
Aaron Bennett – Vytalogy Wellness
Chief R&D and Quality Officer Aaron Bennett serves as Chief R&D and Quality Officer of Vytalogy Wellness (Vytalogy), a modern wellness company that fuses science and quality ingredients to create highly efficacious products that make a transformative impact on consumers’ lives. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Team and reports directly to the […]

Amy Smith – IPA President (IFF)
Amy Smith. Global Regulatory Strategy Lead, Health Dietary Supplements at IFF. 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 […]

Anita Johansen – Probi
Interim CEO and VP R&D

Anneleen Spooren – DSM
Vice President Innovation, R&D and Regulatory in the Health Nutrition & Care business Anneleen Spooren is Vice President Innovation, R&D and Regulatory in the Health Nutrition & Care business unit in DSM. In this role she is responsible for developing the pipeline of new launches as well as the science and technical substantiation of the […]

Antonio Martínez Descalzo – ADM
VP, Biotics Product & Technology Platform at ADM Antonio is Vice President for the LAB & Biotics Product and Technology Platform at ADM, a global leader in human and animal nutrition and the world’s premier agricultural origination and processing company. In his current role, Antonio heads the lactic acid bacteria platform globally. This encompasses our […]

Dr. Osamu Chonan – Yakult
Executive Manager of the Research & Development Division Osamu Chonan, PhD is the Executive Manager of the Research & Development Division and Executive Researcher at Yakult Central Institute. Dr. Chonan was a Director of the Yakult Honsha European Research Center for Microbiology ESV in Belgium during 2005 and 2006. His Professional interests include nutrition, intestinal […]

Francesco Girardo – Probiotical
Sales Director 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 […]

Gianfranco Grompone – BioGaia
Chief Scientific Officer Gianfranco Grompone is an agronomic engineer from ENSAR (France) since 1999 and did his PhD (1999-2002) at Pr. Dusko Ehrlich’s lab (INRA Jouy en Josas, France). He worked as a postdoc (2002-2005) at Pr. Philippe Sansonetti’s lab (Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) focusing on bacterial pathogenesis and then moved to Danone Research (Palaiseau, […]

Isabelle Champié – Lallemand Health Solutions
VP Sales & Marketing Director Isabelle Champié is Vice-President Sales & Marketing for Lallemand Health Solutions for 15 years. With her team, she is responsible for the Marketing and development of LHS probiotic B2B sales around the world. She is also involved in the licensing or development of new products, new application and potential acquisitions. […]

Kimmo Makinen – Novozymes OneHealth
Director of Scientific and Medical Affairs at Novozymes OneHealth Kimmo Makinen is the Director of Scientific and Medical Affairs at Novozymes OneHealth, a company that develops probiotics, enzymes, and other active ingredients to improve human health. His work focusses on discovering and validating new functional ingredient opportunities using a mix of conventional and more innovative […]

Jeremy Bartos – Merical
Senior Vice President, Research & Development Jeremy Bartos, PhD, is the Senior Vice President of Research & Development at MeriCal, an innovative dietary supplements contract manufacturer specializing in probiotics. He has over 13 years of experience working in the dietary supplements and probiotics industries in a variety of product development, innovation, business development and sales […]

Joshua Baisley – Nutrasource Pharmaceutical & Nutraceutical Services
Vice President Clinical Design & Delivery 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 […]

Linda Neckmar – Chr Hansen
Senior Vice President Human Health Linda Neckmar is leading the probiotic business at Chr Hansen, a global organization with a focus on clinically documented probiotic solutions. She has been in the probiotic industry since 2011 when she joined Probi, where she worked with international sales and was part of the executive management team. Linda has […]

Marc Philouze – Gnosis by LeSaffre
General Manager Marc Philouze is the General Manager of Gnosis by Lesaffre, the Human Health business unit of LeSaffre, a leading company in fermentation for the production of nutritional yeasts, probiotics, and beneficial molecules obtained from microorganisms. For more than 15 years, Marc Philouze has occupied leadership positions in various pharmaceutical, supplement and food companies, […]

Marco Caspani – Centro Sperimentale Del Latte (CSL)
General Manager 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 […]

Mathieu Millette – Kerry
Scientific director Graduated with distinction with a doctorate from INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier, Dr Mathieu Millette has specialized in the study of probiotics for more than 20 years. A seasoned microbiologist and speaker, his research interests are to elucidate the mechanisms of action of probiotic bacteria and to understand the interactions between beneficial microorganisms, the gut microbiome […]

Michael H. Lee – IPA Treasurer (Nestlé Health Science S.A.)
Michael H.Lee. Vice President, R&D and Science Translation at Garden of Life, LLC, a subsidiary of Nestle. Michael has been formulating probiotic-based products for 18+ years, as 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 […]

Najla Guthrie – KGK Science
President & CEO 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 […]

Nobuhisa Oe – Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd
Senior Manager 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 […]

Peter Jüsten – Sanofi Consumer Healthcare
Global VP R&D Sleep & Nutritional Health 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 […]

Richard Walton – Meiji Co., Ltd
General Manager Richard is General Manager in the R&D Division of Meiji Co., Ltd. He has extensive experience in R&D related to dairy, functional foods, and medical foods and is responsible for international research collaborations and information technology. He is a member of the IDF Scientific Program Coordination Committee (SPCC) and the IDF Standing Committee […]

Scott Bush – IPA Secretary (Probiotics Consulting)
Scott Bush. President of Probiotics Consulting. Scott has been a long-standing member of the IPA board of directors in addition to serving terms as Vice-President and President of the organization. Most recently he has participated on the By-laws Task Force, IPA – IPA Europe Integration Task Force, and Strategy Task Force. Scott is an active […]

Travis Borchardt – Nature’s Way
Vice President Product Integrity & Compliance Travis Borchardt has 24 years of experience as a dietary supplement industry leader, with a demonstrated history of setting the bar for probiotic product quality and compliance; helping earn the following titles: NSF International Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) Certification, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) GMP Certification and Quality Assurance International […]

Yang Shen – DiproBio
Founder and General Manager of DiproBio (Shanghai) Co., Limited. Yang Shen initiated MIHC Science Lab in 2012, a multinational and interdisciplinary micro-ecological health scientific research and academic communication platform, and founded Dipro probiotic brand in 2015. Currently, he serves as the general manager of DiproBio (Shanghai) Co., Limited. Dipro is a leading provider of microecological […]