s to pursue one of his greatest passions, auto racing. From that very first auto race until today, Rensi has been instrumental in the development of Team Rensi Motorsports. Rensi has always been a huge supporter of NASCAR and makes many appearances throughout the year to promote the sport. During the 2003 NASCAR Busch season, TRM won 4 races, posted 13 top-five and 22 top 10 finishes. In a single season on the Craftsman Truck Series Team Rensi scored two top five and seven top 10 finishes.

Ed Rensi is a graduate of The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH where he holds a B.S. in Business Education.

Ed Rensi and his wife, Barbara Tyrrell live in Sarasota, FL

Currently, Ed Rensi continues to be :
-Chairman of the Board of FAT Brands, headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA
-Executive Chairman of the Board Room Initiative
-Large Scale Restaurant Consultant
-Advisor Board Member of:
• Gigi Roo, employment platform
• Clocked In, employment platform
• Lease Cake, real estate management platform
• Bite Ninja, remote employee application platform

Ed Rensi’s wife Barbara Tyrrell has extensive restaurant experience of over 30 years, including being a former franchisee of Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s, Firehouse Subs and is currently a Small Business Local Marketing Consultant.

Dr. Dave Kohl is an academic Hall of Famer in the College of Agriculture at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.  Dr. Kohl has keen insight into the agriculture industry gained through extensive travel, research, and involvement in ag businesses.  He has traveled over 10 million miles; conducted more than 7,000 presentations; and published more than 2,500 articles in his career.  Dr. Kohl’s wisdom and engagement with all levels of the industry provide a unique perspective into future trends. 

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Audrey Brown serves as the Vice President of Gourmet at Fortune Fish & Gourmet, a leading national food distributor. In this role she oversees category management, procurement, new product development and strategic sourcing for an expansive portfolio which includes Meat & Poultry, Cheese, Pastry as well as Specialty products such as Oils & Vinegars, Mushrooms, and Gourmet grocery.   

With over nine years of experience in the Meat & Poultry category, Audrey previously held the role of Vice President of Meat and Poultry, a position she assumed following the company’s acquisition of the D’Artagnan brand. At D’artagnan she served as Director of Category Management, where she played a vital role in shaping product strategy and market presence. 

Before her tenure in food distribution, Audrey and her husband owned and operated a Michelin-starred restaurant in their hometown of Queens, NY – an experience that continues to inform her deep understanding of culinary excellence and consumer preferences. 

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Fred Gale, China Agricultural Market Analyst 

During 36 years as an agricultural economist in USDA’s Economic Research Service Fred Gale published dozens of reports and articles on China’s grain, cotton, pork, and dairy markets, trade policies and subsidies, foreign trade, food safety, and U.S. rural issues. Fred holds a PhD in Economics from North Carolina State University and a BS from Virginia Tech, and he taught economics at China’s Shandong University during 1990-91. As a USDA economist Fred led research exchange delegations to China and worked closely with counterparts from China’s agriculture ministry, statistics bureau, and academic institutions. Fred has made many presentations and interacted with U.S. government agencies, commodity organizations, universities, the WTO, NGOs and law enforcement. Now retired, Fred monitors Chinese news media, agricultural web sites, follows developments in China from his home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and writes the Dim Sums blog on rural China.  

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Jason McDonald is a Senior Manager of Procurement at Sara Lee Frozen Bakery, leading strategic sourcing across all ingredient categories. With expertise in supply chain management, procurement strategy, and commodity risk management, Jason brings sharp business acumen and a market-driven perspective to navigating today’s complex procurement landscape. He holds an MBA from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and is passionate about driving cost optimization, building resilient supplier partnerships, and mitigating supply chain risks to strengthen long-term business performance. 

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David L. Ortega is a professor and the Noel W. Stuckman Chair in Food Economics and Policy at Michigan State University. His research program focuses on understanding consumer, producer, and agribusinesses decision-making to better inform food policies and marketing strategies. David has conducted research in several developing and emerging countries, including China, where he has over 15 years of experience addressing US-China agricultural issues. He has testified on China-related topics before the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, US House Committee on Agriculture, and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.  

Dr. Ortega’s work has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, such as Food Policy, World Development, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Economic Development and Cultural Change, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and China Economic Review. Beyond his research, he provides timely analysis of forces and events affecting the agricultural and food sectors. His insights are frequently sought by prominent media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, Financial Times, USA Today, CNN, PBS, Forbes, Politico, Newsweek, and the Detroit Free Press. Dr. Ortega earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University. 

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.   

Edward Fish is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Varietal Solutions at Bay State Milling, where he brings new-to-the-world ingredients to market and focuses on unique IP varietals with inherently better nutrition like HealthSense® High-Fiber Wheat Flour and SowNaked® Mindfully Farmed Oats. Ed serves on the Board of Directors of the Organic Trade Association, promoting and protecting the organic industry, Chairs the Board of Directors of About Fresh, a nonprofit getting healthy foods to vulnerable populations, and serves on the Advisory Board of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, a leading voice in sustainable business and policy. 

Shawn Arita is the Associate Director of the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University. In this role, he oversees the design and execution of ex-ante policy evaluations and delivers near-time policy analyses that respond to emerging issues facing U.S. agriculture, ensuring timely, evidence-based input to support Congress, federal agencies, and industry stakeholders. 

Before joining ARPC, Shawn served as Senior Economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Chief Economist, where he led key analyses for USDA farm programs. Additionally, Shawn provided model-based assessments for WTO trade dispute arbitration and evaluations of agricultural markets under trade agreements. He was recognized as USDA’s Economist of the Year for his work on the market disruptions on U.S. agriculture, and his economic analyses have also informed White House offices. Shawn previously served with the U.S. Trade Representative (Agricultural Affairs Office) and, prior to that, at the Economic Research Service. 

Dr. Arita is widely recognized for his expertise in agricultural policy, agricultural commodity markets, economic modeling, and impact assessment. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and policy briefs—including in journals such as the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Food Policy, and Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy—with 1,500 Google Scholar citations. 

Joe joined Expana as part of Mintec’s acquisition of Urner Barry. After starting his career at Urner Barry in sales, Joe held several reporting, management, and leadership positions within the organization, before becoming CEO. He has a strong track record in utilizing his deep experience in price reporting to initiate benchmark coverage in high-value, opaque markets. He also possesses rich expertise in working with organizations to align their reporting practices in order to become IOSCO-assured (the gold standard for Price Reporting Agencies). Joe holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Siena College. In his spare time, he enjoys surfing, fishing, skiing, off-road motorcycling, and spending time with family and friends.

After a formal education in logistics and purchasing, Tom Bundgaard worked for 13 years in procurement as a Purchasing Manager. This naturally involves all the traditional aspects of purchasing, especially with sourcing in the Far East. This work had a heavy focus on materials, commodities and semi-finished products.

 

From 2000 onward, Tom Bundgaard specialised in commodities from an analytical forecasting standpoint based on technical and fundamental analysis. Three educations have supported this specialisation: An ongoing mentoring education, an MSTA degree from the Society of Technical Analysts in London and a Master of Financial Technical Analysis degree from IFTA in the USA.

 

Tom Bundgaard has been given lectures all over Europe since 2008 in various conferences, both on commodity price forecasts and macro economy, as well as being frequently interviewed on radio and TV. 

Amanda Rastovic is a Senior Forecasting Analyst with Expana. Prior to Expana, she spent 10 years as a Risk Management Consultant at StoneX. She has worked closely with a wide variety of companies to open markets, educate, and support their growth. She has been involved in the National Grain and Feed Association, most recently as a Finance & Administration Committee member for several years. She holds an undergraduate degree from Purdue University in Agricultural Business Management and an MBA in Finance. 

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.

Jim Kenny is VP, Market Reporting & Editorial, responsible for the aligning and expansion of price reporting and news content. Jim joined the business in 1994 and has served in numerous leadership capacities; he is also a member of the seafood reporting team, focusing on shrimp and lobster. 

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Finance from Monmouth College, and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University. 

Jim was contributing editor to Meat Processing Magazine, on the Annual Meat Conference Advisory Committee, and chairman for the North American Meat Processors Annual Convention. Active in trade associations, Jim is a graduate of the National Fisheries Institute Future Leaders Program and currently serves on the NFI Board of Directors. 

Russ Whitman is Director Market Reporting for Urner Barry by Expana and oversees all of the company’s protein market reporting initiatives in the Americas. Russ joined Urner Barry in 1986 and was initially involved with COMTELL sales and support. He also served as Manager of the Instant Market News Department and coordinated the company’s marketing efforts. By providing oversight to the PRA team, Russ helps ensure that all market researchers, reporters and managing editors are fully in-line with Expana’s methodology while observing IOSCO compliant reporting guidelines. As one of our most tenured team members, Russ holds prestigious, industry-wide recognition and often presents at events and conferences.  

Whitman graduated from Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with special attainments in Commerce. 

Pete Iridoy is a bilingual market researcher at Expana, fluent in Spanish and specializing in the US pork market, while also supporting coverage of Mexican beef and beef by-products. He began his career at Urner Barry seven years ago on the commercial team, where he managed markets across the Western US, Canada, and Asia before transitioning to focus on the Southwestern U.S. and Latin American regions. With extensive experience in the beef, pork, and seafood sectors—key high-volume markets under his purview, Pete was well-positioned for a seamless transition into full-time market reporting. As a legacy member of the dynamic Expana PRA division, he embraces the opportunity to assist in the advancement of the company’s growth and international outreach endeavors. Beyond his professional work, Pete is passionate about animal welfare and actively collaborates with local shelters and foster networks to help displaced animals find permanent homes. 

Sandro Schulz is the EMEA Protein Team Lead at Expana. During his career at Expana, Sandro has worked on implementing and expanding Expana’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

Murphy Campbell is a Grains and Oilseeds Market Reporter specializing in the North American agricultural commodities market. He excels in delivering precise commodity price discovery through in-depth analysis of supply and demand trends, trade dynamics, and pricing patterns. His comprehensive market reports and engaging presentations at industry conferences provide critical insights that guide stakeholders across the agricultural supply chain. 

Before joining Expana, Murphy provided tailored market analysis to executives and traders at J.D. Heiskell, a prominent grain trading firm, and supported key report efforts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He holds a Master’s in Agribusiness from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor’s in Food Science from Brigham Young University, credentials that underpin his analytical expertise and deep understanding of the agricultural sector. 

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.  

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