Mark Chandler is President of ACT Solutions Corp, a formulation design consultancy and laboratory founded in 2012, serving the cosmetic and topical pharmaceutical industries, focusing on Adaptive Aesthetic Design™, Advanced Emulsion Solutions™, and Formulating for Efficacy™. Mark has been in the industry for over 35 years, most recently serving as skin care applications manager for Croda Inc. He has had roles in Sales, Marketing, Strategic Planning and Acquisitions, and Research and Development. Mark has taught courses for the SCC, CfPA, and SpecialChem on Cosmetic Formulation, Cosmetic Raw Materials, Aesthetic Design, Liquid Foundation Emulsions, Practical Basics and Theory in Emulsion Technology, Formulating for Efficacy, Surfactant Selection, Formulating with Food Ingredients, and Low Energy Emulsification for over 20 years.
Mark also is a frequent lecturer at the University of Toledo – College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He was awarded Fellow status by the Society of Cosmetic Chemists in 2014 and is currently serving on the SCC national board as Vice President (transitioning through to President in 2023). Mark has presented technology in over a dozen countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has authored numerous technical articles and chapters in such publications as Harry’s Cosmeticology and the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.
Dr. Stephanie Hunter is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Hunter earned an undergraduate degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from Winona State University as well as a doctorate degree in Nutrition Science, with an emphasis in Ingestive Behavior, from Purdue University. Her current research focuses on developing a rapid smell test to screen for smell loss, and assessing the nutritional impact of smell loss.
Bio Coming Soon.
Bio coming soon.
Expert in Retail Customer Behavior and Analytics - I tell stories using data.
Specializing in Customer Loyalty Data, Retail POS Analytics, Behavioral Data Analysis to move beyond "data" to truly actionable insights.
Martina became President of IFRA in June 2016. She has a passion for bringing together science and society, drawing from her multinational and multicultural experiences working across the chemical, agricultural, biotech, food, health and luxury goods sectors in a wide range of functions.
Martina has been educated at Louisiana State University, US; the Universities of Trier, Germany; the University of London, UK as well as the Harvard School of Public Health. She holds an MSc in Environmental Toxicology, a BSc in Earth Sciences and other continued education certificates.
She began her career at Monsanto and worked at Dow as Vice-President for EU Government Affairs & Public Policy and global advocacy lead for chemicals and health.
Until she joined IFRA, she was Vice-Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Environment and Energy Commission and Chair of ICC’s Green Economy Task Force. She also was a business delegate to inter-governmental bodies such as the OECD and served on several boards.
As a futurist, Mikel is charged with maintaining an awareness of the future through monitoring issues that are happening in the market, industry, and world to identify simultaneous developments on the fringe and recognize patterns as they materialize into trends. Working as part of an internal futures team, Mikel offers guidance to Firmenich customers by providing transparency into the process of foresight. His job is not to arrive at a final answer, and just deliver it, but one of holding doors open, or opening windows - always listening for signals and considering the implications of scenarios and strategies. Mikel’s aim is to improve confidence in facing uncertain futures by providing inspiration and instilling clarity of vision.
Knowing what’s ahead still requires people who can listen, analyze, and make connections. To future effectively requires not just a curious mind and good communication skills, but a framework of tools and practices that users can access to develop and deepen coherent but creative understandings of future possibilities, large and small. As a Global Creative Director at Firmenich, Mikel has been using them successfully, in engagements all over the world, for over twenty-two years.
Rebecca Shurhay is the Marketing Analyst at Flavorchem, a global company specializing in the creation and manufacturing of flavor and color solutions for the food, beverage, and nutraceutical industries. She conducts market research and works with Flavorists, R&D, and Sales to help food and beverage brands innovate and create new product concepts based on the latest trends. Rebecca authors a monthly column focusing on the hottest topics in the industry and has presented webinars based on these findings. She was on the speaker panel at Flavors and Fragrances Online 2020 Conference and the Midwest IFT Symposium along with being featured on FoodNavigator¬ USA’s podcast. Rebecca earned her bachelor’s degree in Advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Hayes leads a transdisciplinary research program that applies Sensory & Consumer Science to a broad range of topics, including ingestive behavior, flavor perception, and individual differences, as well as user centered drug delivery optimization, eCig flavor and use, and chemosensory changes due to COVID-19. Much of his work studies Food Choice within a biobehavioral framework by integrated traditional psychophysical and sensory methods with behavioral genetics to understand biological factors that may cause individuals to like and eat some foods but not others. During the COVID19 pandemic lockdown in Spring 2020, he initiated a new line of research on chemosensory loss and recovery following infection with SARS-CoV-2.
Born, raised and educated in Minnesota, Kathy is the granddaughter of a Woolworth’s executive and daughter of a retail storeowner. As a fifth generation retailer from a family that also excelled at patented invention and factory operation, she holds three patents herself.
Kathy’s retail career initiated with multi-store management as Brookstone made its expansion from their initial twelve stores, and with American Greetings as they expanded to over 500 stores. As the Carlton brand developed, she moved to increasing her skills and contribution in the buying office.
Immersion into product development came at Walt Disney Attractions, where Kathy was promoted to Senior Buyer in Character Merchandise. Here she worked with world-class artists to create new product lines, brands and forms for the US and European parks. Further, her development of an open-to-buy system for the company increased inventory turns four-fold.
Home fragrance and décor became the focus of her career when Kathy became VP of Merchandise for Wicks ’n Sticks and from that beginning, moved on to executive positions for The Limited. In this capacity she created merchandise for Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, working directly with top R&D scientists and traveling worldwide to source, develop and flow industry leading innovative products. Kathy’s accomplishments here included 60% growth in the gross margin volume.
Nicole Parisi is the Marketing Specialist at Orchidia Fragrances, the fragrance division of Flavorchem. In addition to conducting market research and authoring a TRENDWATCH™ column reporting on the latest fragrance trends, she also collaborates with customers to deliver valuable insights for fragrance development. She holds a BBA from the University of Iowa and has a long-standing appreciation for all things fragrance. Having worked in both boutique marketing firms and large agencies, she has extensive experience within the field, as well as a noteworthy background within Retail Management.
Eric Dowd is a Senior Manager with responsibility for managing a team of scientists and research programs within the Global Science & Technology team for Mars Wrigley. Mints, Nuts and Flavor are essential ingredients for Mars Inc., and Eric is focused on the development and delivery of strategies which assure a high-quality supply of these ingredients and enable new innovations. Eric joined Mars Wrigley in 2002 after having spent over 8 years in the flavor industry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Chemistry degree from Kalamazoo College and has held positions in Product Development, Project Management, Gum Formulation Technology and Science & Technology.
Jacquelyn Wenskus, director and fragrance category analyst within The NPD Group’s Beauty practice, is an expert in the prestige fragrance category. Her extensive background in data analytics, combined with her knowledge and passion for the industry, enables her to provide relevant and actionable insights for brands and retailers across the fragrance market.
Jacquelyn joined the Beauty team in 2013, working with both emerging and established beauty brands to deliver value through strategic analysis, client education, and data activation. Prior to that, she held NPD roles focused on the company’s retailer partnerships, and over the course of six years worked with leading retailers in the beauty, footwear, and apparel industries.
Bio coming soon
Melanie is associate director and global food analyst for Mintel’s Food & Drink platform. She provides insights on global innovation and consumer trends across a number of food categories, including produce, pasta and grains. At Mintel, Melanie co-created the annual US Flavor and Ingredient Trends, which spotlight the cuisine types and ingredients that are growing on restaurant menus and on grocery shelves.
Melanie is passionate about sharing her knowledge of the industry. She has presented at conferences and trade shows around the globe and appeared in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, NPR and The BBC. She is also a regular contributor to Mintel’s blog and Little Conversation podcast.
Prior to joining Mintel in 2017, Melanie reported on industry news and trends for the Institute of Food Technologists, where she created a new monthly column devoted to product development innovation.
Melanie holds a BS in journalism from Northwestern University. In her spare time, she loves to share what she’s eating at home in Chicago or while traveling the globe on her Instagram, @melanietastestheworld.