Board of Directors Members

Joshua Baisley, B.Sc. Honors, Vice President Clinical Design & Delivery, joined Nutrasource in 2013, bringing 12 years of clinical, pre-clinical and regulatory natural health product experience. He also has four years’ experience in early stage antibody/biologic development. Josh is currently an IPA board member and has actively participated in both the Scientific and Education & Communication committees.  He is also the current co-chair for the IPA Technology and Standards Committee.  Josh has also presented on probiotic clinical trial design and regulatory pathways to market at various industry conferences and tradeshows.  With depth in regulatory filings and management of clinical trials, he understands clinical operations and regulatory thinking which has led to his respected relationship with Health Canada’s Non-Prescription and Natural Health Products Directorate as well as Therapeutic Products Directorate. From 2011 to 2014 he was a member of Health Canada’s “Canada Vigilance Expert Working Group”, representing the supplement industry toward harmonization of safety reporting for supplements, drugs and biologics.  Josh completed his undergraduate studies and the University of Guelph, specializing in microbiology and he also holds a certificate in regulatory affairs.

Formerly president and CEO of Ganeden, Michael is an executive, officer and board member for various natural products, healthcare, bioinformatics and technology related startups, turnarounds and early to mid-stage companies. Built large, distributed business development, sales, operations and marketing teams and programs to generate maximum value for shareholders and strategic partners. Completed IP out-licenses, acquisitions, divestitures and capital acquisition for a variety of organizations.

Marco Caspani has been working in the health ingredients industry for more than 18 years. With a degree in food science he has covered several roles in different Companies until he joined CSL in 2012, a company that since 1948 studies, develops and produces strains for the food and pharmaceutical Industries. In his role of General Manager, Marco defines and executes the strategies and leads the Company to become a global recognized probiotic manufacturer.

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.

As an internationally recognized scientist and business leader, Najla Guthrie has left an indelible mark on nutritional science and the nutraceutical industry. Over the past 22 years, she has published over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been recognized as an influential expert within her industry. As one of the founders and current President/CEO at KGK Science, Najla has developed and strengthened the organization’s integrated research expertise, which now maintains a reputation for world-class nutraceutical and cannabis science. Najla is also a lobbyist for the advancement of regulations and policy changes for the supplement and cannabis industries.

More than 22 years of professional experience – Product / Process Development (Innovation / R&D), Starting-up New Business, Acquisitions / Integrations, Global Strategy Definition and General Management – in Life Sciences (Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Food supplements, Functional Foods, Cosmetics and Crop protection). As a current member of the Global Consumer Healthcare R&D Leadership team at Sanofi I have worldwide responsibilities for driving science-based innovations resulting in sustainable and industry leading growth in the area of Sleep & Nutritional Health (energy-, stress- and mobility management). In addition, I am currently in charge of the global Sanofi probiotic / microbiome technology platform serving all categories, i.e., Pain, Allergy and Cough & Cold, Digestive - and Sleep & Nutritional Health.

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.

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.

Christine M’Rini (MD, PhD) has about 25 years of working experience in clinical and health science, public and industrial, activities. After a post-doctorate in Harvard Medical school, she started as assistant and then Associate Professor of Human Physiology from 1996 to 2006 (Rangueil School of Medicine and University Hospital, Toulouse, France) leading research, teaching and clinical activities. Between 2006-2008, she was on secondment to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Deputy Counsellor and then Head of the Section for Science and Technology for the French State and Embassy in China.  From August 2008 to December 2012, Christine worked as Scientific Director for the Institut Mérieux, a holding dedicated to industrial biology, serving the medical and public health sectors across the globe and, including four international companies: bioMérieux, Transgene, Mérieux NutriSciences and Mérieux Development.  During that period, she coordinates and operates a personalized medicine program and public/private partnership, ADNA (Advanced Diagnostic for New Therapeutics Approaches) in the fields of infectious diseases, cancer, and rare genetic disorders. In January 2013, she joins Danone in the Dairy Division as Life Science, Clinical Studies and Biometrics Director. In 2017, she was nominated Research and Innovation VP of the Medical Division of Danone. Since September 2019, she is the Health & Science VP of the Specialized Nutrition Division of Danone. She is or was member and/or coordinator of various French, European and international initiatives and/or think-tanks in the public and private domains. She is awarded as “Chevalier in the French National Order of Merit”.

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. 

Amy earned a doctorate degree in Microbiology from Louisiana State University, minoring in virology and molecular biology.  After years conducting research on microbial pathogenesis and molecular detection methods, Amy began a career with DuPont, and is currently the Regulatory Global Lead for DuPont Probiotics.  Amy’s ability to understand science, regulation, and real-world industry promotes a forward-thinking probiotics industry platform for the success of DuPont probiotics, all at the current pace of immense industry growth.