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Christine Alvarado
Senior Food Scientist at Prosur, Inc.Dr. Christine Alvarado earned her B.S. in Biomedical Science, and MS and Ph.D. in Food Science from the department of Poultry Science at Texas A&M University. Alvarado’s career has focused on serving the poultry industry in academia, government, and industry. In academia, Alvarado focused on applied poultry processing and further processing research to improve quality, process efficiency, and food safety for the industry. Dr. Alvarado was a subject matter expert for the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service in the Office of Policy and Program Development in Washington DC where she helped develop policy and improve HACCP guidance. Her industry experience has included working as a Quality Control Superintendent for a large poultry processor where she managed the initiation of regulatory HACCP and food safety systems, as a food safety technical service manager, and currently manages innovative clean label ingredient solution research. In addition, Dr. Alvarado has actively consulted for food companies including retail, institutional, and processing establishments and has been a subject matter expert for several trade associations. Dr. Alvarado also has a strong passion for educating the next generation of leaders in the poultry industry and has developed and taught Poultry 101 and 201 courses for industry training in quality and food safety. Alvarado has also dedicated her career to service in the industry where she has served on several industry and trade association boards including board member, executive board member, and president of the Poultry Science Association. She lives with her husband Ron in upstate NY and has four amazing, talented, and kind children.
Lindy Chiaia, Ph.D
Director of Science and Regulatory Affairs at National Turkey FederationLindy Chiaia, Ph.D. serves as the Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for the National Turkey Federation (NTF) in Washington, D.C. In her role, she is the primary regulatory resource for NTF members and provides expertise on a variety of topics, including microbiology, food safety and inspection and animal health and welfare. Dr. Chiaia also oversees NTF’s research outreach and leads NTF’s Technical and Regulatory, Turkey Health and Welfare and Trade committees. The Texas-native joined NTF in 2019 after completing her Ph.D. in Poultry Science at Texas A&M University and is proud to represent the turkey industry in our nation’s capital.
Darin Detwiler
Professor at Detwiler Consulting Group, LLC | Michigan State UniveristyDr. Darin Detwiler is the Founder and CEO of Detwiler Consulting Group, LLC, as well as an author, columnist, consultant, academic, and “Food Safety Icon” who has served in appointed or other advisory capacities for the USDA, the Conference for Food Protection, the FDA, NEHA, AFDO, and more. Detwiler’s research and insights have served as keynote presentations before industry audiences and have appeared in magazines and newspaper articles, chapters, his own books Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions and Building the Future of Food Safety Technology: Blockchain and Beyond, TV shows, and in the 2023 Netflix documentary “Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food.”
Emilio Esteban, Ph.D.
Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDADr. José Emilio Esteban was sworn in as under secretary for food safety on January 4, 2023. In this role, Dr. Esteban leads the Office of Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), overseeing the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which has regulatory oversight for ensuring that meat, poultry and egg products are safe, wholesome and properly labeled.
In August 2018, he was appointed FSIS chief scientist. In this capacity, Dr. Esteban served as the primary scientific advisor on matters of public health and food safety that affect the mission of the agency, with primary responsibility for scientific initiatives within the FSIS Office of Public Health Science (OPHS). Dr. Esteban has also been very active in the international food safety arena, serving as Chair of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene from 2008 to 2023.
In 2002, Dr. Esteban joined OPHS as the director of the Western Laboratory. In this role, he directed the implementation of the sampling program and was responsible for the facility, equipment and personnel infrastructure. In 2008, he was appointed as the FSIS science advisor for laboratory services and then as executive associate for laboratory services, where he harmonized the operation of all three FSIS laboratories, maintained operations to meet with the ISO17025 standard and coordinated emergency response. From 1994 to 2002, Dr. Esteban worked in several positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Mexico’s Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, a Master of Business Administration from the Panamerican Institute, and a Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, as well as a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of California at Davis.
Elise Gerken
Veterinarian at Butterball, LLCDr. Elise Gerken has worked as a production veterinarian in the turkey industry since graduating from veterinarian school at The Ohio State University in 2016. She completed her Masters of Avian Health and Medicine from the University of Georgia and is a diplomat of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. Dr. Gerken currently works as a staff veterinarian for Butterball, LLC based out of Carthage, MO. Previously, she worked at Jennie-O Turkey Store in SE MN as well as Cooper Farms in NW Ohio.
Tia Glave
Co-Founder & President of Catalyst, LLCWith over a decade of experience in large and small food manufacturing, food retail, and start-up food environments, including supporting iconic General Mills brands like Pillsbury and Yoplait, and leading food safety and quality at Milk Bar, the nostalgic sweet shop founded by Christina Tosi, Tia is passionate about helping all-sized manufacturing and retail organizations build and strengthen their food safety and quality programs and culture. Being a chemical engineer, she uses systems, data, and proven methods to develop and implement a food safety and quality strategy that creates efficiencies, is effective, and identifies cost savings, all while using servant leadership principles. She has led small and large teams across multiple functions, including operations and maintenance, giving her a unique approach to implementing a strategy cross-functionally. As a certified coach and co-founder of Catalyst LLC, she and Catalyst are on a mission to transform how people lead in food so they are empowered to live authentically, achieve more, and enable business growth. Catalyst’s programs are crafted specifically for people in food, are coaching-based, and are progressive to ensure the right development happens at the right time. In 2021, Tia started the Black Professionals in Food Safety & Quality networking group in order to mentor and grow Black talent. She is an active member of the International Association for Food Protection, serving as the Retail & Food Service Professional Development Group Chair and the Food Safety Culture Professional Development Group Vice Chair. She is also a member of the International Coaching Federation. Outside of work, Tia enjoys spending time and traveling with her husband Theo and daughter Tiana.
Scott Gustin
Consultant at Midwest Technology PartnersScott is a native of Gloucester, Virginia growing up on a small family farm raising registered Angus and Hereford cattle. He received his undergraduate and veterinary degrees at Virginia Tech in 1999 and 2002. He went on to receive his Masters in Avian Medicine at the University of Georgia. In 2004 he began his veterinary career at Cobb-Vantress in Siloam Springs. While at Cobb his job functions included technical service for North America and Asia, internal veterinary service, and the World Director for Quality Assurance, focusing on Salmonella eradication programs. Following that he worked for Tyson Foods as the Managing Director of Veterinary Services for domestic poultry for 12 years in Springdale, Arkansas. Currently he is a Technical Advisor for Midwest Technology Partners focusing on bird health and food safety.
Scott King
VP of Food Safety at PSSI Food Safety SolutionsScott King serves as Vice President of Food Safety for PSSI. Scott oversees Food Safety and Sanitation for over 300 customers across North America and sets the strategic direction for food safety for the company. Scott’s career spans over 24 years in the food industry in various food safety and quality assurance roles at Kellogg’s, Pepperidge Farms, and PIC. Scott is a graduate of the University of Florida and Michigan State University.
James Mills
Bacteriology/Parasitology/Serology Project Lead at Ceva Animal HealthJames Mills has over 25 years of microbiology experience from food, dairy, environmental, human, and animal health laboratories.
James is currently leading Ceva’s SSIU bacteriology, parasitology, and serology laboratories. These services provide diagnostic and research support to commercial and custom vaccines, Ceva veterinary and sales personnel and Ceva customers.
Ashley Peterson, Ph.D
Senior VP of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs at National Chicken CouncilAs senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, Dr. Peterson’s responsibilities at the National Chicken Council include providing scientific and technical expertise on a variety of topics including food safety, poultry inspection, and broiler health and welfare. She oversees regulatory policy development and scientific initiatives within the regulatory agencies in Washington, D.C. and represents industry views on policies impacting the broiler industry. Prior to joining the council, Peterson worked for the United Egg Producers and has served both as the director of legislative affairs and director of regulatory affairs at the American Meat Institute, where her responsibilities included environment, sustainability, and animal welfare. A native of Kentucky, Peterson came to Washington, D.C., as a Congressional Science Fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives, working on agricultural policy. She earned her Ph.D. in Animal Science from the University of Maryland, her Master of Science in Animal Science from Michigan State University and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Kentucky.
Howard Popoola
Vice President, Corporate Food Technology & Regulatory Compliance at The Kroger Co.In his role as the Vice President of Corporate Food Technology and Regulatory Compliance for
The Kroger Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, Howard has the overall strategic responsibility and direction
for food safety, quality assurance and product development for the entire Kroger company, this
includes approximately 2,500 retail stores, 42 Warehouses, and Kroger’s 32 own manufacturing
facilities – Dairy, Bakery, Pet Food and Grocery plants. Prior to joining Kroger, he led product
integrity and regulatory compliance functions as Vice President at Topco Associates – a private
label procurement company in Elk Grove Village, IL.
Howard is the co-chair of the steering committee of global food safety initiative (GFSI). He has
over 25 years of experience in the food industry with eighteen of those in executive leadership
roles. He started his career with the United Nations and has had the opportunity to work at
several food companies and in progressive food safety and quality functions including US Foods,
Nestle, Kraft and Darigold. Howard is a food microbiologist by training and has advanced
degrees in Integrated supply chain management from Michigan State University.
Mark Seyfert
FSQA Manager at Taco BellMark has a 20-year career in the food industry that spans from farm to fork. He grew up on a cow/calf and grain crop operation in Kansas and attended Kansas State University. Following graduation, he managed the meat chemistry and color laboratories on campus publishing both applied and basic research. From there he joined the product R&D team at Bob Evans Farms and transitioned into copacker and supply chain FSQA for the food products division. He then joined Cargill where he worked in plant process R&D for both pork harvest and finely textured beef. A switch back to FSQA was in order at Birchwood Foods where he was the Director FSQA and oversaw the food safety efforts from the corporate level for the company and its four processing facilities. Mark instituted robust environmental pathogen monitoring programs realizing that environmental pathogen control principles fit perfectly into foreign material control and were essentially synonymous. Today, Mark has completed his farm to fork journey as a supply chain FSQA Manager for Taco Bell where he takes his industry learnings and applies them to his position protecting the end customer experience. He believes in the structured use of data to predict and prevent issues involving environmental and foreign material control long before an impact is felt on plant operations, company profitability, or negative consumer experiences.
Matthew Stasiewicz
Associate Professor of Applied Food Safety at University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignMatthew Stasiewicz is an Associate Professor of Applied Food Safety in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His work uses risk assessment and innovative laboratory methods to advance food safety microbiology.
At Michigan State University he earned both a B.S. in Biosystems Engineering, focusing on food process engineering, and a B.A. in Philosophy, focusing on ethics. At Cornell he earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in food microbiology, working on risk analysis. The lab has many projects using simulation and risk assessment to improve sampling and testing for, and management of, foodborne pathogens in large-scale food productions environments.
Shawn Stevens
Food Industry Consultant and Lawyer at Food Industry Counsel, LLCShawn Stevens is the founding member of Food Industry Counsel LLC, the only law firm in the United States that represents the food industry exclusively. As a food industry consultant and lawyer, Mr. Stevens works with food industry clients (including the world’s largest growers, processors, restaurant chains, distributors and grocers) helping them protect their brand by complying with FDA and USDA regulations, reducing risk, managing recalls, and defending high-profile foodborne illness claims. Mr. Stevens also speaks regularly to national and international audiences on a wide variety of emerging scientific, regulatory and food safety legal trends.
Additional information about his practice can be found at www.foodindustrycounsel.com
Scott Stillwell
Vice President, Food Safety and Quality Assurance at Foster FarmsDr. Stillwell is the Vice President, Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Foster Farms. In this role, he has enterprise-wide responsibilities for the food safety and quality policies, procedures, and staff including regulatory compliance, laboratory services, consumer relations, and sanitation services. Dr. Stillwell holds a Secretarial Appointment to the National Advisory Committee for Microbiological Criteria for Food and a seat on the Board of Directors of the California Poultry Federation.
Immediately prior to joining Foster Farms in November 2022, Dr. Stillwell was President and CEO of Stillwell Consultative Services, LLC, providing food safety consulting services focused on crisis resolution and prevention, data analytics, and Statistical Process Control. He served as an expert witness in food safety-related litigation, and counseled venture equity fund managers pursuing growth opportunities in the food manufacturing and allied industries.
Prior to forming his consulting firm, Dr. Stillwell was employed by Tyson Foods for 31 years, retiring in 2019 as the Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance.
Scott is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Global Food Safety Initiative; he held a seat on the GS1-US Retail Grocery Initiative's Executive Leadership Committee; he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Ozark Food Processors’ Association; he remains a member of the National Chicken Council and the National Turkey Federation Technical and Regulatory Committees; he was formerly a member of the North American Meat Institute Scientific Advisory Committee and Inspection Advisory Committee; a member of the Retail Food Safety and Quality Professional Development Group at the International Association for Food Protection, and the founding treasurer of the Arkansas Affiliate of IAFP; he served numerous terms on Council III of the Conference for Food Protection; and was an American Society for Quality, Certified Quality Engineer.
Dr. Stillwell holds an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School and a Ph.D. in Poultry Science with an emphasis in microbial food safety from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Scott is a native of Arkansas and lives in Springdale with his wife Donna.
Sara Throne
Sr. Director, Veterinary Services of Simmons Foods, Inc.Dr. Throne is the Senior Director of Veterinary Services for Simmons Foods, Inc based out of Northwest Arkansas, USA. She has been with Simmons since October 2019. She and her team are responsible for the health and welfare programs, live production quality assurance and the Simmons research farms. Prior to Simmons, Sara was with Elanco Animal Health for 17 years mostly within the poultry business unit. For the first 15 years of her career, she provided broiler technical support and later managed their team of poultry experts across the US. During her last two years, she served as their Chief Veterinarian focused on scientific and public policy by working with various stakeholders to refine their animal health and welfare policies. Throughout her career she has worked with broiler customers around the globe in over 20 countries on their health and management programs as well as speaking at the local and national level. Dr. Throne obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree at Kansas State University. She also holds a Master of Avian Medicine (MAM) degree from the University of Georgia. She is board certified by the American College of Poultry Veterinarians (Dipl. ACPV).
She currently serves the poultry industry and veterinary profession through board positions with The Poultry Federation, AAAP Foundation and as a Commissioner with the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission. She resides in Arkansas with her son Cole (18).
Jessie Vipham
Associate Professor at Kansas State UniversityJessie is an Associate Professor in Food Safety and Food Security at Kansas State University. Her research focuses on improving the global understanding of food safety and foodborne disease and their impact on public health. Jessie’s research seeks to provide adoptable and applicable solutions for reducing foodborne pathogen contamination in various food value-chains around the world. Jessie’s research has focused on Salmonella detection and control in various food products, with a priority on meat and poultry projects.
Kendra Waldbusser
Head of FSQA & Live Tech Services at Pilgrim's- Prevention, Control and Detection- Sharing learning from Pilgrim's Foreign Material control programs
Kendra Waldbusser is the Head of Food Safety & Quality leading the FSQA initiatives for Pilgrim’s across their 70+ manufacturing sites in the US, Mexico and Europe. In addition, Kendra has responsibilities for Live Technical Services in the US. Kendra is currently serving a 3 year term on the National Chicken Council Board of Directors. Kendra holds a BS in Animal Science and a Masters in Comparative & Experimental Medicine from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville
Alissa Welsher
Senior Consultant- Food Safety at Elanco Animal HealthDr. Welsher has received her Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Pittsburgh, Master of Science in Poultry Science from the University of Arkansas, and Ph.D in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Arkansas. She has worked in a Pulmonology laboratory understanding the effects of COPD/emphysema in atherosclerosis murine models, and in a parasitology laboratory understanding the juvenile developmental stages of several parasites important to human medicine before starting her graduate school career. After graduate school, she was awarded a post-Doctoral Fellowship from USDA-NIFA where she observed the effects of heat stress and nutritional development on molecular pathways in divergent lines of male broilers. She joined Elanco Animal Health in 2020 supporting the Nutritional Health unit and, in 2021, moved to the Food Safety Team where she supports bio-protection and insecticides and pre-harvest food safety interventions.
Brian Wooming
Veterinarian at CargillBrian Wooming has been a Production Veterinarian for several years and has worked at Sara Lee, Longmont Foods and Cargill.