Day 1 – Session A.1 – Keynote Speaker 1
Eddie Yoon – Food Market Trends
Eddie Yoon is the founder of EddieWouldGrow, LLC, a think tank and advisory firm on growth strategy. Previously he was one of the senior partners at The Cambridge Group, a strategy consulting firm. His work over the past two decades has driven over $8 billion dollars of annual incremental revenue. In particular, 8 of his clients have doubled or tripled in revenue in less than 8 years. Eddie is one of the world’s leading experts on finding and monetizing superconsumers to grow and create new categories.
He is the author of the book, Superconsumers: A Simple, Speedy and Sustainable Path to Superior Growth (Harvard Business School Press, 2016). His book was named as one of the Best Business Books of 2017 by Strategy & Business. He is also the author of over 100 articles, including “Make Your Best Customers Even Better” (Harvard Business Review magazine, March 2014) and “Why It Pays to Be a Category Creator” (Harvard Business Review magazine, March 2013). Additionally, he has appeared on CNBC and MSNBC and been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Forbes and has been a keynote speaker in the U.S., Canada, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, the UK and Japan. Eddie holds an AB in Political Science and Economics from the University of Chicago. Having been born and raised in Hawaii, he went to the Punahou School in Honolulu. Eddie lives in Chicago with his wife and three children.
Day 1 – Session A.2 – Keynote Speaker 2
Elizabeth Aparicio – Food Market Trends
Elizabeth Aparicio, M.A., is an ethnographic analyst with The Hartman Group, a consumer research and consultancy focused on the food and beverage marketplace and a recognized thought leader on demand-side trends in the food industry for over 30 years. Elizabeth brings a strong academic background in food, beverages, sustainability and local food systems to The Hartman Group’s study of food culture. She is also a doctoral candidate in Applied Cultural Anthropology at the University of South Florida.
Day 2 – Session E.1 – Keynote Speaker 3
Yash Burgula – Drivers for Innovation and Case Studies
Yash Burgula is the Director of R&D Technology for Continental Mills (CM) in Seattle, WA. CM is a family owned business founded in Seattle, Washington in 1932 that manufactures a complete portfolio of Baking mixes and Snack mixes under the Krusteaz and Wild Roots brands among other fine brands. Yash joined CM in 2015.
Yash is creative Food Scientist and Technical Brand Manager that has worked in the Food Industry 20 years in a variety of New Product Development (NPD) roles – with diverse products such as Breakfast cereal, Beverage Mix, Frozen Snacks, Frozen Meals, Ketchup, Condiments, Sauces, Snack and Trail Mixes, and Bake Mixes – within the R&D function for global companies such as Glaxo Smith Kline, Heinz, and General Mills. In his current role with Continental Mills, Yash leads the Ingredients Innovation and Technology function within R&D. His research group is focused on new ingredients and process technology identification, evaluation, and qualification, open innovation and technology scouting in support of long-term innovation pipeline building at CM.
Yash with his team also balance the fuzzy front end of the NPD process, identifying new product ideas and refining them using consumer insights, creating concepts with culinary insights, integrating new ingredients and/or processing functionalities, and executing new product commercialization activities. Yash has a MS in Food Science from the University of Minnesota and PhD in Food Science from Purdue University.
Day 2 – Session E.2 – Keynote Speaker 4
William Watts – Walmart food safety supply chain
William Watts is the Senior Director of Walmart’s Food Safety Collaboration Center. He lives in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
William Watts is an experienced professional in government relations, international business, and business technology. Watts is currently responsible for government engagement and building strategic partnerships with others in industry, academia, and research for the WFSCC. Watts focuses on strategic food safety programs and, in particular, concentrates on innovation and technology in food quality and agriculture. Before joining Walmart, Mr. Watts served as an Economic Officer in the U.S. Department of State and was a business technology consultant with Fortune 500 firm Accenture. Watts studied at three different Chinese universities during his college years- Southwest University for Nationalities in Chengdu, East Normal China University in Shanghai, and Heilongjiang University in Harbin. Watts holds a degree in Economics with a minor in Asian Studies from the University of Arkansas where he graduated summa cum laude. Mr. Watts is conversant in Mandarin and has varying fluency in Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Italian.