Executive and Technical Series

The Executive and Technical Series (ETS) is formulated to meet the educational needs of top executives, research scientists, and product developers. By design, the program is both exclusive and intimate in nature with networking opportunities for this high-powered audience. With top industry leaders and topic-specific experts delivering real and relevant content, the ETS program is a must-attend for professionals that intend to stay ahead of the competition.

Friday, June 7	Sessions		Speakers
8:00 am-9:30 am	Synthetic vs. Natural Due to the time sensitive nature of this seminar's content, a full class description will be provided at a later date.		Frank Jaksch Frank L. Jaksch, Jr., co-founded ChromaDex® in 1999 and has served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since 2000. Under his leadership, ChromaDex® has focused on developing a strong natural products and services business, expanded into international markets and built an impressive roster of Fortune 500 customers. Prior to founding ChromaDex®, Mr. Jaksch served as the International Subsidiaries Manager of Phenomenex®, a life science supply company, where he managed the company’s international subsidiary and international business development divisions. His broad expertise includes analytic chemistry, biochemistry, processes and product development for natural products, legal and regulatory practices, agriculture and botany. Mr. Jaksch holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biology from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. He is a member of the American Chemistry Society, the American Herbal Products Association, the American Botanical Council and the NSF Joint Committee for Dietary Supplements.
9:45 am-10:45 am	The Short and Long Term Future of M&A in the Food & Beverage Industry Speakers will address M&A issues in a presentation oriented toward company C-level executives and owners. Such issues include: Target company attributes acquirers seek; why acquisitions fail or do not meet expectations; market valuations; trends, and hot and cold sectors in the Tea & Healthy Beverage market.		Panel Discussion Moderator: Zane Markowitz, Senior Managing Director, The McLean Group, LLC Panelists: Sue Keil, Vice President, The McLean Group, LLC Brian Sullivan, Managing Director, The McLean Group, LLC Scott Wait, Managing Director, The McLean Group, LLC
11:00 am-12:00 pm	Livin' Lean: How CLA Works to Increase Lean Muscle, Help Endurance, and Reduce Fat Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is functional food which induces fat-loss, probably by increasing beta-oxidation of fats. Based on its mechanism of action and on data of animal studies, CLA is expected to improve endurance capacity. Food applications with CLA are growing, including a variety of beverage formulations mainly into the weight management or sports nutrition segments.		Hiskias Keizer Hiskias Keizer is a medical biologist who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years as a toxicologist, ADME expert, and pharmacologist in preclinical research and development departments. For the past few years, he’s focused his expertise on dietary functional fats.
Saturday, June 8
8:00 am-9:30 am	Rehydration of Firefighters with Reduced Alkalinized Water Whole blood viscosity (WBV) measurements may serve as an independent biomarker of hydration and dehydration states of on-duty firefighters. Methods: The effects of a strenuous firefighting simulation and subsequent rehydration on WBV and other biological metrics were investigated in a pilot study of nine healthy non-smoking firefighters. Vital signs, traditional medical laboratory blood tests, and WBV were measured for each firefighter at baseline, after exercise but before rehydration with alkaline water, and post-exercise and after rehydration. Results: Reduced alkalinized water, Hematocrit, hemoglobin, and WBV increased after exercise and before rehydration. Hemoglobin and hematocrit returned to baseline values after exercise and rehydration and while WBV was improved, baseline values were not restored. Conclusions: WBV changes were significantly larger than hematocrit and hemoglobin changes after exercise but before rehydration, however, suggesting a profound influence of hydration states on WBV with reduced alkalinized water.		Ralph Holsworth Ralph is a board-certified osteopathic family physician previously serving rural and underserved regions of New Mexico and Colorado. Prior to receiving his Doctor of Osteopathy, Dr. Holsworth served as environmental scientific consultant with the US EPA and private sector firms providing technical assistance on Superfund site evaluation, remediation and environmental cleanups. Dr. Holsworth practiced medicine in a wide variety of settings before joining Tahoma Clinic, where he treats a wide variety of health conditions, with special interest in cardiovascular conditions, auto-immune problems, diabetes, and environmental illness. In addition to the above position, Dr. Holsworth serves as Director of Clinical and Scientific Research for Essentia Water; serves as honorary professor, Department of Biology, at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Applied Clinical Thrombosis and Hemostasis and the Japan Nattokinase Research Association.
9:45 am-10:45 am	Compliance Complexity & Cost: Purity Adulteration, Sourcing and Testing Challenges The presentation will be an overview of GMO and Prop 37 like legislative items in the pipeline, as well as adulteration, sourcing and testing challenges. Impacts in terms of costs, compliance and complexity to the functional beverage industry.		George Pontiakos George Pontiakos is president and CEO of BI Nutraceuticals. Pontiakos oversees all aspects of operations for BI Nutraceuticals west and east coast offices and the Zuellig Group Nutrition and Ingredients based in China. A New Jersey native, Pontiakos has held senior leadership positions at several leading consulting, medical services and technology companies including Monovasia, which he founded, Oluma, Lucent, Agere, Ortel, NetVantage, Timeplex and ITT Avionics. He has wide-ranging experience in scaling geographically dispersed global companies to maximize their ability to successfully compete in the marketplace. Pontiakos holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
11:00 am-12:00 pm	Gettin’ It Right the First Time – The Art and Science of Creating a Healthy Company It is more difficult than ever to launch, build and sufficiently fund a successful healthy beverage enterprise AND yet it can be done. It’s no longer enough to just have a truly exceptional product and brand. You need strong experienced leadership who can drive realistic expectations, have adequate and well timed resources, understand the nature of a changing landscape, adopt best in class strategies, build an experienced winning team and be ready to respond rapidly to unanticipated shifts and changes that will always occur…Today’s healthy beverage companies have the greatest chances of success when they are healthy companies at their core – maximizing the spirit and esprit of its founders, developing the tenacity to creatively overcome obstacles, a team that can lead by example, accurately measuring and communicating big and small successes as well as knowing when to pivot internally and externally when something just isn’t going as you planned – these are just a few of the “mandatory’s” to succeed in today’s Healthy Beverage Marketplace.		Janet DiGiovanna Janet is a co-founder and principal of DASH - Advisors to Innovative Food & Beverage and has been a successful entrepreneur and strategic advisor in the organic and natural products industries for over twenty five years. She began her career with BBDO-NYC as a Senior Account Supervisor and then went on to found a boutique marketing and design agency in Florida. Janet compliments her marketing expertise with exceptional organizational development skills and has worked with a variety of clients in the healthy beverage industry.  Danny Rubenstein As a co-founder and principal of DASH - Advisors to Innovative Food & Beverage, Danny Rubenstein has spent over twenty five years as a successful entrepreneur and strategic advisor in the organic and natural products industries. He began his career with Arthur Andersen Co. as a Senior System Consultant and then went on to partner with a childhood friend and together they launched and built Naked Juice. Since selling Naked Juice, Danny has held a variety of executive management and strategic advisory positions with several innovative companies.
Sunday, June 9
8:00 am-9:30 am	Super-fruits, Super-foods and Super-ingredients: Bringing Real “Health” to “Healthy Beverages" This panel will explore the future of healthy beverages as it pertains to the transcendence of super-foods, super-fruits, and super-ingredients into a new generation of high-performing beverages from 5 differing perspectives.		Panel DiscussionModerator: Thor Harris, President, Percepture Panelists: Lena Bezman, Physician, Kennedy Krieger Institute Jo-Ann Heslin, MA/RD/Certified Nutritionist, The Nutrition Experts John Ason, Professional Investor
9:45 am -10:45 am	Botanical Powerhouses: Using the Most Efficacious, Safe & Popular Herbs Due to the time sensitive nature of this seminar's content, a full class description will be provided at a later date.		Rob McCalebRob McCaleb is the founder and president of the Herb Research Foundation in Boulder, Colorado. As former Research Director for Celestial Seasonings, he established and ran the analytical lab, research programs and flavor control systems. An internationally recognized expert on botanicals, he writes and lectures on optimizing health with natural health care products. He also heads Sustainable Natural Products, which helps international companies succeed in the dynamic natural products marketplace, while helping the domestic natural products industry to build more sustainable businesses. For more than 30 years, Rob has provided advisory services for natural product development, labeling, marketing and promotion. McCaleb was one of five scientists on the presidentially-appointed Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels, which studied global regulation of natural health products and made recommendations to Congress and the FDA for implementing the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.
11:00 am -12:00 pm	Marketing Teas as Dietary Supplements vs. Foods This workshop will explain the basic concept of going beyond flavor and the adding of claims to tea supplements. A comprehensive overview of the supplement regulatory compliance considerations and applicable resources for product marketers will be included.		Michael McGuffin Michael McGuffin, President of the American Herbal Products Association, has dedicated over 30 years to the herbal industry, having served in his current position, as a member of the Board of Trustee's and having owned both retail and manufacturing businesses in this field. A leading expert on dietary supplement regulation, Mr. McGuffin has been published in scholarly and scientific journals and has represented the herbal industry at state and federal hearings on herbal regulatory issues. He has served as a member of the FDA's Food Advisory Committee, for both the Working Group on Good Manufacturing Practices for Dietary Supplements and the Dietary Supplements Subcommittee. He also currently serves on California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Analysis Food Warning Workgroup and the Advisory Board of the USC School of Pharmacy Regulatory Science Master's Degree Program. He also serves on the boards of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and United Plant Savers.