SANJEEV KRISHNAN
S2G Ventures
Sanjeev is the Chief Investment Officer and a managing director at S2G Ventures, and has been with the firm since its inception. He has nearly 20 years of experience in sourcing, executing, managing and exiting venture and private equity investments, including a focus in agriculture and food companies. As Managing Director, Sanjeev is active in developing investments and managing portfolio companies, serving on many portfolio company boards. His portfolio work ranges from genetics, crop protection, soil health, digital/IOT, crop insurance, merchandising, indoor agriculture, novel flavor and ingredients, new protein development, unique processors and brands that will feed the changing consumer.
JANET HORNER
Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance
As Executive Director of the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance, Janet has significant responsibility in policy development and project management for land use, economic development and local food issues on a provincial and regional basis. The Alliance have just approved a new five year Action Plan that outlines significant direction to showcase opportunities in the Golden Horseshoe for intensive market garden, urban agriculture and urban farming business development. Janet is also Mayor of Mulmur Township, County Councillor of Dufferin County and Commissioner of the Niagara Escarpment Commission.
JAN WESTRA
Priva
After M.Sc. and PhD graduation in Mechanical Engineering at TU Delft, Jan worked for 5 years for a consultancy firm designing, troubleshooting and commissioning HVAC installations in all types of buildings. Then he joined Priva at the R&D department, connecting university research with the practical greenhouse approach, culminating in innovative products. From 2011 Jan was business developer for indoor growing, mainly focusing on Europe and North America. Now his main role is revamping innovation at Priva in the field of sensors, water treatment and climate controls, connecting with the relevant institutions and universities in North America and Europe to scout for opportunities and support research in these fields. Jan is board member of the Netherlands Canada Chamber of Commerce and member of several committees in the field of research and research transfer to the greenhouse industry.
CONNIE BOWEN
AgLaunch
Connie Bowen is the Director of Innovation and Investment at AgLaunch, a farmer-centric technology development group in Memphis, TN. In this role, she drives organizational growth, develops internal innovation capacity, and champions innovation to build a transformed regional food and agricultural economy. In addition to AgLaunch, Connie serves as Investment Manager for The Yield Lab Europe and contributes regularly to Forbes and co-hosts the podcast, The End of Ag.
TOM SHIELDS
AgFunder
Tom is an investor, coach, and mentor to technology-based startups. Tom has co-founded two highly successful companies, NetGravity (IPO 1998) and Yieldex (acquired by AppNexus/AT&T in 2015). Tom also spent 6 years as Managing Director of an early-stage venture capital firm. Entrepreneurs choose to work with him because he combines leadership mentoring and business expertise with the deeper support that comes from having been an entrepreneur himself.
SUJALA BALAJI
Kosha Foods
Sujala is a social entrepreneur and food Scientist, with over 15 years of experience in the food industry, launching new products and scaling operations for companies of all sizes. She is the Founder and CEO of Kosha Foods, a company that promotes ancient grain millets as a sustainable crop for the future of food. As an expert in plant based proteins, Sujala is committed to creating solutions to feed the world sustainably.
OMAR AL JUNDI
Badia Farms
A Saudi national and qualified industrial engineer, Omar began his career in the financial and engineering industries in Saudi Arabia, before following his entrepreneurial passion. This led to a successful business in hospitality, and recognition in the 2007 book ‘Leaders of Saudi Arabia’. Strongly committed to the region, its development and sustainable future, Omar became focused on agricultural innovations. Studying a variety of methods and techniques around the world, he moved to the UAE to establish Badia Farms.
MELANA ROBERTS
Toronto Food Policy Council
Melana is an award winning researcher, policy strategist and community advocate. She is currently Chair of Food Secure Canada, Canada’s leading civil society voice on food policy. For the past 4 years she has been the Chair of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council, a group widely recognized as the world's first youth food policy council. She is also the outgoing Chair of FoodShare’s Food Justice Advisory Board, a Good Food Advisor to Meal Exchange, and a member of the Toronto Food Policy Council. Prior to this role, Melana was the point person on food policy and poverty reduction issues for the City of Toronto's Chair of the Board of the Health. Committed to building a more sustainable and just food system, she is also a Director on the Board of Carrot Cache.
JOSH HOLLEB
Ceres Greenhouse Solutions
Josh brings 10 years of experience in residential and custom home building to Ceres, plus a wealth of experience helping growing operations of all kinds succeed. He has operated a 10,000 gallon solar heated aquaponic farm at 8,000 ft in elevation and a 5,000 sq ft indoor growing system, and has also managed organic farms. Josh manages communication between Ceres’ clients and their internal design, production and installation team, ensuring that their ever-growing list of clients coast-to-coast has the best possible customer experience.
ANTON WIBOWO
Trendlines Agrifood Innovation Centre
Anton Wibowo has more than nine years of management and investment experience in the Singaporean biotechnology and agribusiness communities. As the operations director and former business development director at Biomax Group, an award-winning biotech company involved in recycling waste into fertilizer, Anton led the company’s technical and sales teams, served on the investment committee, and was a key contributor to a successful multimillion fundraising effort.
REBECCA MACKENZIE
Culinary Tourism Alliance
Rebecca is passionate about the interrelation between food, agriculture, tourism, arts and culture, and has been instrumental in developing tourism products including Prince Edward County’s award-winning Taste Trail/Route Des Saveurs, the CTA’s Feast On® certification program and food tourism curriculum at several post-secondary institutions. Rebecca manages highly participatory and asset-based community development projects at the local, regional, provincial, national and international levels. She contributes her expertise to a variety of industry Boards including the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario and the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s Gastronomic Tourism Network.
FRED WALL
Farm Credit Canada
Fred is the VP, Marketing at Farm Credit Canada, and his portfolio includes FCC’s Digital Agriculture practice, Market Analytics, Pricing, Products, Digital Services, and the AgExpert platform.
KRISTEN ROCCA
Unovis Asset Management
Kristen is a Senior Associate at Unovis Asset Management and is focused on fundraising efforts and investment opportunities in Europe & Asia in the alternative protein space. Kristen has 7 years of experience in operations, strategy & sustainability working as a consultant for large international corporations and in an operations capacity, and has supported non-profits ranging from international animal rescues to food and agricultural advocacy. Prior to joining Unovis.
MATT ANDERSON-BARON
Future Fields
Matt obtained his PhD in cell biology at the University of Alberta. Following his graduate studies, Matt held a postdoctoral position in one of Canada's top tissue engineering labs. During his graduate studies, Matt was the recipient of a New Harvest seed grant to study the lipid components of fetal bovine serum. During his grad studies, Matt cofounded Future Fields, one of Canada's first companies in the field of cellular agriculture.
JAYCE HAFNER
FarmRaise
Jayce Hafner is the Co-Founder and CEO of FarmRaise. A Fulbright Fellow, Jayce founded a record-breaking land conservation coalition and invested in farmland with SLM Partners. She grew up on an 160-acre farm in Virginia and received her MBA/MS in Land Use and Agriculture at Stanford.
SARAH NOLET
Tenacious Ventures
Sarah Nolet is an internationally recognized food systems innovation expert, co-founder of Tenacious Ventures, Australia’s first dedicated agrifood tech VC firm and CEO and Founder of AgThentic, a global food and agriculture strategy firm. Sarah has been instrumental in building the early stage agtech ecosystem in Australia - from advising dozens of startups, designing accelerator programs and consulting to established agribusinesses, to helping industry, universities and government develop and implement forward-looking initiatives in food system innovation.
MARINA QUEIROLO
Urban Projects Collective
Argentinian food lover living in Toronto. Food system & Public Markets specialist. Consultant and public speaker. Community builder.
MARNI KARLIN
CEA Food Safety Coalition
Marni is the Executive Director of the CEA Food Safety Coalition, a member-based organization established to develop credible, strong, and appropriate CEA-specific food safety standards, and communicate the value of controlled environment agriculture. She brings two decades of expertise in federal policymaking, advocacy, non-profit management, and corporate law - as well as outside-the-box thinking, creativity, an adventurous spirit, and the courage to take big leaps to create change. Previously, Marni was the head of government affairs and general counsel for the Organic Trade Association, counsel to the United States Judiciary Committee, and a corporate antitrust attorney. A Louisiana native, Marni is a graduate of The George Washington University, received her J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School, and earned a Culinary Arts diploma from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France.
TOM DEBUSSCHERE
Urban Crop Solutions
After a career as CEO of multinational manufacturing companies, Tom became involved in Vertical Farming as a series A investor. He dreams of scaling up a leader at the crossroads of indoor biology and factory engineering, while bringing profit to the industry. "The biology works, the technology works. Now, let’s make the economics work…”
ERICO MATTOS
GLASE
Dr. Erico Mattos is the Executive Director of the Greenhouse Lighting Systems and Engineering (GLASE) consortium. Erico received his BS degree in agronomic engineering from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) in 2009 and a Ph.D degree in crop and soils sciences from the University of Georgia in 2013. In 2012, Erico completed Singularity University's graduate studies program. He is a recipient of the Gifted Citizen Award (Mexico), the 2014 Emerging Leader of the Year Award by the Georgia Bio association and two times TEDx speaker. Erico has co-authored multiple technology patents related to plants photosynthetic efficiency improvement. Erico is also co-founder and CEO of Candidus, a horticultural lighting control company developing smart lighting control systems for crop production in greenhouses.
DAVID CEASER
Agritecture Consulting
David has a passion for growing plants and currently works as the lead Agronomist for Agritecture Consulting. He has more than 20 years experience working in numerous types of agriculture, including indoor and outdoor hydroponics and soil based ag. His knowledge ranges from big picture items such as sustainability to fine details such as nutrient management and obtaining organic certification. David has an MBA in sustainable management, a BA in environmental studies with a focus on agroecology and a certificate in horticulture.
ASHLEE COOPER
City of Guelph
Before joining the City of Guelph’s Smart Cities office Ashlee Cooper's work was focused in the non profit sector where she developed and delivered a broad spectrum of programs to address complex local food issues. Ashlee is a participatory design and community engagement specialist, bringing over 10 years of commitment to building a more just and sustainable food system.
JAMES MORIN
Kipling Ridge Farms
While in the midst of a 20+ year finance career, with an MBA in my back packet, I took the next logical step and with my family, started a farm in 2012, with zero experience! We became completely enamoured with Regenerative Agriculture and its ability to solve some of our civilization's most pressing problems. We quickly realized that our passion needed to be scaled/duplicated exponentially, and I am driven to discover solutions to make this happen.
JAMES KUHNS
Centre for Studies in Food Security, Ryerson University
James Kuhns has been working in food security and urban agriculture related activities for the past 20 years. He is co-coordinator at Toronto Urban Growers, a network of individuals, organizations and institutions committed to scaling up urban agriculture in Toronto. He is an associate of the Ryerson Centre for Studies in Food Security, where he teaches courses on urban agriculture and food security. He is a former president of the American Community Gardening Association and member of the Toronto Food Policy Council. He holds a M.Sc. in agricultural development from the University of London.
MAURICE SMALL
Small Farmz
Maurice Small was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and most recently has invested his energy in food and farmers in the Southeastern part of the u.s.. As an innovative creator of national models of sustainable food cultivation and distribution, Maurice is on the cutting edge of transforming our food systems for the better.
NICK DYNER
Moleaer
Nicholas Dyner joined Moleaer as Chief Executive Officer in 2017 and brought with him over 13 years of experience in water treatment. Prior to Moleaer, Nicholas led the global sales and marketing efforts of LG Chem Water Solutions, established by Korean chemical giant LG Chem when they acquired the membrane manufacturer, NanoH2O, where he served as the company’s Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. He also previously held the role of Global Product Manager for GE Water & Process Technologies. Nicholas is a graduate from Cornell University in New York, USA.
ROBYNNE ANDERSON
Emerging Ag
Robynne Anderson is an authority on global agricultural and food policies. Her engagement reaches throughout the value chain, providing support on strategy and management to a broad range of clients ranging from scientists to governments, farmers to food processors. Robynne has engaged in processes at the UN General Assembly, Rio+20, the UN Committee on World Food Security, the UN negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.
ALEX HARNED
City of Victoria
Alex is the Food Systems Coordinator at the City of Victoria. She is also the creator and coordinator of Get Growing, Victoria! A free food starts seedling distribution program that prioritizes supporting communities to help grow their own food that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. In 2020, the City of Victoria, in partnership with 44 community partner organizations, grew and distributed over 81,000 food starts to thousands of residents, many growing food for the first time.
THOMAS OLIN KOSBAU
ORE Design + Technology
As founder of ORE Design + Technology, Architect Thomas Kosbau uses a systems approach and “holistic simplicity” to design buildings as well as proprietary clean-technology. ORE specializes in innovative architecture and technological systems that push the boundaries of today’s urban typology, ranging from organically grown sandstone streets, algal energy panels, and novel atmospheric water generation processes. ORE’s work in urban agriculture is well represented by the SquareRoots 1.0 Food system for Kimball Musk and Riverpark Farm, Manhattan’s largest (and portable) urban farm.
CORINNE WILDER
Fluence by OSRAM
Corinne has spent her career fusing her childhood love for science with the rigors of international business development. She earned a bachelor’s degree in ecology and marine biology from Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, where she took particular interest in genetics, cell biology and plant science. In 2016, Corinne started as manager of sales operations at Fluence, where she was responsible for all internal sales teams and resources before eventually becoming Fluence’s VP of Global Commercial Operations. Today, she is responsible for all business reporting and analytics for internal operations, heading the company’s commercial support teams, including the utility rebates and incentives program, and directing internal processes to meet global strategic goals for the cannabis and commercial food markets.
KEITH DRIVER
Enterra Feed Corporation
Keith Driver is a serial entrepreneur in the clean-tech and ag-techs spaces, with experience across North America. Currently, Keith serves as the CEO for Enterra Feed Corporation - one of the largest producers of insect-based ingredients from Black Soldier Fly larvae. Keith holds two degrees in engineering and an MBA, and has served as a sessional instructor at both of his Alma Mater’s, the University of Calgary and University of Guelph.
WILL HARRIS
White Oak Pastures
Will is the fourth generation of his family to operate their Georgia farm. The farm has come full circle in the 155 years of operation: focused for the first 80 years on the land, animals, and the community, the next 50 years as a monocultural, commodity, centralized, factory farm, and now a 25 year transition back to its origin. The farm pasture raises and hand butchers cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and poultry. It is the largest employer in the county.
LINDA C GEGGIE
Capital Region Food And Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable
Linda Geggie is the Executive Director of CRFAIR promoting healthy and sustainable food systems in the Capital Region since the 1990's. In 2015 she was recognized by Food Secure Canada with the Cathleen Kneen Award for vision, leadership, and a commitment to grassroots activism in building a more just and ecological food system. She was also a Community Research Fellow with the University of Victoria's Institute for Studies and Innovation in Community University Engagement. Linda is an avid food grower and fisher.
JOE NASR
Ryerson University
Joe Nasr has been exploring urban agriculture and food security issues for over a quarter century, teaching regularly at Ryerson University courses on both subjects. He co-curated the traveling exhibit, book and website Carrot City: Designing for Urban Agriculture (www.carrotcity.org), and coordinated the programming for the 2012 Urban Agriculture Summit in Toronto. Joe is co-founder of Toronto Urban Growers and member of the Toronto Food Policy Council. He is co-author or co-editor of four books and dozens of articles, including the seminal book Urban Agriculture, as well as co-editor of the Springer Urban Agriculture Book Series.
MURAT KACIRA
UArizona CEA Center
Murat Kacira is director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center and he is a professor in the Biosystems Engineering Department at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering in Cukurova University in Turkey and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering from The Ohio State University in USA. His research involves in automation, environmental control, alternative energy integrated CEA systems and resource use optimization in controlled environment agriculture systems including greenhouses and vertical farming-based plant factories with artificial lighting. He is a member of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). He serves as Chair of the Division Precision Horticulture Engineering under ISHS.
ETHAN SOLOVIEV
HowGood
Ethan is a farmer and the Chief Innovation Officer at HowGood.com, where he manages the world’s largest product & ingredient sustainability database and the Latis Impact Platform. Hear Ethan's latest on Regenerative Agriculture, Biodiversity, and Planetary Health at HowGood.com/Innovation-Series
FADI AL-DAOUD
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture
Dr. Fadi Al-Daoud received his Ph.D. from the Department of Biology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada with a specialization in molecular plant pathology. Fadi subsequently worked at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph in Ontario. There he worked in collaboration with academics, government agencies, industry partners, and grower groups. He has conducted applied and basic research of horticultural and field crops, and has experience communicating his research to the scientific community and producers.
CULLEN NAUMOFF
Farm Fare
Hailing from the agriculture-rich lands of Ohio’s densest dairies, Cullen spent a decade before Farm Fare learning and working in NYC to West Virginia, gaining a better understanding of the dynamics of local economies. Upon her return to Ohio, she saw an opportunity to grow a local food economy through starting and managing a food hub. Her engineering background shed light on the obstacles to scalability a single food hub faces, while highlighting how collaborating strategically with like-minded businesses could yield an entirely different scale of impact.
MICHAEL SACCO
CHOCOSOL
Founder of ChocoSol Learning Community Social Enterprise 2005. Masters of Environmental Studies York University 2003 Current PhD Indigenous Studies @ Trent University with Doctoral Thesis on Regenerative Spiritual Ecology of Cacao Forest Gardens
CHEF JOHL WHITEDUCK RINGUETTE
NishDish Marketeria & Catering
Chef Johl Whiteduck Ringuette is Anishnawbe and Algonquin, a descendant of Nipissing Nation and from the Mink Clan. He is the proprietor of NishDish Marketeria & Catering, specializing in Anishnawbe cuisine since 2005. As one of Tkaronto’s leading First Nations food sovereigntists, Johl’s journey has led him to reclaiming the traditional Anishnawbe diet. He is the founder and Board President of Ojibiikaan Indigenous Cultural Network, (OICN) and founder of the Toronto Indigenous Business Association (TIBA). Johl is a curator and artist who has curated since 2017 in a series of murals painted by Indigenous artists known as the Red Urban Nations Artist collective (RUN), which he founded.
JOE DALES
RH Accelerator Inc.
Joe Dales has gained 30+ years of agriculture industry experience beginning his career working with leading companies such as Pfizer, Cyanamid Crop Protection(BASF) and NK Syngenta Seeds. In 1998, he co-founded Farms.com Ltd. and AgCareers.com which have grown to become a leading supplier of innovative solutions to farmers, agriculture and food companies, he remains a major shareholder and director. In 2019, he co-founded RH Accelerator Inc. and leads their value adding investments in the agriculture and food innovation and start-up sector. Joe has been involved in successfully launching over 40 agri tech innovations.
JEANETTE JACKSON
Foresight
Jeanette Jackson is the CEO of Foresight, a cleantech ecosystem accelerator that is empowering entrepreneurs and energizing a world-class cleantech industry across Canada. She is a multi-award winning sustainability champion, a sought-after public speaker, and a leading advisor to the cleantech industry.
LAUREN BAKER
Ryerson University
Lauren Baker, PhD, has more than 20 years of experience leading cross-sectoral research, policy and advocacy for sustainable food systems in non-profit, academic, business, policy and philanthropic contexts. Lauren is currently Director of Programs with the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, an alliance of philanthropic foundations working to transform global food systems. Previously, Lauren led the Toronto Food Policy Council, a citizen advisory group embedded within the City of Toronto’s Public Health Division and was the Founding Director of Sustain Ontario — the Alliance for Healthy Food and Farming. Lauren lectures and teaches in the Global Food Equity program at the University of Toronto and at Ryerson University.
JÉRÔME DOUCET
Montel
Jérôme started his career at 3M, and in 2000 brought his knowledge and experience to Montel, taking over as President in 2019. Jérôme continues to build and expand Montel's solid distribution network year by year, helping to make the Montel name internationally recognized with installations in more than 72 countries and continues to guide the company into new and emerging markets such as the vertical farming.
JESSEY NJAU
Zawadi Farm
I'm an urban farmer in the city of Toronto, Canada. As of 2020, I'm practicing CSA in my community supporting 70 homes weekly with 9-12 crops harvested weekly on a 1/3 of an acre. Our goal is to grow farmers and activate more growing spaces, and feed our city.
NATASHA ARSENIJEVICH
The Transformation Initiative
Natasha Arsenijevich (B.E.S, M.E.S) is a sustainability leader and business strategist with expertise in sustainability in the built environment, business and strategy development, agriculture and food studies, women's studies, and professional writing. She has developed an award-winning sustainability program and has worked on a number of innovative market leading projects. She is the Executive Director of The Transformation Initiative, a Canadian non-for-profit organization, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Pollution Probe, one of Canada's first charitable environmental organizations.