AltProteins 24 speakers
AltProteins 24 is an unparalleled knowledge-sharing event with a line-up featuring some of the most respected figures in the alternative protein industry. From acclaimed nutrition experts to plant-based pioneers the speakers will cover the spectrum from scientific innovation to market trends. With leaders bringing the latest in cellular agriculture, and offering insights into sustainability, this year’s speakers from across the Asia-Pacific region will provide a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
Stay tuned as we announce additional industry experts joining this exceptional line-up.
Dr Simon Eassom
Dr Simon Eassom is an experienced leader, business executive, and strategic thinker. He has had a distinguished career as a university professor with a PhD in applied ethics and a background in health and nutrition as Head of a large university School of Physical Education and Sport Science. As a freelance investigative journalist, Simon was a regular media commentator on numerous issues, including the political economy of food and the public presentation of information and advice on diet and health. Mid-career, Simon moved to the corporate sector and worked in various executive roles for IBM, leading on the use of Big Data, predictive analytics, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to improve business and performance outcomes. As a recognised subject-matter-expert on artificial intelligence, he has consulted to numerous organisations on the impacts of technology on the futures of work, education, and food. He has been an in-demand public speaker on technology and change and currently serves on the Board of the Australian Council of Professions as its Chief Futurist.Sonalie Figueiras
Social entrepreneur and trends forecaster Sonalie Figueiras is a sustainability expert, food futurist and eco-powerhouse who has been inspiring global audiences for more than a decade with practical steps on how to fight climate change. Known as the Green Queen of Asia, she is the founder and Editor in Chief of the award-winning Green Queen—the region’s first impact media platform that educates millions of readers on the connection between health, sustainability and the environment and showcases future solutions. Sonalie has been recognised as 2021 Women of Power, 2019 GEN T Honoree, V Label Global Hero and has twice been a TEDx Speaker. She is also the co-founder and CEO of organic sourcing platform Ekowarehouse and climate tech SaaS Source Green, which helps consumer brands quit plastic packaging thanks to proprietary plastic reduction software. In addition, Sonalie is a global keynote speaker and an advisor to multiple mission-driven start-ups and NGOs, and a venture partner to several VC funds.Kristi Riordan
Kristi Riordan is Co-Founder and CEO at Harvest B, an Australian B2B food technology company developing and manufacturing novel proteins. Kristi is an experienced operating executive of multiple venture-backed tech companies that redefined categories in highly regulated industries over the past 20 years. Across her career, she has been supported by multiple investors including W23 and Sequoia Scouts (investors of Harvest B) in Australia, Bessemer, Matrix and CRV in the USA. Having spent most of her career in New York City, Kristi was granted a Distinguished Visa in 2019 under the new Global Talent program and is now permanently residing in Australia. Prior to her career in tech growth companies, Kristi spent time at Blackstone Private Equity in NYC, KPMG and served as a law clerk on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington D.C. Kristi holds her Certified Public Accountant license and is an admitted lawyer in the USA.Dr David Fechner
Dr Fechner is a Research Fellow at Griffith University. He is passionate about helping reduce suffering for all sentient beings and ensuring that present and future generations can enjoy the beauty of our planet. He designs and experimentally tests interventions to encourage chefs and consumers to embrace plant-based foods.Klara Kalocsay
Klara is Head of Research Strategy at Food Frontier. As both a trained nutritionist and a science communicator, Klara drives the organisation’s research capabilities and leads the analysis for Food Frontier’s major reports, including the 2020 report ‘Plant-Based Meat: A Healthier Choice?’ on the nutrition of plant-based meat alternatives, the ongoing State of the Industry reports and Food Frontier’s latest report, Alternative proteins and Asia: Insights for Australian and New Zealand Exporters. Klara works to close gaps in the evidence base surrounding alternative proteins and has been awarded an Adjunct Fellowship at Macquarie University.Dr Daisy Coyle
Dr Daisy Coyle is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health. Her primary research focus is on evaluating strategies to promote healthier and more equitable diets. She collaborates closely with NGOs, government entities, public health organisations and academic partners to translate research findings into actionable policies aimed at improving public health. Daisy has secured more than $2 million in grant funding for her research and has published more than 40 papers. As a sought-after nutrition science media commentator, she regularly presents on prominent news outlets including ABC News and Nine News and is frequently quoted in print media, including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review.Nikki Freed
Nikki has been working in molecular biology and microbiology for more than 20 years. She has worked in several roles, both in academia as a Senior Lecturer in Genetics and at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in the production of proteins from mammalian cells. Nikki recently co-developed a leading method for sequencing the virus that causes COVID-19 which is now used globally and has been used to generate more than 1 million publicly available genomes.Nick Stamatiou
Nick Stamatiou is an Australian entrepreneur and the visionary founder of Whole., a foodtech company based in Australia. With a background in engineering, Nick combines technological innovation with sustainable practices to reshape the food industry. Before starting Whole. Nick built and ran the IP Strategy and Commercialisation team for Deloitte across the Asia Pacific region and has been recognised for seven consecutive years as one of the top 300 IP strategists in the world.Kylie Porter
Kylie Porter is the Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3). GW3 is the peak independent, economic development organisation for the Greater Whitsunday region, a true regional economic powerhouse. Leading the economic transformation of the Greater Whitsunday region and securing long-term prosperity for the region’s 185,000-plus residents is at the nexus of what GW3 does. Embedding the bioeconomy into the regional economy will be key to this economic transformation. Kylie is an experienced company director and is also a founding director of C-Res, a procurement-to-pay local content portal which delivers the Local Buying Program across regional Australia.Anna Tao
Anna Tao is an experienced commercialisation expert and startup operator. She is the Executive Manager of Company Creation at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Anna is jointly responsible for establishing and growing agrifood IP-based start-ups with entrepreneurs, industry, and investors. She also participates in the start-up ecosystem in promoting the need for agrifood innovations to address global challenges and has been a judge for the FAO World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards, Hult Prize, the Hive Award (Food & Drink Business). Anna has extensive experience in research commercialisation across food, agriculture, energy, and advanced manufacturing. Before CSIRO, she was the Chief Operation Officer of Cybercon, a climate tech start-up that delivers energy-efficiency solutions for data centres.AltProteins 23 speakers
With a diverse array of high calibre speakers and valuable networking opportunities, AltProteins 23 was an unmissable event.
We heard from leading plant-based meat manufacturers and visionary cellular agriculture entrepreneurs, retailers, foodservice outlets, researchers, investors, and more. Speakers included market leaders from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and USA.
Alice Zaslavsky
Alice Zaslavsky is a cookbook author and broadcaster bringing good food to people of all ages. Her vegetable bible In Praise of Veg topped the Australian cookbook charts, proving that you can, in fact make friends with salad. As a regular face and voice on ABC News Breakfast and ABC radio nationally, Alice brings audaciously accessible recipes and useful tidbits to viewers and listeners that helps drive the country’s conversations around food. Alice is also the creative force behind Nomcast and Phenomenom (with an M!), a Hort Innovation funded project, redefining what it means to teach kids about fresh produce and bringing food into every subject – both in the classroom and atAmos Palfreyman
Amos is the CEO and co-founder of NZ biotech future food company Miruku. With a background in food innovation and business development he is passionate about the potential of biotechnology to enable sustainable and climate resilient food systems. Prior to Miruku Amos was project lead for emerging proteins at FoodHQ, a food science and innovation hub headquartered in Manawatu, New Zealand, supported by leaders in science, education and business. Amos is also a board member of the food rescue charity Just Zilch and an advisor on several biotechnology projects.Andrew May
Andrew is Co-CEO of Unigrain and has over a decade of experience in the food manufacturing industry. Unigrain is one of Australia’s leading producers of plant based food and beverage ingredients, specialising in oat cereal, pulse based and animal nutrition products. Andrew has been heavily involved in driving Unigrain’s continuing evolution, through its recent strategic investments in building large-scale alternate protein and oat milk supply chains in Australia. Andrew’s original background is within the finance sector where he worked in a range of corporate advisory roles within Australia and the UK.Anna Tao
Anna Tao is an experienced commercialisation expert and startup operator. She is the Executive Manager of Company Creation at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Anna is jointly responsible for establishing and growing agrifood IP-based start-ups with entrepreneurs, industry, and investors. She also participates in the start-up ecosystem in promoting the need for agrifood innovations to address global challenges and has been a judge for the FAO World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards, Hult Prize, the Hive Award (Food & Drink Business). Anna has extensive experience in research commercialisation across food, agriculture, energy, and advanced manufacturing. Before CSIRO, she was the Chief Operation Officer of Cybercon, a climate tech start-up that delivers energy-efficiency solutions for data centres.Colin Lim
Colin Lim is the Deputy Director of the Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH)—a national initiative by A*STAR, Singapore Food Agency, and Nanyang Technological University. FRESH aims to advance food safety research to support Singapore’s food innovation ecosystem. Colin directs FRESH’s corporate strategy, business development, operations, and partnerships. As a passionate advocate of food safety science and public-private partnerships, Colin is committed to creating a conducive science and regulatory environment that catalyses food innovation. With more than 15 years of experience in shaping R&D policy and programs, Colin has also played an active role in the founding of two key national initiatives in Singapore: FoodInnovate and the Singapore Food Story R&D program.Daphne Tan
Daphne has spent most of her 20 years in the industry as a food product designer, including running her own consultancy for more than a decade, working with companies across Asia-Pacific to put new food products on shelves across the world that meet consumer and commercial expectations. Today, Daphne is focused on taking the same design approach into broader conversations around tackling the problems faced by the food sector in diverse areas ranging from sustainable nutrition to food security. Daphne is currently the innovation, technology and deployment director for dsm-firmenich Taste, Texture & Health Asia and is based in Singapore.David Bucca
David Bucca is the founder and CEO of Change Foods, a precision fermentation food tech company creating animal-free dairy products, starting with cheese. David is a passionate food industry professional with expertise in alternative proteins, and who was previously an aerospace engineering leader at Boeing for more than 13 years. Following a career change in 2016 motivated by his mission to create more sustainable, ethical, and innovative food systems, he became a founding director of Food Frontier. He also became the COO of a hemp foods startup, and subsequently the APAC manager for a US plant-based meat company. David holds a graduate certificate from Melbourne Business School, a double degree in Aerospace Engineering and Applied Science from RMIT University, and a commercial pilot license for airplanesDidier Chanove
Didier Chanove is a seasoned business executive with more than 20 years of experience in global strategy, marketing, innovation, sales, operations, and management. He leads the sustainable food and beverage technologies transformation as the Plant Proteins & Innovation Business Director at Kerry Ingredients for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. With a track record of launching successful brands, driving innovation, and leading digital transformation, Didier is passionate about mentoring and coaching individuals to achieve their full potential. He also supports startups in their strategic and go-to-market approach to unlock their growth. In his free time, Didier enjoys cooking, sports, and learning new things with his family. He is committed to reducing hunger and carbon footprint through sustainable and charitable associations.Doris Lee
GFI Consultancy (GFIC) is a China-based impact consultancy firm focused on providing industry insights and R&D resources to support the alternative protein sector. GFIC’s expert-driven team collaborates with academic institutions, scientists, corporations, startups, and investors to accelerate plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated protein innovation. Doris has more than a decade of experience creating strategies and localising programs for international organisations, including EU-funded initiatives. In addition to her food security work, she has organised more than 50 events that have facilitated knowledge-sharing between government representatives, universities, and industry on sustainability-related topics, such as urban greening, smart cities, and social inclusion.Dr Angeline Achariya
Angeline is an inspirational industry executive and innovation leader with 25+ years of experience. As CEO of Innovation GameChangers and Australia Chair AgriFood Innovation for G100: Mission Million, she drives positive change in the AgriFood sectors. Raised on her grandparents’ farms, Angeline’s passion for agriculture and food fuels her commitment to creating a sustainable global food system. With expertise in commercialising innovation and market expansion, she has launched more than 1,000 ground-breaking initiatives in Asia Pacific markets. Angeline proactively supports the agrifood industry through advisory roles, mentoring, and speaking engagements, inspiring others to make a meaningful impact and shape a brighter future.Dr Aparna Venkatesh
Aparna is the Collaborative Innovation Lead at Bühler for Southeast Asia and Oceania. In this role, she leads innovation strategy in emerging opportunities for sustainable foods and scouts for novel agri-food technology applications with external partners in the ecosystem to develop purposeful and high-impact transformations for the future of food. Previously, as head of A*STAR Singapore’s Agri-Food and Nutrition division, Aparna played a key role in supporting the scientific, business, regulatory and strategy aspects of building up Singapore’s alternative protein capabilities, enabling local food production as part of the nation’s food resilience agenda.Thomas King
Thomas King is Founder and Chair of Food Frontier. A social entrepreneur, international speaker and future food specialist, for the last decade Thomas has driven food systems, environmental and poverty alleviation initiatives across five continents. He founded Food Frontier to help businesses, policymakers and innovators to understand the emergence and unlock the benefits of alternative proteins. He is a Myer Fellow (2019), Young Australian of the Year VIC (2015), and a seasoned public speaker, having presented at 100+ conferences, schools and summits since 2014
Susie O’Neill
Susie is an accomplished professional in the alternative proteins industry with a passion for making connections and synthesizing information to build value for stakeholders. With a deep understanding of the industry’s challenges and opportunities, Susie is a trusted partner to many of the start-ups and alternative protein manufacturers across Australia and New Zealand. Drawing from her deep connection with food and agriculture combined with a background in sales, marketing, and executive roles, Susie fosters collaboration and problem-solving among stakeholders across the value chain to find opportunities for category growth. A recent MBA graduate with a focus on design and futures thinking, she believes in the importance of food systems innovation, working together to produce tasty and nutritious food that is produced sustainably. Susie understands sustainable growth for start-ups and manufacturers will come through category building, science and technology, product innovation, and consumer understanding.Sissel Rosengren
Sissel has more than 30 years of experience in industry research, economic forecasting and strategic planning in Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, China Region, the Middle East, and Europe. For the past twenty years, Sissel has specialised in the food & beverage industry, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. Sissel leads Food Industry Foresight’s extensive work in supply and demand modelling, detailed market sizing, brand valuation, distribution research, competitor analysis, growth prospects as well as tactical and strategic planning for global and national food and beverage providers. Sissel served on the Board of the Foodservice Suppliers Association Australia (FSAA) for ten years; of which four as the Chair. Sissel is the co-founder and current Chair of the Australian Foodservice Advocacy Body (AFAB).Siobhan Coster
Siobhan Coster, a qualified Dietitian and accomplished entrepreneur, is on a mission to sustainably improve access to crucial nutrients. With an MBA from The University of Queensland and diverse international business experience spanning health, eCommerce, and investment banking, Siobhan is spearheading Eclipse, a food tech start-up incubated within CSIRO. Eclipse utilises ground-breaking science to sustainably make vital nutrients from yeast, starting with lactoferrin. This wonder nutrient is found in human breastmilk and is known for its immune-boosting, iron-binding, and anti-microbial properties.Simon Newstead
Simon Newstead is the founding partner of Better Bite Ventures, a future-food and climate VC focused on Asia Pacific. To date, the fund has invested in 20 early-stage alt protein companies in both plant-based and cell ag. Prior to Better Bite, Simon helped start tech companies Frenzoo and GoalsWon, as well as vegan food and fashion companies Bite Society and Kinds of Grace.Simon Jackson
Simon is spearheading the sustainability transition for Compass Group Australia. With over 20 years’ experience in the food service sector, he is responsible for developing the approach to achieve global net zero commitments. Simon’s multifaceted role involves turning strategic priorities into operational actions, supervising activities to uphold quality, cost, and performance standards, whilst balancing business commerciality with emission reduction to achieve set targets.Sid Jain
Sid Jain is the Director of Precinct Development and Operations at La Trobe University, Australia. He specialises in design & operations of food, biopharma and digital based innovation hubs and has extensive international experience across food, agribusiness & biotechnology sectors. With 25+ years of experience in delivering P&L growth for leading international companies, his experience spans across leading growth for industry leaders such as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Ingredion Inc, Syngenta Ag, CSIRO Australia, Ridley Corporation & Boral Limited. Sid holds a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Delhi and a Master of Business Administration from University of Adelaide. He is a Graduate of Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).Roger Drew
Roger is a mission-driven entrepreneur with a passion for creative problem-solving. He is the Co-founder of the Australian food innovation company, Eighth Day Foods. He is the innovative mind behind the global award-winning protein called Lupreme® and unique patented process Rapid Solid-State Fermentation. Roger’s agricultural background is foundational to his passion to see nutrition security a reality for all.Renée Rogers
Renée’s considerable expertise as a Sales Director has proven to be a tremendous asset to the companies she has worked with over her career, including some of Australia’s most recognisable names. Her contributions have been crucial to the success of the organisations with which she has collaborated. She has proved her abilities at All G Foods in designing and implementing successful sales strategies, directing high-performing sales teams, and cultivating great client relationships. Renée is continuously looking for new ways to stay ahead of the competition in her sector, employing cutting-edge technology and attentively analysing market trends.Paul Bevan
Paul Bevan is the founder and CEO of Magic Valley – an Australian food company developing healthy and delicious cultivated meat products. Paul previously held senior roles at ASX100 listed companies, TABCORP, NAB and ANZ. He was also the co-founder of Absolute MMA (Melbourne’s biggest martial arts gym) and founder of Boss Finance (an award-winning finance brokerage). In his spare time, Paul enjoys working out, watching Aussie Rules football and exploring Melbourne’s amazing food scene.Nathaniel Tupou
Nathaniel Tupou is the General Manager for v2food in Australia, one of Australia’s leading plant-based protein suppliers. Developed with more than 100 years of CSIRO food and science research and with powerful collaborations within the food industry v2food has played a pivotal role in establishing the plant-based protein category in Australia. With responsibility for v2foods’ sales and marketing divisions Nathaniel is passionate about growing the plant-based category amongst Australians and draws on his experience working in major FMCG suppliers Mars & McCain to encourage more consumers to update their plate with plant-based foods and v2food.Megan Stanton
Megan is an Associate Director, South APAC Food & Drink and Mintel’s global animal and alternate protein analyst. She has over 25 years in the food industry and holds a degree in food technology with postgraduate qualifications in marketing. Megan speaks at conferences, events and client forums helping audiences understand what consumers want and why. Prior to joining Mintel, Megan worked with several multinational food ingredient companies and leans on her expertise to deliver actionable insights for our food and drink clients.Mauro Pisani
Mauro Pisani has more than 20 years of fast-moving consumer goods, or FMCG, experience and is the Category Manager for plant-based proteins at Woolworths supermarkets. He introduced the plant-based proteins category into Woolworths five years ago and has since seen it grow to be the market share leader. Mauro has been a driving force behind Woolworth’s plant-based strategy and continues to bring healthier and more sustainable offers to customers around Australia.Matt Lowe
Matt Lowe is currently Chief Executive, Agriculture Victoria, and Deputy Secretary, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), a role he has held since June 2020.
During that time Agriculture Victoria has delivered Victoria’s 10-year Agriculture Strategy which highlights the growth potential of new and emerging agricultural industries including alternative proteins. The alternative proteins industry provides opportunities to grow jobs, diversify farm income, and position Victoria as a world leader in agricultural innovation.
Prior to Agriculture Victoria, Matt held a number of senior roles at the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Victoria across economic and social policy domains and spent some time in the private sector with EY.
Matt holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Science, University of Melbourne.
Mark Field
After an international career in fresh food manufacturing working with some of Europe’s leading retailers and QSRs, Mark joined Coles Supermarkets in 2011. His responsibilities included technical, innovation and strategy launching more than 1,200 products a year and he was head of Coles Own Brand. Mark then founded and now manages the award-winning Prof Consulting Group, which operates across the UK and Australia. Prof Consulting Group specialises in combining an in-depth understanding of today’s consumer, international markets, retail strategies and ESG capabilities to help portfolio clients achieve industry leading growth.Klara Kalocsay
Klara is Head of Research Strategy at Food Frontier. As both a trained nutritionist and a science communicator, Klara drives the organisation’s research capabilities and leads the analysis for Food Frontier’s major reports, including the 2020 report ‘Plant-Based Meat: A Healthier Choice?’ on the nutrition of plant-based meat alternatives, the ongoing State of the Industry reports and Food Frontier’s latest report, Alternative proteins and Asia: Insights for Australian and New Zealand Exporters. Klara works to close gaps in the evidence base surrounding alternative proteins and has been awarded an Adjunct Fellowship at Macquarie University.Kim Berry
Kim Berry is the editor of trade media platform Food & Drink Business, providing in-depth news and editorial coverage on Australia’s largest manufacturing sector. She specialises in reporting on innovation and leadership, consumer trends, sustainability, and food tech. Her passion is to showcase the people and companies pushing boundaries and being bold, from scrappy start-ups to global players. Food & Drink Business delivers six print magazines a year – including the annual Top 100 Food & Drink Companies report, a daily digital newsletter, weekly video news bulletin, and regular podcast.Jim Fader
Jim Fader, Co-Founder and CEO of Eden Brew, an animal-free dairy B2C company, is a purpose-driven business leader with more than 20 years in retail across multiple sectors and countries and more than five years in business turnarounds and restructures. Jim has chased innovation throughout his career, from fresh food product development and award-winning duty-free store concepts to turning car tyres into printer ink in a waste-to-energy startup. Jim builds entrepreneurial cultures with an authentic leadership style focusing on people, pace and collaboration.George Peppou
George Peppou is the CEO and Co-Founder of Vow, Australia’s first cell-based meat company. Vow is making sustainability irresistible with cultured meat, inventing new products by growing the cells of animals rather than the animals themselves. For diners, this means tastier and more nutritious meat. For the future of our environment, this means a smaller land footprint and a fraction of the greenhouse gases produced by factory farming. It’s the best possible way to make better food available to billions of people.Gabrielle Munzer
Gabrielle Munzer is a partner at Main Sequence where she has helped create and invest in a number of companies in their Feed 10B People and Decarbonise the Planet challenge areas. With a strong focus on ESG principles, Gabrielle seeks investments in startups with the ambition to have massive impact in the world. Gabrielle brings more than 20 years of financial markets experience to Main Sequence, having worked at Challenger in Australia and Morgan Stanley and ABN AMRO in London.Dr Victoria Hatton
Victoria is the CEO at FoodHQ, a not-for-profit partnership driving innovation across the food system in New Zealand. She is a net zero strategist, passionate about New Zealand’s agriculture and food system; promoting the opportunities to create more resilient, diversified landscapes and innovative food. Victoria joined FoodHQ from the Sustainability and Climate Change team at PwC. Her experience includes leading ambitious climate action for both the UK and NZ governments, a stint at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome working on livestock mitigation and managing international operations at the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Research Centre.Dr Tim Olsen
Tim joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2020 and is currently Head of Cultured Meat. Previously, Tim directed laboratory operations at Allevi, a 3D bioprinting company, and then held Senior Scientist and Global Account Management positions at RoosterBio, a regenerative medicine company focused on human stem cell and exosome manufacturing. Tim has a PhD in Bioengineering from Clemson University and BS in Biomedical Engineering from The College of New Jersey. He sits on the external advisory boards of The College of New Jersey and the University of California, Davis.Dr Simon Eassom
Dr Simon Eassom is an experienced leader, business executive, and strategic thinker. He has had a distinguished career as a university professor with a PhD in applied ethics and a background in health and nutrition as Head of a large university School of Physical Education and Sport Science. As a freelance investigative journalist, Simon was a regular media commentator on numerous issues, including the political economy of food and the public presentation of information and advice on diet and health. Mid-career, Simon moved to the corporate sector and worked in various executive roles for IBM, leading on the use of Big Data, predictive analytics, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to improve business and performance outcomes. As a recognised subject-matter-expert on artificial intelligence, he has consulted to numerous organisations on the impacts of technology on the futures of work, education, and food. He has been an in-demand public speaker on technology and change and currently serves on the Board of the Australian Council of Professions as its Chief Futurist.Dr Roger Bektash
Roger is a founding member of the Alternative Proteins Council and has 42 years of experience in manufacturing, R&D, science and regulatory roles across food, confectionery and petfood businesses in ANZ and Asia Pacific. A biochemical engineer, Roger has spent much of his career with Mars where he held various roles including Director Scientific Affairs at Mars Asia Pacific, and R&D Manager with Masterfoods Japan. Roger currently consults in scientific and regulatory affairs for Australian plant-based meat company v2food, a leading company in retail and food service, and a major exporter to Asia.Dr Nick Fletcher
Dr Nick Fletcher is the Principal Toxicologist and leads the Standards and Surveillance area at Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). He chairs the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods which provides advice on the need for regulatory assessment of non-traditional foods in Australia. Nick has more than 20 years of experience in premarket safety assessment across agricultural and veterinary chemicals, therapeutic goods and foods. He is a member of The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, the New Zealand Environment Protection Agency Hazardous Substances and New Organisms committee, and leads FSANZ’s work for the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food which establishes and endorses permitted maximum levels or guideline levels for contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants in food and feed. His research background is in food contaminants and he has a PhD from Karolinska Institute, Sweden.Dr Madeline Mitchell
Madeline is Director, Agrifood at Breakthrough Victoria, an independent investment company that delivers patient capital to groundbreaking innovations that will improve people’s lives and benefit the state’s economy. As a foodie with farming connections, she is passionate about investment, innovation and research to create a sustainable agrifood system. She has collaborated on diverse projects, from synthetic biology to natural capital, with a focus on translating research into social, economic and environmental impact. She has a PhD in plant sciences from the University of Cambridge and held previous roles at CSIRO, Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre and RMIT University.Dr Lisa Dyson
Dr Lisa Dyson is a mission-driven entrepreneur with a passion for creative problem solving. She is the founder and CEO of US-based Air Protein, a company that uses an innovative process to make nutritious, carbon negative protein from elements of the air. She has a PhD in Physics from MIT where she conducted research in Theoretical Physics, was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of London, receiving an MS in Physics with an emphasis in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces, and degrees in Mathematics and Physics from Brandeis University. Lisa is the recipient of numerous awards and a renowned thought leader in biotechnology and food innovation.Dr Hanh Nguyen
Dr Hanh Nguyen is the Head of Food Science at Nourish Ingredients, a foodtech company creating potent fats that make alternative proteins cook, taste and smell like the real thing. Hanh has almost two decades of expertise in food fermentation, microstructure, rheology and mouthfeel. At Nourish, Hanh is the key innovator, leading a talented global food science team, focusing on the innovative creation of new formulations and ingredients to transform flavour and mouthfeel for animal-free dairy and meat products.Dr Garry Rosewarne
Dr Garry Rosewarne is a Senior Research Scientist at Agriculture Victoria, overseeing the National Lentil and Field Pea Breeding programs along with several pulse research projects. He has released 14 crop varieties and published over 40 scientifically reviewed articles. He is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne and President of the newly formed Pulse Grains Society of Australia Inc.Dr Daisy Coyle
Dr Daisy Coyle is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health. Her primary research focus is on evaluating strategies to promote healthier and more equitable diets. She collaborates closely with NGOs, government entities, public health organisations and academic partners to translate research findings into actionable policies aimed at improving public health. Daisy has secured more than $2 million in grant funding for her research and has published more than 40 papers. As a sought-after nutrition science media commentator, she regularly presents on prominent news outlets including ABC News and Nine News and is frequently quoted in print media, including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review.Adriana Heinzen
Adriana is the Director of Consulting, South APAC at market intelligence agency Mintel. She has more than 10 years of experience in marketing across agency and client-side, most recently leading product innovation, brand health tracking and advertising research in a range of sectors including food & beverages, VMS and personal care. Prior to that, she worked on shopper marketing projects for leading FMCG companies. Adriana holds a Master of Marketing from the University of Sydney. She has recently worked on a number of plant-based projects including the Food Frontier research to identify export market opportunities in Asia.Adam Moore
Adam Moore is ranked among the world’s top corporate chefs, public speakers and TV presenter award-winning innovator and esteemed culinary judge internationally. Adam began his chef’s apprenticeship in hotel kitchens. He worked his way up through the ranks until he could set out on his own, running multiple branches of a restaurant chain in his hometown and beyond. In his pursuit of professional development, he’s gained formal qualifications in pastry, charcuterie and butchery, food styling and food photography. With nearly 30 years in the industry to his credit, Adam has worked in restaurants, foodservice, retail, food manufacturing, marketing, and sales. In the corporate sector, past employers include Mars Australia, George Weston Foods, Suntory, Kraft Heinz, and Cerebos Foods, NAFDA Foods, Plant-based Proform Foods and the multinational Campbell Arnott’s. He’s currently a Culinogist and a lead expert focused on consumer-led recipe development, creating culinary trends, as well as creating and developing new product development and helping food and drink companies with their innovation. Adam is a Research Chefs Association Certified Executive Chef (CEC), A member of the Australian Institute of food scientists and a culinary judge for many national and international competitions in food like the Sydney Royal Fine Foods and more. He’s an active member of the Global Research Chefs Association. He is a renowned industry mentor for young chefs. Adam has a strong portfolio of TV and video appearances and presenter roles including Chanel 10 and Studio 10 and many more and writes for culinary magazines as well as maps out global food trends. In social media, Adam has a strong presence on social media with an Australian and international audience.
Contact
For event information on attending or sponsoring AltProteins 24 please contact:
Liz Shaw
Event Manager
altproteinsconference@foodfrontier.org
Susie O’Neill
Head of Industry Engagement
susie@foodfrontier.org