FoodTech Connect 2010

Andrew Daddo - Master of Ceremonies

Andrew Daddo has been in or around the Australian entertainment industry for twenty-five years. He's had a go at just about everything, with TV credits including MTV America, news programs, the Olympic Games telecasts in Sydney and Beijing, and a long-running stint on The Great Outdoors.

He spent two years doing Evenings on 702ABC radio, and is a columnist with The Sun-Herald and Australian Golf Digest.

Andrew is the author of more than twenty bestselling children's books, including the classic Good Night, Me.

He is also a corporate coach in writing and presenting and is thrilled to be part of FoodTech Connect 2010.

Kate Carnell - Chief Executive Officer, Australian Food and Grocery Council

Kate Carnell commenced as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Food and Grocery Council in July 2008.

Kate, former Chief Executive Officer of Australian General Practice Network, is a pharmacist by profession and was the first female to become the National Vice-President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

She was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1992 and became leader of the ACT Liberal Party in 1993. She was elected Chief Minister in March 1995 and re-elected in 1998, becoming the first Liberal woman to be elected as Chief Minister or Premier in Australian political history.

Following her political career, Kate became a serious driving force behind Transact Communications' innovative broadband communications network, and also spent three years as Executive Director of the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI).

Kate was honoured on Australia Day 2006 with an AO for her services to community through contributions to economic development and support for the business sector, knowledge industries, the medical sector and medical technology advances.

Patrick Medley - Managing Partner, Global Consumer Products Industry Leader, IBM Global Business Services

Patrick Medley is the Global Consumer Products Industry Leader for IBM Global Business Services, responsible for client engagement with CPG and wholesale clients around the world.

Patrick has more than 21 years of consulting experience, helping organisations in the consumer products, pharmaceutical and retail industries understand and respond to the key strategic issues. In this time he has been based in London, Singapore and Sydney, and has worked with clients across the world.

Patrick specialises in developing business and transformation strategies and in managing the associated change, including building actionable plans, implementing successful corporate transformation and delivering productive re-engineering processes. Prior to consulting, Patrick held various positions with Shell International in its distribution, retail and marketing offices between 1983 and 1989.

Patrick has an MBA from Sydney University, Australia and a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Commerce from Birmingham University, England. He has published several management reports and articles including 'Consumer Products 2010: An Asian Perspective on the World of Extremes'.

Peter Bush - retired Chief Executive Officer, McDonald's Australia and President for Pacific, Middle East and Africa

Peter Bush has had a long career in fast moving consumer goods (FCMG), including companies like Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Reckitt & Coleman and Arnott's.

He was CEO of AGB-McNair and Chairman and CEO of Schwarzkopf Australasia, market leader in the hair care industry.

He played a lead role in the merger between Ampol and Caltex, helping develop a substantially more profitable franchisee model and retail network. He was COO of Arnott's during the 'extortion' and was Chairman of the official inquiry into the tragic '98 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race - two of Australia's most significant crisis events.

Peter set up his own consulting business, Hallam Bush Associates, in 1997 when he first became involved with McDonald's.

Peter was the architect behind the turnaround of the McDonald's Australia business. He was instrumental in creating a renewed customer focus and culture, bringing together the groups inside the business to aggressively deliver against customer demands.

Peter was appointed a member of the McDonald's Australia Ltd Board and Ronald McDonald House Charities Board in late 2003.

On 1 June 2005, Peter was appointed Managing Director/CEO of McDonald's Australia Ltd.

Peter retired from his role as CEO for McDonald's Australia and President for Pacific, Middle East and Africa in April to pursue a career as a non-executive director. He has recently been appointed as a non-executive director of Pacific Brands and has accepted to additional public company board seats that as yet cannot be announced.

Dr Brad Woonton - Stream and Project Leader, CSIRO Division of Food and Nutritional Sciences

Dr Woonton holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and PhD from RMIT University, Australia. He is currently the Stream Leader at CSIRO's Division of Food and Nutritional Sciences in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to joining CSIRO, Dr Woonton held various management and technical roles within the agri-food industry.

Dr Woonton and his team work closely with a number of multinational and domestic food companies to develop technologies that improve the quality and safety of manufactured foods, and the sustainability of the food industry. A focus of Dr Woonton's research is the development of emerging food processing technologies such as ultrasound, pulsed electric field, cool plasma, high-pressure processing and advanced separations.

Over the past seven years, Dr Woonton has authored over 65 scientific publications, confidential client reports and conference presentations. Dr Woonton is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT, USA), a professional member of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST), a Charted Chemist of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and a member of the Dairy Industry Association of Australia (DIAA).

Dr Wendy Umberger - Director, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide

Dr Wendy Umberger is the Director of the new Centre for Global Food Chain Innovation at the University of Adelaide. She has expertise in consumer behaviour and economic valuation methods and her current research focuses on determining the economic value of quality and credence attributes in global agricultural and food value chains. Wendy has conducted substantial research in Australia, the US, Canada, SE Asia and the Pacific Islands and has over 150 publications related to the economics of food traceability, quality assurance systems and consumer values for credence attributes in red meat, fruit and vegetable and wine products.

Associate Professor Peter Wypych - General Manager, Bulk Materials Engineering Australia

Peter Wypych is the Founder and General Manager of Bulk Materials Engineering Australia and has completed over 500 projects for industry involving R&D, feasibilities, troubleshooting, technical and safety audits, general and concept design, optimisation, debottlenecking and/or rationalisation of bulk handling plants and processes. This work has been completed for companies all around Australia and the world and covers most industry sectors, such as agriculture, chemical, food, mining, minerals processing, pharmaceutical, power, recycling, refining and smelting, transport and export infrastructure.

Peter also has been involved with the research and development of bulk materials handling and processing technology at the University of Wollongong since 1981. His areas of expertise include bulk materials handling, conveying, conveyor transfers, computer simulation technology, dust hazards and control, including dust explosions. Peter has published over 300 articles in these areas and has presented numerous training workshops, seminars and professional development courses around the world. He is the Chair of the Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling, Engineers Australia.

Andrew Douglas - Principal, Douglas LPT - Law, People and Training

Andrew is the Managing Director of Douglas LPT - an integrated workplace consultancy providing legal, HR, recruiting, coaching and training advice, solutions and strategies.

Douglas LPT Law practises in all aspects of workplace law including industrial relations, OH&S, workers compensation, equal opportunity, employment, privacy and surveillance law. Andrew acts for some of Australia's largest companies and regularly appears in tribunals and commissions.

Andrew is a National Director of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award program, the chairman of Awards Victoria and supports a number of other not-for-profit organisations.

Andrew's articles have been published for various media publications including BRW, SmartCompany, National Accountant and BICSI News. He is also a guest lecturer at the University of Victoria and VIOSH in respect of IR, Employment and OHS.

Mikael Renström - Managing Director, Elettric 80 AB

Mikael Renström is the Managing Director of Elettric 80 AB, Sweden, which supports the local Elettric 80 office in Melbourne, Australia. He is also the Marketing Director of Elettric 80 S.p.A, the Italian parent company of the Elettric 80 group.

Mikael holds a Masters Degree in International Marketing at the IHM Business School in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Mikael has considerable experience in advising businesses on how to leverage automation to improve the market presence of their products, whilst also delivering a reduction in the costs of production and distribution.

Mikael is one of Europe's most notable automated guided vehicle (AGV) proponents and advisors having held a number of prominent positions with major players within the European industrial automation scene. These positions include Vice President Sales and Marketing at Rocla Robotruck Oy and Managing Director at NDC Automation AB.

Marcel Sieira - General Manager - Sales and Business Development, GS1 Australia

Marcel Sieira has been involved in the e-commerce and supply chain sector for the last 13 years. He joined GS1 Australia in 2003 to assist the organisation grow the Professional Consulting Services and to develop new services in the areas of AIDC, data synchronisation, e-messaging and EPC/RFID.

Currently, Marcel's new service development efforts are focused in the development and launch of GS1 Australia's new GLN directory service (GS1Locatenet), GS1Recallnet - a new service for the efficient management of product recall and withdrawal notifications leveraging GS1 Canada's Product Recall Program, the GS1 Community Management Tool and developing new traceability and sustainability services.

As General Manager of Sales and Business Development, Marcel is part of GS1 Australia's Senior Executive Team, assisting in the development and execution of GS1 Australia's business strategy.

Prior to joining GS1 Australia, Marcel was the Business Development Manager for an Australian e-messaging services company where he developed and implemented an e-messaging and integration solution across a wide range of sectors including grocery, general merchandise and apparel, transport and logistics, automotive OEM and aftermarket, hardware, electrical appliances and healthcare.

Fay (Apichaya) Bushell - Operations Manager Food Services, Nutritionist

Corrective Services Industries, NSW Corrective Services

Fay Bushell is a qualified nutritionist and also a food safety auditor. Her qualifications are in the food science and nutrition field. She completed a Masters Degree in Food Science and Nutrition, UNSW.

Fay's role as the Operations Manager Food Services for the NSW Corrective Services is to ensure that food provided to inmates across NSW is of suitable quality, safe, nutritious and complies with the relevant stipulated regulations.

Since graduating she has worked in the food industry for more than 15 years. Her expertise and passion lay within the aspects of food safety and nutrition for the population in general. Before joining NSW Corrective Services she was auditing food businesses and food manufacturers. Prior to that, her roles were in nutrition and products development.

Marshall Dwyer - Coordinator, the Plenty Food Group

Marshall has been the Coordinator of the Plenty Food Group (PFG) project for over four years working closely with food manufacturers in Melbourne's north. In this time Marshall has built strong relationships with food manufacturers and food industry representatives. To date, he has hosted five international delegations to trade shows in Hong Kong, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, assisted with inward buyer missions and been a conduit for information between food manufacturers and food-related businesses. Prior to the PFG, Marshall was a small business owner and actively involved in the local traders association and trustee for a local charity.

Jay Sellahewa - Stream Leader Sustainable Food Processing, CSIRO

Jay Sellahewa is a food engineer with extensive experience in industry, research and technology transfer. Jay has held various leadership roles and is currently managing CSIRO Food and Nutritional Science's Process Engineering Sciences Group and leading CSIRO's program on Sustainable Food Processing.

Nigel Dalton-Brown - Head of Sales and Marketing, iCiX Asia

Nigel Dalton-Brown is head of Sales and Marketing for iCiX Asia. With over 300,000 compliance documents across 60,000 members in more than 65 countries, iCiX is the world's largest online business-to-business compliance information exchange. With over 20 years' experience in high technology, Nigel works with organisations that deliver measurable improvements in productivity and performance and has just completed a global survey into the perceived importance of supplier compliance. Nigel holds an MBA from Warwick, which ranks in the top 1% in the world, and represents Australian Industry Group on the QR-008 committee on Quality Systems at Australian Standards.

Tanya Vaysman - Senior Lawyer, FoodLegal

Tanya Vaysman is a senior lawyer involved in a mix of contentious litigation and non-contentious (advisory) in food industry regulatory and commercial issues. Her clients cover the gamut of food and therapeutic goods safety and compliance, health and life sciences advice, agribusiness codes, intellectual property protection, and administrative law dispute resolution involving government agencies.

Joe Lederman - Managing Principal, FoodLegal

Joe Lederman acts for numerous national and international food companies in food regulatory compliance, risk management and product liability, industry policy development and food regulatory research work for government bodies.

Joe is the Food Law editor for Halsbury's Laws of Australia as well as co-authoring and editing the FoodLegal Bulletin. He is also executive publisher of Australian Food News (a daily online news service) and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Food Law at Deakin University.

Gary Kennedy - Correct Food Systems

Gary Kennedy, a graduate of the School of Food Technology at UNSW, has worked in the meat and food service industries as a food technologist and also as a food safety trainer and auditor. He currently owns and operates Correct Food Systems, a Sydney-based food safety consultancy, operating throughout Australia. He has over 30 published papers and has written or co-written codes of practice for the cold-chain, smallgoods, hospital and cook-chill industries. He has been President of the Australian Cook-Chill Council and was the NSW Branch Chair and Public Officer of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology for many years. Among his roles, he acted as a food safety advisor to SOCOG for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Chris Hertle - Business Leader - Industrial Water, GHD

Chris Hertle is GHD's Global Market Leader for Water. He has a Bachelor of Engineering, Chemical from the University of Queensland and a Masters of Philosophy (Biological and Environmental Sciences) at Murdoch University in Western Australia. This was a Masters by research 'High Rate Anaerobic Treatment of Wastewaters - Two Pilot Studies'. Chris has over 25 years' experience in industrial and municipal water and wastewater management, particularly in the areas of food and beverages, pulp and paper, and meat processing industries. This has covered investigations, pilot plants, design, specification, tendering, installation, commissioning and operations. He has a particular expertise in delivering innovative solutions that maximise recovery of resources from waste.

John Koumoukelis - Sales and Marketing Director, EIMCO Water Technologies Pty Ltd

John Koumoukelis is a chemical engineer with 14 years' experience within the Australian water industry. John has been actively involved with the design and commissioning of wastewater treatment plants for the food and beverage markets across Australia and New Zealand. He has been actively involved in emerging technologies such as membrane bioreactors, advanced water treatment and anaerobic technologies. John holds the position of Sales and Marketing Director for EIMCO Water Technologies Pty Ltd, where he is responsible for the management of process design, technical staff and client management.

David Houston - Manager Customer Engineering, Amcor Australasia

David Houston is the Manager of Customer Engineering for Amcor's Fiber Packaging Division in the Packaging Solutions group. The Packaging Solutions group is highly focused on providing improvement and innovation opportunities for Amcor's customers.

David has been working in the packaging industry with Amcor for over 25 years. During this time he has had a wide range of roles from project engineering to general management, in various locations across Australia and New Zealand and in a diverse range of packaging mediums. David has a Master of Business Administration, Graduate Diploma in Business, Graduate Certificate of Innovation and Diploma in Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering.