Agenda ⇽ Ag | Food Tech 8: Workshop not at Bonny Doon

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 7^AM to 9^PM

7^AM - 7:10^AM

Introductory remarks by Howard Chao and Nick Sramek

Howard Chao
Host and Managing Director of Doon Insights
Howard Chao is an investor, lawyer and counselor to entrepreneurs. He began his work life as a corporate lawyer with O'Melveny & Myers and for many years was the Chair of the Firm's Asia Practice. He helped establish the firm's offices in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, and practiced for many years as a cross-border investment specialist based in Asia. Since 2001 Howard has been based in Silicon Valley, but continued to dedicate substantial time covering the Asia markets.

In recent years Howard has moved to the principal side of investing and deal-making. Howard actively makes angel and other VC investments in earlier stage companies through his personal vehicle, Doon Capital, usually in collaboration with other investors. He maintains close working relationships with various VC and PE funds. Howard invests primarily in startups located in the Silicon Valley and China. Because of Howard's extensive experience with Asia, many of his deals have an Asian (particularly Chinese) nexus.

Howard also maintains an active strategic consulting practice. Howard's extensive experience with investment and financing transactions in both the US and China leads him to advise and assist various clients in both places. His transactions span many different sectors, and include multinationals, financial investors and startup companies.
More information about speaker
Nick Sramek
Host and Managing Director of Doon Insights
Nick Sramek is a Managing Director of Doon Insights, leading workshop development, content creation, and outreach. Nick has extensive experience assisting organizations in preparing for a world not yet visible. An exceptional communicator of complex issues to diverse stakeholders, Nick has focused expertise in understanding and communicating global macroeconomic, technological, and geopolitical trends, as well as the importance of the economies of the Asia-Pacific region.

Previously, Nick served as the Director of International Relations of Silicon Valley Forum, a Silicon Valley organization that focuses on startup mentorship, corporate digitization, and government innovation strategies. Prior to that, he was the Program and Knowledge Director for the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, a non-profit educational organization based out of San Francisco that assists corporations, pension funds and financial institutions in carrying out their responsibilities in respect to the Asia-Pacific. Through research fellowships, he has also developed a passion for understanding the role of technology in society, particularly in developing economies.

Nick received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and History from Trinity University (Texas), and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego’s school of Global Policy and Strategy. He is conversational in Mandarin Chinese.
More information about speaker

7:10^AM - 7:50^AM

Today’s Financing and Exit Environment for Ag and Food Tech
Joshua T. Hofheimer•Gil Horsky•Ilanit Kabessa•Chris Lai•Eli Ziskind

Despite increasing flows of capital into ag and food tech, serious exits were few and far between. But hopes have been raised recently, especially in food tech with the rise of Impossible, Beyond and other success stories. We have seen an expansion of later stage fundings, and of course the SPAC wave has targeted quite a few deals in ag and food tech (although it is unclear where the market for SPACs is heading now). Valuations across the sector are high and Series A sizes can be much larger than before, perhaps as a trickle down effect of the excitement in later stage deals. This panel will bring together financial and corporate investors and a top banker to discuss the current financing and exit environment for our sector.

Joshua T. Hofheimer
Partner at Sidley
Gil Horsky
Director of SnackFutures (the venture & innovation hub from Mondelēz International)
Ilanit Kabessa
Venture Partner at Novozymes Protein SOA
Chris Lai
Partner at March Fund
Eli Ziskind
Credit Suisse

7:50^AM - 8:50^AM

Startup Presentations in Breakout Rooms

8:50^AM - 9:20^AM

Networking with Gather Town

9:20^AM - 10^AM

How Quickly are we moving away from Animal Products?
Ron Meeusen•Gareth Asten•Scott May•Laura Zaim•Phil Erlanger

The broader pressures driving alternatives from animal products are well known and numerous - the impact on climate change, human health concerns, overuse of antibiotics, pollution externalities, animal suffering, high water, energy and land usage, plus increasing demands for protein highlight the factors that have created the alternative animal product industry. Technology has enabled cell ag and vegetable based animal product alternatives to be nutritious, appetizing, and increasingly, affordable. Plus, broader public acceptance of these products has grown, paving the way for mass adoption. As these technologies continue to (and the demand for proteins and fats globally grows), an eventual shift to non-animal production seems inevitable. But, what is the trajectory of this shift? What technological, regulatory, and cultural hurdles need to be overcome?

Ron Meeusen
Managing Director of Cultivian Sandbox
Gareth Asten
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Acre Ventures
Scott May
VP of Innovation & Founder at MISTA
Laura Zaim
Director of LDC Innovations
Phil Erlanger
Managing Partner at Pontifax AgTech

10^AM - 10:40^AM

Why the Global Cold Chain is Heating Up
Seana Day•Sofia Ramirez•Manik Suri•Philipp Trotter•Brian Niven

Growing population density, demand for online groceries, restaurant delivery and vaccines/pharmaceuticals has put a spotlight on the cold chain in 2020-2021. These recent market shifts have created numerous opportunities to digitize and modernize the global cold chain. Last mile delivery in particular has been highlighted due to the COVID pandemic, placing pressure on companies to keep food supply moving. How have changing consumption patterns amidst and post-COVID impacted the cold chain? What is the role of automation in the cold chain? How are tech-enabled warehouses and automated fulfillment centers streamlined cold supply chains? Where are opportunities for further innovation and investment?

Seana Day
Venture Partner at Better Food Ventures
Sofia Ramirez
Adjunct Partner at AgFunder
Manik Suri
Founder and CEO of CoInspect
Philipp Trotter
Research Fellow at University of Oxford's Martin School
Brian Niven
Managing Director & Co-Founder of Karis Cold

10:40^AM - 11:20^AM

Startup Presentations in Breakout Rooms

11:20^AM - 12^PM

Prepared Food in a Post-Covid World: Exploring the Future of Dining
Hanson Li•Jennifer Place•Luke Saunders•Ellis McCue

Has Covid re-invented the restaurant? This panel will reflect on the sudden shifts in consumer behavior brought on by the pandemic and the massive impact to restaurants and food service, exposing major pain points in the food supply chain. What has been the role of innovation and technology in responding to these challenges and enabling new ways to reach consumers? Has COVID changed the destiny for brick-and-mortar restaurants? Is omnichannel food commerce here to stay?Who are the winners and losers as a new ecosystem develops?

Hanson Li
Founder & Managing Partner of Salt Partners
Jennifer Place
Investment Director of Finistere Ventures
Luke Saunders
Founder & CEO of Farmer’s Fridge
Ellis McCue
CEO of Territory Foods

12^PM - 3^PM

Break • Networking with Gather Town and Lunch

3^PM - 3:10^PM

Introductory remarks by Howard Chao and Nick Sramek

Howard Chao
Host and Managing Director of Doon Insights
Howard Chao is an investor, lawyer and counselor to entrepreneurs. He began his work life as a corporate lawyer with O'Melveny & Myers and for many years was the Chair of the Firm's Asia Practice. He helped establish the firm's offices in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, and practiced for many years as a cross-border investment specialist based in Asia. Since 2001 Howard has been based in Silicon Valley, but continued to dedicate substantial time covering the Asia markets.

In recent years Howard has moved to the principal side of investing and deal-making. Howard actively makes angel and other VC investments in earlier stage companies through his personal vehicle, Doon Capital, usually in collaboration with other investors. He maintains close working relationships with various VC and PE funds. Howard invests primarily in startups located in the Silicon Valley and China. Because of Howard's extensive experience with Asia, many of his deals have an Asian (particularly Chinese) nexus.

Howard also maintains an active strategic consulting practice. Howard's extensive experience with investment and financing transactions in both the US and China leads him to advise and assist various clients in both places. His transactions span many different sectors, and include multinationals, financial investors and startup companies.
More information about speaker
Nick Sramek
Host and Managing Director of Doon Insights
Nick Sramek is a Managing Director of Doon Insights, leading workshop development, content creation, and outreach. Nick has extensive experience assisting organizations in preparing for a world not yet visible. An exceptional communicator of complex issues to diverse stakeholders, Nick has focused expertise in understanding and communicating global macroeconomic, technological, and geopolitical trends, as well as the importance of the economies of the Asia-Pacific region.

Previously, Nick served as the Director of International Relations of Silicon Valley Forum, a Silicon Valley organization that focuses on startup mentorship, corporate digitization, and government innovation strategies. Prior to that, he was the Program and Knowledge Director for the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, a non-profit educational organization based out of San Francisco that assists corporations, pension funds and financial institutions in carrying out their responsibilities in respect to the Asia-Pacific. Through research fellowships, he has also developed a passion for understanding the role of technology in society, particularly in developing economies.

Nick received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and History from Trinity University (Texas), and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego’s school of Global Policy and Strategy. He is conversational in Mandarin Chinese.
More information about speaker

3:10^PM - 3:50^PM

Reinventing the Upstream Infrastructure of Food
Noel Kullavanijaya•Himanshu Gupta•Nicholas Maderas•Allison Kopf

For millennia, land has been the key factor driving what we grow, where we grow it and what it costs to grow it. However, technology is upending the upstream infrastructure of agriculture: new technologies have changed the cost, quality, location and distribution dynamics of many agricultural products At the same time, urbanization, an aging population, rising wealth and an availability of information have altered the demand side of the equation. . Technology has been an enabler of controlled environment agriculture (CEA), which results in land being a lesser factor in the logic of production, and technology, capital, and cost of energy more important. This tech infrastructure - from water management systems, to waste and energy, to automation, has turned farming into more and more of an infrastructure play, changing the value chain completely. What are the key technologies in this revolution? What are the winning strategies for investors and operators in this sector?

Noel Kullavanijaya
Principal & President at Equilibrium
Himanshu Gupta
CEO of ClimateAI
Nicholas Maderas
Founder of Agnetix Horticultural Lighting
Allison Kopf
Founder & CEO of Artemis

3:50^PM - 4:50^PM

Startup Presentations in Breakout Rooms

4:50^PM - 5:20^PM

Break • Networking with Gather Town

5:20^PM - 6^PM

Food as Medicine
Darren Streiler•Ashlie Burkart•Michelle Davenport•Steve Sanger

Our ancestors always knew that food can benefit and harm our health, and now there is abundant scientific data to back this up. Advances in the understanding of our microbiomes, metabolism and genomics are providing us with new tools to understand what we are putting into our bodies, and how we react to these inputs on a personalized level. Digitalization and AI will permit nutrition to be customized at an unprecedented level. The movement’s potential is immense as a way to prevent sickness and helping sick people recover, potentially saving broken healthcare systems billions and helping to treat chronic diseases. As we move from a mass-made food system to a personalized one, what will be the hurdles? What is the timeline for adoption of personalized ("precision") food regimens?

Darren Streiler
Investment Director of ADM Ventures
Ashlie Burkart
Chief Scientific Officer at Germin8 Ventures
Michelle Davenport
Advisor
Steve Sanger
Founder and General Partner of Evolv Ventures

6^PM - 6:40^PM

Digitalization of the Food Supply Chain in China
Xavier Naville•Howard Cai•Matilda Ho•Xinyi Lim

In China, food safety scandals have eroded consumer’s trust in domestic products, China’s ag sector is still backwards and very inefficient, there is still a substantial economic gap between farmers and city dwellers, and there is still tremendous food waste. However, the Chinese have shown themselves very receptive to technological innovation. Large digital ecosystems like Alibaba and Pinduoduo are now leveraging their infrastructure to connect millions of farmers with consumers and helping to digitize the system, potentially creating a leapfrog effect. Pinduoduo, a relatively young company, has made news with its extensive agtech investments, aiming to bring China’s agriculture sector up to the pace of other industries. This digitization process is still ongoing, but traceability and transparency tools are helping increase trust - plus pursue China’s long-term goal of driving sustainability in the agricultural sector. One key area where change is happening fast is in the food supply chain. How has innovation disrupted China’s distribution network? How have innovations in online retail played a role? Has COVID accelerated any trends or brought about new trends in how agricultural products are sold?

Xavier Naville
Founder and CEO of Creative Food
Howard Cai
Investor
Matilda Ho
Founder & Managing Director of Bits x Bites
Xinyi Lim
Executive Director, Sustainability and Agricultural Impact of Pinduoduo

6:40^PM - 7:20^PM

Startup Presentations in Breakout Rooms

7:20^PM - 8^PM

The State of Ag|Food Tech in India and SE Asia
Howard Chao•Mark Kahn•Anand Prasanna•Dan Pathomvanich

India and SE Asia are the “other” developing Asia, with enormous population and growth rates. The recent successes of Grab, Gojek, Flipkart, BigBasket, Zomato, and Udaan have awakened investors to the possibility of large unicorn wins in the region. Agriculture still plays a dominant role in the regional economy, and as the population gets richer they are demanding more and higher quality food. Thus it is not surprising that more capital has been flowing into the ag and food tech sector here. But the reality is that this is not one market but many large national markets, with different cultures, geographies, crops and protein preferences, regulatory regimes and opportunity sets. This panel will assemble investors from Singapore, India and Thailand to provide a broad overview of the opportunities for ag and food tech in the region.

Howard Chao
Host and Managing Director of Doon Insights
Mark Kahn
Managing Partner at Omnivore
Anand Prasanna
Managing Partner at Iron Pillar
Dan Pathomvanich
CEO of NR Instant Produce

8^PM - 8:10^PM

Closing remarks by Howard Chao and Nick Sramek

Howard Chao
Host and Managing Director of Doon Insights
Howard Chao is an investor, lawyer and counselor to entrepreneurs. He began his work life as a corporate lawyer with O'Melveny & Myers and for many years was the Chair of the Firm's Asia Practice. He helped establish the firm's offices in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, and practiced for many years as a cross-border investment specialist based in Asia. Since 2001 Howard has been based in Silicon Valley, but continued to dedicate substantial time covering the Asia markets.

In recent years Howard has moved to the principal side of investing and deal-making. Howard actively makes angel and other VC investments in earlier stage companies through his personal vehicle, Doon Capital, usually in collaboration with other investors. He maintains close working relationships with various VC and PE funds. Howard invests primarily in startups located in the Silicon Valley and China. Because of Howard's extensive experience with Asia, many of his deals have an Asian (particularly Chinese) nexus.

Howard also maintains an active strategic consulting practice. Howard's extensive experience with investment and financing transactions in both the US and China leads him to advise and assist various clients in both places. His transactions span many different sectors, and include multinationals, financial investors and startup companies.
More information about speaker
Nick Sramek
Host and Managing Director of Doon Insights
Nick Sramek is a Managing Director of Doon Insights, leading workshop development, content creation, and outreach. Nick has extensive experience assisting organizations in preparing for a world not yet visible. An exceptional communicator of complex issues to diverse stakeholders, Nick has focused expertise in understanding and communicating global macroeconomic, technological, and geopolitical trends, as well as the importance of the economies of the Asia-Pacific region.

Previously, Nick served as the Director of International Relations of Silicon Valley Forum, a Silicon Valley organization that focuses on startup mentorship, corporate digitization, and government innovation strategies. Prior to that, he was the Program and Knowledge Director for the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, a non-profit educational organization based out of San Francisco that assists corporations, pension funds and financial institutions in carrying out their responsibilities in respect to the Asia-Pacific. Through research fellowships, he has also developed a passion for understanding the role of technology in society, particularly in developing economies.

Nick received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and History from Trinity University (Texas), and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego’s school of Global Policy and Strategy. He is conversational in Mandarin Chinese.
More information about speaker

8:10^PM - 9^PM

Program Concludes • Networking with Gather Town

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 7^AM to 9^PM

7^AM - 7:50^AM

Program in Main Hall

7:50^AM - 8:10^AM

Torr Foodtech
Roy Naaman

Roy Naaman
CEO & Co-Founder of Torr FoodTech
Roy has 20 years of experience in the CPG industry, holding a variety of roles within leading multinational companies, SodaStream VP commercial and MD in Mondelez to name a few.

In his career, Roy has worked across multiple categories and geographies leading green field operations and turning them into successful and profitable multi million dollar business.
More information about speaker

8:10^AM - 8:30^AM

SeedX
Sarel Ashkenazy

Sarel Ashkenazy
Founder & CEO of Seed-X
Sarel has over 20 years proven experience in business leadership, sales, business management and operations. Serving as EVP Business at Kornit Digital Ltd (NASDAQ: KRNT), Sarel spearheaded business development, growing sales from $0 to over $100M. Prior to joining Kornit, Sarel held several executive positions within the Israeli startup arena.
More information about speaker

8:30^AM - 8:50^AM

FarmTrace
Chris Van Den Berg•Danny Turkovich•Kelby Kleinsasser

Chris Van Den Berg
Founder & CEO of FarmTrace
Founder and CEO of FarmTrace, Chris is a top global expert on food supply chains, technology, and agriculture. Chris was born and raised on a dairy farm in the Netherlands, and learned the ins and outs of farming before turning to the agfood business sector in college. As a business professional, Chris built a career in food processing technology, feed ingredient sales, and business development management, before founding two successful ag-tech companies in Europe and Asia, including the world’s first SaaS platform for cattle trading. Now, with FarmTrace, he hopes to continue this mission of digitization, connecting the agfood world with SaaS digital infrastructure.
More information about speaker
Danny Turkovich
Head of Product at FarmTrace
Danny was previously at Farmers Business Network for six years, where he was a member of the founding team and also head of product. He grew up on a farm in California and has previously operated his own agrofood businesses.
More information about speaker
Kelby Kleinsasser
COO at FarmTrace
A serial entrepreneur, technology expert, and investor, Kelby has started and led multiple successful businesses both inside and outside of the ag technology industry. Most recently, since its launch in 2014, Kelby served on the management team at FBN, helping to lead the company’s unprecedented farmer technology adoption and revenue growth in the production agriculture sector.
More information about speaker

8:50^AM - 9:20^AM

Networking with Gather Town

9:20^AM - 10:40^AM

Program in Main Hall

10:40^AM - 11^AM

Strella Biotech
Katherine Sizov

Katherine Sizov
Founder of Strella Biotech
Katherine has a background in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Pennsylvania. She founded Strella in 2019 after becoming intrigued by food waste and supply chain inefficiencies. Since its founding, Strella has monitored over half a billion pieces of fruit with its novel ripeness-detection technology and saved customers hundreds of thousands of dollars with maturity-based inventory management.
More information about speaker

11^AM - 11:20^AM

Kula Bio
Bill Brady

Bill Brady
Founding CEO & Director of Kula Bio
Bill is an executive and entrepreneur in the sustainable energy and advanced materials industries. He has successfully led large complex global organizations, and has created value in building emerging technology businesses. A frequent presenter on technical and strategic aspects of sustainable energy and materials, Mr. Brady has testified before the United States Senate, Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Currently, he serves as Founding CEO and Director for Kula Bio, a sustainable and organic nitrogen fertilizer company. Bill is co-founder and director of Monolith Materials, a sustainable carbon black and hydrogen company, and he also serves on the board of directors of advanced material companies Hollingsworth & Vose and Teknor Apex.
Previously, Mr. Brady served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Mascoma Corporation, a leading industrial biotechnology company. Mascoma’s bioconversion products have been used to produce billions of gallons of biofuels. Mascoma was successfully sold to Lallemand Corporation.

Mr. Brady also served as Executive Vice President of Cabot Corporation, a $3 BN specialty chemical company. Throughout his twenty-three year experience, Mr. Brady held numerous positions at Cabot in the United States and Asia, including President of the $2 Billion Carbon Black business which operated 23 manufacturing plants in 17 countries.

He is a graduate of the University of Scranton with a B.S. in Chemistry and received his M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
More information about speaker

11:20^AM - 12^PM

Program in Main Hall

12^PM - 3^PM

Networking with Gather Town and Lunch

3^PM - 3:50^PM

Program in Main Hall

3:50^PM - 4:10^PM

Black Sheep Foods
Sunny Kumar

Sunny Kumar
Founder of Black Sheep Foods
Sunny Kumar is a tech entrepreneur with a focus on the intersection between food and innovation. Sunny started his career as a product manager at The Economist Newspaper, where he conceptualized and built the magazine’s iPhone, Android and web apps. Sunny then received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in 2014 before heading to Amazon to work as a Technical Product Manager in Prime Video. In 2017, Sunny joined Finless Foods, a cell-based fish company. It was at Finless that Sunny and his future Black Sheep Foods co-founder Ismael Montanez had an “aha” moment. Realizing that flavor in fish ultimately comes from what fish eat, the duo was eager to crack the flavor equation in cellular and plant-based meats. In 2019, they set out to create Black Sheep Foods with a focus on plant-based heritage lamb.
More information about speaker

4:10^PM - 4:30^PM

Pow Bio
Charlie Emrich

Charlie Emrich
CEO & Co-Founder of Pow Bio
Charlie Emrich is the CEO and co-founder of Pow.Bio, with over 10 years experience in synthetic biology, at Allopartis, a directed evolution company he cofounded, and later at Novozymes, which acquired Allopartis. He started in materials science and microelectronics before moving into biology, earning a PhD in Biophysics at UC Berkeley.
More information about speaker

4:30^PM - 4:50^PM

Proteinea
Mahmoud Eljendy

Mahmoud Eljendy
Co-Founder & CEO of Proteinea
Mahmoud has an academic background in chemical engineering and business. He has experience in market research, waste recycling, and farming industries. He built one of the fastest-growing impact startups serving the underserved communities in Egypt while helping the environment at the age of 23 and has been featured at Startup Scene’s 25 under 25. Now, he is a co-founder & CEO at Proteinea.
More information about speaker

4:50^PM - 5:20^PM

Networking with Gather Town

5:20^PM - 6:40^PM

Program in Main Hall

6:40^PM - 7^PM

New Culture
Matt Gibson

Matt Gibson
CEO & Co-Founder of New Culture
Matt grew up in Auckland, New Zealand. He studied microbiology and genetics at the University of Auckland before co-founding New Culture, a venture-backed cell ag startup based in the Bay Area, making cow cheese without the cow.
More information about speaker

7^PM - 7:20^PM

Lypid (Minituri)
Jen-Yu Huang

Jen-Yu Huang
Co-Founder of Lypid
Dr. Jen-Yu Huang is the co-founder of Lypid, a food-tech company to bring plant meat taste like animal meat. He has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Cornell University.
More information about speaker

7:20^PM - 8:10^PM

Program in Main Hall

8:10^PM - 9^PM

Networking with Gather Town

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 7^AM to 9^PM

7^AM - 7:50^AM

Program in Main Hall

7:50^AM - 8:10^AM

Kingdom Supercultures
Kendall Dabaghi

Kendall Dabaghi
Co-Founder & CEO of Kingdom Supercultures
Kendall is co-founder & CEO of Kingdom Supercultures. Prior to Kingdom, he was a microbiome and machine learning researcher at Columbia University, where he built new high throughput systems for isolating and functionally characterizing gut microbes. His interest in the microbiome was driven by personal health issues that he dealt with earlier in his life, and that were linked to his gut.

Previously, he was the co-founder of two consumer tech startups that were acquired by public businesses, and began his career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. He graduated from Duke University, and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in Mexico.
More information about speaker

8:10^AM - 8:30^AM

Regrow
Anastasia Volkova

Anastasia Volkova
Founder & CEO of Regrow
Dr Anastasia Volkova is a TEDx Speaker, MIT 35 Under 35 Innovator, and Amelia Earhart Fellow. In late 2016 she founded FluroSat, an agritech company to offer next-generation decision support and monitoring systems for farmers and their advisors. FluroSat has gone through a transformational journey of commercializing agricultural science, attracting leading investors (Microsoft M12, AirTree, Space Angels), and scaling into the global market. In early 2021 FluroSat acquired soil health leading startup Dagan to form Regrow - a company with a broader mandate to help holistically rejuvenate the potential of agricultural soils and drive the transition to resilient agriculture globally.

Dr. Volkova’s passion is to make science-based agronomy and sustainable crop management an industry standard and to foster close collaborations between industry and research.
Most recently Dr. Volkova has been included in the BBC 100 Women - a list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2020.
More information about speaker

8:30^AM - 8:50^AM

Ful
Sara Guaglio•Cristina Prat Taranilla•Julia Streuli

Sara Guaglio
Co-Founder & COO of FUL Foods
After studying law, Sara spent her early career managing her family business, a top performing manufacturing company with the mission of developing, patenting and producing innovative products for the HVAC industry. Sara held several key roles in her family business including driving the company’s IP and trademark strategy, as well as supporting the finance and marketing divisions. She also served as a member of the Board of Directors where she helped oversee a successful exit with a private equity firm. Sara has also been an active member of FCEM since 2016, the first international organisation for women entrepreneurs. Sara holds a degree in law and an MBA from INSEAD where she met her FUL co-founders to launch a blog and research initiative on innovations in the sustainable food sector.
More information about speaker
Cristina Prat Taranilla
Co-Founder & CTO of FUL Foods
Cristina has developed her career in the energy world, driving large capital projects across Asia, Africa and Europe. During her last venture, she led large scale decarbonization projects and large facility build outs. Besides her professional endeavors, Cristina has collaborated with several non-profit organizations in Nepal and India to bring wider access to productivity-enhancing technologies. Cristina holds three masters degrees in chemical and industrial engineering, as well as an MBA from INSEAD where she met her FUL co-founders to launch a blog and research initiative on innovations in the sustainable food sector.
More information about speaker
Julia Streuli
Co-Founder & CEO of FUL Foods
Prior to co-founding FUL, Julia helped launch and scale a for-profit for-good venture-backed technology startup in Silicon Valley where she built the company’s sales and marketing strategy – partnering with global corporates such as Cisco, Dropbox and VMware, as well as leading strategic product partnerships with NGOs and foundations. Along the way, Julia also co-founded a nonprofit project on effective philanthropy, and worked on health education initiatives in the U.S. and Thailand. Julia has a B.A. from Brown University in international development/gender studies and an MBA from INSEAD where she met her FUL co-founders to launch a blog and research initiative on innovations in the sustainable food sector.
More information about speaker

8:50^AM - 9:20^AM

Networking with Gather Town

9:20^AM - 10:40^AM

Program in Main Hall

10:40^AM - 11^AM

FarmRaise
Jayce Hafner

Jayce Hafner
Co-Founder & CEO of FarmRaise
Jayce grew up on a livestock farm in Virginia. Before FarmRaise, she invested in agriculture with SLM Partners, completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Trinidad and Tobago, and founded a record-breaking coalition that mobilized 100K citizens to advocate for the Arctic Refuge. She has an MBA/MS in Agriculture and Land Use from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
More information about speaker

11^AM - 11:20^AM

Nuritas
Nora Khaldi

Nora Khaldi
Founder & CEO of Nuritas
Nora is a mathematician with a PhD in Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics.

Throughout her career, Nora’s ambition has been to disrupt the status quo in areas that have been void of technology by introducing new ways of thinking, big data, and new algorithms.
Previous to Nuritas™, Nora was the first scientist to show gene transfer between multi-cellular species. This groundbreaking find put into question many of the phylogenetic methods currently in use today.

Nora founded Nuritas with the mission to improve the lives of billions of people globally. Using revolutionary AI methods, Nuritas is discovering life-changing peptides with huge potential to improve global health in a sustainable and healthy way.

Nora has won multiple awards including the EU Women Economic Forum Woman of the Decade. She was inducted into the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders class of 2019.

Over the next few years, Nora plans to lead the Nuritas team in their goal of reaching billions of people with their life-changing ingredients.
More information about speaker

11:20^AM - 12^PM

Program in Main Hall

12^PM - 3^PM

Networking with Gather Town and Lunch

3^PM - 3:50^PM

Program in Main Hall

3:50^PM - 4:10^PM

FYTO
Jason Prapas

Jason Prapas
Founder & CEO of FYTO
Jason is the Founder and CEO of Fyto. Prior to Fyto, Jason was the Director of Translational Research at the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design. There, he led the Center’s efforts to select, shape, and position projects for large scale deployment, and helped develop 8 spinout companies in 18-months across the energy, health, agriculture, and water sectors. He was also an instructor of entrepreneurship courses at Sloan School of Management. Prior to his role at MIT, Jason was the CTO and Co-Founder of Factor[e] Ventures, a venture development and investment firm. In addition to leading the firm’s technology strategy, Jason led Factor[e]’s expansion into India. Prior to Factor[e], Jason was a Research Scientist and Director of the Tech-to-Market Program at The Energy Institute at Colorado State University, where he served as a commercialization resource for 160+ faculty. Prior to his graduate research, Jason worked as Process Engineer for the world's first algae-to-biofuel company, GreenFuel Technologies. Jason earned a BS in Physics with Honors from Brandeis University, a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University.
More information about speaker

4:10^PM - 4:30^PM

Milk Moovement
Robert Forsythe

Robert Forsythe
Co-Founder & CEO of Milk Moovement
Working in traditional industries such as oil and gas, not-for-profit, and local government, Robert developed a passion for working against the conventional ways of doing business. Now, as Co-Founder & CEO of Milk Moovement, he and his team are focused on building a more data-focused dairy industry and building better, more reliable food supply chains. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Memorial University and is an MBA Candidate at the Sobey School of Business. He is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
More information about speaker

4:30^PM - 4:50^PM

Avalo Ai
Mariano Alvarez

Mariano Alvarez
Co-Founder of Avalo.ai
Mariano is evolutionary plant biologist from Duke University, where he saw massive opportunity in explaining the evolution of plants, not over geological time frames, but in a timeframe that is digestible to industry. In particular, his work focuses on the genetics of plasticity and complex traits. Mariano has been an invited speaker at the Society for the Study of Evolution, the American Society of Plant Biologists, and several academic consortia. He has worked in global collaborations, including projects in Brazil, France, China, Japan, and Argentina. Mariano received his PhD from the University of South Florida and did his postdoctoral work under the supervision of Kathleen Donohue at Duke University.
More information about speaker

4:50^PM - 5:20^PM

Networking with Gather Town

5:20^PM - 6:40^PM

Program in Main Hall

6:40^PM - 7^PM

Vertical Oceans
John Diener

John Diener
Co-Founder of Vertical Oceans
John F. Diener is an agri-food tech entrepreneur and investor who is passionate about applying technology to sustainable food production. He recently co-founded Vertical Oceans, a high-tech vertical farming system that produces fresh and sustainable urban seafood.

During the extensive period of time in which he served as a senior executive and on various boards, Diener led significant business and technology development initiatives across the agri-food tech. He is an advisor to multiple startups, venture capital funds, corporates and governments in the field of agri-food tech development. In addition to investing in his own funds, Diener is also on the Investment Committee of the Trendlines Agri-Food Tech VC Fund.

Diener received a degree in economics with honors from the University of Chicago and a master's degree in sustainable aquaculture from the University of St. Andrews.
More information about speaker

7^PM - 7:20^PM

Burro
Charlie Andersen

Charlie Andersen
CEO of Burro
Charlie grew up on a fruit and vegetable farm. This experience led him to believe that all tedious farm labor should be automated, and simultaneously to understand the many challenges that robots face in agriculture. He founded Burro after gaining experience with Case New Holland, John Deere’s largest competitor, where he reported to the head of the North American operating unit and worked on special projects across sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution, and autonomy M&A. He received a BA from Amherst College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
More information about speaker

7:20^PM - 8:10^PM

Program in Main Hall

8:10^PM - 9^PM

Networking with Gather Town

Agenda

Howard Chao

Nick Sramek

Joshua T. Hofheimer

Gil Horsky

Ilanit Kabessa

Chris Lai

Eli Ziskind

Ron Meeusen

Gareth Asten

Scott May

Laura Zaim

Phil Erlanger

Seana Day

Sofia Ramirez

Manik Suri

Philipp Trotter

Brian Niven

Hanson Li

Jennifer Place

Luke Saunders

Ellis McCue

Howard Chao

Nick Sramek

Noel Kullavanijaya

Himanshu Gupta

Nicholas Maderas

Allison Kopf

Darren Streiler

Ashlie Burkart

Michelle Davenport

Steve Sanger

Xavier Naville

Howard Cai

Matilda Ho

Xinyi Lim

Howard Chao

Mark Kahn

Anand Prasanna

Dan Pathomvanich

Howard Chao

Nick Sramek

Roy Naaman

Sarel Ashkenazy

Chris Van Den Berg

Danny Turkovich

Kelby Kleinsasser

Katherine Sizov

Bill Brady

Sunny Kumar

Charlie Emrich

Mahmoud Eljendy

Matt Gibson

Jen-Yu Huang

Kendall Dabaghi

Anastasia Volkova

Sara Guaglio

Cristina Prat Taranilla

Julia Streuli

Jayce Hafner

Nora Khaldi

Jason Prapas

Robert Forsythe

Mariano Alvarez

John Diener

Charlie Andersen

This is a past event

Doon Insights might have other events you're interested in.