Smallgoods Summit Speakers
This year’s summit promises to be our most engaging yet, with a stellar lineup of speakers and panellists who are set to inspire and inform the smallgoods industry.
Richard Cornish MC
Author, Food Writer & Celebrity Cook
Richard Cornish is an award-winning food writer who pens the much-loved and irreverent Fairfax column Brain Food..
Richard Cornish is an award-winning food writer who pens the much-loved and irreverent Fairfax column Brain Food. He has co-authored the bestselling MoVida cookbooks with Frank Camorra and Phillippa’s Home Baking with Phillippa Grogan. His journalism explores where food comes from, how it gets to us and why some foods taste better than others.
Nick Abrahams Norton Rose Fulbright
Futurist & Global Head of Digital Transformation
Nick is one of Australia’s most entertaining, informative and thought-provoking speakers..
Nick is one of Australia’s most entertaining, informative and thought-provoking speakers. He is a LinkedIn Top Voice in Technology. He has been a partner at international professional services firm Norton Rose Fulbright for over twenty years, spending the last eight years in global technology and innovation leadership roles. Nick co-created the world’s first AI-enabled privacy chatbot and won the Financial Times newspaper’s Asia Innovator or the Year Award. He is the Co-founder of LawPath, an online legal solution which has served over 450,000 customers. Nick is on the boards of the Vodafone/TPG Foundation, the Sydney Film Festival and world-leading genetics research organisation, the Garvan Foundation. He is the host of the popular podcast Web3 goes Mainstream and the author of the Amazon best-selling books Big Data, Big Responsibilities and Digital Disruption in Australia. He is an Adjunct Professor at Bond University where he researches and teaches practical uses of Artificial Intelligence.
Rupert Claxton Gira
Meat and Livestock Director
Rupert has worked as a strategy consultant in the food sector since joining Gira in 2003, with a high level of specialisation in..
Rupert has worked as a strategy consultant in the food sector since joining Gira in 2003, with a high level of specialisation in global meat and livestock markets. Gira is an independent food focused consultancy, founded in Geneva in 1979, and working globally across the livestock, meat, dairy, food ingredients and bakery supply chains. Rupert spends a considerable amount of time analysing the evolving nature of international meat demand and the supply systems that provide it, as well as their internal organisation. This involves working from feed ingredients and genetics, through slaughtering, international trade, and eventually with consumer brands, drawing insight and inspiration from Asia to Europe and the Americas. This gives him a privileged view of the industry at a global level, how it interconnects, and the challenges it faces. Rupert’s personal background in UK farming affords him a balanced outlook on the increasingly globalised meat industry, between the commercial drivers that control the processing industry and the complex cultural heritage that farming has evolved from.
Bexley Carman iKON Pack Australia & New Zealand
Business Development Director
With over 35 years experience in the food industry he has built a diverse skill set including reporting to the..
Over 35 years experience in the food industry has built a diverse skill set including reporting to the Board of Directors whilst being responsible for senior roles including General Manager Master Butchers South Australia,. This has positioned Bexley’s career for his most recent roll as iKON Pack Australia & New Zealand, Business Development Director. The objective of this position is to source high quality sustainable packaging solutions from across the globe, to exceed market expectations. Securing agency agreements with world class manufacturers, to be first to market has kept the iKON pack brand in a market leadership position. Most of his recent career has revolved around the meat and proteins industry working closely with large customers to exceed their complex packaging demands.
Malcolm Davies Don Smallgoods
General Manager Ham & Bacon
Malcolm has been with Don Smallgoods since 2015, initially as Finance Director and subsequently 3 years as..
Malcolm has been with Don Smallgoods since 2015, initially as Finance Director and subsequently 3 years as General Manager of Don’s Ham and Bacon business unit. Prior to joining Don, Malcolm worked in the FMCG and dairy sector in Australia and New Zealand for 20 years. The Don team and Malcolm have recently been focused on improving packaging from a consumer and sustainability perspective.
Dr. Ian Jenson FIRST Management
Principal
Dr Ian Jenson is a food microbiologist who has worked in the areas of industrial fermentation, fermented foods..
Dr Ian Jenson is a food microbiologist who has worked in the areas of industrial fermentation, fermented foods, and meat safety over his entire career. He worked for 20 years with Meat & Livestock Australia running a research program to ensure that safety of Australian red meat and meat products, as well as using the information coming from research to promote Australia’s trade and market access conditions around the world. He also found time to complete a PhD with research on how to ensure that good research becomes a valuable innovation. He is now the Principal of FIRST Management Pty Ltd, a consulting company dedicated to Food Innovation Research Science and Technology Management.
Mandy Johnson mandyjohnson.co/
Best-selling Author and People & Culture Expert
Mandy Johnson is a best-selling author and has ‘in-the-trenches’ experience as a start-up founder..
Mandy Johnson is a best-selling author and has ‘in-the-trenches’ experience as a start-up founder and ex-director of global travel retailer Flight Centre’s UK operation, opening a store a month. She has worked with hundreds of companies including Virgin Australia, Teys Beef, the Australian Stockbroker’s Association, Dairy Australia, Ray White Commercial, Qld State Library and Michael Hill Jewellery. One of only a handful of Australians to present at the Asia/Pacific Talent Conference, Mandy has been interviewed for her innovative ideas by Sky Business News, Channel 7 News, ABC’s John Faine program and Conversation Hour, the Australian Financial Review, Qantas In-Flight Radio, The Age, Courier Mail and BOSS Magazine. She guest lectures MBA students at several universities and her Future of Work essay is now included as an intro to Australasian university textbooks.
Howard Parry-Husbands Pollinate
CEO
Howard is the founder and CEO of Pollinate, one of Australia’s leading strategic research consultancies which was..
Howard is the founder and CEO of Pollinate, one of Australia’s leading strategic research consultancies which was awarded AFR Sustainability Leader 2022 in recognition of 15 years investment in research to understand consumer attitudes and behaviour to the environment. Pollinate has conducted over 15 years of ongoing research for MLA tracking public perceptions to red meat production and consumption and has also been a board member of leading non-political and non-confrontational ENGO Planet Ark for over ten years. Howard is studying a Masters of Environment at ANU to better understand how to employ systems thinking to design more resilient outcomes for the farming, food processing, retail and natural resource sectors. Howard has conducted research with thousands of farmers and over 5000 focus groups with people across the world for many of the world’s leading food brands. He is passionate about the role of food, fibre and nature to transform society towards a resilient sustainable future and the importance of powerful narratives and communications to engage public support for transformative change. He is also a keen long-distance runner, adoring father to two great teenagers and a terrible surfer.
Dr. Anneline Padayachee The Food Scientist
The Food Scientist
Dr Anneline Padayachee is passionate about making good food better – and by better she means ..
Dr Anneline Padayachee is passionate about making good food better – and by better she means improving nutritional quality and nutritional understanding in a manner that everyone gets. For her nutrition is way more than weight loss, chronic disease treatment and the well-ness and fitness industries. For Anneline, it is essential fuel for every single cell in the body, from our DNA to our growth to our aging process and to disease outcomes. Recognised nationally as a persuasive voice of food and nutrition science from nutrients in foods before you eat it, to the factors that affect nutrient absorption after you eat it, and the impact on total health, Anneline gives practical meaning to nutrition by identifying high value commercial opportunities for industry, helping farmers understand where they fit in the health continuum and exploring why consumers eat the way they do. With a PhD in nutritional food science, she’s worked in industry, research and academia, from ice-cream and sausage meal to ingredients and infant formula. Anneline is a professional member of the Nutrition Society of Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) and sits on the Australian Academy of Science’s National committees for Nutrition and Agriculture and Food. Dr Anneline was named a Future Food Leader in Innovation by Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL), received the Nutrition Society of Australia’s award for Research Excellence, was named Australia’s Best Performing Science Communicator, and is considered on of Australia’s Top 50 cutting edge female scientists for her position as an influential expert translating research for industry and the broader community. However, it is Anneline’s own personal experience, dealing with life threatening diagnoses that drove her deeper in the sciences of nutrition and food, and against all odds helped her to regain her health again that anchors her belief in food, nutrition and farmers being the start of health. Her combination of experience and skills makes her a powerful advocate for the role food production plays in improving individual and public health outcomes. She currently works as a sought-after speaker in conferences, writes editorial features for industry magazines and as a consultant to the food sector. She is contactable via the website: www.dranneline.com.