Known throughout the world as ‘The Sweet Consultant’, Andy Baxendale has over 26 years’ experience in the confectionery industry with a Master of Science (MSc) in Advanced Food Manufacture.

Based in Wigan in the UK, Andy is a respected international consultant in every aspect of confectionery production. With extensive knowledge of industry regulations and legislation he advises companies on everything from recipe development to staff training and enhanced production techniques, and an expert media commentator on all issues related to sweet production and consumption.

He has worked with many big name brands across the world including Chewits, Cloetta, Toms, Glisten Confectionery, Stockley’s Sweets, Bonds Confectionery, Big Bear Confectionery, Sweet Dreams and Tilley. In addition, he has travelled all over Europe, USA and parts of the Middle East advising and instructing on confectionery development and manufacture on a wide variety of products.

Having gained 20 years experience in the sector, he presently serves as Head of Institutional Affairs and Sustainability at Ferrero in Germany.

Among his areas of expertise, he has occupied positions including Head of Global Raw Material Procurement, Head of Sustainability as well as leading roles of sector wide initiatives and institutions.

Aldo has been with Caobisco since 2003, having chaired the Cocoa Committee and the CSR & Sustainability Committee.

From 2007 to 2016, he was a Board Member of the ICI (International Cocoa Initiative), and since 2007, has been a member of the Consultative Board at the ICCO (International Cocoa Organization).

In addition, from 2012 to 2018 he was a Member of the Board of Directors at the WCF (World Cocoa Foundation) and from 2015 to 2018 Chairman of the FCC (Federation of Cocoa Commerce).

Today, he is Vice President of the BDSI (German Confectionery Association), Board Member of the German Food Association (Lebensmittelverband Deutschland) as well as his role as Vice President of Caobisco.

Jon’s role spans strategy, policy and interaction with Fairtrade’s market and producer facing organisations facing organisations as strategy is implemented. Over the last seven years at Fairtrade Jon has worked with his colleagues in those organisations on Fairtrade initiatives such as the West Africa Cocoa Program for producer organisations, Women’s School of Leadership in Côte d’Ivoire, Living Income strategy and pilot projects and revisions of Fairtrade’s Price and Premium model and Standards for producers.

Myrthe de Beukelaar is an experienced market analyst at Innova Market Insights, a global knowledge leader in the food and beverage industry. Myrthe holds a master's degree in Nutrition & Health and specializes in data analysis and health communication & innovation. With her commercial knowledge, nutritional knowledge and analytical skills, she provides Innova Market Insights’ customers the insights they need to succeed.

At the World Confectionery Conference 2021, Myrthe will highlight the latest market trends shaping the confectionery industry, with the COVID-19 pandemic and major themes of health and indulgence driving innovation.

Richard Horsley is Sales Director for Paradise Fruits Solutions, based in the UK, Richard is responsible for sales to the UK, Ireland, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australasia.

Richard has been with Paradise Fruits for 10 years and working in the food industry for almost 30 years, focusing mainly within the B2B ingredient and manufacturing sector.

Paradise Fruits by Jahncke has a history spanning over 130 years. Still owned by the Jahncke family, Paradise Fruits has its manufacturing plant in the Altes Land area of Northern Germany, which is the largest continuous apple growing area in Europe. With a heritage formed by a strong father-son management, the business has been able to implement progressive ideas and retain a sense of time-tested methods to make the group one of the most significant and successful in the global fruit processing industry.

Cristian Sala joined Cama in 2015 as Executive Sales Manager. His role is to supervise all the sales activities leading the team of area managers based in the Head Quarter and in the six subsidiaries .

Together with the Engineering Sales Manager he reports directly to the Managing Director.Graduated in Economy in the last ten years he has developed his experience by coordinating sales team in global business with high technological standards

Paul Morris is an award-winning chocolatier and entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in the UK food and drink industry. He is a regular contributor and speaker on all things chocolate and he is passionate about sustainability, entrepreneurship and purpose driven businesses

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulmorrischocolate/

Antonello Ercole is ICAM's production director. Antonello Ercole is a respected manager in every aspect of the confectionery production technique. With extensive knowledge of the regulations and legislation of the sector, he deals with everything that has improved production techniques on all matters relating to the production and consumption of sweets.

He has worked with many major brands around the world including Ferrero, Bolton Group and Giovanni Rana.

Plinio Agostoni is entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in the food chocolate industry. He is a vicepresident of ICAM and speaker on all things chocolate and he is passionate about sustainability, entrepreneurship and purpose driven businesses.

Cameron has worked for Baker Perkins for over 16 years focused primarily on Confectionery, Cereal and Extrusion. He started as an engineering apprentice, followed by sales engineering before sales account management.

Based in the UK, Hannah has more than 14 years in Cargill Starches, Sweeteners and Texturizers with strong industry experience in ingredients solutions and sales across all market categories. Since joining Cargill she has worked in various roles including supply chain and commercial based positions before moving into the INFUSE by Cargill™ team almost 2 years ago. In her current position, Hannah is responsible for leading and coordinating the team in developing new concepts and creating solutions for emerging and current trends - she is passionate about customer development and solving challenges.

Nathalie has accumulated more than 16 years of experience in Research & Development. Joining Cargill in 2015, she started her journey as process and product developer for Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate. In 2019, Nathalie joined the Applications team in the R&D Centre EMEA in Belgium to lead the Bakery, Confectionery, Frying and Nutrition cluster, a role which she currently holds. She’s passionate about meeting customer and consumer demand by converting her deep ingredients knowledge into on-trend solutions.

• Master of Science Mechanical Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Germany
• PMP
• ® Project Management Certification
• More than 6 years of experience working for Syntegon, formerly Bosch Packaging, in various roles
• 2 years of experience in the role of project manager

for sustainable packaging solutions for horizontal flow wrapping

Natalia Theofilopoulou is a Research Analyst at Euromonitor International within the Food and Nutrition vertical. She executes market research projects on the Packaged and Fresh Food industries with a focus on the UK market and contributes to the content creation on company profiles. Natalia holds an MSc in International Marketing and Brand Management and a MPhil in Economics.

Lasse is a certified baker and food technologist with more than 25 years of experience in the food industry, and has spent the last 10 years specialising in Palsgaard’s emulsifiers and their applications. Working at Palsgaard’s Confectionery Application Centre in Denmark Lasse spends his time supporting and advising customers on how to overcome technical challenges, improve confectionery quality and greatly improve costs the with the aid of Palsgaard’s AMP and PGPR emulsifiers and oil binders.

Terhi has worked in Valio R&D 14 years and is PhD in food technology. Currently Terhi is working with application development of industrial ingredients and try to find new and interesting applications for the industrial clients. Application areas are confectionery, bakery, ready meals, dairy and special nutrition.

Based in the new Zurich Innovation Center, Tobias is leading the Regional Innovation

Sweet Goods & Healthcare Application team. He joined Givaudan in 2014 as a Food Scientist. In his current role, Tobias is bringing the latest innovation to the confectionery customers
We provide our expertise to develop innovative solutions in the area of Sugar reduction, Health & Wellbeing and Integrated Solutions.

Anne van der Wal leads strategic and commercial marketing for edible oils solutions at Cargill EMEA. A Dutch national, Anne has more than two decades of experience within the retail space, having held various senior roles at Ahold and Holland & Barrett. Her vast Ahold experience includes several commercial positions as senior category manager Albert Heijn (convenience, dairy, personal care) and marketing/brand roles. Within Ahold sourcing she held roles as Director for sustainability programs and sourcing support. Anne joined Cargill Global Edible Oils Solutions in 2020, to help in the development of cutting-edge processes and tools for customer and market-centric thinking. In her current position, Anne’s main focus is on identifying new opportunities for our customers that address current and future consumer needs. Her extensive background in building food retail brands and product development offers an exceptional consumer lens, whereby customers can benefit from Cargill’s unparalleled portfolio of solutions

Edith van Straaten is the Commercial Marketing Manager Chocolate and Coatings & Fillings. Edith has held different international marketing and communication positions in the food and pharmaceutical industry. With over 20 years of experience at leading companies such as Cargill, Danone, Jack Link’s, Nestlé and AkzoNobel, she has developed a high level of commercial and strategic awareness. Her contagious energy and drive have resulted in numerous successful product and concept launches, with the best interest of suppliers, customers and end-users taken into account.

Laurine Franchi is Market Intelligence Specialist at Cargill. A French national, she graduated from IESEG School of Management in Lille. Laurine has vast experience within the food & beverage industry, having held various marketing roles at Cargill since joining in 2014. In her current position, Laurine is responsible for analyzing consumer trends, attitudes and behaviors, working across Cargill’s diverse food ingredients product lines. Since 2018, she has been instrumental in developing TrendTracker – Cargill’s proprietary perspective on global food & beverage trends.

Myriam Schepers is the Managing Director of Prefamac Chocolate Machines NV, that produces confectionery machines for the chocolate industry and for industrial manufacturers of cookies, biscuits, wafers and cakes. Her dynamic bio radiates innovation, co-creation and co-design to assist companies and end users to a better and sweeter customer journey.

In addition to her company, she has (had) numerous other positions at the Chamber of Commerce (Voka), Flanders Investment & Trade, LRM the Limburg Investment Company, the Supervisory Board of High School PXL, among others. Precisely because she believes that as an entrepreneur you should take your social responsibility in stimulating students, promoting continuous learning in fast evolving times and believing in open business relations between different countries and cultures.

Myriam holds a Master Doctorandus in Applied Economics from KUL Catholic University of Leuven Belgium

Hamburg Dresdner Maschinenfabriken GmbH - Director of R&D and Design

• Innovation Management
• Business Development
• Heading the Departments: Process Technology/Engineering/Automation

Buhler Group - Head of R&D and Technology

• Business Development Consumer Foods in Bühler
• Member of the executive board for strategic development (Bühler Barth)

Barry Callebaut - Innovation Fermentation Manager

• Team management of international innovation projects
• Process optimization in context of process efficiency and cost saving in United States of America , Ivory Coast; Europe, Singapore, Malaysia