Mike Allen is one of Washington’s most influential and well-connected journalists. He is the co-founder and executive editor of Axios, a new media company delivering news and insights on politics, business, media, and tech.

In addition to starting Axios, Allen was a co-founder at POLITICO, the digital media company that upended and revolutionized political and policy journalism in Washington, New York, and Europe. He not only reported on but also drove the day’s conversations in and around the Beltway. His sharp journalistic experience and coveted insider status make him an ideal choice to discuss the latest political happenings. He offers his non-partisan, energetic and up-to-the-minute insider perspective on the political issues of the day, the Trump administration, the Republican Congress, and building a business in an unsteady economy.

Michael Dykes, D.V.M., a long-time government affairs strategist, agricultural policy expert, and veterinarian, became president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association in January 2017. In this role, he represents members that make more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States.

Since joining IDFA, Dykes has been a strong advocate for the importance of global competitiveness to the future of the U.S. dairy industry. He has made preserving trade partnerships with Mexico and improving Canadian market access for U.S. dairy exports in all future trade agreements a priority for IDFA.

Prior to assuming his role at IDFA, Dykes served as vice president of government affairs for Monsanto, where he was responsible for developing and implementing a portfolio of U.S. government relations strategies and programs that included agricultural biotechnology policy. He led Monsanto's office in Washington, D.C., and served as the company's primary point of contact for elected officials, regulatory authorities, U.S. farm organizations, key industry participants, trade associations, international organizations and embassies. He directed the company's efforts in state and local government affairs, in addition to government affairs in Mexico and Canada.

Dykes is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the National Academy of Practitioners. He has served on the Farmhouse Fraternity board for 3+ years. He is also a member of the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee (APAC) and has served on the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21).

Dykes grew up on a small dairy and tobacco farm in Kentucky. He earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Auburn University. He also attended the University of Kentucky where he received a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics and a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science.

One of the most in-demand speakers and communications consultants in America, Ken Schmidt has lived a life that most can only dream about. He has toured the world on two wheels, met with presidents and royalty, partied with movie and music legends, and appeared numerous times on network news. As the former director of communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company, he played an active role in one of the most celebrated turnarounds in corporate history – and got paid to ride motorcycles. He is widely known as one of the business world’s most outspoken and provocative thought leaders and has partnered with many of the world’s most successful brands. He is the author of the 2018 book Make Some Noise: The Unconventional Road to Dominance. Today, Schmidt is a frequent speaker to business groups and academic communities throughout the world. He shares stories and insights on the road to building a fanatically vocal customer base, creating a passionately loyal corporate culture, and developing leaders who inspire and motivate.

Drawing on decades of experience driving innovation and leading operations at companies including Apple and Microsoft, Mike Steep shares strategies on how to leverage emerging technology into bottom line business opportunities. Throughout his career, Steep has worked in the presence of industry legends including David Packard, Bill Gates, and Satya Nadella, witnessing first-hand some of the greatest breakthroughs and transformations within organizations and entire industries. Currently the Executive Director of Stanford’s Engineering Center for Disruptive Technology and Digital Cities, Steep is a global speaker and contributing editor to Forbes.

Steep is the former SVP of Global Business Operations at PARC, where he worked with CEO’s and R&D executives from companies including BMW, Google, P&G, L’Oreal, and AirBus to transform technology disruption of their industries into new lines of business. Steep believes we are at the beginning of a new golden age—where emerging technologies define who we are, what we can accomplish, and how we can redefine entire companies and industries. Just as Apple transformed the mobile industry through the introduction of the iPhone, emerging technologies will offer exponential opportunities if we know how to capitalize on them.

Nina Teicholz is an investigative science journalist and author. Her international bestseller, The Big Fat Surprise has upended the conventional wisdom on dietary fat–especially saturated fat–and challenged the very core of our nutrition policy.

The Big Fat Surprise was named a 2014 *Best Book* by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Mother Jones, and Library Journal. Teicholz’s writing has also been published in The BMJ, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Independent, The New Yorker, and The Los Angeles Times among others.

In addition, Teicholz is the Executive Director of The Nutrition Coalition, a non-profit group that promotes evidence-based nutrition policy. She has testified before the Canadian Senate and U.S. Department of Agriculture about the need for reform of dietary guidelines.

Teicholz attended Yale and Stanford where she studied biology and majored in American Studies. She has a master’s degree from Oxford University and served as associate director of the Center for Globalization and Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

Dr. Torsten Hemme is the managing director of the IFCN Dairy Research Center in Kiel, Germany. He studied agricultural economics at the University of Göttingen in Germany and Texas A&M University in the USA. His Ph.D. thesis set the basis for the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN), which annually benchmarks milk production costs and summarizes the findings in its"Dairy Report." He has a long list of publications, presentations at international dairy conferences and experiences in various research/consulting projects.

Dr. Robert Johansson serves as the Chief Economist at the Department of Agriculture (USDA). He has served in this role since July 2015. As Chief Economist, he is responsible for the Department's agricultural forecasts and projections and for advising the Secretary of Agriculture on economic implications of alternative programs, regulations, and legislative proposals. He is responsible for the Office of the Chief Economist, the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit analysis, the Climate Change Program Office, the Office of Environmental Markets, the Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, and the Office of Pesticide Management Policy.

Dr. Johansson received B.A. in economics from Northwestern University and then served with the U.S. Peace Corps as an extension agent in several African countries from 1990 to 1995. After returning to his home State of Minnesota, he entered the graduate program in Agricultural Economics at the University of Minnesota at received his M.S. in 1997 and Ph.D. in 2000. His research has spanned a wide range of issues, including biofuels policy, water quality and quantity policies, regulatory economics, food security, and regional modeling of agricultural systems.

Julie Kanak is the Managing Partner of the Chicago office and leads the firm’s Food & Agribusiness effort. She brings over 20 years working with public and private companies across the sector and over a decade in retained search.

Julie conducts senior-level assignments in general management, finance, operations and supply chain, business development and other functional specialties across the agribusiness and food value chain. Her clients range from the Fortune 500 to startups with extensive experience with member-owned/ governed associations, private equity and family businesses and within dairy. As a trusted advisor on all aspects of leadership talent, she consults with Boards and CEOs on transformation, succession planning, retention, development and corporate governance – building strong, productive relationships with both clients and candidates.

Prior to joining DS, Julie spent four years with a leading global search firm and boutique global agribusiness firm complimenting over two decades in banking and corporate finance principally focused on agribusiness, food, and energy.

The bulk of Julie’s global corporate and investment banking career was spent with Credit Agricole CIB, as North American Head of Agribusiness, working closely with global leaders of inputs, dairy, grains and consumer packaged goods. Her career also included more than 10 years as a global banker and senior executive with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, and State Bank of South Australia in New York and Chicago.

Julie is a native Iowan and avid equestrian.

Marin Bozic is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. Marin’s research program in dairy economics covers dairy policy, risk management, demand for dairy foods and economics of new dairy food processing technologies. Since earning his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011, he has published a dozen research articles, and has served as principal investigator on over twenty funded projects.

Dr. Bozic serves in a leadership role in several organizations. He is an Associate Director of Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center, and the facilitator of Minnesota Dairy Growth Alliance. Marin is also a member of the National Program on Dairy Markets and Policy, a team of dairy economists who recently won a national award for their outreach work on the 2014 Farm Bill.

Marin is a nationally popular speaker on dairy topics, with over one hundred invited talks on topics covering dairy policy, outlook, exports, risk management and consumer trends. Despite living in the Upper Midwest for a full decade, his accent still reveals he is originally from Croatia. His audience does not seem to mind.

Dr. Ostroff was Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine at the FDA from May 2016 until November 2018, overseeing FDA’s food and animal health portfolio which includes food safety and nutrition, food labeling, food and color additives, dietary supplements, animal drugs and animal feed and cosmetics activities in the Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine (OFVM) in the Office of the Commissioner, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and the foods-related programs of the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA). His responsibilities include leading the implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.

Dr. Ostroff served as FDA’s Acting Commissioner on two occasions, from April 2015 to late February 2016 and January to May of 2017. Before joining FDA in 2013, Dr. Ostroff worked on infectious diseases, including foodborne illness, at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Phil Plourd is President of Blimling and Associates, Inc. and President of the services division of Dairy.com. He has been involved in dairy market analysis, research, forecasting and risk management activities for 20 years. Phil draws on that experience to lead an expert team of 16 committed to helping clients find better ways to do business. He is a popular speaker who engages audiences on a variety of topics.

Phil resides near Madison, Wisconsin with wife Rhonda and daughters Rebecca and Leah. He is currently President of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County and his family is involved with the Madison Public Library Foundation.

Beth Hughes is responsible for supporting the association's efforts on international trade and import and export issues. She also oversees IDFA's trade committee, as well as programming for the annual International Sweetener Colloquium. In collaboration with other dairy and food industry associations, Hughes has worked with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to promote and protect U.S. dairy interests in free trade agreements and held briefings on Capitol Hill about the importance of preserving the use of common food names.

Before joining IDFA, Hughes served for five years as manager of international policy for the USA Rice Federation. She developed and implemented international trade policy and promotion activities to support the U.S. rice industry and help small- and medium-sized U.S. enterprises in overseas export markets. She also analyzed domestic and international rice trends and prepared comments relating to non-tariff and technical barriers, such as sanitary and phytosanitary barriers.

Hughes earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at George Washington University and received a Master of Arts in international affairs from Florida State University.

Christina Adams is a leader in McKinsey & Company’s consumer goods practice, with deep experience across commercial optimization, growth strategy, and optimizing portfolio and network complexity. She regularly looks at topics relating to how food and beverage consumer goods companies can adapt and grow in the changing consumer and retail landscape.

Christina started her career at Procter & Gamble working in brand management in Cincinnati, Ohio. Christina earned both her B.A. and M.B.A. from Harvard University. She is a native Oklahoman.

Beth Ford is the 9th President and Chief Executive Officer at Land O’Lakes, Inc., a role she was named to July 26, 2018. Ford was named President and CEO by Land O’Lakes’ board of directors after a series of successful executive postings within the company since she joined in 2011.

Most recently, as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Land O’Lakes Businesses, Beth was responsible for the Purina Animal Nutrition, U.S. Dairy Foods and WinField United businesses, which reported 2017 net sales totaling $14 billion. Prior to that, Ford was head of Land O’Lakes’ Dairy Foods and Purina Animal Nutrition businesses, and during her tenure she led record performance, leveraging innovation through R&D to strengthen the Purina brand, and leading record growth in the dairy business. She was key in identifying the opportunity to acquire Vermont Creamery in early 2017.

In her 31 years of experience as a global operator, Beth has held senior and line leadership positions in seven companies across six industries, including Energy (Mobil Oil), Consumer Packaged Goods (Pepsi/Pepsi Bottling Group), QSR (Perseco), Publishing (Scholastic and Hachette), Chemicals (International Flavors and Fragrances) and now Food Production and Agribusiness.

A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Beth earned an MBA from Columbia University Business School and a BBA from Iowa State University. She remains involved in both universities, sitting on the Deming Center Board of Advisors for Columbia Business School and the Dean's Advisory Committee for the College of Business at Iowa State. Beth also sits on the Board of Directors for the National Milk Producers Federation and non-profit boards, including Greater Twin Cities United Way in Minneapolis.

Additionally, Beth is Chair of the Board of Directors for Clearwater Paper, Inc., and sits on the board of PACCAR, Inc. both publicly traded companies which have been recognized in the Fortune 1000 and 150 lists, respectively.

Dr. Barbara Glenn recently joined the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) as CEO on August 18, 2014.

Dr. Glenn is a scientist with decades of experience as a policy researcher and advocate for agriculture. She previously served as Senior Vice President of Science and Regulatory Affairs for CropLife America, where she was responsible for developing policies and regulations to support agriculture through crop protection. Prior to joining CropLife America, Dr. Glenn served as Managing Director of the Animal Biotechnology, Food and Agriculture Section of the Biotechnology Industry Association in Washington, DC.

Dr. Glenn holds a B.S. in animal science and a Ph.D. in ruminant nutrition from the University of Kentucky. She previously worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service and the Federation of Animal Science Societies.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska and raised in Centerville, Ohio, Dr. Glenn developed a passion for agriculture from her parents and her involvement in 4-H. She lives on a small farm in Maryland with her husband and three children, and serves on various boards for farm bureau and 4-H.

Miriam is a graduate of Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois. She worked for a small publishing house in the suburbs of Chicago, before joining Anderson Erickson Dairy (AE Dairy) in 1985. Miriam began her career in the marketing department of the company her grandfather founded and assumed a number of leadership roles over the years. In 2006, she was named President and CEO.

Miriam has long history of serving in leadership on dairy industry boards as well. She was selected by the Secretary of Agriculture to join the MilkPEP Board in 1994, where she has since held a variety of leadership positions. Miriam also led IDFA and MIF Boards as Chair. She is a previous officer and current board member of the Innovation Center for US Dairy. She was the 2007 recipient of the IDFA’s Soaring Eagle Award for extraordinary service in the dairy industry.

Miriam is also committed to giving back to her community and has been active on many boards including: Susan G. Komen Iowa and the Greater Des Moines Partnership. In 2006, Miriam was elected Woman of the Year by Des Moines Metro Women’s Network. More recently, she was honored with the Leadership Legacy Award from the Iowa Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Miriam enjoys speaking about the health benefits of milk and lives in Urbandale, Iowa with her husband and 2 golden retrievers.

Mariano Lozano is President & CEO of Danone North America, a public benefit corporation. Prior to this he served as President and CEO of The Dannon Company. From March 2009 to December 2013, he was General Manager of DANONE Brazil. He started his career in various sales functions at Cerveceria y Malteria Quilmes, a leader of the Argentinean beer market, and was then appointed Sales Director of Pillsbury Argentina. He joined DANONE in March 2000 as General Manager of Logistica La Serenisima, the company in charge of sales and distribution for DANONE and La Serenisima products in Argentina. From 2004 to 2006 he was General Manager of DANONE Slovakia and from January 2006 to May 2009 General Manager of DANONE Clover (Pty) in South Africa. Mariano is an Argentinean citizen and holds an Industrial Engineer Diploma from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and children.

John has a Ph.D in Food Science and over 20 years of research experience. He previously worked in Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand. As CDR Director he provides leadership to CDR staff to help CDR move forward and live up to its reputation as a world-class research center focused on applications, outreach and education. He is also a professor in the Food Science department and conducts research on the functionality of dairy foods. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and 20 book chapters.

Ludovic Meilhac is a procurement and supply management expert partner at McKinsey & Company in the Stamford office. He co-leads the McKinsey Food Institute and is a core member of McKinsey’s Consumer Operations practice. Ludovic has over 25 years of experience in procurement and sourcing globally and helps both companies and national governments develop world sourcing strategies and design manufacturing solutions for milk and dairy ingredients. Among other work, Ludovic has helped shape the 2020 vision for French milk and fruit procurement, design solutions for oversupply of local fluid milk in China, and optimize COGS on dairy and flavor for an ice cream manufacturer.

Prior to McKinsey, Ludovic spent 13 years at Danone sourcing all fluids and dairy ingredients for North America, while also serving as a board member on the Quebec Dairy Council. He also spent 5 years at Coca Cola/Glaceau in manufacturing and sourcing. Ludovic earned his Master’s in Automation from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris in France and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

Patty Stroup is global vice president and head of commodities at Nestlé. Before joining Nestlé in 2006, she was director of dairy procurement and policy at Hilmar Cheese Company in California and, prior to that, director of communication, education and legislation at Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers in Virginia.

She holds a bachelors degree in communications with a cognate in Dairy Science from Virginia Tech, and an MBA in Food and Agribusiness from Purdue University.

Roberto leads McKinsey’s Agriculture Practice globally and our consumer operations work in North America.

As an advisor to agricultural and food and nutrition companies, Roberto brings on-the-ground experience in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and Western Europe. He partners with executives to address their most pressing strategic and performance issues, including growth, merger management, commercial excellence, supply-chain optimization, and organizational restructuring.

Since joining McKinsey, Roberto has built extensive expertise designing growth strategies and delivering performance improvements across commercial and supply-chain operations. Working with companies across the globe, he has led efforts to assess value-chain vulnerabilities and growth opportunities in the dairy, protein, row-crops, oilseeds, and starch and sweeteners sectors. Roberto also supports complex postmerger situations, defining integration approaches and ramping up value-capture teams.

1. leading a rapid performance-improvement initiative for a grain and food-ingredient company, identifying substantial profit improvement potential across manufacturing, sourcing, logistics, and commercial areas
2. driving merger integrations for global companies in animal nutrition, chemicals, agricultural inputs, food ingredients, and logistics
3. setting enterprise strategy for more than 20 business units of a global food company, including performance aspirations and new growth areas
4. defining a milk and dairy ingredient strategy for a global food company, including setting contract-manufacturing approach, identifying potential joint ventures, and building in-house capabilities
5. developing a growth strategy for a global protein company, including performance-improvement initiatives and the M&A agenda
6. building a growth strategy for global food company, identifying markets for international expansion, setting entry strategies, identifying merger opportunities, and planning a new organizational structure
7. deploying a global performance-improvement program addressing pricing, sales-force effectiveness, supply chain, manufacturing, and network footprint for a global animal-nutrition company
8. designing and delivering a multiyear pricing, go-to-market, and supply-chain transformation for a global agricultural inputs company, leading to improvements in market share, margins, and customer satisfaction

Roberto has contributed to several of the World Economic Forum’s major reports on sustainable agriculture. He is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Paul brings over 20 years of consumer package goods marketing and finance experience in a wide range of industries. His experience includes managing brands and leading innovation for well-known brands such as Kraft, Velveeta, Tombstone, DiGiorno, Rust-Oleum, First Alert and Cats Pride. Paul has guided brands with revenue from $100M to over $1B, while launching more than $500M of new product platforms. Prior to joining Dairy Management, Paul served in senior-level positions at companies including Kraft Foods, Jarden Safety, Rust-Oleum, and Oil-Dri Corporation.

In the EVP role, Paul leads DMI’s the fluid milk revitalization and domestic foodservice partnership efforts, with industry leaders such as McDonald’s, Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Dave earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Ohio University and his MBA in Labor Relations and Human Resource Management from Ohio State University. He also served in the Air National Guard, where he received the Meritorious Service award and Fire/Rescue Man of the Year award.

He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management. In the community, Dave is involved with CASA of Brown County, serving as a member of the corporate board and advisory council. Dave and his wife, Chris, live in the Green Bay area in Wisconsin. They have three children. Away from work, Dave enjoys biking, running, skiing (downhill and cross country), golfing, and reading military books and biographies.

Alexander Anton is the secretary general of the European Dairy Association (EDA), which is recognized as the voice of the dairy processing industry in Brussels. He has been in the post for the past five years and has played a pivotal role in how the organization has changed over his tenure.

Patricia Andersen is the Vice President of Human Resources & Training at Delkor Systems, Inc.

Osvaldo Raúl Cappellini joined Mastellone Hnos. S.A. in 1998 and holds the position of Director of Institutional Relations. Previously he was Manager of Institutional Relations in Sancor CUL. He is 1st Vice-President of the COPAL since 2002. He was President of the Milk Industry Center in the period 2002-2008. He obtained the degree of Agricultural Production Engineer at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina and holds the postgraduate degree of Master of Science from the University of Sydney, Australia and a Masters in Strategic Management obtained at UADE.

Marilyn Hershey is a dairy farmer, industry leader and published author. Managing finances, assisting with milking and overseeing calf care on her family’s dairy farm, Ar-Joy Farms, LLC, Hershey has an active role in the dairy’s success.

When not on the farm, Hershey is active in the board room; she serves as the vice-chair of Dairy Management, Inc., is the secretary of the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association Speakers Bureau and serves on the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board among other various community organizations. Hershey also offers her insight on farming, family and faith in her regular column in Hoard’s Dairyman, Common Threads. Here, she provides a positive and empowering message for farm women across North America.

Corey Jackson is the Senior Director of Human Resources responsible for human resources and talent acquisition at HP Hood LLC.

Steve Lerch has been at Google for 7 years, focusing on digital strategy for a wide variety of clients. He spent 4.5 years at Google's headquarters in California, working with the world's largest consumer electronics companies, like GoPro and Fitbit. He's spent the last 2 years helping to build a new team at Google that works with national trade associations. As part of this role, Steve partners with the preeminent US agriculture groups including the American Egg Board, Avocados From Mexico, Florida Citrus, National Pork Board. More recently, Steve has partnered with dairy organizations across the globe including Milk PEP, the Global Dairy Platform, and just recently lead a session at the World Dairy Summit in Rotterdam.

Kimberly Crewther is the Executive Director at Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).

Beth is the chief marketing and communications officer at DMI where she leads and has strategic oversight for corporate communications, Undeniably Dairy campaign, and the newsroom. Her leadership is driven by a unique culmination of more than 20 years of business strategy, marketing and communications experience with food, health, wellness, retail, and QSR companies. Beth is charged with leading the transformation of the organization’s marketing and communications strategy to engage with consumers and other key stakeholders.

Before joining DMI, Beth was the general manager for Edelman’s Chicago brand team. In this role, Beth worked with a wide range of corporate, food and industry clients on reputation, social responsibility, and sales strategies.

As a mother of three, she demonstrates a strong personal commitment to child health and wellness. She serves on the Lurie Children’s Hospital Foundation Board and the Hospital Marketing Committee.

Adria Gennuso-Fuchs is the Business Development Director for Food Cultures & Enzymes at Chr. Hansen, where she uses consumer and market-based insights to drive marketing strategy. Like you, Adria has a keen interest in key trends driving the marketplace and the future of the dairy industry. With 15 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Adria brings a deep knowledge of market dynamics and consumer attitudes. Adria holds a Bachelors of Science in International Business and Marketing from Marquette University, as well as a Master’s of Business Administration from Marquette University.

Julia Kadison is Chief Executive Officer of MilkPEP. As CEO, she has introduced new strategic, consumer-focused program direction, and launched powerful new marketing programs. Her passion centers around uniting the industry to drive growth.

Since joining MilkPEP in 2006 as Vice President of Marketing, Kadison has spearheaded several successful marketing campaigns, including development of the industry’s new “Milk Life” campaign, which spotlights milk’s high-quality protein, and the launch of the Great American Milk Drive, which raises awareness of the need for milk donations in the nation’s feeding programs. Kadison also oversaw the industry’s entrance into the sports recovery market with the Built With Chocolate Milk campaign.

Prior tojoining the MilkPEP team as an employee, Ms. Kadison was a consultant at Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) in New York. During her 12 years at BMC, she rose to the position of Managing Director/COO, and led the non-alcoholic consulting division. At BMC she gained extensive milk category experience, leading a number of projects for MilkPEP, DMI and individual milk and dairy companies.

Ms. Kadison received a Bachelor of Science degree from Emory University and her Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree in marketing from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

    

Barbara O’Brien is President of Dairy Management Inc., (DMI) where she leads and has oversight of the strategic planning and daily operations for the dairy checkoff program. Barb continues to serve as president of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, a precompetitive forum that advances collaboration among dairy companies, farmers and others in the dairy community to help guide the industry’s future. As a member of the DMI executive team, Barb instills an aggressive sales mentality, spearheads programs and operating structures for business development, partner management, sales planning and insights. As part of the checkoff business plan evolution, Barb led the translation of farmer priorities into industry-wide category strategies for growth. Her skills are instrumental in engaging the industry on behalf of U.S. dairy farmers, to a common end: to increase trust and sales for dairy among today’s consumers.

Prior to joining DMI, Barbara directed Burson Marsteller's Chicago-based healthcare consultancy and provided executive-level counsel for Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical clients including Procter and Gamble, Dow Corning, Quaker Oats, and Abbott Labs, establishing new business strategies for growing clients’ market share. She went on to co-found a healthcare consultancy that served the business and marketing planning needs of Chicago-area hospitals and health systems, and companies in the medical device, pharmaceutical, food and nutrition segments.

Victor Zaborsky has been with MilkPEP since October of 1996. In his role as Vice President of Marketing he leads consumer marketing efforts for the Milk Life campaign. He has extensive experience in strategic planning, communication, multicultural marketing, social media, digital and content marketing. Victor leads national advertising, public relations, shopper marketing as well as the development of strategic partnerships for both general market and Hispanic efforts.

Victor is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and lives in Miami, Florida.

Seth Teply, Vice President of Services for Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada oversees Tetra Pak’s Services business for both processing and packaging equipment. He and his team work closely with food and beverage manufacturers to ensure food safety, quality, and optimal plant efficiency, leveraging the power of Industry 4.0 to help deliver future-ready operations.

Teply began his career at Tetra Pak in 2001 as an automation and commissioning engineer and has held a variety of engineering, sales and leadership roles at the company.

Teply received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Valparaiso University.

After growing up on a dairy farm in Western New York, Tristan Zuber went on to obtain a Bachelors of Science in Food Science and Animal Science from Cornell University. She began her career in regulatory affairs at the US Dairy Export Council and worked in Dairy Foods Economic Development at Cornell University. Tristan is currently a Sales Account Manager for CHR Hansen, supporting yogurt and cheese manufacturers. CHR Hansen is a global leader in production of cultures, probiotics and enzymes for the dairy foods industry. Tristan also holds a Masters in Science in Food and Agricultural Economics from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University.

Mr. Greg Ibach was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in by the Secretary as USDA’s Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs (MRP) on October 30, 2017.

In his role as the Under Secretary, Mr. Ibach carries out the MRP mission area’s broad task of facilitating domestic and international marketing of U.S. agricultural products and ensuring the health and care of animals and plants. The MRP Mission Area is comprised of the Agricultural Marketing Service Agency and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Agency. Following the Secretary’s realignment of a number of USDA offices in September 2017, the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration and several programs from the Farm Service Agency are now housed under the Agricultural Marketing Service Agency.

Before becoming Under Secretary, Mr. Ibach served as Nebraska’s Director of Agriculture since June 2005. He was a visionary leader for Nebraska’s agriculture, effectively supervising Departmental staff and programs with the ability to analyze issues, develop strategies, and create solutions for domestic and global initiatives. Mr. Ibach had oversight of Nebraska’s plant and animal heath regulatory functions. He has been actively involved in foreign and domestic marketing and development activities for the better part of his career.

Mr. Ibach has been inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement and honored with the Service to Agriculture Recognition from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, College of Agriculture Science and Natural Resources. He is also a former President of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

Mr. Ibach earned his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Nebraska with majors in Animal Science and Agricultural Economics. He and his wife, Teresa, have three grown children and live on their farm and ranch in Sumner, Nebraska.

Cary Frye leads the association's regulatory team covering the areas of food safety, food defense, federal standards of identity, labeling, international Codex Alimentarius standards, nutrition policy, environmental and worker safety. With extensive experience in dairy product processing and quality assurance, Frye has served IDFA member companies for almost 20 years, representing member companies on food labeling and standards of identity, ingredient technologies, nutrition and health issues, and product safety.

She is active on domestic and international regulatory issues. As an active participant of the International Dairy Federation, Frye chairs the United States affiliate to IDF and is a member of the IDF Standing Committee on Standards of Identity and Labeling. She has been active in international standard-setting, advising U.S. delegations on Codex standards and has served as the head delegate for IDF at the Codex Committee on Food Labeling. She has also served on the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments’ Executive Board and Liaison Committee, and chairs the Conference’s Program Committee.

Her work has been published in professional journals and textbooks, including "Dairy Processing and Quality Assurance" and "Manufacturing Yogurt and Fermented Milks," published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing and “Beverage Impacts on Health and Nutrition,” published by Humana Press.

Serena Schaffner is the Senior Vice President, Communications for Dairy Management Inc.

Anne Greven is a Rabobank veteran, having spent 15 years at the New York-based corporate bank building and leading key client-facing businesses for the bank. She has also been a mentor to startups participating in FoodBytes!, helping them explain their business models and fine-tune their pitch presentations prior to the events. Ms. Greven drives the strategy for Rabobank's FoodBytes! and TERRA programs in North America, taking a keen look at further integrating Rabobank’s innovation programs with the bank’s overall goals and strategies, developing the best and brightest startups and entrepreneurs in food and agriculture, and bringing innovative ideas to major F&A companies.

Tom Bailey is Rabobank’s senior dairy analyst and the head of Rabobank’s North American dairy research team.

Tom’s areas of expertise are in the global dairy economics, particularly for the US and New Zealand dairy industries. In his current role his primary focus is on the processing and consumer side of the North American dairy industry.

Prior to joining Rabobank, Tom spent four years with Fonterra based in Auckland, New Zealand. In Fonterra, he was a member of the Optimization management team, functioning as a Commercial Executive. In this role Tom helped to develop and execute the optimization strategy and decision making processes to drive product mix, allocation, and pricing decisions. He also spent time in Fonterra’s Commodity Risk & Trading team where he worked as a Global Insight Advisor and Price Forecast Analyst.

Vivek Pai is theGlobal M&A Coordinator Dairy for Rabobank

Thomas Wojno is responsible for identifying and implementing innovative strategies to enhance IDFA services, expand its diverse membership and develop new opportunities for growth.

Prior to joining IDFA, Wojno served as vice president of member value and strategy for the National Restaurant Association. During his tenure, NRA’s membership grew by 300 percent in three years and increased the association’s member retention rate from 83 percent to 94 percent.

Wojno also served as vice president of resource development for America’s Promise, an alliance organization built by General Colin Powell to support better outcomes in education, and as director of corporate relations with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Wojno began his career in business development at Bloomberg LP.

Wojno received a bachelor’s degree in business and organizational communication from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Wojno was the recipient of the 2016 Association Innovators awards, given by DC Live to those leaders driving growth and change in their respective associations and industries.

John Allan directs all aspects of IDFA's food safety training initiatives, leads efforts related to product safety issues and has responsibilities in federal and state regulatory affairs. He engages on behalf of IDFA members with 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc., and the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS). Allan also helps represent IDFA’s international trade interests through his seat on the U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Trade Representative Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) for Trade of Processed Foods, as well as through engagement with the International Dairy Federation and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex).

Prior to joining IDFA, Allan was the director of regulatory and international affairs for the National Yogurt Association, the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and AFFI’s affiliated associations: the National Frozen Pizza Institute, Frozen Potato Products Institute and the Frozen Food Foundation.

Allan also has regulatory and technical affairs experience in the infant formula industry and has worked for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization helping develop Codex international food standards. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and a Master of Science in food science and technology.

J. David Carlin leads the association's legislative, political and economic policy activities. He was a partner with the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP until joining IDFA and has extensive experience in food and agriculture policy. Carlin has represented numerous food and agricultural companies, cooperatives and trade associations before the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Carlin joined Akin Gump in 1988. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed him to serve as Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations under Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman at USDA. As head of the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, Carlin served as the primary USDA liaison with Congress and the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. He returned to Akin Gump in 1998 to focus his practice on public law and policy matters. His interest in agricultural and public policy began on the family dairy farm founded by his grandfather in 1940.

Moran directs the association's financial and accounting activities, as well as those related to human resources, information technology, administration and the biennial trade show.

Prior to joining IDFA, Moran served as chief financial officer for the National Capital Revitalization Corporation and for the RLA Revitalization Corporation, where he provided financial guidance relating to valuation, pricing and modeling of the corporations’ real estate development projects. Before that, Moran served as vice president of finance and CFO for Black's Guide, Inc., a commercial real estate information service, where he guided the company through the acquisition phase, as well as its subsequent sale. As CFO and director of finance and administration for the National Center on Education and the Economy, Moran was responsible for all financial and administrative functions.

Moran also served as the CFO for the Drug Policy Foundation, vice president of finance and administration for Sky Courier Network, and as vice president of finance for the Aeromaritime Group. After graduating from Georgetown University, he began his career in the Washington, D.C., office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Soubra serves as a strategist, consultant and director of the association’s initiatives based on the priorities of the president and CEO, Michael Dykes, D.V.M. Soubra manages day-to-day operation of the executive office facilitating collaboration and inclusiveness across the organization to accomplish strategic goals. Soubra serves as the executive office liaison with IDFA members and members of the IDFA governance structure. She also handles IDFA program development and execution, including the annual Dairy Forum, the summer internship program, and managed the successful implementation of IDFA’s new governance structure.

A graduate of George Mason University, Soubra earned her degree in intercultural communication. She also is a graduate of The Protocol School of Washington where she earned certification in corporate etiquette and international protocol. She is fluent in Arabic.

Mary is a thought leader who has extensive knowledge of domestic and international dairy markets and policy. She has over thirty years of experience in production agriculture, food processing, government service, agricultural policy, dairy risk management, market information and dissemination, and milk and dairy product price forecasting.

Mary grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and has worked on farms in Germany and Japan. She received a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University and studied at the University of Goettingen, Germany. Mary’s work experience includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kraft Foods, Stella Foods, Keough Ledman Associates, and the Daily Dairy Report.

Mary joined Rabobank in January 2018 as their Global Dairy Strategist and directs a team of ten analysts around the globe. With a global exposure of $25bn spread across five continents, dairy is one of the most important sectors at Rabobank, the world’s leading Food and Agriculture bank.