December 2021 Professional Development

December 2021 Professional Development - Ready for a Change?

As the food industry grapples with the constantly evolving professional landscape, it may be hard to know what companies and recruiters are valuing most in new candidates.

Please join the professional development committee for a panel on how you can improve your skill set while looking for a new role or even in your current role. This panel will include CPG professionals in recruiting, talent management and technical management.

Where: GoToWebinar
Date: Wednesday, December 8th, 2021
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Price: $15 for members and $25 for non-members

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Eliana Pinilla-Ryhal
The Common Market

Eliana is a creative professional with 16 years of experience in the food industry.

As a food scientist by trade, she has had the opportunity to put her expertise and leadership skills to good use at different ingenuity-demanding roles at different stages in CPG, private label goods, and food ingredient manufacturing.

Currently, Eliana is leading the roll out of the Chicago and Great Lakes Region chapter for The Common Market, an East coast based local food social enterprise and community development nonprofit.

Lisa Johnson
Managing Director
Kincannon & Reed

A Chicago food industry executive, experienced board member and serial entrepreneur, Lisa frequently speaks on talent acquisition and succession in the food sector and her passion, Women’s Entrepreneurship.

She holds many awards and recognitions and applies her expertise working with clients seeking general managers, presidents, and CEOs, as well as senior functional executives in marketing, sales, finance, business development, R&D, and food safety.

Prior to joining Kincannon & Reed, Lisa was a partner at Global Food Partnership that advised food manufacturers and retailers around the world in strategies for bringing new products to market. Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri.

Nicole Simmons
Kellogg’s
Talent Advisor

Nicole is a graduate of Miami University with close to 10 years of Talent Acquisition experience inclusive of contingent staffing, corporate recruiting, and retained executive search work for a variety of industries.

Currently, she supports recruitment for Food Science Professionals within Kellogg’s R&D function. Kellogg’s, a well-known multi-national food corporation, has Food Scientists + Technologists who work on some of the world’s most iconic + popular brands from Cheez-It and Pringles to RXBAR, Kashi and MorningStar Farms to name a few.

December 2021 Cultivating Community and Learning Event

December 13, 2021 - Cultivating Community and Learning Event

This event has been changed to streaming only.

Schedule:
4:00-5:00 PM: Executive Board Meeting – all welcome!
5:30-6:30 PM: Speaker

Location:
GoToWebinar

Fees:
$15.00 Streaming / On-Demand

Streaming / On-Demand Registration

This program qualifies for IFT Certified Food Scientist (CFS) recertification contact hours (CH). CFS Certificants may claim a maximum of 1.5 CH for their participation in this program.

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Title: Partnering with Food Manufacturers to Optimize Value and Sustainability Through By-Product Innovation

Every year, over 100 million tons of food industry by-products and co-products are upcycled to U.S. domestic livestock (IFEEDER 2019 Animal Consumption Report). In 2021, the GFS team alone will repurpose approximately 1.1 billion pounds of food manufacturing residuals.

Improvements in waste characterization, quality and regulatory documentation, and handling practices can yield great benefits. By finding solutions for food recycling for animal feed, we are not only providing nutritious ingredients for livestock and pet foods, we are unlocking the potential value of by-products and making the most out of excess food resources.

Sustainable food manufacturing goes beyond landfill avoidance, to optimizing resources for their best possible use at their greatest possible value. Through advanced R&D, a wide range of low-to-no value food by-products can be transformed into valuable revenue streams.

Research and technology are the means by which new applications for raw materials are developed. Add to that sophisticated sales and marketing strategies, and GFS clients are changing the nature of their low-value and costly by-products. By enhancing unique nutritional characteristics and capitalizing on new markets and opportunities, our team of animal nutritionists and market experts are responsible for many food industry innovations, bold new projects and game-changers in upcycling a full range of products, including cheese, dairy, chocolate, candy, bakery meal, brewer’s yeast, plant proteins, oil and meats.

Through use of case studies, we will demonstrate that by taking the innovation pathway less traveled, we are unlocking a multiplier effect in sustainability while creating more value for our clients. It is our passion to discover new uses for existing food by-products where alternate products may be resource intensive.

Join us for an interesting, interactive session in which we can share best practices and meet the Chicago IFT Chapter.

Speaker: Jennifer Luchte – Sustainable Solutions Manager, Green Field Solutions (GFS)

In her role of Sustainable Solutions Manager, Jennifer enjoys the opportunity to lead the sustainability program at GFS to benefit our customers, vendors, employees and the planet. She develops and manages strategic relationships with food manufacturers at corporate and plant levels to repurpose food waste into high-value ingredients for pet food and animal feed.

She implements a unique suite of metrics to help companies tell a sustainability story about upcycling byproducts and better meet their sustainability goals. She represents GFS at the Sustainability Oversight Committee at the American Feed Association and The Sustainability Consortium’s Food Waste and Hunger Task Force.

A sustainability professional with more than 20 years of broad-based experience in public and private sectors, Jennifer has expertise related to food policy, sustainable agriculture, and development of comprehensive sustainability metrics.

Jennifer holds a BS in Social Policy from Northwestern University, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

November 2021 New Professionals and Membership Event

November 17, 2021 New Professionals and Membership Event - Japanese Cuisine Virtual Trends and Tasting with Wixon

Date: November 17th, 2021
Time: 5 PM CST
Where: Virtual Webinar – Link will be Provided with Registration Receipt

Price:

Registration is FREE for members, $5 for non-members.
Tasting Kits are available for $5 while supplies last.

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Join the New Professionals and Membership committees on November 17th with our special guests from Wixon as we unveil the foundational flavors of traditional Japanese cuisine. They will bring us along the Wixon innovation journey as culinary insights along with market trends are translated into R&D prototype samples. Registration will give you access to our live webinar as well at the option of a tasting kit to try samples along with the presentation.

Wixon is at the forefront of innovation in providing custom taste solutions for the food and beverage industry. For more than a century, they have partnered with manufacturers to create leading edge custom flavor systems incorporating their seasonings, flavors and portfolio of clean label flavor technologies. Their research-driven trend identification unites imagination and science.

Guest Speakers from Wixon’s Innovation Team include:

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December 2021 Professional Development