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We are mixing it up with an interactive keynote session featuring BSM Partners. This first-hand look at pet food industry trends will be a one-of-a-kind experience you won’t want to miss.
Michael Johnson, Consumer Strategy Principal at BSM Partners, is the shopper insights and trends thought-leader in the Pet Specialty industry; regularly consulting retailers, veterinarians, distributors, and manufacturers on the dynamics of the pet industry and how to best develop and position their products, brands, programs and services to connect with consumers. Mr. Johnson brings over twenty years‘ experience in marketing, strategic planning, and consumer & market research from across the Food, Drug, Mass, Wholesale, and Pet channels.
Mr. Johnson frequently lectures on pet trends and has been featured at events on behalf of organizations such as PIDA, PILS/PIJAC, SuperZoo, Petfood Workshop, APPA, AVMA, VMG, Pet Industry Executive Summit, as well as many retailer, veterinary, and pet distributor conferences. In addition, his opinions and observations are frequently solicited by trade publications, and he has authored articles and/or been quoted in magazines such as Pet Business, Pet Age, Pet Product News, Veterinary Advantage, and Petfood Industry, among many others.
Will has been an integral part of the pet food extrusion industry for more than 20 years. For the past 15 years, his focus has been in the area of research, both in the refinement of the single screw extruder production architecture and the development/investigation of new product development for the pet food market.
Will holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering (CCC 93, KSU 95).
Description coming soon!
Description coming soon!
Chris has been with NielsenIQ for eight years, supporting retailers across various channels and store formats. He has a strong background evaluating on/offline market performance and consumer behavior, and a passion for partnering with his clients as they navigate the continually evolving pet consumer and market landscape. Prior to NielsenIQ, he spent five years assessing online customer satisfaction for public and private sector clients. He holds a degree in Marketing from Northern Michigan University and resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife (who just so happens to be a veterinarian), two daughters and their yellow lab, Case.
Dr. Aldrich’s research focuses on characterizing the impact of modern pet food processing on food safety, nutrient utilization, and product shelf life. He also explores new ingredients for consideration in pet foods.
Greg has supervised 22 MS and Ph.D. students, and post-doctoral students and researchers. He has authored 7 book chapters, 53 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 145 presentations with proceedings, and 125 without proceedings. He is a member of the American Society of Animal Science, the American Society for Nutrition, and the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition.
Dr. Mui is an assistant professor of Management with an emphasis on Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Kansas State University. She currently teaches courses on Entrepreneurship and Consulting and her research lies at the intersection of strategic management, leadership, and social evaluations. She is an affiliate member of K-State’s Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship, as well as the Center for Principled Business, and oversees K-State’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) summer internship program.
She received her M.S. (Design and Merchandising), M.B.A. (Entrepreneurship), and Ph.D. (Business Strategy) from Oklahoma State University. Prior to joining K-State, Dr. Mui was an assistant professor of Strategy and Innovation at the Rennes School of Business in France, where she brought all five of her fur babies (3 dogs and 2 cats) there and back.
For the last five years, Dr. Rozzi has led the Product Development and Product Design teams at Hill’s Pet Nutrition. These teams collaborate cross functionally to bring new products to life that exceed customer expectations. Recent commercial successes include the launch of Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome (2019), Science Diet Perfect Digestion (2020), and Prescription Diet Derm Complete (2021). In addition to leading Product Development, over the past two years Nick has been responsible for Site Services at the Pet Nutrition Center, which encompasses the Experimental Foods Lab, Warehousing and Facilities Services.
Prior to Hill’s, Dr. Rozzi was Director of Global Commercialization at Godiva Chocolatier and Applications Group Manager at Roquette America where he lead his teams in bringing new innovation to their respective markets.
Nick received both his B.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science from Purdue University, where he researched using supercritical carbon dioxide to extract lycopene from the byproducts of tomato processing.
Outside of Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Dr. Rozzi volunteers as an adjunct faculty member at Kansas State University, where he helps facilitate the development of new talent for Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Judy’s career in research and innovation began with a PhD in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics. She has 20 years of experience working across plant, microbial and animal nutrition research in industry. Judy joined Hill’s Pet Nutrition two years ago and leads the Nutrition Innovation team within Research, focused on early pipeline innovation in the pet and pet’s microbiome space.
Dr. Yucel is a food chemist and physical chemist with an emphasis on food emulsions, colloids and nano-particles. More specifically, his research area focuses on design and development of emulsion-based colloidal systems, which can serve as delivery systems for bioactive foods components, such as flavors, essential oils and other phytochemicals, to improve their effectiveness (high bioavailability and controlled release profiles) and efficiency (enhanced stability during processing and storage) in foods. In parallel, his research interests involve understanding the nature of micro-scale interactions and dynamics of small molecules in a complex food environment that define food structure and biochemical functionality. In order to study aforementioned systems he is applying novel and non-invasive food materials characterization techniques, such as low-intensity ultrasound, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, in addition to more conventional spectroscopic and analytical methods. His teaching responsibilities include food processing unit operations, functionality of foods and physical chemistry of foods.
Dr. Shanoyan’s research is in the area of agribusiness economics and management with the focus on supply chain coordination, strategic management, and business development. His research projects have addressed issues across a number of industries ranging from dairy, meat, and vegetables to grain and biofuel in local, regional, and international contexts. His most recent research projects examine contracting and vertical coordination strategies in beef and biofuel supply chains, resilience of agri-food systems, big data applications in agriculture, and facilitation of agri-food supply chains in developing economies.
Aleksan teaches courses in food and agribusiness management strategies at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
With an emphasis in Food Safety and Microbiology, Dr. Trinetta’s research focuses on understanding foodborne pathogens ecology and identifying microbial entry routes into the food supply chain (from farm to fork). Dr. Trinetta also works on the development and implementation of antimicrobial intervention strategies to reduce and control foodborne pathogens on different commodities. Recently, Dr. Trinetta has expanded her research to the international scale with a project focused on evaluating microbial contamination in produce distribution centers for informal markets in Cambodia.
The main microorganisms studied in Dr. Trinetta’s lab include Salmonella monovariant, Listeria and STEC E. coli.
Guy commenced serving as the Senior Economist for the IGP Institute at Kansas State University in the spring of 2019. In this role, he facilitates programs in marketing, supply chains and risk management of agricultural commodities.
Guy’s extensive career in grains and commodities span three continents; North America, Australia, Asia and China. He has vast experience in commodity trading and risk management, supply chain logistics and commodity analysis; as well as new business development. He also maintains interests in grain production and farming activities in both Australia and the U.S.
K-State Alumni Center
1720 Anderson Ave,
Manhattan, KS 66502
