Fred Hart is a Partner and Creative Director at Interact Boulder, a spirited and obsessive branding and packaging design firm that works closely with food and beverage brands. Located in Boulder CO, at the epicenter of the natural foods movement, Fred helps usher in the good food revolution and changing of the guards in CPG.
Fred’s CPG experience includes work in multiple bleeding and leading-edge food and beverage categories, as well as in automotive and household cleaning industries. Notable brands he’s worked with include Dogfish Head Brewery, Mondelez-owned Enjoy Life Foods, Monster Energy, and S.C Johnson brands Scrubbing Bubbles & Pledge.
When Fred’s not walking through grocery stores like they’re art museums, he’s actively disproving that white men can’t jump and exploring cities on foot.
Danielle Botelho, PhD is responsible for the RIFM safety assessment process and leading her team to build universal acceptance and trust in the safe use of fragrance materials through applied science and research. She received her PhD in Toxicology from Rutgers University. She has over 12 years of research experience specializing in nanotoxicology and pulmonary studies relating to molecular and physiological endpoints. She is passionate about communicating science and safety to a global audience.
Biography coming soon.
Amy Marks-McGee is an award-winning creative marketing professional with over twenty-five years of success within the fragrance and flavor industry. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing Management from Baruch College in New York City.
Her work experience includes fine fragrance, air care, and personal care marketing for three leading fragrance houses. She has been recognized by Women in Flavor & Fragrance Commerce, Inc. for the 2011 Woman of the Year Award for her excellence in marketing and leadership.
Founded in 2006, Trendincite LLC is a creative service consultancy designed to help fragrance & flavor clients cull through, distill and translate pertinent trend information into tangible product directions. Trendincite LLC specializes in fragrance marketing and flavor marketing.
Biography coming soon!
Mary has worked for Solvay for 13 years in the R&I function. She has developed innovative products and supported customers with formulation development. As an application chemist, she started her career in Home and Personal care and moved to Aroma Performance in 2019 to support the re-launch of the VEC Laboratory with a focus on natural solutions on the Food and Fragrance industries applications.
Biography Coming Soon
Rebecca Shurhay is the flavor analyst at Flavorchem, a global company specializing in the creation and manufacturing of flavor and color solutions. Shurhay conducts market research and works with flavorists to help food and beverage brands innovate and create new product concepts based on the latest trends. Shurhay authors a monthly column focusing on the hottest topics in the industry and has a personal interest in meal prepping and health and wellness. Shurhay earned her bachelor’s degree in Advertising from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Matt Oscamou is co-founder of Weller, a leading brand of CBD infused beverage products that was founded in 2017. Prior to Weller, Matt founded and built the Frontier Snacks/Frontier Bites brand from the ground up, formulating the product lines and scaling the business to national retail distribution with premier retailers like Whole Foods, Safeway and Publix. Matt's entrepreneurial focus, coupled with a background in engineering have helped navigate the challenges of the new CBD market and develop products that are safe, consistent and effective. Over the course of his career, Matt has dug deep on product innovation and development to further enhance the brand.
Shane T McDonald has a PhD in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a Certified Flavor Chemist and has been working in the Flavor Industry for over 25 years. Currently, Shane is Principal Flavor Chemist at Kalsec, Inc., a Kalamazoo Michigan based extractor of spices and herbs, where he works on spice and herb flavors, allium flavors, pungency, and flavors for beer.
Alex Blackstone is a Senior Product Development Manager at Dr. Squatch where she leads the soap product development team. She has 10+ years of experience in the personal care industry, working on major brands including Burt's Bees, Neutrogena, Aveeno, and Clean & Clear. She has held positions covering all aspects of the new product development process including research and development, supply chain, and manufacturing. She has a master’s degree in engineering management from Dartmouth College and a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia.
Lindsey Kirchner is currently a product developer in the hops department at Kalsec, Inc while training to become an apprentice flavor chemist. She began as a sensory technician in 2010 and progressed into sensory beer panel leadership and product development. In 2020, she transitioned from sensory into hops product development, where she focuses on flavor development for beer, hard seltzer and non-alcoholic beers. Lindsey graduated from Western Michigan University with Bachelor’s degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Criminal Justice.
Commercially-focused business developer with an engineering background. I have worked in tech and biotechnology since 2012 with an emphasis on realizing the impact of novel technologies in both new and established markets.
Mania Bankova works at Colgate Palmolive as Manager Technology for the Global Flavors and Fragrance team.
Mania brings 15 years of experience in analysis of flavors, flavor materials, essential oils, flavor R&D for oral care products and most recently fragrances for consumer goods. Prior to that, she worked in academic research. Mania has a strong background in organic synthesis and instrumental analytical chemistry. Driven by her passion for continuous exploration and embracing new challenges, recently she is expanding her expertise in the field of flavor and fragrance regulations. In strong collaboration with the Regulatory Affairs, Legal Department and other key stakeholders, she leads transparency initiatives, monitors the regulatory landscape and develops strategies for portfolio adaptation for flavor and fragrances. Mania has successfully utilized her knowledge of ingredients and formulations for the implementation of complex compliance and disclosure programs globally. Mania plays a key role in aligning flavor and fragrance regulatory projects with the company's strategic initiatives for sustainability, product safety, transparency and consumer trust.
Mania holds a Master’s degree in organic chemistry from the University of Chemical Technology and PhD in drug release polymer chemistry from the Institute of Polymer Chemistry, Sofia Bulgaria. She had a Postdoctoral fellowship at Polytechnic University (New York University School of Engineering), New York.
Dr. Bates is a Senior Health Scientist with Cardno ChemRisk with five years of consulting experience in toxicology and human health risk assessment. His primary training and areas of expertise include developmental and reproductive toxicology, regulatory toxicology, and heavy metal neurotoxicology. Dr. Bates has provided toxicological support in health hazard evaluations and risk assessment in addition to safety data compilations and evaluations using existing scientific literature and data development to support NDIN, GRAS determinations, and food contact notifications to FDA, as well as FIFRA submissions to the EPA. Experienced in the writing and analysis of toxicological profiles of pre-market, food-related products, chemical risk assessments of extractables and leachables for regulatory submissions of food-related and consumer products, and health hazard evaluations in response to food and environmental contamination events.
