Filippo Catalano
Chief Digital and Information Officer
Mondelēz

Filippo Catalano is the Chief Information & Digital Officer (CIDO) of Mondelēz International, a global snacking leader evolving the role of snacking with 2024 net revenues of approximately $36.4 billion driven by iconic brands such as Oreo, Ritz, LU, Clif Bar and Tate's Bake Shop biscuits and baked snacks, as well as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone chocolate.

In this role, he is responsible for the oversight of the company’s global Information Technology and Shared Services functions, and leads the transformation of the company through technology, Digital, Data and AI.

Filippo joined the company in 2024, based in the Zurich office. Before joining MDLZ, he held the position of CIDO at Reckitt plc and Nestlé SA, and prior to that he spent more than 15 years at Procter & Gamble.

Filippo graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Italy. Filippo is fluent in English, French, Italian, and has worked and lived in Italy, Switzerland, France, the US and the UK.

Amr Arafa
Chief Digital Officer
Barry-Callebaut

Amr Arafa is the Chief Digital Officer of Barry Callebaut.

In this role, Amr is responsible for driving the company’s commitment to creating an agile, tech-enabled organization supporting Barry Callebaut’s growth strategy going forward.

Amr has gained almost 20 years of profound expertise in digital transformation in his previous positions at different consumer goods companies. Before joining Barry Callebaut, he served as Chief Data Officer in IKEA for over four years. Amr holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Egypt, and a Master of Science in e-Business Management from the University of Warwick, UK.

Ipek Ozsuer
Chief Digital and Information Officer
dsm-firmenich

Ipek is a seasoned technology executive passionate for digital transformation and is the Chief Digital & Information Officer at dsm-firmenich, leading co-creation and innovation partner in nutrition, health, and beauty. Her role involves steering the company's digital and AI strategy, overseeing information systems, and ensuring the seamless operation of end-to-end IT systems.

Prior to her role at dsm-firmenich, she has a history of spearheading digital & transformative initiatives. She held key positions as a digital leader in Bayer, implementing comprehensive digitalization roadmaps and leading successful data transformation program. Beyond traditional IT roles, she spent 13 years at Hewlett Packard, running Services business for growth in Analytics and Data Management across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She also has extensive experience in Application and BPO outsourcing. She began her career at Procter & Gamble in 1999.

Ipek is also a Non-Executive Director and Board Member at Azelis, and on top her technology roles she is deeply committed to driving the diversity agenda and advocating for inclusion and equity.

Dr. Joerg Behrend
Chief Information and Technology Officer
Ferrero

Dr. Joerg Behrend, born in East Germany, graduated as experimental physicist with a PhD from the Humboldt University and the Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics in Berlin. After 5 years in basic research dedicated to applied semiconductor physics and opto-electronics he joined an international technology consulting firm working with multi-national players in the oil & gas, semiconductor and telecom industry.

Equipped with this experience Joerg served afterwards for 11 years in the telecom industry holding CTO positions with the mobile telecom provider Orange and later France Telecom in various geographies.

Continuing his career for the next 8 years in the FMCG industry he worked as the Global CIO and business shared services leader of Bacardi, a family-owned global player in the spirits industry owning many iconic brands (Bacardi, Martini, Grey Goose, Bombay Sapphire, Dewars, Patron etc.).

The following years, Joerg led the technology arm of Philip Morris International ́s internal digital agency “PMI Digital”. Here he was responsible for the setup of a global omni-channel digital consumer engagement and e-commerce environment helping to establish the new reduced risk product iQOS as the category leader in the heated tobacco space.

As Chief Information & Technology Officer of the Ferrero Group, since 2020 Joerg is supporting the strong growth agenda for some of the most iconic brands in the sweet-packaged food industry like Nutella, Kinder, Rocher, Tic-Tac, ... Furthermore, he is in charge for the technology leadership of all affiliated and related companies of the Ferrero industry ecosystem like The Ferrara Candy Company, Wells Industries, The Fine Biscuit Company etc.

Olivier Mignot
Vice President Global Quality Management 
Nestlé

Olivier is Vice President and Global Head of Quality at Nestlé. His career with Nestlé expands over more than 35 years in various science, technology and operations positions with increased leadership responsibilities. Prior to his current role, he was Head of Operations for Nestlé Health Science (NHSc), where he was instrumental in the successful integration and leadership in Operations, with a largely diversified portfolio of NHSc products and acquisitions. Before joining NHSc, Olivier has held several positions at Nestlé in the United States and Canada, responsible for driving and overlooking manufacturing facilities, corporate technical functions and quality management.

He also held various leadership positions in the Research & Development area, at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, as well as in various Nestlé Product Technology Centers in France and in Switzerland.

Madhavi Purohit
GInterim Chief Quality Officer & Global Head of Quality Personal Care
Unilever

Madhavi Purohit heads up Unilever’s Quality Personal Care team and is double hatting as interim Chief Quality Officer for Unilever.  
 
Madhavi started her career in Research and Development (R&D) at Unilever from to 2003 to 2019, covering various R&D roles in Packaging, Technical Project Lead and Sustainability at Local, regional, and global level.  
 
Madhavi developed and led the program for Plastics Sustainability for Unilever in Asia working closely as industry and driving change.  
From R&D she took role as Quality director for South Asia shaping consumer centric agenda for Unilever before moving to current role. 
 
She took on her current role in July 2022 and is now based in London, United Kingdom.  
 
With over 20 years’ experience at world’s leading FMCG company, Madhavi is an ambassador for innovation and driving change in product, processes and Quality systems. She is driving a culture change across the organisation, overseeing end-to-end Quality, and driving consumers advocacy in the pursuit of superior quality. 
 
She is also extremely passionate about sustainability and Diversity & Inclusion across Unilever and the community. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Madhavi is married to Jikul and has 2 teenage daughters.

Susanne Garcia-Schauermann
Senior Vice President, Global Quality & Food Safety & Regulatory Affairs
Mondelēz International

Susanne Garcia-Schauermann is the global SVP for Quality Assurance, Food Safety as well Scientific and Regulatory Affairs as of 2021 in Mondelēz International, a global company leading the future of snacking. In this role Susanne is responsible for the global strategy on Quality/Food Safety including policies and standards, capability building and tools, regulatory compliance, nutrition strategy and scientific affairs to ensure freedom to operate across the enterprise.

Susanne is a highly experienced food professional with background in Microbiology and over 30 years of experience in Manufacturing Quality, Food Safety Management, R&D and Quality Assurance both on local, regional, and global level being interconnected to all parts of the company business. She has gained deep experience in product categories like confectionery, dairy, salty snacks, coffee and biscuits.

She is a passionate leader, believing in diverse teams and has a proven track record on raising the bar on Quality Assurance and Food Safety with a pragmatic approach and consumer driven mindset.

Sean Leighton
Vice President, Cargill Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory
Cargill

Thanh Nguyen
Chief Quality Officer
Kerry

Thanh Nguyen is a seasoned food industry executive with over two decades of global leadership experience in Food Safety, Quality, and Innovation. He currently serves as the Global Food Safety & Quality Officer at Kerry Group, a role he has held for the past 1.5 years. Thanh brings a strategic vision and a deep commitment to excellence in food safety and quality standards across Kerry’s global operations.

Prior to his current position, Thanh was the Chief Operating Officer for Kerry APMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa) for 2 years, where he led operational performance and growth initiatives across diverse markets. He also held the role of APMEA Vice President for Quality, Health, Safety & Environment (QHSE) at Kerry, driving transformative improvements in compliance and safety culture.

Before joining Kerry, Thanh spent 7 years at Keystone Foods, where he led Food Safety, Quality, and Innovation for the APMEA region. His leadership was instrumental in enhancing product integrity and fostering customer trust across a wide portfolio of clients and markets. Earlier in his career, Thanh held various global and regional roles in Food Safety and Quality at Wrigley/Mars, where he developed deep expertise in global quality systems and cross-cultural team leadership. He began his career in Canada with Campbell Soup, laying a strong technical foundation in food manufacturing and safety. A Canadian national, Thanh resides in Bangkok and is known for his collaborative leadership style, operational expertise, and passion for building high-performing teams that deliver on Kerry’s Vision “To be our customers’ most valued partner creating a world of sustainable nutrition”.

Ana Rita Rezende Debiazzi
Group Head of Quality
dsm-firmenich

Ana Rita Vasconcellos Rezende Debiazzi is the Group Head of Quality at dsm-firmenich, which is a company committed to bringing progress to life by combining the essential, the desirable, and the sustainable. dsm-firmenich is a merger of 2 iconic companies with a rich history of paving the way to a bright future together. More than a century in the making, dsm-firmenich is the story of two nutrition, health, and beauty innovators.

In this role, Ana Rita is responsible for leading, designing, cascading, and safeguarding all quality domains such as Quality Excellence including, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Quality Capabilities Training, and Quality Culture, and Quality Management Systems including, Product Protection, Incident Management & Reporting, Auditing & Certification, and Central Laboratory. Ultimately, together with the Business Unit Heads of Quality, Ana Rita is responsible for establishing the Group quality management system strategy to ensure customer satisfaction and compliance.

Ana Rita is an executive passionate about Change Management to lead continuous improvement and people development, with a demonstrated history of quality and product protection management in diverse industries sectors such as Food & Beverage, Flavors, Perfumes, Home & Personal Care, accomplished in a nearly 33-year career. Ana Rita is a typical Brazilian mother, a chemical engineer with a post-graduation in Food Engineering from UCL Belgium, Industrial Administration from USP, Brazil, Executive MBA with FDC Brazil and a post-executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management, USA. Ana Rita has lived in 5 different countries, which has helped her to develop resilience in mutual development fertilization through various cultural aspects.

Roberto Buttini
Vice President Global Quality & Food Safety and R&D Strategy
Barilla

Roberto is currently holding two positions at Barilla, Vice President Global Quality & Food Safety and R&D Strategy.

His career with Barilla started more than 30 years ago, with several assignments in Product Development, Process Development, Research, Innovation, Quality and Food safety, with increased leadership responsibilities.

Prior to his current role, he was Vice President Product Development and Global Center of Expertise Bakery for Barilla, where he successfully completed projects on product portfolio innovation, renovation and productivity.

Before joining Product Development, Roberto has held the position of Research Development and Quality Director at Kamps/Lieken, part of Barilla Group, in Germany and Netherlands, supporting the company turnaround

Ahmed Maklad
Global Head of Quality for Digitalisation and Strategy
Unilever

With a career spanning over 20 years, he has held various positions with increasing leadership responsibilities in Quality, logistics, and transformational initiatives. In his current role, they pioneer disruptive supply chain and quality technologies, driving business results through strategic acumen and operational expertise.

Before this, Maklad held key roles across Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa, and global markets, supporting Unilever's global business and growth ambitions through optimized operations. He has enhanced business processes, led multiple transformation programs in Quality and logistics, fostered a collaborative and innovative environment, and empowered teams to achieve excellence

Philip Kyte
Strategy Principal Director – Quality & Innovation
Accenture

Philip is one of Accenture’s global quality leaders, specializing in Consumer Goods. With over 25 years of experience, Philip has been instrumental in advising companies on elevating their quality performance. He achieves this by defining the optimal quality strategy, implementing robust processes, establishing a streamlined operating model, and harnessing cutting-edge technology. Digital (or Connected) Quality is a transformative trend for all companies, and Philiip regularly aids companies to comprehend the essence of Digital Quality, its myriad benefits, and the pivotal role of AI and emerging technologies in critical quality activities such as standards and policies, non-compliance root causes, emerging risks, and beyond.

Philip is renowned for leading industry-wide benchmarking initiatives, identifying best practices, and aiding companies in advancing their quality management approach. He also spearheads the Quality Excellence Forum, a best practice sharing roundtable for Quality leaders in the food and beverage sector. This forum delves into a diverse array of topics, including Digital Quality, KPIs, skills, risk assessment, supplier quality, laboratories, and complaint management, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.

Carla Serpa
Chief Quality Officer, Ice Cream
Unilever