Christopher was a co-founder of what became the Emerging Markets unit of the macro research firm TS Lombard, which in 2022 was acquired by GlobalData. His EM experience was forged in Russia, where, from the 1990s onwards, he was a British diplomat and then an analyst working in Moscow-based investment banks. His banking experience combined work both for financial investors – earning him top rankings in broker surveys – and strategic investors, including advisory work on the acquisition of Russian beer brands by international strategic investors. At TS Lombard, Christopher has integrated broad geopolitical risk analysis into the firm’s macroeconomic and market strategy research.

He is a regular commentator on political drivers for economies and financial markets in broadcast media and leading op-ed columns. He graduated from Oxford University, where he was also a Fellow of All Souls College.

Helen has dedicated over a decade to shaping strategy and innovation at Molson Coors. In her current role as Strategy, Sustainability & Innovation Director for EMEA APAC, she leads initiatives that drive long-term growth across diverse markets. Throughout her time with Molson Coors, Helen has held several leadership roles which included establishing the UK Futures team, integrating insight and innovation to identify & realise new opportunities. During her early career, she gained valuable experience across roles in commercial, marketing, and innovation at Diageo.

Experienced Sales and business development manager in technology-oriented companies with ambition to grow and change . I see the big picture, and focus on the parts that are most important for achieving results. I do well when it comes to keeping employees motivated. My strength lies particularly in getting an organization to developed their offering and align sales and marketing.

Freddie Ugo is Co-founder and Head of Brand at Beyond Belief Brewing Co, a challenger beer brand turning surplus fresh pasta and bakery food waste into sustainable craft beer. As the 4th generation of the Ugo family behind Dell’Ugo, Freddie brings a legacy of food innovation into the drinks space. With a background in FMCG decarbonisation, he leads on brand strategy and environmental standards, driving Beyond Belief Brewing Co’s mission to bring circular innovation to the alcohol category. He is currently studying for an MSc in Conservation Science, using insights from his academic work to reinforce and evolve the brand’s sustainability credentials.

Christian's lifelong passion for beer has taken him to six continents in search of the finest craft breweries. With 12 years of brewing experience, started in his university days, he's the driving force behind our innovative beer styles. Collaborating with local communities and food producers, Christian aims to combat food waste while creating beers for all to savour

In 2016 Rob Fink founded the world’s first company to focus entirely on brewing Non-Alcoholic craft beer – Big Drop Brewing Co. As a lawyer with zero brewing experience, he teamed-up with an experimental brewer (Johnny Clayton from Wild Beer) and applied left-field fermenting techniques that meant no alcohol needed to be extracted from the end product to meet the required maximum 0.5% ABV. Less than 4 years later he is selling over 1 million bottles of 0.5% ABV beer annually around the world (eg Tesco in the UK, LCBO in Canada, Systembolaget in Sweden, Alco in Finland, NTUC Finest in Singapore etc). His beers have picked up 26 major international beer awards including twice being judged the ‘World’s Best’ at the World Beer Awards, Gold at the US Open Beer Championship and, the ‘Holy Grail’ of any non-alcoholic drink, winning medals against full-strength rivals in blind tastings. In 2019 Rob was a keynote at the Brewers of Europe Forum and the International Beer Strategies conference.

Gabor has been working for Asahi for the last 15 years and fulfilled various IT roles in the organization. In 2020 he started focusing specifically on Digital Manufacturing & Supply Chain embedding innovation and automation thinking into the function’s culture. Post implementing task automation in highly manual process areas, Asahi’s Digital Brewery programme was launched where he led successful innovation projects in the field of Connected Workers. More recently he started exploring new opportunities in the Predictive Maintenance and Energy Management areas, and a unique initiative for Sustainable Farming (For Hops) running in collaboration with Czech hop farmers. Gabor is a technology enthusiast, digital evangelist and automation leader, innovator, and a beer lover…

Lukas is an experienced beverage industry professional with a strong commercial track record in both scaling up and optimizing businesses. In his 15-year career within the Spirits, Wine & Beer industry he has proven his leadership by outperforming targets in various full lifecycle solutions in a several local and international projects.

In his current role his team is tasked to drive & increase the relevance of Feldschlösschen as the #1 in the Swiss beer market across a variety of adjacent categories like Wine & Spirits.

Owner and Founder of UK-based natural flavour manufacturer, I.T.S. Mike is an experienced flavour innovator who has spent over 25 years in the food and beverage industry. With a background in science and food ingredients, he then founded I.T.S. in 2009. Building it up from his kitchen table to the international flavour business it is today. Mike remains proudly independent and always passionate about creating market-leading natural flavours for the food and beverage market. Mike spends his days exploring the food and drink industry, playing rugby and brewing beer.

Born, raised and living in Belgium, but Dieter has been working for more than 11 years for the Dutch Trappist brewery of Koningshoeven, where the renowned Trappist ales of La Trappe are brewed. From the beginning he has been part of the Export department. Finding the balance between the monastic world of the Trappist monks and the everyday changing (commercial) world is the main objective of the brewery. Unique collaborations and unique beers (like 0.0% Trappist ales) are partly the answer to this challenge

I hold a degree in Food Management and Industrial Engineering, studied at FH Joanneum, Graz and Kapfenberg. After that I gained experience as Quality Manager and in Sales within the Food Sector, with a Focus on the Beverage Industry. In 2022 I joined Anton Paar as Key Account Manager Beverages and Food, where I connect and add value to global players in the beverage industry through innovative solutions and strategic partnerships.

I have a 26-year track record in the Food & Beverage industry, gained in multinational companies across various functions, including Strategic Leadership, Directorship, and Business Management.

In my role as Global Sales Director at Co.Mac, I focus on developing the business and support the customer needs.

I hold a Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

I am passionate about innovative and sustainable solutions, and my goal is to provide value by solving challenges that make the world a better place.

In terms of qualifications, Mr. Christoph Hiesgen is a graduate engineer in energy and environmental technologies.

Mr. Hiesgen has been employed by E.ON Energy Infrastructure Solutions since beginning of 2013. He has been active in the energy services business after his university graduation since 1997 and had different leadership roles in Sales being responsible in particular for the business development in different energy intense industrial segments.

Will Blackett brings over 25 years of Drinks, Retail and Foodservice experience to GlobalData. Prior to joining GlobalData, Will worked clientside at Sainsbury's, McDonald's and Heineken, working in various innovation, brand and commercial roles. Will also has extensive consultancy experience, leading a global vertical at Dunnhumby and heading the Consumer division of Savanta, a full-service insight agency, where he partnered with some of the world's largest drinks companies.

As leader of the Pitcher Customer Success team, Dirk Abeel applies his broad and deep expertise in sales enablement, commercial excellence, and omnichannel transformation to help our customers successfully execute their commercial strategies on the Pitcher platform

Jonathan holds a PhD from University College Cork entitled Molecular Interactions in Solutions and Gels of Galactomannans and Carrageenans. Jonathan is currently the Business Development Director for Functional Technologies at Kerry Europe, which include Enzymes, and Brewing Ingredients. He began his career at Kerry in 2007 as part of the R&D team developing new product innovations and now spends his time working with customers to provide solutions that help address current market needs and improve process efficiency while maintaining product quality and consistency.

Mining Engineer with a master in Energy and Fuels from Universidad Politécnica of Madrid

Energy Risk Professional certificate from Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP)

11 years professional experience in energy markets (Energy Management, Trading and Origination). The last 3 years working as originator at Statkraft

After a master degree in engineering with a specialisation in Environment, Juliette Cauchy worked for the construction products sector for two years before joining Imerys in 2020. She now coordinates sustainability projects such as the assessment of Imerys solutions according to sustainability criteria including the Life cycle Assessment (LCA) of minerals.

Experience

• 33 years with Diversey
• Roles covering technical support of Global Brewing Accounts, applications, training and development.

Education

• Fermentation Chemistry & Bioengineering at University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague

Experience

• Over 18 years with Diversey.
• Spanish living in Praha, CZ, Central Europe.
• Specialising in Water Treatment in a diverse range of global accounts

Education

• Degree in Chemistry from University of Málaga.
• Master Degree in Food Safety – Universidad de VIC (Barcelona)

Born in Zambia, a British National, with a doctorate in Microbiology from the University of Manchester, England, Matt Jordan started his working career as an operator on a packaging line at a UK regional brewer. 12 years later, with a diploma in brewing and an interest in filtration, he was appointed filtration zone specialist at now the world’s biggest brewer, responsible for implementing filtration “best practice” in their 15 European breweries. Matt Jordan joined Imerys Minerals LTD  in 2007 as a brewing filtration specialist, supporting filter aid applications. With various roles in Marketing, New Product Development and Global Adsorbent Business Development, Matt Jordan is now Filtration Technical Support Manager for Imerys Performance Minerals EMEA

Willem Korevaar is Strategic Customer Manager at Adven, responsible for Energy as a Service projects in the Food & Beverage sector. Willem has a background in process engineering and extensive knowledge of beverage industry. He holds a master’s degree in public administration.

Marc Ebben, started as Strategic Customer Manager Food & Beverage at Adven in January 2024, focussing on connecting with major manufacturers in the Food & Beverage industry. Before joining Adven he has been active in the renewable energy business before for 4 years at Unisun Energy as Business Development Manager of large scale solar and battery projects in Europe and for almost 20 years in the packaging industry in various sales, business development, plant management and director roles. He started his journey in the packaging industry with Kappa (Smurfit Westrock nowadays) and followed by Weidenhammer Packaging, later Sonoco, before moving to Stora Enso and Corex (part of VPK).

Viola Cereda is passionate and deeply immersed in the study of beer and data. She is an active member of the Italian Society of Sensory Sciences. As Sensory Team Coordinator at VINHOOD, she leads the interpretation of sensory data to uncover actionable insights. She specializes in supporting beer industry partners with data-driven strategies tailored to consumer taste preferences

Sandy is co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Zaptic, the leading AI powered connected worker platform for manufacturers. At Zaptic, Sandy is responsible for new business, account management and partnerships, and works closely with a number of Zaptic’s key accounts including Carlsberg, Asahi and Diageo. Prior to co-founding Zaptic, Sandy co-founded LetsDoThis, the world’s largest mass participation sports event booking website, and was previously in strategy consulting