Dr. Michele Sayles has over 21 years of experience in Food Safety, Quality, and Food Microbiology. As I mentioned, Michele’s current role is Executive Director of Food Safety and Quality for Diamond Pet Foods. Prior to joining Diamond, Michele was responsible for the Global Food Safety and Microbiology Program at Hill’s Pet Nutrition. She has also held key Food Safety and Quality positions across various industries. She was the Sr. Corporate Quality Assurance & Food Safety Manager for the Sara Lee Corporation; the Director of HACCP and Food Safety for Seaboard Foods; and Director of Pork Safety for the National Pork Board. Michele holds a Ph.D. in Food Microbiology from Oklahoma State University, a Master of Science degree from Kansas State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.

Dr. Ruth Petran is a passionate yet practical food safety scientist, and Principal of Ruth Petran Consulting, LLC. Prior to starting her own business, Ruth held technical food safety and public health leadership roles at Ecolab, Pillsbury and General Mills. She is skilled at tactical application of technical food safety risk management strategies, spanning the global farm to fork supply chain and has focused on managing safety and quality concerns of microbiologically sensitive foods and systems. She has led food safety assessments at food manufacturing facilities worldwide, focusing on applied HACCP systems and regulatory compliance.

Dr. Petran is President-Elect of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) and served two terms on the US National Advisory Committee for Microbiological Criteria for Foods. She is a Certified Food Scientist and chaired the Minnesota Food Safety and Defense Task Force.

Omar Oyarzabal, Ph.D., D.V.M., is an Extension associate professor and food safety specialist at the University of Vermont. He is a lead instructor for HACCP FSMA - Preventive Controls for Human Food, and Sprout Safety Alliance training. He is also a Certified HACCP Auditor and has taught food safety, bioinformatics, biostatistics, microbial risk assessment and management, and introductory HACCP classes for more than 15 years.

Omar's research expertise is the identification, typing, and control of foodborne pathogens, with emphasis on Campylobacter. Omar has worked for the National Food Processors Association, Neogen Corporation, Auburn University (associate professor, Department of Poultry Science), Alabama State University (associate professor, Ph.D. Program in Microbiology), and IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology and food safety from Auburn University and his D.V.M. from the National University of Rio in Argentina.

Chirag Bhatt has been involved in food safety for 4 decades. After working with the local regulatory agency in the city of Houston for over 26 years. Chirag joined Bloomin’ Brands as their Global Regulatory Compliance Manager. Then Sysco Corp as Regulatory and Technical Services Director. And most recently with retailer Buc-ee’s, as a Director of Food Safety and QA before starting his own food safety consulting company.

He has served as Chair for the National Restaurant Associations Quality Assurance executive study group. And currently serves as an Education Advisory Board member with Food Safety Summit and is an advisory council member with Sani Professional. Chirag holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry.

Donna F. Schaffner, M.Sc., is the associate director for food safety, quality assurance and training at the Rutgers University Food Innovation Center. Donna has more than 20 years of experience as a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) specialist. She teaches FDA certificate programs in Preventive Controls for Human Foods (PCHF), Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), general HACCP, Seafood HACCP, Better Process Control School, Food Defense, Intentional Adulteration – Vulnerability Assessments (IA-VA), and teaches microbiology and food safety classes in the U.S. and abroad. Donna holds Train the Trainer certificates for PCHF, FSVP, FSIS and FDA HACCP, and Seafood HACCP, and Lead Instructor certificates for PCHF, FSVP, IA-VA, Seafood HACCP, and Meat & Poultry HACCP. She also serves as a Qualified Individual for Microbiology and Food Safety for HACCP and Food Safety Teams for numerous commercial food processing companies around the country, as well as a consultant for many others. Donna received her Bachelor and Master of science in food science and technology from the University of Georgia.

Dr. David Acheson is the President and CEO of the Acheson Group; David has had a long and distinguished career in the food industry, probably best known for his work with the FDA where he held several positions including Associate Commissioner for Foods, which gave him an agency-wide leadership role for all food and feed issues, including health promotion and nutrition.

After his time with the FDA, Dr. Acheson was a partner at Leavitt Partners and managed Leavitt Partners Global Food Safety Solutions.  In 2013 he founded The Acheson Group, a consulting firm which provides strategic advice as well as recall and crisis management support to food companies and ancillary technology companies on a global basis on all matters relating to food safety and food defense.

Phil Kafarakis is president of the Specialty Food Association, where he is an advocate and spokesman for the $140 billion U.S. specialty food industry. Prior to his appointment in 2016, he served as the Chief Innovation & Member Advancement Officer at the National Restaurant Association. He has held positions at Kraft, McCormick & Co., Cargill, and Jones Dairy Farm. He received an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.