The judging panel for the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2020, in association with BrauBeviale, has now been announced.
This year’s panel includes recognised and reputable names from across the global beverage industry and between them, they will be responsible for deciding the winners of the World Beverage Innovation Awards, taking place in November 2020.
There are 22 trophies to be won in total, and being shortlisted provides a hallmark of success that will prevail long after the awards draw to a close. To find out more information, including how to enter, click here.
A full list of this year’s judges can be seen below.
Austin Kozman R&D Senior Director – External Innovation, PepsiCo
Dr Austin Kozman is an R&D Senior Director at PepsiCo leading the External Innovation team. The External Innovation (XI) team is an upstream, externally facing, department within PepsiCo R&D. They actively scout for, identify and develop strategic partnerships with external collaborators. Their goal is to locate key external insights, business models and technical unlocks and new capabilities that, when partnered with PepsiCo’s robust internal R&D expertise, will yield disruptive innovation in our core products and/or new and emerging products.
PepsiCo R&D are currently exploring novel technology spaces that can dramatically impact their portfolio of foods and beverages. They are interested in improving all facets of our supply chain—from raw material inputs all the way to the consumer consumption—and identifying global efficiencies in areas including crop science, ingredients, processing, packaging, equipment, distribution/fleet, retail and e-commerce. They are also committed to sustainability for our planet and our communities.
Austin has worked as a thermal engineer for over 25 years. Austin received his B.S.M.E. from the University of Texas at Austin and his Masters of Engineering and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Austin has three issued US patents and six currently pending (3 issued UK patents). In 1999 Austin was selected as the Young Engineer of the Year by the North Texas Electronic Packaging Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). In 2010, Austin was elevated to Fellow Status in ASME. Austin is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.
Click here to view Austin’s LinkedIn page
Anne Hulett Founder and CEO, Rock Grace
Anne is the Founder and CEO of Rock Grace, a beauty and wellness drink designed as a wine alternative. She created Rock Grace to fill a gap of there not being anything exciting, healthy, and interesting to drink in the non-alcoholic beverage category and to inspire people to create a lifestyle they love through beverages that make you feel good and empowered.
Before Rock Grace, Anne owned a health and wellness lifestyle business leveraging her degree in nutritional science and worked in senior product development and marketing positions at early-stage health startups as well as Expedia, Inc. She lives in Seattle with her husband, Matt Hulett, President of Rosetta Stone, and her son, Pete.
Click here to view Anne’s LinkedIn page
Geoff Parker CEO, Australian Beverages Council & Asia-Pacific Regional Director, International Council of Beverages Associations
In 2009, Geoff was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Beverages Council. Since then, Geoff has successfully managed two mergers, significantly raised the Beverages Council’s profile with key stakeholders and firmly positioned the organisation as the peerless, respected voice of the $7+ billion non-alcoholic beverage industry in Australia.
In 2010, Geoff was elected President and Asia-Pacific Regional Director of the International Council of Beverages Associations (ICBA). In 2012 he was elected for a consecutive two-year term. Geoff also serves on the Board of the International Council of Bottled Water Associations (ICBWA), and in 2017 was elected as its Vice-President. Geoff has been on the ICBWA Board since 2009.
Geoff has over 20 years’ involvement in boardrooms including global training companies, national not-for-profits, arts organisations, public companies, statutory authorities and international associations in both director and chair roles.
Geoff is a Fellow of both the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and holds qualifications from The University of Queensland and The University of Cambridge. Geoff divides his time between Sydney, Brisbane and overseas markets. He is a rugby tragic, terrible golfer, avid runner and enjoys cooking and wine matching.
Click here to view Geoff’s LinkedIn page
Nataly Restrepo Food and Beverage Innovation Consultant
Nataly Restrepo is an industrial designer specialised in food and beverage design. Her work is based on understanding the relationship between humans and food and how the geopolitical and environmental stakes are evolving the way we eat.
With over 10 years of experience in the food field, she has worked for the restaurant industry, food and coffee producers and for global food brands like Heineken, Pepsico, Nestlé and Danone. In collaboration with Aprende UX, she created the food design education platform and is the director of the Food Design & Innovation Master at CENTRO – Diseño, Cine y Televisión in Mexico City.
Nataly works as a food and beverage innovation consultant for restaurants and FMCG. She also works as an international correspondent for the Dutch Institute of Food and Design where she exposes the creative vision of Latin America on the food design field. She has participated on the Dutch Design Week with her project about coffee fruit beverage collection.
Click here to view Nataly’s LinkedIn page
Nick Martin Executive Director, Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) & Sustainability Practice Lead, Antea Group
Nick Martin is Executive Director of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER), a coalition of 15 leading global beverage companies founded in 2006 and working collaboratively towards environmental sustainability. Nick is also the Sustainability Practice Lead for a Netherlands-based global consulting firm supporting organisations with assessing, prioritising and managing sustainability-related business risks and opportunities. He has extensive experience supporting a wide range of private and public organisations with translating sustainability aspirations into successful strategies and collaborative approaches.
Previously Nick worked in the non-profit sector with the Global Environmental & Technology Foundation (GETF) in Washington, DC focused on private-public partnerships in water and sustainability and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan. Specific areas of expertise include: global water stewardship and security, collective action, context-based decision making, and corporate transparency. He Holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science, a Master’s degree in Environmental and Energy Management and a Masters of Business Administration. Nick is married with two sons and lives in Denver, Colorado.
Click here to view Nick’s LinkedIn page
Thea Bourianne Senior Solutions Consultant, Label Insight
Thea Bourianne, MBA, RD, LDN is a licensed and registered dietitian based in Chicago. Specialising in nutrition, US and international food regulation, and food composition makes her uniquely positioned to work strategically with global CPG and retail clients to build data-driven, customer-centric solutions.
In her current role at Label Insight, a SaaS company that provides insights on food label data, Bourianne supports retailers, CPG brands, US government, technology companies, researchers, and other entities by crafting and applying high order attribution to products in-store and online. Bourianne is passionate about safe, transparent, sustainable, wholesome products and strides for best-in-class customer experiences to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Prior to working at Label Insight, Bourianne’s previous positions have included product development, commercialisation, fresh and frozen food manufacturing, and regulatory affairs with companies and clients such as Taco Bell Corp., Wilton Brands, Starbucks, Ahold, Walgreens and 7-Eleven, among others.
Click here to view Thea’s LinkedIn page
Amir Ghaffari Brewmaster and Maltmaster & Managing Director, Avina
Amir Ghaffari is and brewmaster and maltmaster from Bavaria, Germany, with a Persian background. Ghaffari has been working in the beverage industry for more than 15 years and has a demonstrated history of working in challenging environments. He has has a variety of managerial positions within global player companies in the beverage industry, in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
Amir has expertise within the beverage industry from the malting plant to the complete brewery and processing part of beverages development. He also has experience in developing healthy functional drinks and non-alcoholic beer processing, as well as filling and packaging technology.
Click here to view Amir’s LinkedIn page
Kate Loatman Executive Director, International Council of Beverages Associations
Kate Loatman leads the International Council of Beverages Associations (ICBA), which is the global voice for the non-alcoholic beverage industry. ICBA members include beverage associations as well as multi-national beverage companies operating globally. Collectively they offer a variety of innovative non-alcoholic sparkling and still beverages.
Kate represents the views of this industry before global organisations, including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Codex Alimentarius Commission and the Food and Agriculture Organization. She works with members to build consensus on key industry commitments and leadership initiatives. She leads the coordination of the beverage associations to ensure that ICBA has a strong global network and voice.
Previously, Kate practised food and drug law at King & Spalding, and served as the American Beverage Association’s Deputy General Counsel. Kate is an alumni of The College of William and Mary as well as The University of Texas School of Law. She lives with her family including two young sons outside New York City.
Click here to view Kate’s LinkedIn page
Rory Paterson Food & Beverage entrepreneur; Co-Founder of WOW drinks & Earlybirds
Rory began his entrepreneurial journey in food and drink in 2014 founding ‘wow drinks‘ in London and launching Europe’s first chia seed beverage. This founder’s journey also led him on a successful mission to receive regulatory approval from the European Commission for the use of chia seed in non-alcoholic beverages across the EU. Rory and his team led wow to become one of the fastest growing F&B businesses in Europe launching into over 5000 stores across six countries and creating three innovative, first-to-market, product lines.
Since then, Rory has been helping various founders and entrepreneurs launch their products to market. Most recently, he co-founded earlybirds where he was Head of Brand, launching the first compostable bottle onto major retail shelves in the UK and winning the best brand/new company award at the World Beverage Innovation Awards in 2019.
Click here to view Rory’s LinkedIn page
Jordi Gamez Founder and Managing Partner, Gastro Ventures
Jordi has a wide variety of experience in managing big corporations, such as Rakuten, as well as being an investment analyst for private equity funds and founding startups.
Currently, he is founder and General Manager at Gastro Ventures, a startup with a unique approach to gastronomy from a commitment to innovation, disruption and sustainability. He is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship and these are values present in all his experience and work.
Click here to view Jordi’s LinkedIn page
Siân Yates Senior Editior, FoodBev Media
Sian Yates is the Senior Editor at FoodBev Media, a platform dedicated to researching, writing and disseminating the latest food and beverage industry news. Since joining FoodBev, Sian has witnessed numerous innovations in the beverages market, including a surge in functional health drinks, plant-based alternatives, CBD drinks, and low or non-alcoholic beverages.
Sian and the news team are constantly analysing and interpreting the latest trends and exciting developments in the industry. She will be looking for products and services that are truly disrupting the beverages market, and that serve the demands of today’s consumers.
Click here to view Siân’s LinkedIn page
Shiloh Gray VP of Brand & Creative, Winc Wines
Shiloh is an award-winning creative with more than a decade of experience building strategic advertising campaigns and unique digital experiences for industry innovators like VMLY&R and Method. He approaches brand-building through a creative lens, and understands the impact that differentiated strategy and visual expression can have on all facets of a business, from brand to marketing to engineering.
Previously, Shiloh spearheaded growth for a diverse slate of technology, retail, fashion, and CPG brands. At Winc, he drives the growth of the company’s most culturally relevant brands; a considered balance of rich brand development, innovative experience, and ROI-driven marketing. He is always searching for new avenues for storytelling, consumer engagement, and immersion. Shiloh is a Webby judge and honoree, has received a One Show Merit award, and has had his work featured on Adweek and Communication Arts. BFA in Communications Design from Pratt Institute.
Click here to view Shiloh’s LinkedIn page
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