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.

Based in the R&D Centre EMEA in Belgium, Magalie joined Cargill in 2007 and has since accumulated more than 10 years of experience in Research & Development specifically within the sugar confectionery area. In her current role, Magalie leverages her in-depth expertise on sugar confectionery ingredients and processes to lead internal projects and works closely with customers to help meet consumer demand – she is agile with a strong customer focus mindset.

• 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.