2026 Speakers
Jump to: Town Hall | Conference Speakers | Certificate Course Instructors | Solutions Stage | Tech Tent
TOWN HALL
Steve Mandernach, J.D.
Executive Director
AFDO
Megin Nichols, D.V.M., M.P.H., D.A.C.V.P.M.
Director, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases
CDC
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Ola Afolayan
Director, Global Food Safety and Regulatory
Kellanova
Sharon Beals
Founder
SKKB-LLC
Sharon Birkett
Vice President, Global Food Safety and Quality Assurance
OSI Group, LLC
Adrienne Blume, M.A.
Editorial Director
Food Safety Magazine
Ben Chapman, Ph.D.
Professor and Director, Department Head of Agricultural and Human Sciences
North Carolina State University
Vanessa Coffman, Ph.D.
Director
Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness
Sandra Eskin
Chief Executive Officer
Stop Foodborne Illness
Eric Ewert
FSQ Zone Lead, Lab and Technical Services Department
Kraft Heinz Company
Robin Forgey
AGMM, Food Safety and Quality Assurance
Costco Wholesale
John Handley, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Food Safety Science
OSI Group
Jorge Hernandez
VP, Quality Assurance
The Wendy's Company
Tim Jackson, Ph.D.
Regulatory, Sr. Science Advisor
FDA
Matt Jenkins
Director, U.S. Food Safety & Quality Systems
McDonald’s Corporation
Lone Jespersen, Ph.D.
Principal
Cultivate SA
Larry Keener
President and CEO
International Product Safety Consultants
Gillian Kelleher
CEO
Kelleher Consultants LLC
Monica Khoury
Senior Quality Expert
Nestle
Alvin Lee, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Processing Innovation
Institute for Food Safety and Health
Steven Lyon, Ph.D.
Director, Food Safety - Field Operations
Chick-Fil-A Inc.
Steve Mandernach, J.D.
Executive Director
AFDO
Spir Marinakis
VP of Food Safety, Quality and Technical Services
Maple Leaf Foods
Drew McDonald
Senior Vice President Quality & Food Safety
Taylor Fresh Foods
Brendan Niemira, Ph.D.
Research Leader
USDA
Scott Oakland
Corporate Staff Engineer, Food Safety and Quality
Hormel Foods Corporate Services LLC
Kathleen O'Donnell
Chief Scientist
Wegmans
Amy Philpott
Founder
Philpott PR Solutions LLC
Brian Ronholm
Director of Food Policy
Consumer Reports'
Matt Stasiewicz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Applied Food Safety
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Shawn Stevens
Founding Member
Food Safety Counsel
Glenn Stolowski
Director Retail Food Safety
HEB
Roberta Wagner
Senior Vice President, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs
International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
Lily Yasuda
Program Manager
Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness
CERTIFICATE COURSE INSTRUCTORS
Karleigh Bacon
Director, US Food Safety and Quality Systems
McDonald's
Martin Bucknavage
Senior Food Safety Extension Specialist and Team Lead, Industrial Food Safety and Quality
Penn State University
Lori Ledenbach
Founder
Ledenbach Food Safety LLC
Sara Mortimore, MSc, FRSPH, MIFST
Founder
Sara Mortimore LLC
Donna Schaffner
Retired from Rutgers University
Dr. Juan Silva
Professor, Researcher and Extension Specialist
Mississippi State University
John Spink, Ph.D.
Director
Michigan State University
SOLUTIONS STAGE PRESENTERS
Ellie Girard
Regional Manager, LUPRIPLATE Lubricants Company
Amanda Wilder
U.S. Sales Director, Provision Analytics
TECH TENT PRESENTERS
Mark Ebner
Technical Sales Director, Woodstream Corporation
Mike Fabian
Manager of CompuClean, Spartan Chemical Company, Inc.
J. Keith Jackson
Vice President of Corporate Quality Assurance, Performance Food Group (PFG)
Julie McGill
Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights, Trustwell