Todd Hale

Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights
The Nielson Company

Todd Hale serves as Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights for The Nielsen Company. Appointed to this role in 1999, Todd is responsible for creating thought leadership content and delivering client and industry presentations. A frequently sought-after industry and client speaker, Todd shares his insights on consumer shopping, buying and media consumption behaviors and attitudes to provide CPG manufacturers and retailers with strategic visions to facilitate brand, category and retail sales growth. Hale is often quoted in the press on consumer trends, including the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Washington Post, FOX Business News, Chicago Tribune and numerous trade publications.

Todd has more than 33 years of experience in the consumer research industry, including 27 years with The Nielsen Company, where he held various marketing and sales management positions within advertising/product testing, advanced analytics and consumer panel practice areas. Prior to joining Nielsen in 1984, Todd was an executive with MRCA, a U.S.-based consumer panel company.

Todd earned an MBA and a BA in Business from Wright State University.

Dr. Lenora Howard

Senior Regulatory Affairs Specialist
ConAgra Foods

Dr. Lenora Howard received her B.S in Nutrition from the University of Illinois in 1988. She completed her M.S in Food Science with a minor in Marketing from Cornell University in 1991 and she received a Ph.D in Food Science and Human Nutrition from the University of Illinois in 1997. In 2004 she received a MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently employed at ConAgra Foods as a Senior Regulatory Affairs Specialist. Her previously positions include Senior Food Scientist for the Monsanto Company; Global Regulatory Affairs Manager for Kemin Foods; Regulatory Manager for Chef Solutions, and Analytical Chemist for the United States Army Corp of Engineering. She has written several articles on phytochemicals and nutrient retention in vegetables.

Wallace “Todd” Johnson

Managing Consultant, Global Initiatives and Job Creation
Gallup

Todd Johnson joined Gallup in 1995. Throughout his tenure, Johnson has served in leadership positions related to Gallup’s global activities and operations. For 10 years, he was responsible for Gallup’s Latin American operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela. Concurrently, he spearheaded the merger and acquisition teams responsible for acquiring the Gallup trademarks in Spain and Brazil.

In 2002, Johnson was tasked with building collaborative partnerships between Gallup University, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to create jobs by deploying Gallup economics and management sciences at the macroeconomic level and across economic sectors. The resulting initiative, called Gallup’s Entrepreneur Acceleration System (EAS) is currently being deployed in the United States and across Mexico, with plans to deploy the system into the Middle East in later 2011.

Johnson received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in New York and his master’s degree from the London School of Economics; both degrees were earned with distinction. Johnson also currently serves as the Vice President of the Greater Omaha Business Ethics Alliance and is involved in a number of nonprofit and community development boards. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife, Mary, and their three sons, Edward, Charles, and Samuel.

Angela Keaveny

Founder & Owner
ROWDYDOW bbQ LLC

Angela Keaveny is Founder and Owner of ROWDYDOW bbQ, LLC. Having demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit since she was 16, one evening 20 years later in 2007 she had an epiphany for an idea right at her finger tips; to share her family’s infamous pulled pork bbQ with the rest of the bbQ lovin’ world. From the day she asked her Step Mother and Father for the recipe, to making what seemed like a 1000 phone calls to figure out manufacturing, drive sales and marketing campaigns to today with national distribution of more than 100,000lbs of bbQ forecasted next year, she always had faith and belief. Her faith and belief drives her each day closer to seeing her vision of ROWDYDOW bbQ being a new American favorite and best-selling brand become a reality.

Although being a ‘one man show’ for the last four years has had its challenges, Angela has been fortunate to receive assistance and lots of encouragement from many along the way. While she’s focused on expanding the ROWDYDOW brand with more great tasting food, she looks forward to ‘giving back’ to others by sharing knowledge and experiences gained throughout her journey to help others realize ‘why not me?’ just the same.

Dr. Gayaneh Kyureghian

Research Assistant Professor
The Food Processing Center

Dr. Gayaneh Kyureghian is a Research Assistant Professor in The Food Processing Center, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests are in the food and consumer economics, applied econometrics. The research topics include food away from home consumption and obesity, food deserts and their policy implications, demand for organic and transitional organic produce, meta-analysis techniques and hierarchical data methods, missing data imputation methodology.

Dr. Kyureghian did her doctoral research in Texas A&M University researching missing data imputation methodology for imputing a price variable to the dietary recall data in the National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES) survey. The reference dataset for this imputation was the Nielsen HomeScan data. In this process she obtained close knowledge of the HomeScan data, its limitations and advantages. She collaborated with the Center of Nutrition Promotion and Policy, USDA, using their research matching the UPCs in the Nielsen HomeScan data and the USDA food codes in NHANES. She also has knowledge and experience in using the data capabilities from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Dr. Kyureghian has multiple symposia and poster presentations. Her review service includes scientific journals, books, and grants. Her funded research activities include research projects funded by USDA, the Frozen Food Foundation, and NE Wheat Board.

Terry Landes

Public Relations & Marketing Manager
Prairieland Foods

Terry Landes is the Public Relations and Marketing Manager at Prairieland Foods, a start-up dairy processing company in Firth, Nebraska. In his tenure at Prairieland Foods he created, developed, managed and marketed a brand of fluid milk products. In addition to his many duties with Prairieland Foods, Terry manages consumer engagement and image at Prairieland Dairy, a 1,500 cow dairy farm located just 20 miles south of Lincoln.

He has managed the Public Relations and image of several companies and organizations in a variety of national, regional and local industries including an internet company, a university’s fraternities and sororities and property owners and landlords.

Terry has been a speaker on the topic of communications and public relations at over 20 conferences and conventions. He began his career as a radio broadcaster in Iowa. He has a degree in Journalism and Public Relations from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois.

Dennis Lynch

Food Export Helpline™ Counselor
Food Export Midwest & Food Export Northeast

Dennis Lynch, M.I.B.A., CGBP™, is a 30-year veteran of international trade. Throughout his career, he has held a variety of positions that have provided him with a strong background in both public and private enterprise, as well as in academic and hands on applications.

Since 1998, he has worked for the Food Export Association of the Midwest USA, a private non-profit partnership of the Midwest state agricultural promotion agencies and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. As counselor of the “Food Export Helpline™”, Dennis provides one on one customized export assistance with a wide variety of businesses manufacturing or exporting value added food products. This program has been one of the most popular activities of the organization and is unique in the U.S. in its approach and delivery. Since 2000, Dennis has also worked for Food Export USA Northeast, in a similar capacity as part of both organizations strategic alliance. The website of the associations is www.foodexport.org.

In this regard, he has also made bi-monthly contributions to the “Export 101” column in the Global Food Marketer, the Food Export Associations award winning bi-monthly newsletter. He also has authored and implemented the “Export Essentials Education Program” for Food Export Midwest and Northeast to provide distance leaning opportunities for companies in their region as well. This is a series of ten interactive training modules that provide an integrated learning experience on developing export operations, “From Connection to Collection”. The program is called “Export Essentials” and is available at www.foodexport.org He has also prepared and delivered a number of seminars and webinars on subjects related to the export of food and agricultural products. The webinars have also been archived and are available in the website of Food Export Midwest.

Dennis holds a Master’s Degree in International Business Administration, M.I.B.A., awarded by West Coast University and holds a California Community College Lifetime Teaching Credential in Marketing and Distribution. He has taught international trade courses at a variety of Southern California Colleges for 20 years. He was also the recipient of the University of California at Irvine’s “Distinguished Instructor” award for outstanding contribution to their Global Operations Management certificate program, and was twice named “Instructor of the Year” by the Marymount/Webster University program in Palos Verdes California for his work in the international business instructional area in both the graduate and undergraduate programs. He is also a member of the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators, NASBITE, and has been accredited as a Certified Global Business Professional, CGBP™, through that organization.

Michael Milbourn

Assistant Vice President - Group Sales Operations
Ameritas

Michael Milbourn has experienced success in mortgage, banking and insurance, in many different organizational cultures. His unique abilities and analysis have created opportunities for him in sales, training, marketing and operations. For 15 years, he has sought to help organizations and individuals maximize their effectiveness through greater understanding of their strengths and purpose. He is a Senior Certified Birkman® Consultant and offers strategic planning, team and culture building, and executive coaching services. Michael also works with high school and college students to improve their communication skills and select careers that match their strengths. He and his wife live in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Bruce Nyhammer

Western Marketing Manager for Sioux Honey Association.

Bruce Nyhammer has worked in all areas of the food business including retail management, food broker management and consumer goods companies. Mr. Nyhammer has represented companies in all distribution facets including national retailers, major regional retailers, local and small retailers, wholesalers of all sizes and distributors. He has an AA in Journalism, Bachelors degree in Advertising, minor in Marketing and an MBA with a concentration in Marketing.
 

Gisele Olney

Consultant
Nebraska Business Development Center, University of Nebraska, Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Gisele Olney has over 35 years experience in leading, facilitating and coaching teams to implement transforming improvements in manufacturing, engineering and administrative operations. She provides leadership, team coaching and technical training to people at all levels during the project process. By effectively teaching collaborative skills and teamwork processes, Olney enables diverse teams to reach rapid consensus for sound solutions with rapid returns on investments. Olney teaches project management, operations improvements, lean enterprise (specializing to flow, value stream mapping and pull/ERP integration), root cause analysis and problem solving. She has a proven record of accomplishment as a team leader and team facilitator implementing high quality projects and managing portfolios of programs on-time and under budget. Olney has a BS and MS Information Systems, and is certified in CLBM, LEI VSM and NIST MEP Lean Certification.

Dr. Steven Pharr

Market Research Analyst
The Food Processing Center

Steven Pharr joined The Food Processing Center in February of 2009, and has helped develop The FPC’s New Food Profile, Online Concept Testing, and Growth Journey services for SME food processing firms. Steve received his PhD in Marketing from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He has 30 years teaching and research experience as a University Professor and over 25 years consulting experience in a variety of industry settings. Areas of expertise include market research methodology, channel management, marketing planning and strategy, business-wide strategic planning, and team building and management, all with an emphasis on a cross-functional, holistic view of the firm.
 

Doug W. Renfro

President
Renfro Foods

Doug Renfro is President of Renfro Foods. He oversees new product development and helps manage a number of administrative areas of the business, including purchasing, legal, information systems, human resources and sales.

Reared in the family business, Doug has spent a majority of his career working in a number of different capacities at Renfro Foods. As a teenager, he worked in production, while in college he learned to formulate Renfro’s recipes.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas, Doug worked in the financial services department for a large information services company in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. During his seven-year tenure outside the family business, he was promoted to Divisional Finance Manager, earned his Master’s degree from Southern Methodist University and qualified for his Certified Management Accountant designation.  Doug, son of Jack Renfro, re-joined Renfro Foods in 1992.

Involved in a number of professional and community organizations, Doug is a past president of both the Texas Food Processors Association and the North Texas Food Sales Association. Doug currently serves on the boards of Casa Mañana, a not-for-profit theater organization, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, a non-profit conservation and preservation institute, the Tarrant Area Food Bank and the Horticulture Industry Advisory Council at Texas A&M University. He has also served as a board member of Fort Worth South, a non-profit organization that works to renovate Fort Worth’s southern inner city.

Keith Stoneman

Senior Sales Trainer
Ameritas

Keith Stoneman is a 17-year veteran of corporate training, with 19 years of experience in education. He has trained nearly 2000 employees in the areas of sales, customer service, and process training for organizations, in industries from data communications to insurance. His peers honored him in 1999 as Member of the Year Award for the Nebraska Chapter of ASTD for innovation and leadership of the Trainer’s Institute program. He’s been published in Creative Training Techniques newsletter and The Training and Performance Sourcebook. He served as an advisor on the ASTD Sales Competency panel in its research and writing of the book World Class Selling. He received his Master’s Degree in Adult Learning, Performance and Development from Drake University in Des Moines, IA, and is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Achieve Global Professional Selling Skills.

Brian Wagner

Cofounder and Vice President
Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions, LLC

Brian Wagner is an entrepreneurial business and technical leader with over 25 years of experience across PTIS, Kellogg, Sara Lee, Multiform Desiccants, Carton-Craft Corp., Burger King, and General Foods. In 2008, Brian was inducted into the Michigan State University School of Packaging Hall of Fame, named with PTIS as Packaging Strategies Most Influentials and recognized by Western Michigan Business Review 2008 Thought Leaders.

Brian's career spans packaging, strategy, business development, sales, marketing, and operations. He has a track record of consistently increasing top-line and bottom-line dollars for both privately and publicly held companies. His effectiveness as a change leader has contributed to the success of many companies. He can be relied upon to communicate practical solutions to complex problems in an ever-changing environment. He recognizes how things really work in consumer packaged goods companies, as well as for suppliers, and works extensively with the integrated value chain model to bring all key stakeholders together early in the development process. This process is driven by consumer and retailer needs, and Brian has led cutting edge consumer insight programs and worked to drive new methods to quantify the value of packaging in the marketplace.

Brian earned a bachelor of science degree in packaging from Michigan State University in 1984. He served on the MSU National Alumni Board from 2007-2009, is past president of Michigan State University's School of Packaging Alumni Association and served on the Industry Advisory Committee and on the Dean’s Stakeholder Board. He currently serves on the Shelf Impact Editorial Advisory Board. Brian serves on the advisory board of ASUs College of Technology and Innovation. Brian further supports academics through student mentoring at MSU and Arizona State University (ASU) and the PTIS Packaging Endowment at Michigan State University, and also lectures at both Michigan State University and Western Michigan University in their packaging and food marketing programs. He co-developed an online masters course, Value Relationships in Packaging. Additionally, Brian has participated in Executive Development Training, S.P.I.N. Selling, Dale Carnegie Sales Training, and International Learning's Professional Selling Skills. He was an active member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) and is a past board member of the Research & Development Associates (R&DA). In 2009, Wagner cofounded the ARK Angel Network, a volunteer fundraising charity working to help efforts aimed at assisting needy, under-resourced and At Risk Kids.

Brian is also a keynote and special topic speaker at corporate events, seminars, and sales meetings on many subjects including entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation, and opportunities across the global value chain.

Brian, and his wife Dawn have three children and reside in Scottsdale, Arizona.