BOD Members

Kevin Mehring received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Chemistry in 1994. While advancing rapidly through his first career phase at the global chemical/coatings company PPG Industries, Kevin obtained his MBA from Marquette University. In 2007, Kevin joined probiotic ingredient manufacturer Danisco A/S (now DuPont Nutrition & Health) where he held three positions over 6 years – Global Product Manager, Global Business Director and finally Director of Sales – Americas – Supplements & Pharma. In 2013, Kevin joined forces with Lakeview Equity and his business partner, Dr. Greg Leyer, to acquire majority ownership of UAS Laboratories where he serves as President/CEO.

Michael H. Lee, MS, MBA, is Senior Director of Product Development at Garden of Life, LLC, a subsidiary of Nestle. Mr. Lee has been formulating probiotic-based products for 14+ years, a well as other supplements and functional foods. He solidified Garden of Life/Atrium’s IPA membership in 2009 and currently serves the IPA as a BOD member (since 2011), as well as Executive Committee Member & Treasurer (since 2012). He received his MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management (AZ, USA) and MS and BS in biological sciences from South Korea.

Aileen gained her BSc Hons in Animal Science in 1996 and Masters, focusing on the benefits of probiotics in poultry, at the University of Liverpool whilst working as a nutritionist. Joining Protexin in 2000 initially as their Technical Advisor, Aileen was promoted to Director in 2003. Her role as Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs incorporates responsibility for product regulatory compliance and meeting the company's cGMP certification (MHRA). Aileen is also a Board Member of BAFSAM and is active with PRI and HFMA.

Esben Laulund is the Vice-President Emerging Technologies - R&D at Chr hansen A/S. Chr hansen is a large international research & development organization where Esben leads innovation processes, manages & implements organizational changes securing customer driven innovation, implements LEAN principles and participates in international collaborations with customers. Esben organizes and manages national and international research collaborations as well as establishes clusters for improving innovations for companies. He is also Chairman of the Danish Food Cluster since August 2015.

Jean Philippe PARÉ is CEO of Danone Spain & Portugal since 2017. He started his career in 1981 in Danone France where he held several positions.  From 1997 to 2011 he held successively General Manager positions: Lu (Spain), Bagley (Argentina), H.P. Foods (UK & US), Lu (France). In 2007 he became President of Kraft Foods France. In 2011 he became Danone Executive Vice-President Research & Development & Quality also becoming member of the Executive Committee.

Jarrow Rogovin is the founder and Past President of the IPA.  Jarrow Formulas began selling probiotics in 1986, introducing the multi-strain concept and emphasizing QA/QC testing.  Jarrow has been active in regulatory affairs for many years and introduced the IPA to the FDA which led to subsequent meetings and open discussions between IPA and FDA.  There is now an annual probiotic symposium in Bethesda with FDA Office of Dietary Supplement Programs leadership and IPA in attendance. 

Nobuhisa Oe serves as the Senior Manager, BtoB Section – Sales and Marketing Department in the International Division, responsible for activities in sales and business developments for food ingredients all over the world except Japan. He joined Morinaga Milk in 1993, immediately after obtaining B.A. (Liberal Arts), International Christian University in Tokyo. He has experiences in various functions for overseas business such as purchasing, logistics and financial controls also for consumer products, but most of all, he loves the current position to promote Morinaga's Human Residential Bifidobacteria (HRB) such as B. Longum BB536.

Josh joined Nutrasource in 2013, bringing over 12 years of quality assurance, clinical, preclinical and regulatory natural health product experience and an additional four years of antibody/biologics development experience. Having depth in both regulatory filings and project management of clinical trials provides Josh with an understanding of regulatory body thinking and has led to his respected relationship with Health Canada. From 2011-2014, Josh participated on a Health Canada expert working group as a member representing the dietary supplement industry to work toward harmonization of safety reporting for supplements, drugs and biologics. Josh’s regulatory filings throughout his career account for over 10 percent of all applications received by Health Canada’s Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate for clinical research trials. Josh has a Hons. B.Sc. from the University of Guelph, specializing in microbiology and certificates in regulatory affairs and clinical trial project management.

Francesco Girardo is the Sales Director for Probiotical, in Italy, focused on the international market. He has 16 years of experience in the probiotic field, managing at first an R&D laboratory developing research in the combination of probiotics and oligoelements and afterwards outlicensing patents in the Sales Dept. of Probiotical. Francesco has experience in management, fundraising, European projects and marketing and sales.

Since 1995, Joachim is Managing Director of SymbioPharm GmbH, which started with probiotic drugs in 1954 and has since continually expanded its product range by food supplements, medical devices and cosmetics based on probiotic bacteria. In 1998, he also became Managing Director of SymbioVaccin GmbH, a company producing individual autovaccines, derived from patient’s own bacteria. Joachim received his MBA from the University of Mannheim, Germany and studied economics in Florence, Italy, followed by a 5-year employment with Delton AG (consulting and M & A). Joachim is also Board Member of PRI.