The judges in the inaugural Asia Food Innovation Awards, to be held at the co-located shows RPB Asia and Speciality & Fine Food Asia this July, have been announced.
They include the managing director of event organiser Montgomery Asia, experts from the world of food accelerators, and an experienced brand design specialist. Full biographies of all judges can be found below.
The Asia Food Innovation Awards, which build on the reputation of the World Food Innovation Awards to give brands a platform for their success in Asia, is held in conjunction between FoodBev Media and trade fair organiser Montgomery. This year’s inaugural edition will be presented on 18 July in Singapore.
Joseph Zhou Investment partner, Bits x Bites
Joseph is an investment partner at Bits x Bites, China’s first food tech accelerator and venture capital fund that invests in start-ups tackling global food system challenges. With a mission to shape the future of food, Bits x Bites is a big step forward to inspire China’s entrepreneurial community to bring new ideas to solve global issues. It also serves as a critical catalyst to give start-ups the confidence and connections to prosper and make a meaningful and scalable impact. Bits x Bites has invested in companies that are advancing nanoscale contaminant detection, blockchain-based solutions for supply chains, as well as a young company building weatherproof, cloud-connected farms to enable local food production by anyone anywhere.
Joseph brings 12 years of experience across corporate banking, investment banking, and private equity, having raised more than $120 million for his portfolio companies in the primary market. His decision to enter the food sector was driven by one clear motivation: to fight for the future of good food so that his young son grows up with plenty of safe and nutritious food options.
Prior to Bits x Bites, Joseph and two other partners ran Fusi Capital, where they self-raised $50 million to invest in China’s international education sector. He has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth Business School. Joseph is an emerging voice on entrepreneurship and food tech investment. He has been a guest speaker at events including Future Food-Tech London, World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, Startup Grind Tel Aviv, Food’s Future Summit in Hong Kong, and Food & Beverage Innovation Forum in Shanghai. His areas of expertise include food tech investment, food supply chain, venture capital, start-up fundraising, seed and early stage investment, Chinese start-ups, start-up mentorship, and consumption upgrade.
Click here to view Joseph’s LinkedIn profile
Christopher McCuin Managing director, Montgomery Asia
Christopher McCuin joined the Montgomery group of companies in 2010 to take over the directorship of the group’s flagship show, The International Food & Drink Event (IFE), and to run the fast-growing processing and packaging show Pro2Pac. He comes from a solid international exhibition background having managed smaller launch events and some of the largest, most established exhibitions held in countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China since 2003. Through extensive international business travel, he has established a strong and active global network of industry and government relationships.
In 2015, McCuin’s responsibilities were extended to cover global business development for the group. Since then he has been instrumental in the acquisition and launch of new exhibitions across the world including the United Kingdom, South Africa and most recently Singapore, with the inaugural editions of Speciality & Fine Food Asia and Restaurant, Pub & Bar Asia.
McCuin assumed the position of managing director for Montgomery Asia in September 2017 to spearhead the group’s growth efforts in Asia.
Click here to view Christopher’s LinkedIn profile
Hadar Sutovsky General Partner, Aquagro Fund
Hadar Sutovsky brings both an extensive experience in global business development, licensing, sales and marketing in international sectors of food-tech, consumer health and sustainable agriculture, as well as an in-depth scientific approach.
Hadar is general partner at Aquagro Fund, which is a dedicated impact investment management firm that seeks to generate strong financial returns by deploying capital in game-changing technology companies that address critical global needs in the fields of smart agriculture, food and water. Before that Hadar was global segment manager and the corporate open innovation leader at Frutarom Industries.
Hadar holds an MBA from the Recanati Business School at the Tel Aviv University specialising in management of technology, entrepreneurship and strategic innovation. She is an honoured MSc and PhD (Candidate) in Molecular Microbiology & Biotechnology from the Tel Aviv University. On her free time Hadar volunteers as a certified yoga teacher to contribute to the community.
Click here to view Hadar’s LinkedIn profile
Andrew Ive Partner, Food-X
Andrew is a partner at Food-X, where he is responsible for building, innovating and supporting the emerging food eco-system. This includes sourcing teams, building a robust programme curriculum, and developing relationships with co-investors and strategic partners to solidify Food-X’s position as the premier accelerator for food-related ventures.
While in his dorm room, Andrew took a new product idea, raised angel funds, established a manufacturing facility in China and a sales force to sell his first solo product line into major US retailers. In his second Silicon Valley-based venture Open Shelf, Andrew raised $20 million+ from venture capitalists to focus on the data challenge between retailers and their vendors. That company was acquired.
Andrew has focused on innovation, developing high-growth businesses opportunities and as a business advisor in multiple verticals. He served on the board of the Small Business Council of the Department of Trade and Industry advising the UK government on entrepreneurialism and high-growth companies, the National Science Foundation on start-up grant awards, the Investment Task Force and the Centre for Policy Studies, Small Business Council (UK Think Tank).
In addition to his extensive start-up and policy background, Andrew has held senior brand management roles with Procter & Gamble and Rabobank. He holds a BSc from the University of London and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. His first product design, the X-IT Ladder, is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Click here to view Andrew’s LinkedIn profile
Shaun Bowen Creative partner, B&B Studio
Shaun Bowen is the joint founder and creative partner of B&B studio, an award-winning independent design agency specialising in brand creation, identity and packaging design.
A believer in the beautiful idea, Shaun pushes his design team to deliver work that’s both commercially effective and creatively challenging – an exacting combination that’s reflected in the studio’s collaborations with clients like BEAR, BrewDog, Pip & Nut and Firefly.
Click here to view Shaun’s LinkedIn profile
Alex Clere Group editor, FoodBev Media
As editor in charge of FoodBev Media’s output across all its digital and print titles, including FoodBev.com and FoodBev magazine, Alex Clere sees innovation from every corner of the global food and beverage industry on a daily basis. It is this eye he’ll be casting over entries into the Asia Food Innovation Awards, looking for products that help to create entirely new categories, bring new life to old concepts, or improve the way we think about and enjoy food and beverage products.
Click here to view Alex’s LinkedIn profile
Wilhelmina Jewell Sparks Founder and CEO, BiTHOUSE Group
Wilhelmina Jewell Sparks is a global executive who has worked in both corporate and start-up environments for over 20 years, preparing markets and launching innovative products and services in science, technology, retail, and food industries. She is the CEO of BiTHOUSE Group, which is a global business development cultivator and venture development firm fostering collaboration and innovation culture among corporates, innovators, investors, government and community. As a diversity and inclusion advocate and thought leader, she is able to identify talent and solutions that have the potential to make a global impact while being scaleable, ethical, and socially responsible. Jewell serves on several global advisory boards: IADAS (International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences), WHU MSc Entrepreneurship, Shorty’s, and SXSW Accelerator among others. She is also an active advisor/mentor to several start-ups and accelerator programmes focused IoT, AI, mobility, food, retail, entertainment, fashion, sustainability and health. Jewell is the founder of the AgTech FoodTech Summit and the chairwoman and co-founder of the Food und FoodTech Group of the Deutsche Startup Association.
Click here to view Wilhelmina’s LinkedIn profile
Bill Sipper Managing partner, Cascadia Managing Brands
Bill Sipper is managing partner at Cascadia Managing Brands. Bill founded Cascadia Consulting Group in 2003 and merged with Managing Brands to form Cascadia Managing Brands. He has held senior-level positions at several of the top beverage marketers in the world including Evian, Clearly Canadian, Nantucket Nectars, Fresh Samantha, Odwalla and Ultimate Juice Company, which owned Naked Juice and Zeigler’s Apple Cider, before selling to PepsiCo. Bill has been helpful in acquiring and selling companies and has often led the transition from one to the other.
Bill also served as president and chief operating officer at Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Tear of the Clouds – a for-profit environmental charity that has donated over $1,000,000 to environmental charities. His market reach and depth of knowledge of the food and beverage industry includes the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Sipper’s track record for helping develop rising brands is unparalleled and will be key to any brand’s development and deployment.
Sipper has been featured on several episodes of the TV Food Network’s Unwrapped and in a PBS documentary called The Water Wars. He has been a guest speaker at Columbia University School of Business, and has given many speeches including addresses at the Third Annual Bottled Water Congress in Torino, Italy; the Pan Arab Congress on Osteoporosis in Tunisia; Natural Products Expo East (Baltimore); Natural Products Expo Asia (Hong Kong); Innobev US (New York); BevNet Live (New York and California); and others. He has been quoted in several trade and consumer publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal, Barrons, the New York Times and even Playboy Magazine. Mr Sipper’s articles have been printed in various industry publications throughout the world.
Mr Sipper was an original advisory board member of The Walden Woods Project for 18 years and a two-time member of the board of directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. He remains active in philanthropic and political causes.
Click here to view Bill’s LinkedIn profile
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024