The Platform is led by two Co-founders Marc Van Ameringen and Dominic Schofield, and has a wide range of subject matter experts based in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. These experts are recognised leaders in the areas of: Business and Strategy Development, Food Science, Nutrition, Food Technology, Food Safety, Packaging, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Marketing, Consumer Insights and, in Food Policies and Regulations.
Our
Team
Co-Founder
Marc
Van Ameringen
With over 35 years experience working with private sector and development agencies, he is a world expert on health and nutrition. He is the former Executive Director (2005-2016) of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).
He also serves as the Director of Geneva Development Partners (GDP) providing advisory services in the area of food and nutrition security and agri-food tech. GDP hosts the Future Food Platform in Switzerland.
Co-Founder
Dominic
Schofield
Dominic’s professional career spans over twenty-five years in the field of management consulting and international development, serving across the globe in leadership positions with the private and not-for-profit sectors, and the United Nations.
He also serves as the CEO of Peregrine Impact Associates, providing strategy and management consulting services on the major trendlines for the future of food.
Our
Founders
Nada
Elhusseiny
Nada has spent the past 20 years working in nutrition and international development.
Based in Egypt, she has played a leading role in delivering food fortification programs with industry and government.
She has extensive experience in market development and also in establishing public –private partnerships in the food and nutrition sectors.
Our
Associates
Patrick
Elmer
Patrick works at the intersection of finance and global development, focusing on innovative solutions and partnerships that create opportunities for underprivileged people and protect our planet.
He is the Managing Director of Gravity which he founded in March 2017 to support disruptive ideas, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and institutions in their impact investment [ad]ventures.
Patrick holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of St. Gallen and a Master’s degree on Developing Countries from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.
Kayla
Hagedorn
Based in the Netherlands, Kyla has 15 years experience in successful social enterprise startup development and management, finance management, supply chain optimization, and international trading logistics.
She is Co-Founder of Anulife, and of Aja Organics.
She has a strong track record of running impactful businesses in new markets.
Zahra
Popatia
Zahra has spent over 15 years working in global health and nutrition, with a specialization in performance measurement, project design, and monitoring and evaluation.
Based in Canada, she has worked for leading international bodies including: Global Affairs Canada, European Commission, GAIN and the Aga Khan Foundation.
She holds two Masters Degrees in Environmental Studies and Health.
Subrata
Dutta, Ph.D.
Dr. Dutta has more than 20 years of experience in public health nutrition and food security, has worked in senior positions with Nutrition International Agencies and with the Tata-Trusts, is the author of several books, and co-author of international research papers on nutrition-related topics.
In India, where Dutta is currently based, he has been actively involved with the Government of India in setting up national food fortification policies and new standards, and has supported the Government and food industries in the implementation of large-scale food fortification, mid-day meals for school children, and IYCF programs.
In addition to these accomplishments, Dutta was also the India Representative of Food Fortification Initiative, a global initiative of CDC, Atlanta, and the Managing Director of Ekta Shakti Foundation.
Manuel
Hartmann
Based in Switzerland, Manuel is an expert in sales and marketing.
He is founder if the SalesPlayBook, a Sales Accelerator.
Previously, he built the sales organization for a Swiss B2B Machine Learning startup and co-led Salesforce projects.
He also teaches a Design Thinking and a Sales course at FH Graubünden. He holds a M.A. HSG in Business Innovation.
Wilfred
Feng
A leading regulatory expert focusing on global food and drug, agricultural and environmental law.
Based in China, he is also Senior Counsel for Dentons and previously worked for 14 years with Keller and Heckman on international regulatory law.
Prior to working with these law firms, he worked at DuPont.
An accomplished global executive with proven track record of creating value in human nutrition, pharma, and agricultural biotech industry leaders for 20+ years.
Oswaldo spent his corporate career at BASF and DSM Nutritional Products in various innovation roles. He founded his strategic, innovation consultancy, InnoCres Consultancy, in 2016.
In the human nutrition space, while at DSM Nutritional products, he led the staple food fortification business segment and was responsible for the business planning for the launch of Africa Improve Foods in Rwanda. A primary example of scaling up nutrition with an innovative and sustainable business model and governance.
As mentor and coach of MassChallenge, Switzerland, and industry expert at EIT Food, he has been very involved in the advising and coaching start-up companies.
Oswaldo is based in Germany.
Oswaldo da
Costa e Silva, Ph.D.
Kevin’s career spans over 30 years in the field of both private sector and international development. Focusing on business development and marketing primarily in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Sectors being, Nutrition, Malaria prevention, Health Care, HIV, Child survival and Health. Has served as a consultant in a number of major development agencies.
He started his career in marketing and worked up to marketing manager for the food and nutritional products division of Nestle. Then was Marketing Director of Group Africa. He was also Business Head for Janssen Pharma in Africa, Head of Africa Business for Bard Healthcare (medical devises), GM for Acino Health care (Pharmaceuticals), as well as launching and running own business in consulting (nutritional and health care projects) and product development in Africa. Lastely he was also a founder of an advertising agency – Ingwe communications.
Laura is a pharmacist and nutrition scientist with a passion for staple food fortification, food safety, and maternal and child health in low-resource contexts.
She has managed research projects in Switzerland, Ghana, and India aiming to improve nutrition outcomes in women and children through fortified foods.
During her time at ETH Zurich and Cornell University she has collaborated with various stakeholders including GAIN and WFP.
Laura S.
Hackl, Ph.D.
Kevin
Peddie
William
Knechtel
Based in Switzerland, William Knechtel is an international development professional specializing in public financing for food security and nutrition. He has extensive experience in delivering training, capacity building, and workshops across the world.
Since September 2015, he has been working at the United Nation’s Scaling Up Nutrition Movement Secretariat supporting governments and their stakeholders to track public financing for food security and nutrition. Previously, William has been an executive assistant to the Permanent Representative of Panama to the United Nations in Geneva, a data analyst at the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Mexico, and a human rights officer with migrant workers in Canada.
William holds a master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations at the Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement (IHEID) from Geneva Switzerland.
Based in Switzerland, Alexey has more than 20 year experience in Marketing and Sales in the Food and Pharma Industry, especially focused on the Russian Market.
He has an expertise of creating private labeled products, supporting 360 communication and sales support.
Alexey has formerly worked at Danone, Mead Johnson, Unilever , Pfizer , J&J and familiar with different market segments.
He is also holds MBA from IESE Business School and Medical Doctor’s Degree.
Dr.Alexey
Nikolaev
Taylor
Quinn
Based in the United States, Taylor is an expert in business development and is an award-winning social entrepreneur.
Working in the areas of alternative proteins and agribusiness, he has expertise in business mentoring and project management.
For the past 5 years, he as been the Director for Emerging Markets for JUST Foods.
Dr. Rajan
Sankar
Derya
Senol
Based in India, Dr. Sankar is a leading specialist in nutrition in South Asia.
He trained as a Physician in Internal Medicine, and has published over 100 scientific publications
He has led the development and implementation of large-scale nutrition interventions on behalf of the public and private sectors.
He has held Executive positions with Tata Trust, GAIN, UNICEF, and the Micronutrient Initiative.
Derya has professional and vocational experience in nonprofit management, research, fundraising, strategic communications, graphic and website design, outdoor leadership, and photography, spanning cross-cutting sustainability issues.
She recently graduated from IHEID in Geneva, Switzerland where she specialized in Environment, Resources, & Sustainability.
Jonathan
Siekmann Ph.D
Based in the United States, he has 15 yeas experience in health, nutrition and epidemiology and holds a PH.D in Nutrition Science from University of California, Davis.
He has worked for a number of international bodies including GAIN, WHO, and US CDC.
He also teaches nutrition at City College, San Francisco
Maria
Stocia
Based in the United Kingdom, Maria is a vegan professional specialised in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing.
She has worked in ESG due diligence in a consulting capacity for agroforestry investments and presented analysis on the plant-based sector’s sustainability characteristics for funding rounds.
She is an ESG specialist, with a strong capacity to understand corporate reporting needs, and has extensive experience in designing, writing and submitted sustainability reports. Maria holds the ESG Investing Certificate by CFA Institute.
Nigel
Sunley
Nigel spent 32 years in the food industry with both South African and multinational food companies focussing on R&D and manufacturing of nutritionally enhanced foods.
Based in South Africa, he also works as a consultant through his company Sunley Consulting, specializing in the commercial food science / nutrition interface and the regulatory management of food.