FUTURE OF FOOD SEMINAR: 'FROM VISION TO ACTION'

Arie van den Brand
Chairman

Ir. Arie van den Brand is chair of the Groupe de Bruges, an independent network and think tank on European agricultural and rural developments and owner of Origine, an organic fruit company and consultancy in ecologic modernisation. Mr van den Brand is also active as a member and advisor in several organisations linked to agriculture and food such as the sustainable food lab, the Agricultural and Rural Convention, the Institute of Agricultural and Trade Policy and CLM (Centre for Agriculture and Environment). 

Mr van den Brandis the founder of the ILTC (Institute voor Land- en tuinbouw Cooperaties) of which he was director until 1996.  From 2002 to 2004, Mr van den Brand was a representative in the Dutch parliament for the Greens.  After which he became the President of Biologica an organisation for organic agriculture until 2010.

Jikun Huang
Director of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy

Jikun Huang is the Founder and Director of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), professor of Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research. He is also vice president of Chinese Association of Agricultural Economics and Chinese Association of Agro-Technology Economics, Member of International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council, and Council member of Global Agenda (World Economic Forum). He received his BS degree from Nanjing Agricultural University in 1984 and PhD in economics from University of the Philippines at Los Banos in 1990. His research covers a wide range of issues on China's agricultural and rural development, including work on agricultural R&D policy, water resource economics, price and marketing, food consumption, poverty, and trade policy. He received the Outstanding Scientific Progress awards from the Ministry of Agriculture four times, Award for China’s top ten outstanding youth scientists in 2002, Outstanding Achievement Award for Overseas Returning Chinese in 2003, Outstanding Contribution Award on Management Science in 2008, the UPLB Distinguished Alumni Award in 2008, and 2010 IRRI’s Outstanding Alumni Award. He has published more than 340 journal papers, of which about 160 papers published in the refereed international journals, including 2 research reports in Sciences and 1 article in Nature. He is co-author of 16 books.

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Peter Bakker
President-designate,World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) & Ambassador Against Hunger, UN World Food Program
 

Peter Bakker is a distinguished business leader who until June 2011 was the CEO of TNT NV the Netherlands based holding company of TNT Express and Royal TNT Post (formerly TPG Post). At end of May 2011 TNT NV was split in two separately listed companies: TNT Express NV and PostNL NV. He lead the demerger of TNT and, after its completion has stepped down and left the TNT group per June 1, 2011. Under leadership of Mr. Bakker, TNT has become a leader in Corporate Responsibility with a ground-breaking partnership with the UN World Food Program, ambitious CO2 reduction targets from its Planet Me initiative and multiple year leading positions in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
He joined Royal TPG Post in 1991 and was appointed financial director of its parcels business unit in 1993. He was appointed financial control director of TPG Post in 1996 and became a member of the Board of Management of TPG Post in 1997. Since the split of TPG N.V. from Koninklijke PTT Nederland N.V. until his appointment as CEO in 2001, he was chief financial officer and a member of the TPG Board of Management.
Mr. Bakker is a respected leader in Corporate Responsibility. He is the recipient of Clinton Global Citizen Award in 2009; SAM Sustainability Leadership Award in 2010 and UN’s WFP Ambassador Against Hunger in 2011. In addition he is the Chairman of War Child Netherlands.
Mr. Bakker holds a masters degree in Business Economics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from the HTS Alkmaar.

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Gabriela Alvarez
Director latitude

Gabriela Alvarez is founder and director of latitude, a research and consulting firm that supports organizations develop and implement innovative and inclusive wealth creation solutions in supply networks. 

She also collaborates with higher education institutions as a lecturer in Strategy and Sustainability at the HEC University of Lausanne, as a visiting fellow to Cranfield University, and as a researcher and consultant with IMD’s Global CEO Center: Leading in a connected future. Gabriela also acts as an advisor, researcher and lecturer with the UN agency International Trade Center in the topics of trade and sustainable development, market analysis and private sustainability standards. 

Prior to creating Latitude, she was a Global Account Manager with Monitor Company - an international strategy consulting firm founded by Michael Porter – where she managed client relationships and coordinated projects in USA, Europe and South America. She also worked in public-private sector initiatives and Cluster Analysis in such as the Monitor Competitive Advantage of Nations project in Colombia and as a Consultant to the UNDP in Technical Cooperation issues.

She holds a degree in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), an MBA degree from The Wharton School, an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania (USA). She received a Doctorate in Management degree from the University of Cranfield (England) for her work on sustainable agriculture and the relationships among multiple stakeholders in sustainability programs in the food and beverage sector. She has authored articles and participated in books in the area of sustainability standards and inter-organizational networks.

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Hugo Bethlem
Vice president Grupo Pào de Açúcar

Mr. Hugo A. Jordão Bethlem is Executive Vice-President of Corporate Relations at Grupo Pào de Açúcar. Mr. Bethlem began his career with Grupo Pào de Açúcar in 2001 and since then has worked as our Commercialization Officer, Commercial Officer, executive Officer of CompreBem and Sendas unities and Supply Chain and IT Vice-President. Mr. Bethlem was the Commercial Officer of DiCicco, Jerônimo Martins, Parque Temático Play Center and Carrefour. Mr. Bethlem has a degree in Business Administration from Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas – FMU and has a post-graduate degree in Administration from Cornell University and has been our executive officer since 2003.

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Anne van Gastel
Vice President Business Management Europe, BASF Plant Science

After his education with focus on agriculture and economics, Anne van Gastel started in 1983 in the sales and marketing unit of the Crop Protection division of BASF Netherlands. In 1991 he joined BASF’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen and took responsibility for several Crop Protection product management positions before he went to France 1996 and headed the marketing department of BASF France’s Crop Protection division for 4 years.

In 2001 Anne van Gastel took the lead for two global E-Commerce projects (Elemica and ChemicalPortal). After the successful start up of those platforms he became in 2003 responsible for BASF’s Fine Chemicals Cosmetic Ingredients business in Europe, Africa and West Asia.

Since 2006 he is responsible for Business Management Europe at BASF Plant Science.

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Amit Roy
President and CEO of IFDC

Dr. Amit Roy has been the president and chief executive officer of IFDC since 1992. Roy joined IFDC in 1978 as a chemical engineer and special projects engineer. He contributed to IFDC’s successful efforts to reinvigorate Bangladesh’s agricultural sector and to prevent a humanitarian crisis in that country. Under his leadership, IFDC developed a working and vibrant market for agricultural supplies and products in Albania where none existed previously.

Roy was instrumental in organizing the Africa Fertilizer Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2006. In 2008, Roy spoke before the Hunger Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives. Roy regularly meets with donors, government officials and development organizations. He has published extensively and presented papers and keynote addresses at numerous international events and meetings.

Before coming to IFDC, Roy was a process engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Roy earned a doctorate and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech. There, he served as a charter member of the Lions Club and was elected to the Graduate Student Senate. He received a bachelor’s degree with honors in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur, India. IIT honored Roy with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2011.

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Jeffrey D. Sachs
Director, Earth Institute, Colombia University

Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University.

He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed goals to reduce extreme poverty, disease, and hunger by the year 2015. Sachs is also President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty.

He is widely considered to be the leading international economic advisor of his generation.  For more than 20 years Professor Sachs has been in the forefront of the challenges of economic development, poverty alleviation, and enlightened globalization, promoting policies to help all parts of the world to benefit from expanding economic opportunities and wellbeing.

He is author of hundreds of scholarly articles and many books, including the New York Times bestsellers Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (Penguin, 2008) and The End of Poverty (Penguin, 2005).

Anuradha Mittal
Executive Director Oaklan Institute

Anuradha Mittal, founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, is an internationally renowned expert on trade, development, human rights and agriculture issues. Recipient of several awards, Anuradha Mittal was named as the Most Valuable Thinker in 2008 by the Nation magazine.

Mittal has authored and edited numerous books and reports including (Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the International Finance Corporation in the Global Land Grab; The Great Land Grab: Rush for World’s Farmland Threatens Food Security for the Poor; Voices from Africa: African Farmers and Environmentalists Speak out Against a New Green Revolution; 2008 Food Price Crisis: Rethinking Food Security Policies. Her articles and opinion pieces have been published in widely circulated newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Bangkok Post, Houston Chronicle, and the Nation. Anuradha has addressed the Congress, the United Nations, given several hundred keynote addresses including invitational events from governments and universities, and has been interviewed on CNN, BBC World, CBC, ABC, Al-Jazeera, National Public Radio and Voice of America.

Anuradha is on the board and advisory committees of several non profit organizations including the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize), International Forum on Globalization, and is a member of the independent board of Ben & Jerry's which focuses on providing leadership for Ben & Jerry’s social mission and brand integrity.

Feike Sijbesma
CEO DSM

Feike Sijbesma (Dutch) studied medical biology at the University of Utrecht and business administration at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

In 1987, he joined the Industrial Pharmaceuticals division of Gist-brocades, where he was responsible for strategic planning and business development. From 1990 to 1993, he was appointed the division’s Marketing and Sales Director. Thereafter (1993) he was given leadership of Savoury Ingredients, later on a business unit of Gist-brocades’ Food Specialties Division. In 1995, he was made director of that division and joined the Gist-brocades’ Executive Committee. Following the acquisition by DSM in 1998 he became Director of the business group DSM Food Specialties.
In 2000, Feike joined DSM’s Managing Board of Directors. He became Chairman of the Managing Board on May 1, 2007.

Supervisory directorships and other positions held: board member of CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council) chairman Chemical Governors World Economic Forum member of the Supervisory Board of Utrecht University member of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Genomics Initiative member of the Advisory Board of RSM Erasmus University member of the Advisory Board of ECP-EPN (e-commerce) Former supervisory directorships and other positions held: member of the Dutch Innovation Platform 2.0 member of the board of BIO (US Biotechnology Association) chairman of EuropaBio (European Biotechnology Association) member of the board of the Dutch Top Institute for Food and Nutrition (TIFN).

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