Philip Myers

With seven years of experience in the plastic packaging industry, Philip Myers has established himself as a key sales professional at SP Group, specializing in the UK market. His expertise lies in providing innovative and sustainable flexible packaging solutions to food and non-food industries, ensuring clients receive high-quality, customized packaging that meets the latest industry standards.

At SP Group, Philip works closely with manufacturers, brands, and retailers, understanding their needs and offering tailored solutions that enhance product preservation, shelf appeal, and sustainability.

Guia Blanco

She has over 15 years of experience in national and international R&D projects in the field of active, recyclable and compostable packaging. She holds a Degree in Chemical Engineering at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona (Spain). She has been R&D Project Engineer at SP GROUP since 2008 and nowadays she is involved in a range of different projects/research in collaboration with retailers, recycling companies, polymer producers and certification entities for developing new recyclable flexible Packaging with recycled content for food contact.

Niclas Poetner

Niclas brings 5 years of experience in water reuse and sustainability to the food industry. As a water reuse expert at EnviroChemie, Niclas has been at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative water recycling solutions that help food manufacturers reduce their environmental footprint while optimizing operational efficiency.

In his role at EnviroChemie, Niclas collaborates with global food industry partners to design cutting-edge technologies that transform wastewater into valuable resources. His work focuses on driving sustainability, reducing water consumption, and enabling closed-loop water systems within production processes.

Niclas brings deep technical knowledge and practical experience to the conference, having led numerous successful water reuse projects across Europe. He is passionate about addressing the growing challenges of water scarcity by leveraging innovation and fostering sustainable business practices.

During the conference, Niclas will share his insights on the future of water recycling in the food industry, highlight emerging trends, and discuss how innovative technologies are reshaping the way we think about water as a renewable resource.



Mary Ledman – Rabobank Dairy Strategist

As Rabobank’s Dairy Strategist, Mary Ledman leads a team of analysts around the globe and is tasked with analyzing developments in the regional and global dairy markets, developing the bank’s medium-term dairy forecasts and advising the bank on its engagement with the dairy industry.

Mary has a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University. In addition, she received Fulbright Scholarship to conduct comparative research on U.S. and European dairy policies at the University of Goettingen, Germany.

Christian Christensen

An independent entrepreneur and innovator with a focus on sustainable food that respects nature.

Since 2020, Christian Christensen has been the CEO of DRYK ApS, a company producing plant-based drinks for the high-end market.

After several years as a product manager at Coop, Christian Christensen and his partner decided to embark on a project to develop, produce, and sell some of the future’s plant-based foods—without compromising on taste and quality. The core idea was that by replacing milk with plant-based drinks, it is possible to reduce animal production and promote climate sustainability and biodiversity.

Thorough research into suppliers capable of meeting the high standards for raw materials, production, and quality led to a collaboration with the Swedish supplier Trensums Food.

Despite challenges both personally and in business, Christian Christensen has persevered and worked tirelessly, and he is now beginning to reap the rewards of his efforts. DRYK ApS’ revenue is steadily increasing, and today the company exports to more than 30 countries.

Christian Christensen has no doubt that the future of food is plant-based – and that this shift is necessary. His message is that we must find solutions to global public health challenges while simultaneously reducing the global resource consumption of food production.

Jazz Minhas

Jazz Minhas Technical Sales Manager brings 17 years of expertise and a network of contacts within the F&B industry. Passionate about natural colours and ingredients has turned his attention to highlighting the importance of the dairy industry and immersing in proactive solutions for clients. A delegate spokesperson for dairy media articles with exposure to key global dairy manufacturers he continues to drive the usage of sustainable natural colour solutions.

Colette Jermann

Colette Jermann is a food scientist with a wide experience across the food industry including consultation for new and conventional thermal processing technologies, fortifying foods, and solving NPD challenges. ​

She is now primarily focused on maximising the visual, and colourful, impact of dairy products using EXBERRY® colours.​

Kasper Hettinga

Kasper Hettinga received his MSc and PhD at Wageningen University. Over the past 15 years, he built a research group on the effects of processing on milk proteins in relation to digestion and health functionalities of dairy products. He is full professor in Dairy Processing and Functionality” and also is the chair of the Food Quality & Design Department. He is scientific advisor to 3 startups. He has supervised, and is supervising, ~40 PhD projects, and published ~175 peer-reviewed articles. He is teaching at the BSc, MSc and PhD level on topics related to food science, especially dairy technology.

In his work, he is combining traditional food science approaches to study food proteins with advanced -omics approaches (proteomics, peptidomics), leading to more detailed insights in the effects of processing on milk proteins. By subsequently studying the digestive behavior of those proteins, and linking this to the health consequences, focusing especially on immunogenicity, he aims to get better understanding of the health consequences of dairy processing. His works focuses on milk proteins from different sources: from animals such as cows and goat, to human breast milk, and recombinantly produced milk proteins.

Julia Keppler

Julia Keppler studied Food Science at Kiel University in Germany where she also received her PhD, and was a visiting post doc at INRAe in France afterwards.

She has more than 11 years of experience in the field of food protein functionality and 99 peer-reviewed publications and holds multiple patents.  She started her research group in the Food Process Engineering lab at Wageningen University, the Netherlands 6 years ago with the focus on tuning the structure and functionality of food protein ingredients during processing. In that context, her group explores new food protein sources that range from plant-, single cell -, mussel-proteins, to (dairy) proteins obtained through precision fermentation; unravels their functionalities and delves into the intricate relationship between structure and function influenced by processing techniques. The overarching aim is to identify and create sustainable and functional ingredients for the future.