Speakers

Dr. Emma Keller
Head of Sustainability - Nestle UK & I

Emma leads the sustainability agenda across Nestlé UK & Ireland, focusing on delivering the ambitious net zero climate commitment and driving the business to be a force for good. Prior to joining Nestlé last year, Emma led a team at WWF on food system transformation and before that was in Unilever’s sustainability team working on delivering the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.
Read more

Al Overton
Buying Director - Planet Organic

Al Overton qualified as a medical herbalist in 1999 and has been involved in natural health retail ever since. During 18 years at Planet Organic, he has done every job imaginable and is now Buying Director. Planet Organic is a speciality health food store with 14 shops in London.
Read more

Natasha Schwarzbach
Director Global Procurement Sustainability - PepsiCo

Natasha Schwarzbach is a member of PepsiCo’s Global Sustainability Agriculture team and is the strategic global lead for a variety of sustainable commodities including palm oil and cane sugar to help meet PepsiCo’s public sustainability and policy commitments. Natasha has a breadth of experience and a passion for addressing sustainability issues with a focus on delivering successful programs that drive measurable environmental, economic and social impacts through effective engagement and strong collaboration. She is Co-Chair of the RSPO’s Shared Responsibility Working Group and initiated the development of the NDPE Implementation Reporting Framework, the Palm Oil Collaboration Group and developed a number of landscape programs within Indonesia and Mexico that supports conservation and smallholders within palm and cane sugar. Natasha is on the Bonsucro Member Council, Chairs the Buyers Group and is actively involved in the Interlaken Steering Group and the Consumer Goods Forum – Deforestation Coalition of Action.
Read more

Ignacio Gavilan
Director, Sustainability - CGF

Ignacio Gavilan leads the CGF’s Sustainability team that aims to position the consumer goods
industry as a leader in protecting against climate change and reducing waste. Ignacio is responsible for ensuring high quality, efficient strategic leadership and implementation support to CGF’s Sustainability agenda. In his role, Ignacio leads retailer and manufacturer Working Groups on topics like Food Waste, Plastics, or Supply Chain Decarbonisation as well as engaging with members and external stakeholders to drive implementation forward.

Ignacio brings to the CGF more than 15 years’ experience in advising business on the practical, strategic, and commercial opportunities and risks of sustainability. Prior to his current role, Ignacio worked as Founder & Principal Consultant at Accipiter, a sustainability advisory service where he helped SMEs working in international markets to create strategic sustainability roadmaps. Past experience also includes senior roles at Anglo American p.l.c., BP Alternative Energy and McDonald’s.

Read more
Chris Kerston

Chris Kerston
Chief Commercial Officer - Land to market program

Chris Kerston ranched full time for nearly 15 years before joining the Savory Institute. With a longstanding passion for regenerative agricultural and better food distribution systems, Chris has dedicated his life to helping connect ranchers with consumers in ways that create synergistic value for both sides. With formal training and instinctive talent, Chris utilizes media in concert with traditional marketing techniques to help ranchers share their stories and build long-lasting relationships with partners based upon common goals. For 6 years Chris co-managed a 2,000 acre diversified farm based on holistic grazing and permaculture in the Sacramento Valley. The farm is comprised of old growth olive orchards, heirloom stone fruits and citrus groves, and also raises grass fed cattle, sheep, goats, and pasture-raised chickens for both meat and eggs. Through creative positioning, the farm quickly attracted national notoriety and the attention from public figures such as Joel Salatin and Michael Pollan. Chris has also been recognized as a leader in the emerging agri-tourism market and he facilitated a partnership with a European-based hospitality company and the farm he managed. The resulting farmstays provided urban dwellers a recreational, but also educational, outlet to see first-hand how food could be produced in abundance outside the realm of conventional industrial systems.
Read more

Tom Szaky
Founder & CEO - TerraCycle

Tom Szaky is founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a global leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams. TerraCycle operates in 20 countries, working with some of the world’s largest brands, retailers and manufacturers to create national platforms to recycle products and packaging that currently go to landfill or incineration. 


In May 2019 TerraCycle launched Loop, a circular shopping platform that enables consumers to shop for household products in durable, reusable packaging. Loop is available in Paris, France, the UK and the 48 contiguous U.S. states, and is a key step in helping to end the epidemic of waste that is caused by ‘single- use’ consumption. In 2021, Loop will become available in Canada, Japan and Australia.


Tom and TerraCycle have received hundreds of social, environmental and business awards and recognition from a range of organizations including the United Nations, World Economic Forum, Schwab Foundation, Fortune Magazine, Time Magazine and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.


Tom is the author of four books, “Revolution in a Bottle” (2009), “Outsmart Waste” (2014), “Make Garbage Great” (2015) and “The Future of Packaging” (2019). Tom created, produced and starred in TerraCycle’s reality show, “Human Resources” which aired on Pivot from 2014-2016 and is syndicated in more than 20 foreign markets on Amazon and iTunes.

Read more

Ivo Mulder
Head-Climate Finance Unit - UNEP

Ivo leads UNEP’s Climate Finance Unit (CFU), created in 2019. CFU brings together various initiatives and finance facilities that aim to unlock public and especially private capital towards sustainable land use with positive impacts for the climate, nature and people. Under his supervision, the Climate Finance Unit has built a portfolio of innovative initiatives, such as the AGRI3 Fund, set up by Rabobank, UNEP, Mirova Natural Capital, IDH and FMO  as part of a USD 1 billion commitment in loans that focus on financing deforestation-free commodity production. Other examples include a new Restoration Seed Capital Facility (RSCF) that stimulates private equity investment in forest and landscape restoration, the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (which issued an inaugural USD 95m ‘landscape bond’ in 2018), or the support for novel ventures such as &Green Fund. In addition, Ivo sits on the Steering Committee of a number of projects such as the GEF Good Growth Partnership, GEF The Restoration Initiative and the Natural Capital Finance Alliance. Over the past decade, Ivo initiated and led a number of projects that develop business cases for the private and finance sector to tackle environmental challenges. He co-founded and directed the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA). Signed by more than 40 CEOs, this initiative aims to make the link between ecosystem degradation and the financial impact this can have on banks, investors and the broader financial system. The Dutch Central Bank recently found that 36% of Dutch financial assets are at risk of ecosystem decline using NCFA’s ENCORE data. The initiative has developed various other innovative tools for the finance industry to address deforestation risks related to soft commodities, integrating water risk in the valuation of corporate bonds and stocks, as well as environmental risk integration in sovereign credit analysis (ERISC). Ivo also co-initiated the REDD+ work at UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) in 2011 to scale up private sector engagement and over the past years has led the private sector & finance work for the UN-REDD Programme, including building the economic case for governments in various countries to preserve natural capital by reducing deforestation. Ivo Mulder has over fifteen years of professional experience working for UNEP, private consulting firms and with non-governmental organisations. He has published more than fifty reports, blogs and articles and sits on the Steering Group of a number of initiatives. Ivo is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and a member of the Dutch Association of Sustainable Investors (VBDO). During his free time, he pursues a variety of outdoor sports such as triathlon, diving, alpine skiing and mountain hiking. Educational background Ivo holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, with a focus on environmental economics.
Read more

Isabelle Laurencin
Fund Manager - Triodos Food Transition Europe Fund

Isabelle Laurencin is the Fund Manager of Triodos Food Transition Europe Fund,  an evergreen impact Equity Fund providing patient capital to late stage ventures and mature businesses contributing to the Food transition in Europe (45mEUR size / 10 investments).  Prior to joining Triodos in 2019, Isabelle set up a startup accelerator focused on sustainable innovations in the fashion industry for Plug and Play, Silicon Valley’s most active VC. She has over 15 years’ experience in Private Equity and Venture Capital and served in multiple Investment committees and Advisory boards at both FMO and PROPARCO, development finance institutions in the Netherlands and France.

Isabelle is a board member of 5 investees of TOGF (Tipa, Beendi, Groupe Natimpact, Hari&co and Farmy) and an Advisor to the Circular Economy Club. Isabelle holds a Master from ESCP-EAP Business school.

Read more

Maija Itkonen
Chief Innovation Officer & Founder - Gold and Green Foods

Maija Itkonen is the co-founder and CEO of Gold&Green Foods®, the purpose-driven brand behind the revolutionary new plant-based protein, Pulled Oats®.

She is also an entrepreneur, innovator, industrial designer and brand lover. In 2015 she co-founded Gold&Green Foods, the company behind the phenomenal success story of the “perfect protein food” platform and its first product Pulled Oats. The new proprietary product type resulted in a first-of-its-kind plant-based protein source that is not only versatile and packed with health benefits, but one that can be sustainably sourced and processed. Pulled Oats is a new kind of meat alternative based on the Nordic superfood oats, built around the team’s unique scientific knowledge and design thinking under Maija’s leadership. Maija has a degree in industrial design and considers Gold&Green® to be a food design company.  She is a mother of four based in Helsinki, Finland.

Read more
Emma Scott

Emma Scott
Programme Manager - Agriculture (Fauna & Flora International)

Working within the world’s oldest international wildlife conservation organisation, Emma focuses on helping farmers to work with biodiversity and the ecosystem services they rely on, aiming to maximise benefits to both people and nature. Her focus is on supporting smallholders in making sustainable on-farm decisions to support food production long-term. 

Read more

Josh Newton
Cities Activation, Europe - Ellen Macarthur Foundation

Josh is responsible for advancing circular economy policy and demonstration activities across Europe at city-level, including London, a Strategic Partner of the Foundation. His focus is to provide advice, and enable knowledge sharing to help city stakeholders pioneer scalable circular solutions including food system transformation. Previously, Josh was a sustainability/ CSR consultant working with leading FMCG, science and utilities companies. He was also an advisor to a UK Labour MP, specialising in transport & infrastructure.
Read more

Annina Winkler
CEO - Sector Specialist, Food & Agriculture

Annina, an Environmental Scientist by training, has joined Emerald Technology Ventures, a Switzerland-based and globally active VC company in 2018. Since then, she is responsible for the Agrifood sector reviewing hundreds of companies a year and has been strongly involved in Emerald’s investment in Future Meat Technologies, an Israeli cultured meat company.
Read more
Dorothy Shaver

Dorothy Shaver
Global Marketing Sustainability Lead - Knorr at Unilever

Dorothy Shaver is a Registered Dietitian focusing on food system transformation with unique experience in and passion for driving behaviour change for positive health and environmental outcomes. Over the past seventeen years she has worked across media, retail, health care, marketing, AI, and the fitness industry championing food choices to enable personal and planetary health. Dorothy’s current role is Global Sustainability Marketing Lead for Unilever’s largest food brand Knorr, in addition to a founding board member of The Food for Climate League and Senior Nutrition and Wellbeing Advisor for syd (iamYiam). She led the creation of Future 50 Foods report and Cookbook, which has collectively driven close to six billion earned media impressions in more than 95 countries as part of more than 700 million media pieces. It is a collaborative thought leadership piece in which food system issues are outlined with 50 exemplary foods identified that increase the nutrient value and decrease the environmental impact of meals. It is at the core of the Knorr brand innovation and communication strategy. Most recently, Dorothy played a major role in shaping and activating Unilever’s Regenerative Agriculture Principles. She has been a long-term sustainable nutrition food spokesperson having spoken at global conferences and events including Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, quoted in media including TIME magazine, and featured in radio shows including NPR. In addition to this, Dorothy is a guest blogger, podcast speaker, expert contributor and food writer spreading her positive passion and drive to get the masses to fall in love with food that is good for people and the planet. Dorothy received her undergraduate degree from Framingham State University and her master’s degree in Public Health Education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dorothy currently lives in a canal house in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. When you meet her, she’ll inspire you to join her in being a Varietarian moving toward the ‘Most delicious revolution that ever was’ for the benefit of people and the planet.
Read more

Francois Mosnier
Head of Oceans team - Planet Tracker

François brings more than 10 years of experience working across finance and nature conservation. Prior to joining Planet Tracker, he was a financial analyst at Exane BNP Paribas and Capital Group, and a conservation finance specialist at Conservation Capital.
Read more

Juiane Caillouette-Noble
Managing Director - Sustainable Restaurant Association

Juliane Caillouette-Noble came to the Sustainable Restaurant Association as Development Director in 2016 after five years of running Jamie Oliver’s programmes for improving school food and food education across the UK. The SRA is a not for profit membership organisation committed to accelerating change toward an environmentally restorative and socially progressive hospitality sector in the UK. As Development Director, Juliane’s role included designing and developing strategic partnerships and campaigns, ensuring that the impact and influence of the SRA grows along with the size of the membership body. Juliane became the Managing Director of the SRA in January and looks forward to working with the industry to build back better and greener post Covid.
Read more

Martin Frick
Director - WFP Global Office Germany

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
Read more

Susan Thomas
Senior Director Sustainable Commercial Activities - ASDA

Susan joined Asda in June 2020 into a new role created to drive Asda’s strategic focus on Sustainability. She “quarter-backs” Asda’s cross functional efforts across the Better Planet agenda, mobilising activities including our journeys towards net zero, elimination of waste, optimising packaging and building a greener portfolio. Susan is a member of the BRC’s Climate Action Roadmap Steering Committee and chair of the Customer Engagement pathway.

Susan’s early career was spent at Kantar in insights, analytics and retail consulting, with a particular focus on Shopper Behaviour. Prior to Asda she spent 8 years at PepsiCo in a range of sales strategy and marketing roles, most recently leading the Brand Planning process and Better For You Snacking agenda for West Europe. Susan completed an Executive MBA in 2012 with a final dissertation examining the role of retailers in the obesity crisis.

Read more

Dr Helena Wright
Policy Director - FAIRR initiative

Dr Helena Wright is Policy Director at FAIRR Initiative, where she focuses on policy solutions to the risks and opportunities surrounding intensive animal agriculture. Helena’s work focuses on engaging governments, and investors around sustainable policies. Her prior experience includes working as a Vice President at WWF, as well as working for UK Government. She holds a PhD from Imperial College.
Read more

Paul Irwin-Rhodes
Head of Sustainability and SHE - Greggs

Paul leads the sustainability strategy at Greggs, with key focus on delivering against their Greggs Pledge plan and Net Zero ambition. Paul originally qualified as an industrial chemist in the coatings industry before moving into regulatory law prior to joining Greggs. Since taking on his current role he has been involved in the ongoing development of Greggs long term strategy as well as engaging with Government and other key stakeholders to shape longer term strategic direction for Greggs and the wider sector.
Read more

Safia Qureshi
Founder & CEO - CLUBZERØ

Safia Qureshi, Architect and Designer based in London, founded CLUBZERØ (formerly CupClub) in 2015. CLUBZERØ is the pioneer of reusability in consumer food and beverage packaging, having delivered the service at scale commercially for major NextGen food and beverage brands. Key awards include Best UX Design 2019 Fast Company and New Plastics Economy Winner from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Providing a key focus for the team to serve customers across the EU and North America in the drinks category was a strategic decision with the aim to build out a commercially scalable solution. As of March 2020, CLUBZERØ completed over half a million customer orders, using only a stock volume of standardised 10,000 reusable packaging items. Safia has led on product, helping the company define universal drop point design and standardised reusable packaging for scalability, allowing brands to develop their own packaging to operate across the platform. Safia also directed the company to design and publish its work in sustainability with a focus on delivering an LCA methodology that calculates impact down to every reuse by tracking reusable packaging with a digital ID across the platform. As a result, CLUBZERØ is market leading with a record return rate of 95% across retail and 99% across closed buildings. Customers include NextGen consortium brands Starbucks, McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Yum Brands, Nestle, Wendy’s as well as leading food service company Baxter Storey, Cushman & Wakefield and retailer John Lewis & Partners.
Read more

Sarah Wakefield
Head of Food Transformation - WWF

Sarah is the Head of Food Transformation at WWF. She joined WWF in March 2021 after nearly a decade of experience in food retail, focused on ethics and sustainability. She led the delivery of the Retailers’ Commitment to Nature announced at COP and the refresh of the WWF Basket – the ambition to halve the environmental impact of UK baskets by 2030. Her role is to ensure this ambition is met and to lead WWF’s engagement with the food industry.
Read more

Wayne Hubbard
CEO - ReLondon

Wayne is the Chief Executive Officer of ReLondon (formerly the London Waste and Recycling Board), where he is responsible for helping London’s boroughs to reduce waste and increase recycling rates and accelerating the development of a low carbon circular economy. He has been working for LWARB since 2008. Prior to this he was the Head of Waste Policy at the Greater London Authority. Wayne is a trustee on the board of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management. He has 25 years’ experience in the waste and resource management industry.
Read more

Anna Turrell
Head of Environment - Tesco

Anna is Head of Environment for Tesco Plc. At Tesco, Anna is responsible for the Group’s global climate change, sustainable agriculture, sustainable diets, marine and forest sustainability agendas. Anna is also responsible for Tesco’s flagship partnership with WWF. The cornerstone of the partnership focuses around the publication of the Sustainable Basket Metric. Through the Sustainable Basket Metric Tesco and WWF aim to halve the environmental impact of the average UK shopper’s basket and invite wider industry and civil society partners to join in to achieve this shared ambition.

Prior to joining Tesco, Anna was Head of Sustainability for Nestlé UK & Ireland, where she led the development and roll out of an integrated sustainability strategy across the multi-category business. Before moving in-house, Anna spent 10 years in sustainability consultancy in Europe and Asia.

Read more

Robin Clark
Senior Director of Global Partnerships - Just Eat

Robin grew up as a retailer, running commercial categories for both M&S and Tesco between 1998 and 2015. He joined Just Eat UK in 2015 to set up their restaurant partner perks programme building value through partnerships beginning with food wholesale, finance, card payments & utilities. Other areas of responsibility followed from sustainability and FMCG to grocery and partner e-commerce.

In 2020 after the merger with Takeaway.com he took on a wider global marketing remit to set up a team running global partnerships including sponsorships, sustainability, grocery strategy, FMCG and branded restaurant marketing. Much more importantly, he lives in North London with his wife and three children and if they haven’t exhausted him then the endurance sports usually do.

Read more

Get involved?

To take part in the debate at Sustainable Foods Conference: Contact Jawad Allawi