Name: How to Talk to Your Board of Directors About Food Safety
Start: 2026-09-29T11:00:00-04:00
End: 2027-09-29T00:00:00-04:00

This webinar will examine how food safety leaders can effectively communicate food safety risk, performance, and business impact to Boards of Directors. Drawing on the authors' experience in senior executive and board roles, the session will focus on why food safety must be treated as an enterprise-level risk, and how its implications for financial performance, brand protection, and business continuity can be clearly articulated to non-technical decision-makers.

The discussion will also outline practical approaches for aligning food safety with governance structures, including the role of Board committees, enterprise risk management (ERM) frameworks, and risk-based metrics. Attendees will gain insight into how to translate technical food safety concepts into language that resonates at the Board level, and how to ensure that food safety is consistently embedded in strategic oversight, culture, and performance monitoring.

Key takeaways:

How to position food safety as a material enterprise risk with measurable financial, operational, and reputational impacts relevant to Board-level decision-making
Key elements of effective food safety governance, including Board roles, risk oversight structures, and alignment with enterprise risk management frameworks
Practical strategies for translating technical food safety data into clear, actionable metrics and KPIs that resonate with executives and directors
How to balance leading and lagging indicators to provide meaningful, risk-based reporting that supports Board oversight and accountability

Speakers:

Roy Kirby, Ph.D., Partner, FoodSafERM and former Chief Food Safety Officer at Mondelez International (retired). Roy Kirby, Ph.D. is Partner at food safety consultancy FoodSafERM. Before retiring, he served as Chief Food Safety Officer at Mondelez International and Past Co-Chair of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). He is currently an invited Lecturer at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and a member of the Scientific Board of the Pioneering Safe Food Initiative.

David Crean, Former VP of Corporate R&D and Chief Science Officer, Mars Inc. (retired). David Crean held senior leadership roles across Europe and North America during his 35-year career at Mars Inc., ultimately serving as Vice President of Corporate R&D and Chief Science Officer. He led the enhancement of Mars' approach to food safety and quality and was instrumental in developing Mars' Quality Management Process and establishing the Global Food Safety Center. He also established many fundamental policies that helped guide and shape Mars' science strategy and approach to science. Since retiring in 2021, he has focused on board and advisory roles for food startups, SMEs, and multinational companies, including his own consultancy STRIDE.

Matilda Freund, Ph.D., Treasurer and Board Member, EHEDG; Board Member and Ambassador Director, GHI; and former Global VP of Food Safety, Mondelez International (retired). Matilda Freund, Ph.D. is Treasurer and Board Member for the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group (EHEDG); Board Member and Ambassador Director for the Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI); and President of Freund Consulting Company. She also co-leads an EHEDG Working Group focused on the hygienic design of chocolate manufacturing equipment. She retired as Global Vice President of Food Safety at Mondelez International after nearly 33 years in the food industry. Her previous positions also included Chief Food Safety Officer at Kraft Foods, which was global in scope and included a broad product portfolio including meat, cheese, bakery, and confections. She also held the position of European/Global Consumer Quality Lead at Mondelez International.

Cliona Murphy, M.Sc., Board Director, Board Bia and former VP of Global Quality Assurance at PepsiCo (retired). Cliona Murphy, M.Sc. is Board Director for Bord Bia and the Irish Red Cross, as well as Managing Director of CM Consulting. Prior to retiring, she was the Vice President of Global Quality Assurance at PepsiCo and a past Steering Committee Member of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). In addition to her board and consultancy roles, she is an Adjunct Professor at Cork University Business School and a member of the Industrial Advisory Committee of Trinity College Dublin's School of Engineering.

Moderator: Adrienne Blume, Editorial Director, Food Safety Magazine

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