Advancing Innovation in the Food Processing Industry. Speakers Bios

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1 Ignac Kolenko, P. Eng. Advancing Innovation in the Food Processing Industry Speakers Bios Ignac Kolenko is Chair, School of Engineering and Information Technology, at Conestoga College (Kitchener campus), with responsibility for software, electronics and information technology diploma and degree programs that Conestoga offers. A graduate of University of Waterloo in Computer Engineering, and is a Professional Engineer. His career spans over 25 years of software development and entrepreneurship. Ignac has worked for a number of local technology companies including NCR, Electrohome, MKS, and EZShow Systems, before starting his own software consulting company, Solution Tech Systems (STS) in the mid-90s. Through STS, Ignac offered software engineering services to companies throughout North America, provided training in software development, and implemented specialized software products for the digital signage market. Ignac has a long history of teaching with Conestoga College, including the creation of the Software Engineering Technician program at Conestoga College in 2001, and eventually joining as full time faculty Ignac was the recipient of the Aubrey Hagar Distinguished Teaching Award in April 2011, shortly before moving to the position of Chair in September As Chair, Ignac continues to offer entrepreneurial opportunities for students in a wider range of programs, and is a strong proponent of Applied Research and Innovation at Conestoga College. Joep Koene Joep Koene was educated as environmental biotechnology engineer at Wageningen University, with a Masters in microbiology and anaerobic waste water treatment. He worked as a research engineer at different public and private research organizations such as Grontmij, TNO Industry, and TNO Energy & Process Innovations in the field of waste water and sludge treatment, hazardous waste treatment and soil remediation. Since 2001 Joep has been working as a business developer for the Development Agency East Netherlands, initiating consortia and innovative projects which lead to new business in the private sector and research centres. He is the initiator of the Food Valley concept, and was responsible for the basis of the Foundation Food Valley in the period Until 2011 he was project manager of different international projects. Since 2005 he has been responsible for scouting & screening in the Technostarter activities of Wageningen University & Research Centre and other partners. Since 2011 Joep s activities have shifted from the food area to the bio-based economy. The transformation of the biggest paper mill in the Netherlands Parenco- to a bio-refinery campus is one of his most important challenges. Another activity is the establishment of a large scale production facility for high quality green algae.

2 Paulus Kosters Paulus Kosters, is the General Manager of Provalor BV, a privately owned company. He worked previously as manager Agro-Food at the Dutch research institute TNO and a number of years for different multinational breeding companies, such as Director Seed Technology for Novartis Seeds in the USA. He graduated from Wageningen University with a degree in agronomy and process engineering. During his time at TNO he initiated and realised many projects in innovative food processing of which several are in the area of vegetable processing. His broad experience in industrial R&D is key in the developments by Provalor of sustainable and innovative processes and products based in industrial by-products from the food industry. Provalor develops business concepts for high value food ingredients based on vegetables where industrial byproducts are the raw materials. Based on Provalor business concepts and know-how, vegetable ingredients like dietary fibre, juices and purees are produced and exported throughout Europe. Sustainability and avoiding food losses by using 100% of the available product was already the core of Provalor 10 years ago before anyone, industrial or government, defined this as a priority for a healthy food industry. As a pioneer in this field Provalor has initiated many national projects and is involved in several international EU projects where academic know-how and applied engineering meet in a commercial sustainable way. Luis Garcia Luis Garcia is the Chair of the Institute of Food Processing Technology at Conestoga College. He holds a Master of Science degree in Food Science from the University of Guelph and brings experience as a food scientist and former manager of a major international food processing operation. From 2003 to 2010, Luis worked as Food Scientist and as Traceability Coordinator with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs where he conducted research on unpasteurized apple cider and sprouts, and participated in the development of food safety and traceability programs for the food industry. He also worked on the implementation of sanitation programs in small processing operations. Luis has taught courses at the University level, trained adult employees in the food industry, and also co-lead the development of a workshop for managers and owners on how to create a food safety culture. He joined Conestoga College in January, 2010.

3 Wilhelmus de Louw Wilhelmus de Louw is the Managing director CEO of Foodcase Wageningen. Foodcase is a new business providing high-quality, full service development of food and beverage solutions with a long shelf life, specialty food and food and beverage packaging supplies to several target groups, such as Care, Airline, Transport and catering throughout Europe. Foodcase is located in Wageningen in the main center of Food Valley in the Netherlands. Food Valley is the Dutch food & nutrition cluster concentrated around Wageningen University and Research Center and comprising many institutes, companies and state-of-the-art facilities in the food & nutrition field. Food Valley is regarded as the largest food & nutrition Research & Development cluster in the world. Emiel F.M. Wubben Emiel F.M. Wubben is Associate Professor in Strategic Management for the Management Studies Group (Business Administration), at Wageningen University, since October He holds a Doctorandus degree in theoretical economics and a Doctorate degree in economics, both from Erasmus University of Rotterdam. Dr. Wubben was granted the 'J. Dorfman Dissertation Award 1994' by the History of Economics Society (USA). From he served as Assistant Professor Strategic Management and Business Environment at the Rotterdam School of Management. Emiel Wubben specializes in strategic management of agrifood companies with a focus on horticulture. He has taught courses on Industrial Organization, Strategic Management, Advanced Management and Marketing, and Advanced Business Strategies at several universities including Erasmus University, the University of Tilburg, the University of Leyden and Texas A&M. He has supervised hundreds of MSc theses and published scientific articles in similar quantities. His research expertise is in the fields of strategic management, inter-organizational relationships, synergy parks, Mergers & Acquisition, and its impact on the innovativeness of firms. He is a member of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society. He is also proud to have supervised, the winner of the 2010/2011 Dutch PhD-thesis of the year award in Business Administration, awarded on behalf of the Dutch business schools. He is currently supervisor to PhDs on academic spin-offs, innovativeness of Indonesian farmers, company-market relations, and synergyparks.

4 Erin Skimson Erin Skimson is the Director of the Catalyst Centre (CC) at the University of Guelph. She is responsible for the oversight of commercialization of University inventions through the technology transfer and industry liaison teams. She has a strong background in management, marketing, technology and business development having served for over 10 years in various management roles at Stryker Canada LP and Serono prior to joining U of G. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Dalhousie University as well as Master of Business Administration degree from McMaster University. Erin is an alumni of the Guelph/ Wellington Community Leadership program. She serves on several Boards, including Innovation Guelph, Volunteer Centre of Guelph-Wellington, la Garderie de L Arc-en-ciel. Her focus as Catalyst Centre director is on building partnerships to advance innovation at the University of Guelph. Mihaela Simion Mihaela Simion is the Program Manager for the IFPT and has more than 18 years of experience in the food processing industry. Prior to IFPT, she worked for a major dairy processor (Gay Lea Foods) managing quality assurance and quality control at both plant and corporate levels. She has successfully led the HACCP recognition of 2 facilities and has developed and implemented several corporate and plant specific programs. She holds a Bachelor s degree in Food Science and has extensive experience working in the beverage and meat sectors, in cleaning and sanitation, laboratory supervision, and quality management. She has a very thorough understanding of food safety and the way food safety and quality concepts are applied to the manufacturing of foods. She has developed and trained many in the food processing workforce on these concepts and throughout her career observed the positive impact that an educated workforce has on the quality of the products and the food business overall.

5 Dr.ir. C.D. (Kees) de Gooijer Kees de Gooijer has an MSc degree in Food Science and a PhD on Cascades of Bioreactors. He worked for Wageningen University from 1988 to 2006 in different positions: Associate Professor in the BioProcess Engineering Group, Director of the Educational Institute of Technology and Nutrition, Director of the State Institute of Food Safety (RIKILT), and General Director of the Agrotechnology and Food Sciences Group where he managed 20 full chairs and the Institute Agrotechnology & Food Innovations Ltd. Since October 2006, Kees is Managing Director of Food & Nutrition Delta, an innovation program carried out in dialogue between the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture & Innovation and its subsidiaries. Within a framework of five years a total investment in food innovation of at least 200 M has been made. Since August 2012 he is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Topconsortium for Knowledge and Innovation for the Biobased Economy (TKI-BBE), and interim Director of the Bureau for the TKI-Agri&Food. Dr.ir. de Gooijer is also a board member of the Royal Dutch Chemical Society, the executive committee of the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT) and the TKI-ISPT, the international advisory committee for an investment program of Yes Bank in India, advisory board of BF3 Ltd, Syntens Noord-Oost, several editorial boards in life sciences, AFMnet in Canada, and the Chairman of the board of B-Basic, an innovation program for sustainable chemistry. Ioana Dobrescu Ioana Dobrescu has followed environmental studies in Romania and recently completed a Masters in Science degree at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. She has carried research in water ecology with the Netherlands Institute for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and worked as university assistant in Advanced Statistics. In 2011, Ioana has briefly worked for the Development Agency East Netherlands on their partnership with Canada as joint intern with the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster. For the past year she has been carrying independent work in market research, B2B activities and knowledge transfer facilitation between the Netherlands, Canada and Romania.