Harrison Helmick is a PhD student at Purdue University who studies structure function relationships of protein in food. Harrison has worked in bakeries since his first job at Wheat Fields bakery in Lawrence Kansas. After graduating from Kansas State University’s Bakery Science program, he worked for Bimbo Bakeries where he received his black belt in lean six sigma, developing interests in big data and process improvement. Since returning to school, he has published on how fermentation impacts gluten, and he maintains a website about lean six sigma and bakery science, BakeSci.com. His PhD work is funded by the USDA and aims to connect the big data of bioinformatics with how gels and emulsions are formed from pea protein.

Presentation
Pulse Power: Understanding Pulses through Bioinformatics for Egg Replacement
2:50 pm – 3:20 pm CT

Robb is the baking industry’s chief advocate and spokesperson, bringing his decades of experience, knowledge of policy, and meaningful relationships to promote and protect the interests of businesses in the baking sector.

Robb oversees all aspects of ABA’s administration and operations, representing the interests nearly 800,000 skilled employees of the $153 billion commercial baking industry.

A recognized leader of the Washington business community, Robb is a co-chair of the Food and Beverage Issues Alliance and facilitator of the food and beverage association CEOs forum. In addition, he is the vice-chair of the National Association of Manufacturers Council of Manufacturing Associations. Robb also provides strategic guidance as a member of the Kansas State University Grain Sciences and Industry Advisory Committee.

Before becoming ABA’s President and CEO, he was ABA’s Vice President of Government Relations. Prior to ABA, Robb worked for Congressman Jim Kolbe of Arizona, primarily responsible for domestic spending bills. Additionally, he represented the construction industry for the American Subcontractors Association and the Associated General Contractors.

Actively involved in the local community and political activities, Robb served on the Judicial Nominating Commission for Howard County, Maryland. Robb graduated from Frostburg State University with a degree in Political Science. He and his wife Barbara have two children.

Session Information
ABA Presidents’ Panel: Beyond Covid, View from the C-Suite
Thursday, February 18, 2021
12:45 pm – 1:45 pm CT

ROSS SHAFER grew up in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington where he studied business management and played varsity football (linebacker). After college, he took a job as a training manager for a department store (Yard Birds) and was able to save $10,000. He launched his life as an entrepreneur and became the owner/manager of America’s only Stereo and Pet Shop in the small town of Puyallup, Washington (population 5,000 at the time).

Cleaning pet cages wasn’t as appealing as it sounded, so after 3 years he closed the store and took a job as an advertising manager for the 28 store Squire Shops retail clothing chain in Seattle, Washington. Writing ad copy and concocting radio and TV campaigns paid the bills, but at night Ross haunted local comedy clubs in search of a career in joke-telling. After years of slogging around the comedy circuit, he won the Seattle International Comedy Competition and immediately became an opening act for performers like Crystal Gayle, Eddie Rabbitt, Nel Carter, Neil Sedaka, and Dionne Warwick.

In l985, Ross pitched a TV show idea to the NBC affiliate in Seattle (KING). Serendipitously, KING-TV had a hole in their broadcast schedule. So, ALMOST LIVE was born and for the next 5 seasons Ross hosted the comedy talk show while he and his team collected 36 Emmys. ALMOST LIVE even won the Esquire Magazine dubious Achievement Award one year for attempting to change the Washington State song to “Louie, Louie.” During those years Ross also hosted an afternoon drive radio show on the 50,000 watt KJR-AM.

In l988, Ross was wooed by the Fox network to take over The Late Show. The Late Show was a nightly talk show that competed with The Tonight Show and David Letterman. The show lasted a year and Ross next found himself in New York co-hosting Days End on the ABC network. It was here that he sat beside Matt Lauer and Spencer Christian as they interviewed the movers and shakers of New York and the world. Dick Clark told Ross, “Always have a backup plan, my boy, TV is terminal” and predictably Days End was finally cancelled. Ross always wondered what happened to Matt Lauer ☺. The next stop for Ross was hosting the revised Match Game on the ABC network. Another game show (this time on the USA network) Love Me, Love Me Not and numerous TV pilot projects followed.

By this time, Ross was headlining all of the leading night clubs and casinos in North America. He produced a highly acclaimed comedy album about the Clinton administration titled Inside the First Family. He also wrote a comedy cookbook that became a best seller; Cook Like A Stud – 38 recipes men can prepare in the garage with their own tools.

In 1994, Ross heard Bill Gates give a speech where he said, “Someday you will all be watching television on your telephones.” Ross took that message to heart and he made the decision to leave TV and get back to his corporate training roots. Human nature and the human condition were always fascinating to Ross because that’s what comedians do; they study the laughter and tears business. To date Ross has produced (14) Human Resource training films on Customer Service, Motivation, Leadership, and Peer Pressure. He has authored the business books, Nobody Moved Your Cheese, Customer Empathy, The Customer Shouts Back, Are You Relevant? 12 Reasons Smart Organizations Thrive in Any Economy, Grab More Market Share: How to Wrangle Business Away from Lazy Competitors, Absolutely Necessary: Bulletproof Tactics That Will Put You in High Demand, Behave Like a Startup, Success: It’s on You and No More Customer Friction: A Bold Blueprint for Raising Customer Scores.

Today, Ross is one of the most sought after keynote speakers and seminar leaders on the subjects of Customer Urgency and Empathy, Personal Motivation, Reinvention, and Market Relevance. The father of Adam, Ryan and Lauren, Ross lives in Denver, Colorado.

Alex De Los Reyes is an associate product manager for Puratos and leads the Health & Well-Being category in the US. In 2019 she spent a year working at Puratos’ Headquarters in Belgium, where she joined the Puratos Health & Well-Being team and helped drive the approach globally. Prior to that, she worked in Puratos’ Patisserie category, launching products such as the Vivafil Preservative Free fruit filling and the Cacao-Trace Clean(er) Label Brownie Mix. She is an advocate of healthy living and is committed to finding way to help people around the world eat and live healthier and happier. She graduated from Drexel University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Culinary Arts.

Presentation
Health & Well-Being: The Power of Food
Tuesday, February 16
11:00 am – 11:35 am CT

6 years National Development Manager Bakery, Reiser & Co. Inc. Canton, MA
28 years Pilot Plant Manager, American Institute of Baking International Manhattan, KS
3 years Supervisor & Purchasing Agent, Woodmans Bakery Madison, WI
3 years Baker, Oakwood Nursing Home Madison, WI.

Susana Socolovsky, Ph.D., CFS is a Doctor in Chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. Susana has devoted 20 years to full time to scientific research and teaching at the University of Buenos Aires. She was awarded the Argentine National Biannual Prize on Organic Chemistry in 1985. In 2018, she was honored as an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. Dr. Socolovsky is a Certified Food Scientist by the Certification Institute of the Institute of Food Technologists.

Susana has lectured in more than 200 Conferences in 20 countries, and dictated courses in 14 Latin American countries. She has authored multiple scientific papers, reviews, book chapters and magazine articles.

Dr. Socolovsky is the immediate past President of the Argentine Association of Food Technologists as well the President of the 2019 Latin American and the Caribbean Congress of Food Science and Technology.

She is a member of the Argentine Nutrition Society and has served as a member of the International Scientific Committee of the 21^st International Congress of Nutrition 2017. She is a member of the Editorial Council of the Journal  Actualización en Nutrición, published by SAN.

Professional Member of the Institute of Food Technologists, an IFT Food Science Communicator , active collaborator of ALACCTA and IUFoST. She has served on the IFT Jury for the Food Innovation Awards for Latinamerican FS&T associations.

Dr. Socolovsky has worked as an International Technical Consultant in Regulatory and Scientific Affairs and Food Innovation for the last 30 years.

Since 1992, she acts as a non-governmental representative at Mercosur regulatory meetings and is member of the expert panel of the Argentine National Program for Healthy Eating and Prevention of Obesity since 2016.

Alan has been providing workshops and economic analysis seminars for thousands of business owners and executives in various countries for the last 30 years.  He is one of the country’s most sought-after economists.

As the chief economist for numerous US and international trade associations, it has been remarked that Alan’s “insight into our business, a track record of accurate forecasting, and unparalleled knowledge of global markets has earned him the respect and appreciation of key business leaders in our industry.”

Alan and ITR Economics™ have shared their insights through various media outlets, including: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Knight Ridder News Services, Business Week, the Associated Press, The Washington Times, CBS Radio, CNN Radio, Sirius talk radio, and numerous other outlets.

Keynote Presentation
Wednesday, February 17
10:10 am – 11:10 am CT

Tom Rees is an Industry Manager at Euromonitor International with a focus on food and nutrition. Based in London, he has more than 15 years of experience in the industry. Tom is responsible for the direction and quality of Euromonitor’s content covering Fresh Food and Staple Foods and provides global expertise, forward-thinking insights, and identifies key market trends. Tom advises clients across Fresh Foods and Staple Foods and is an in-demand speaker at high-profile events. He provides wide-scope analysis and is the author of reports, including The Future of Meat and The Impact of COVID-19 on Fresh and Packaged Food.

Presentation
Strategic Themes in Food and Nutrition: Coronavirus Update
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
1:00 pm – 1:35 pm CT

Julie McGill is the Vice President of Supply Chain and Insights at FoodLogiQ, a leading SaaS provider of food safety compliance, traceability, and supply chain transparency solutions. Their solutions help foodservice and grocery trading partners achieve end-to-end traceability while supporting safe and high quality food products across the supply chain.

In her role, Julie works with FoodLogiQ leadership to advise on industry, customer, and product insights to improve market adoption and penetration, customer satisfaction and value generation. She supports FoodLogiQ teams on evolving industry activity including regulatory, standards, traceability and food safety.

Before joining the FoodLogiQ team in May of 2017, Julie spent over 16 years at GS1 US. She led the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative, and on the PCATS initiative with NACS, working with industry stakeholders in the convenience retail space. Julie also worked for Transora, which was one of the first GDSN data pools.

She also worked for Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado, supporting their Store Level Data program, engaging their distributor network to implement EDI with convenience and grocery retailers.

Julie serves as co-chair of the PTI Technology Workgroup, and sits on other various industry workgroups covering topics from AIDC, food safety, traceability, transparency, and supply chain efficiencies.

Presentation
Technology/Food Safety: Food Safety, Traceability Record-keeping and Digitized Supply Chains:  Preparing for a New Era in Baking
Wednesday, February 17
1:40 pm – 2:15 pm CT