Annual Conference

Helen Darling
Chief Executive & Cofounder, Sumfood & Cheif Executive & Founder, InstatData

After completing a PhD in Public Health Helen co-founded Oritain in 2007, she then went onto found Sumfood and under that umbrella has been working to build food system intelligence through consumer reporting, price monitoring and social listening (founding Instat Data in 2022).Helen has held several governance roles with local and national bodies including the Board of ESR, the advisory committee of Export NZ and international governance experience with the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (Expert Committee, Food Ingredients; Expert Panel, Food Fraud). As a food producer Helen has also been one of a small team that has developed a novel variety of cherry and achieved plant varietal rights

Craig Armstrong
Customer Director-Food, Beverage & Consumer Goods (Mid-North Island), New Zealand Trade & Enterprise

Prof Phil Marriott
Professor, LaTrobe University

Professor Marriott’s research commenced at LaTrobe University (Ph.D.) then continued at Bristol (Postdoc). Academic appointments include the National University of Singapore, then in Melbourne at RMIT and Monash University. His primary research is in comprehensive two-dimensional GC (GC×GC) and multidimensional GC, and mass spectrometry, including fundamental development and a broad applications base. Foods, flavours and beverage analysis feature strongly amongst key directions for the advanced separations technologies he has developed.

Kathy Glass
Associate Director & Distinguished Scientist, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Kathy Glass joined the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985 and currently serves as Associate Director. Her primary role is to work with the food industry to develop and validate formulation-safe foods. Kathy is an active member of several advisory committees and professional associations including the National Advisory Committee for the Microbiological Criteria of Foods and the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). She has served as Past-President of IAFP and its Wisconsin affiliate, is the recipient of the 2011 IAFP Fellow Award, the 2017 National Cheese Institute Laureate Award, and 2019 Wisconsin Meat Hall of Fame. In addition,Kathy is a regular instructor at workshops on challenge studies, Listeria control methods,and dairy and meat safety. She earned her Doctorate in Food Microbiology and Safety at the UW-Madison, focusing on formulation safety of pasteurized process cheese products.Kathy has more than 155 invited presentations, 97 technical abstracts, 60 peer-reviewed publications, and three book chapters.

Warren McNabb
Professor of Nutritional Sciences and Leader of Sustainable Nutrition Initiative, Riddet Institute, Massey University

Warren McNabb is a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the Riddet Institute, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), hosted by Massey University. His research interests include nutritionfor health, sustainable nutrition, human-microbiome interactions, physiology and metabolism.Warren leads several programmes including the MBIE-funded, New Zealand Milks Mean More and the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative. Warren is also an Associate Investigator in the HVN National Science Challenge, Healthy Digestion and Infant Health. His focus is on food structures-nutrient digestion interactions, clinical investigations of nutrition, and sustainable nutrition.Warren has had a long career in food science and has published >200 scientific papers with >15,000 citations. Warren is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, a member of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology, a member of the American Society of Nutrition and the Canadian Nutrition Society, and has served on national and international research advisory and funding panels.

Juliet trained at Oxford University and moved to Aotearoa in 1993 where her career has included roles in both Crown Research Institutes and universities. Juliet’s research background is broad and interdisciplinary, with particular interests in fundamental and applied protein science. She has held an Industry and Outreach Fellowship with Callaghan Innovation, founded a start-up company, chaired the Marsden Council, served on the Board of Directors of Plant and Food Research, and is currently on the Board of Te Papa. Since Juliet’s appointment in 2018 as the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Kaitohutohu Mātanga Pūtaiao Matua ki te Pirimia, she has worked from a base of four founding principles: rigour, inclusivity, transparency, and accessibility. She has supported the science and science advisor community to provide advice to the PM, ministers, and the public on a wide range of topics, including advice on the Christchurch mosque shootings, the response to the Whakaari| White Island eruption, the Cannabis referendum, rheumatic fever and the Covid-19 pandemic. The Office has released three major reports, Rethinking plastics in Aotearoa New Zealand, The future of commercial fishing in Aotearoa New Zealand, and Kotahitanga - Uniting Aotearoa against infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance and has a current focus on food waste.