Dilek Austin is senior baking application and scientist at Novozymes North America in Franklinton, NC.  Dilek has worked as food engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkey for 10 years, taught and led research at the Food Science Departments of University of Nebraska-Lincoln (MSci.), Texas A&M University (Ph.D.), and NorthCarolina State University (Post Doctorate).  She also taught online courses on nutrition, health and wellness through University of Phoenix as adjunct faculty.  Dilek has been an active member of AACC International, IFT, Toastmaster International organizations throughout her education and professional life.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:50 pm – 3:25 pm; Breakout 2
Getting Smart with Lipases in Baked Goods

Ed Baldwin is the Director of Engineering Operations at Banner-Day, Saginaw, MI.  He is responsible for electrical equipment and controls designs, including designing UL Listed control panels.  In addition, Ed is a programmer for the company.  He is also responsible for the design of Banner-Day’s oven safety systems.

Ed received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1994 and joined Banner-Day in 2004 after spending 10 years establishing himself as a highly qualified controls engineer in diverse industries including automotive, roofing manufacturing, and eventually baking.  Ed is a member of the ASB ANSI Z50 Safety and Sanitation Committee, as well as being on the NFPA 86 Technical Committee

Presentation
Far Side Sensing: The Latest NFPA 86 Safety Requirements for Your High Capacity Ovens

Danielle Benjamin is the Marketing Director for Canyon Bakehouse, a Colorado-based gluten-free bakery whose innovative and forward-thinking marketing strategy has dubbed the company one of the industry’s “brands to watch.”  Benjamin has worked with CPG brands of all sizes, including Whole Foods Market, Santa Cruz Organic and 34 Degrees, most recently leading Canyon Bakehouse’s best-in-class advocacy marketing program with multi-faceted marketing strategies to drive overall brand development and growth.  She believes in the power of the consumer to drive business objectives, providing sustainable and measurable growth for companies.

Presentation
Sunday, February 24, 2019 @ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm; Young Professionals Educational Session
Advocacy Marketing: Developing Your Brand Story through the Power of Advocacy

Dr. Andréia Bianchini is an Associate Professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.  She also works closely with the Food Processing Center at UNL.  She has a B.S. degree in Food Engineering and a M.S. degree in Environmental and Agricultural Microbiology, both from Brazil.  Her Ph.D. degree is in Food Science and Technology from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.  Her research area of interest includes processing for food quality, safety and security.  Recently her research group has focused on improving the safety of grain and grain based products throughout their production and processing chains.  She has 33 peer review publications and has contributed 8 book chapters to several reference and textbooks.  She is a member of AACC International and IAFP.  At the AACC International she has been a member of several technical committees and for the last 2 years has chaired the Food Safety and Microbiology Technical Committee.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:10 pm – 2:45 pm; Breakout 3
Addressing Emerging Concerns Related to Safety of Wheat-Based Products

Robert Burgh is the President of Nexcor Food Safety Technologies, a software provider for Food Manufacturing organizations worldwide.  He first learned the baking business in his family’s wholesale hearth plant in Trenton, NJ.

After graduating from K-State and AIB BME #3, Robert held a number of engineering positions with several different bakeries.  He founded Nexcor in 1983 and has since transformed the industry with KLEANZ for Food Safety/Sanitation Management and CAMS-PM for Maintenance Management.  Robert is a member of the ANSI Z50.2 committee to update standard sanitary design of bakery equipment and has spoken previously at ASB.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:10 pm – 2:45 pm; Breakout 1
Food Safety Disruptors – Emerging Technologies and the Baking Industry

Josh DeVoll is Director of Market Solutions at Spraying Systems Co. and specializes in coating applications in the food industry.  Josh has extensive experience with bakeries and has worked with many of the leading companies in the industry. He has helped many bakeries solve challenges of spraying release agents, egg wash/glaze, butter, mold inhibitor, and even icing.  A graduate of Saint Louis University with a Mechanical Engineering degree, Josh has been with Spraying Systems Co. for 12 years.

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 1:25 pm – 2:00 pm; Breakout 6
Efficiency, Food Safety and Sanitation Through Sustainability

John Frehse is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura, based in the New York office.  He has more than 20 years of experience focused on labor and operation strategy.

John has developed and implemented strategies for more than 100 companies, and he delivers to corporate leaders innovative labor solutions that incorporate solutions to employee needs.  His work has spanned a wide range of industries, including food and beverage, automotive, chemical, electronics, pharmaceuticals, power, call centers, banking/insurance, distribution, telecommunications, mining, government and healthcare.

John’s professional philosophy is that people are the most valuable resource of every company.  His experience has proven that in order to create long-term success, a thoughtful and methodical approach to labor must be created.

Before joining Ankura, John was a founding partner of Core Practice LLC, an international labor strategies firm.  Prior to that he was head of Global Strategic Services Sales for Blue Pumpkin Software, now known as Verint.  His clients include the manufacturer of automobile driveline and drivetrain components and systems, a multinational food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, and a Canadian telecommunications and media company.

John sits on the board of The Workforce Institute and is a thought leader for its think tank.  He is also a member of the advisory board for HR.com’s Workforce Management practice, where he educates management teams on union negotiation strategies and employee engagement methodologies.

His professional experience includes:

• Labor strategy development for an American specialty storage and organization products retail chain, a consistent Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For,” on warehouse and distribution operations.
• Restructuring of a Canadian telecommunications and media company’s contact center operations, which reduced turnover by more than half in the first year and captured over $10 million in labor savings in the first year.
• Labor and advisory work for several multinational food manufacturing and processing conglomerates.
• Labor strategy development for various mining operations globally.
• Cost reduction and performance improvement for one of the largest American department store retail chain’s contact center operations.

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Negative Engagement: The Rise of the Hiring and Retention Crisis
Tuesday Morning General Session

Dr. Morgaine Gaye is a Food Futurologist and director of Bellwether: Food Trends, the first food trend research compendium.  She has her own health-food product range of functional food blends called Dr. Gaye, which are sold globally online.

Morgaine looks at food and eating from social, cultural, economic, trend, branding and geo-political perspectives.  Her work involves running ideation sessions, consulting with food companies; developing new products and ideas; writing articles/trend reports for PR and ad agencies; giving public, university and corporate lectures on specific food trends; developing new ideas for food-related TV and radio programs; and doing research on all elements of the eating experience from mouth-feel to olfactory perception.  She consults to leading blue chip food companies and manufacturers, delivering bespoke trend briefings and NPD ideation.

Morgaine is a frequent media contributor in print, radio and TV.  A number of her academic research papers have been published.  She is a guest university lecturer in the UK and Sweden and is on the reviewing panel for the International Food Design Conference and yearly academic journal.  As part of the EU Commission, Morgaine was the chair at the Brussels Parliament for 2015.  As part of TED X 2016, Morgaine’s talk was “It Doesn’t Make Any Scents”.  She is currently writing a book, “A Taste of Things to Come”, about food trends and why they matter.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019
Opening Keynote Address

David “Guilley” Guilfoyle is the Group Manager of Bakery and Fats & Oils for DuPont Nutrition & Health.  In this role he leads an innovation team that applies deep technical expertise to solve the toughest challenges of the bakery industry.  His previous experience includes a variety of positions throughout the industry where he developed many technologies and products which are seen in the market today.  Guilley holds a Bachelors of Science in Food & Nutrition Sciences from Kansas State University, with an emphasis in Sensory.  He is a graduate of the American Institute of Baking, where he taught and later worked in their research division.  He also earned an Associates Degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 1:30 pm – 2:05 pm; Breakout 2
Pushing the Boundaries of Freshness Through Hurdle Technology

Tom Gumpel most recently (2004 – 2018) served as Vice President of Bakery Research and Development for Panera Bread, LLC.  In this role, he directed the development and execution of all baked goods and breads for the 2,300 unit bakery cafe chain.  Previous to joining Panera Bread, Tom served as Associate Dean of the Culinary Institute of America’s (CIA) Baking and Pastry School.  During the decade in which Tom worked for the college, he served as Captain of the Team USA represented at Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris, France 1999.  The team garnered the country’s championship win at the event in which 12 countries from around the globe competed.  During his 30 plus years in the baking industry, Tom has worked in Norway, Japan, Mexico City and cities throughout the US.  In 2010, Tom was named one of the “Top 10 Baker’s in the United States”.  He lives in Southwest Florida and is CEO and Founder of MDJ Baking, Inc. and Cocoa-Va Spice Company.

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Tuesday Morning General Sessions

Aaron Harries has been with Kansas Wheat since July 2006.  Kansas Wheat is an alliance of the Kansas Wheat Commission and the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.  The Commission is the check-off entity and KAWG is the wheat farmer trade association.  In his role as Vice President of Research and Operations, Harries oversees KWC research funding programs as well as international and domestic marketing activities.  He also oversaw the construction of the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center which opened in 2012.  Prior to joining Kansas Wheat, he was employed by the Kansas Grain and Feed Association in Topeka for 10 years. While at KGFA, he also had responsibilities with the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association, the Kansas Certified Crop Adviser Program and the Kansas Association of Ethanol Processors.  Harries was raised on a diversified crop and dairy farm in Marshall County in Northeast Kansas.  He graduated with a degree in agriculture communications from Kansas State University.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 1:30 pm – 2:05 pm; Breakout 3
The New Age of Wheat Research

Stuart Hunt is President of SG Systems LLC & Co Founder/Director of SG Systems Europe Ltd.

He has helped hundreds of companies achieve practical solutions to their traceability requirements (including Fortune 500’s – Sysco, PPG, ConAgra, Kroger, as well as hundreds of multinational businesses).

With more than 20 years of executive experience, he has a wealth of knowledge building winning teams and leading managers at organizations in North America, Australia and Western Europe.

He is a frequently requested speaker at conferences and exhibitions on the subject of traceability, particularly concerning complex manufacturing & legislative requirements.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 1:30 pm – 2:05 pm; Breakout 1
Enhancing the Business Value of ERP with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)

As the Founder and CEO of Kudos Blends, Dinnie combines her entrepreneurial vision, background in chemistry and 25 years of experience to bring innovative products to bakers around the world.  An interest in sodium reduction and the health benefits of potassium in the diet drives Dinnie to push for the need to produce healthier baked goods.

With an excellent reputation for being a lively and informative speaker, Dinnie is regulary invited to international conferences to share her passon for innovation and improvement with industry colleagues.

The success of Kudos Blends is underpinned by the drive and ambition from Dinnie to match chemistry innovation to specific bakery applications and offer world class technical support to customers.

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 1:25 pm – 2:00 pm; Breakout 5
The Truth Behind Phosphate Chemical Leavening

Dan Kurzrock is the co-founder and “Chief Grain Officer” of ReGrained.  ReGrained rescues and upcycles millions of tons of high-protein high-fiber grain generated by the brewing industry into SuperGrain+.  SuperGrain+ is versatile ingredient that performs flawlessly in all commercial applications from savory to sweet, producing delicious, nutritious, and highly functional foods.  Dan created ReGrained out of his hobby for homebrewing beer, where he first discovered that the artist formerly known as “spent” grain could be given a delicious second life as food.  He is now obsessed with better aligning the food we eat with the planet we love through Edible Upcycling.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:50 pm – 3:30 pm; Breakout 3
New Products Delivering Environmental, Social and Financial Impact: A Triple Bottom Line

Sebastian Marcu is the CEO and Founder of Bake In Space, a startup that seeks to address the scientific and technical challenges relating to the production of fresh food in space.  Bake In Space enables terrestrial companies to drive their innovation forward by participating in a bold and pioneering space mission.  Its corporate mission focuses on Sustainable food production; safe food processing; new baking & cooking methods and technologies; and cleaning, recycling and waste management solutions.  These domains will not only enable us to set the standards for the future of human space flight but will also lead to spin-off innovations that Bake In Space as a company wants to commercialize here on Earth.

Marcu is also the Managing Director (with Björn Brockmann) of Design & Data GmbH, a specialized cross-media agency that provides digital visual communication solutions for the space sector.  With over 15 years of experience as a PR/Marketing expert he has developed creative media solutions for organizations such as the European Space Agency (ESA), EUMETSAT, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather – Forecasts (ECMWF).

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 2:45 pm – 3:05 pm; Closing General Session
Bake in Space – To Boldly Bake Where Nobody Baked Before

Erin McKenney is a postdoctoral researcher in Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University.  Her academic background blends microbial ecology, nutrition, and comparative gut morphology.  Erin began her research program investigating evolutionary adaptation across scales and species, between non-human primates and rogue (herbivorous) carnivores and their gut microbes. More recently, Erin has expanded her research in microbial systems in fermented foods, leveraging citizen science to amass enormous sample collections.  Her current collaborations include projects to identify and compare the microbes responsible for the flavor and nutrients in sourdough starters and lacto-fermented produce.  Erin has also developed complementary research projects with undergraduate, high school, and middle school students to study the microbes associated with grains and flour that contribute to sourdough communities.  Together, these projects empower participants to engage in the scientific process and contribute to a greater understanding of microbial contributions to nutritional landscapes.
Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 1:25 pm – 2:00 pm; Breakout 4
“Countertop Science:” Sourdough as a Scalable System for Citizen Science

Jabin Olds is a Senior Scientist, Bakery Applications for Corbion, a global market leader in lactic acid, lactic acid derivatives and lactides, and a leader in functional blends containing enzymes, emulsifiers, minerals and vitamins.  With over a decade of success in the baking industry, Jabin is respected for his unique and skilled approach to Research and Development, Food and Beverage, Food Processing, Sensory Evaluation and Consumer Products.  He is a graduate of Kansas State University, with a bachelor’s degree in Bakery Science and Management.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:10 pm – 2:45 pm; Breakout 2
Inhibiting Mold Naturally

Author of 11 books on bread and food culture, Peter is the founder and Executive Director of the Johnson & Wales International Symposium on Bread, and is a faculty member at Johnson & Wales, in Charlotte, NC.  He is also the founder and host of PizzaQuest.com, a video website that chronicles his never-ending search for the perfect pizza.  His TED Talk on the meaning of bread has over 900,000 views, and his bread and pizza classes on Craftsy.com have over 400,000 views.

His book, “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice,” won the 2002 James Beard award and also the IACP Awards for Book of the Year, and has sold over a quarter million copies.  Peter also teaches a course at JWU on Food Media Production, and Food and Culture.

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 12:45 pm – 1:20 pm; Breakout 4
The Future of Bread: Takeaways from the 2017 and 2018 International Symposium on Bread

Ashley Roberston is Market Manager, Bakery for Corbion, a global market leader in lactic acid, lactic acid derivatives and lactides, and a leader in functional blends containing enzymes, emulsifiers, minerals and vitamins.  With nearly a decade of success in the baking industry, she leads the development of the breads business strategy and implementation plans.  Ashley is respected for being highly creative and always bringing a fresh approach to projects.  She is a graduate of Rockhurst University, with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:10 pm – 2:45 pm; Breakout 2
Inhibiting Mold Naturally

JLS Automation is a designer/builder of hygienic robotic packaging solutions for the food industry.  Throughout its history, JLS has been at the forefront of Electronic Motion Control technology.  Craig, a second-generation owner, has helped transform the organization, which has a legacy of providing advanced technology solutions, from its early days as a manufacturer’s representative firm to being a modern day leader in high-speed robotic picking systems.

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 12:45 pm – 1:20 pm; Breakout 6
Robotics-based Packaging Systems are Simpler than You Think

Carole Widmayer, SVP of Sales & Marketing, has been with CF USA, Inc. since August 2016.  In this role, she leads the effort to create greater awareness and usage of Coffee Cherry as an ingredient in food and beverages in CPG and Foodservce channels.  With her 20+ years developing Foodservice, Bakery and ingredient marketing strategy, Carole has led the B2B practice for Chicago ad agency Schafer Condon Carter, working with clients including General Mills, Lond O’Lakes, ConAgra, Dawn Foods and more. Prior to that she was Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing at Reed Business for trade publications Restaurants & Institutions and Chain Leader

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:50 pm – 3:30 pm; Breakout 3
New Products Delivering Environmental, Social and Financial Impact: A Triple Bottom Line

Jay Wright is VP of Sales and IoT Evangelist for SOMAX, the Internet of Things (IoT) platform that leverages wireless sensors, APIs, and predictive analytics to help businesses to be more proactive and efficient in their maintenance and sanitation operations.

As a former Bakery Maintenance Manager with over 30 years’ experience bringing digital technology solutions to Maintenance and Plant Operations, Jay has demonstrated a passion for solving complex business challenges using evolving technology.  Today he provides a depth of practical expertise necessary to understand the challenges, opportunities and transitions required for companies to engage with the industrial Internet of Things to more efficiently manage their operations.

Presentation
Monday, February 25, 2019 @ 2:50 pm – 3:25 pm; Breakout 1
How IoT is Changing Bakery Maintenance

Anthony Wood is the business development manager with Spraying Systems Klarion Division.  He has extensive experience in the cleaning and sanitizing applications in food processing plants.  Both through previous mechanical engineering design for automatic tank cleaning solutions as well as the chemicals needed to properly clean and sanitize a food production facility.  Anthony has a bachelors degree in Engineering from Ohio State University and a MBA from Keller Graduate School.

Presentation
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 @ 1:25 pm – 2:00 pm; Breakout 6
Efficiency, Food Safety and Sanitation Through Sustainability