MEET THE SPEAKERS
Speakers
Adam Olins
BerryWorld (UK)
After he founded BerryWorld in the UK in 1994, Adam led the business to become Europe’s leading berry marketer, recognised for its proprietary, award-winning genetics. BerryWorld was acquired by AgroBerries in 2024, creating the world’s second largest berry business. Adam is an AgroBerries board member, and leads its global sales and marketing.
Alessandro Gualandi
G-Berries (Italy)
Alessandro is an agronomist who has worked in the berry industry for the past ten years. His current work as variety development manager for G-Berries focuses nursery, breeding and variety development work in what is a young Italian but also international company.
Alessandro Mariani
Infia (Italy)
Alessandro Mariani is export manager of Infia Group, a leading manufacturer of sustainable packaging for the fruit and vegetable industry. He is skilled in sustainability management and the circular economy, helping European retailers to create a sustainable and circular economic environment.
Callum Baker
Tesco (UK)
Callum Baker has been working at Tesco for 13 years and is currently the buying manager for Berries at Tesco. He has five years’ experience working in Fruit, with two years buying Berries and the buying manager for Top Fruit and Stone Fruit for the three years prior.
Charlotte Knowles
BerryWorld (UK)
Charlotte Knowles is marketing and communications director of BerryWorld. She joined the company in 2009, working across business development and category management to become UK head of marketing. She moved to an international role in 2017 and is now marketing and communications director for the group, overseeing global branding, marketing and communications, guided by category insight and inspired by creativity.
Cindy van Rijswick
RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness (Netherlands)
Cindy van Rijswick works for Rabobank’s global research team. Within RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness, she is the group’s global strategist for the crop sectors. The global berry sector is one of her focus areas. She has published numerous reports and has spoken at various international fresh produce events on berries.
Danitza Sanchez
Dole (Netherlands)
Danitza Sanchez is business development director at Dole, leading its berry category. She is also president of Global Women Fresh. Previously, she held leading roles at Camposol and Driscoll’s, where she gained deep, practical insight into berry production, commercialisation, and retail dynamics. An international fresh produce sector leader with 20 years’ value chain experience, her background combines business strategy, category development, and operations across EMEA and South America. Throughout her career, Danitza has developed partnerships with growers, breeders, and customers, guided multicultural teams across regions to build long-term value. She is passionate about increasing consumption of berries.
David Sanclement
The Summer Berry Company (UK)
David Sanclement is CEO of The Summer Berry Company, one of the world’s leading year-round berry suppliers. Since joining the company in 2020, he has led its expansion into new geographical markets, including South Africa, while growing its client base and positioning the company as a benchmark for sustainable best practice within the industry. David holds a bachelor’s degree in management and an MBA from IE Business School, and brings extensive experience in the global fresh produce sector.
Emma White
FareShare UK
Emma is commercial manager in the fresh produce team at FareShare and The Felix Project, the UK’s largest food redistribution charity following their merger. She works directly with growers and fresh produce suppliers to redistribute surplus fruit and vegetables through a network of over 8,000 charities across the UK, ensuring good food reaches communities in need.Working with organisations such as BerryWorld, Emma demonstrates how collaboration across the supply chain can transform surplus produce into measurable social and environmental impact, helping businesses reduce waste, cut carbon, and meet their ESG commitments.
Fiachra Moloney
Bloom Fresh (UK)
Fiachra has spent the last 20 years in marketing, brand building and general management roles in companies such as P&G, Kellogg’s and Unilever. Fiachra joined Bloom Fresh – and the fresh produce industry – two years ago as chief marketing officer, to help build world-leading brands and innovation.
Gina Mercier
IGS (UK)
Gina Mercier is head of European sales at Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS). The company’s CEA system allows every element of the growing environment to be controlled through patented, multi-award-winning technology. This offers huge benefits for berry propagation and indoor farming at scale. Gina works with customers to achieve the economic and environmental benefits that IGS’ Growth Towers deliver.
Hans Liekens
Planasa (Spain)
Hans Liekens is global head of marketing and innovation at Planasa. A graduate in commercial engineering from the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, he has 30+ years’ experience in food marketing and sales. After holding senior roles at Tropicana-PepsiCo, Campina, Chiquita, Hessing and Fall Creek, he worked as one of the key architects behind blueberry variety group Sekoya. Since joining Planasa in January 2025, Hans has successfully driven consumer-focused growth, innovation and out-of-the-box thinking globally.
Hans Puijk
BrightBerries (Netherlands)
Hans Puijk is a third-generation soft fruit grower at FruitMasters, as well as advisor and breeder within his company BrightBerries. In response to challenges in cultivation, market dynamics and sustainability, he developed the Yumio raspberry – a future-proof variety towards 2030, and a core innovation within the FruitMasters Best of Breeding programme, focused on profitability, sustainable quality and value chain collaboration. He is also one of the initiators of the Yumio Club, a collaborative grower network dedicated to building a strong, distinctive raspberry brand across Europe.
Iain Farrell
Driscoll’s (UK)
Iain Farrell is vice president of sales and marketing Driscoll’s EMEA, where he leads the company’s commercial strategy and customer partnerships across the fresh berry category. He has extensive international experience across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He has played a central role in strengthening Driscoll’s market presence in the UK, enhancing brand positioning and delivering consistent, sustainable sales growth. An experienced international food executive, Iain has a strong track record in driving results and leading business transformation across complex markets. His expertise spans general management, regional and global sales, shopper and trade marketing, distributor management and P&L responsibility. Known for his collaborative leadership style, he is committed to developing high-performing teams and fostering a culture aligned with Driscoll’s core values of passion, humility and trust.
India Lawton
CoppaFeel! (UK)
India Lawton is senior partnerships manager at CoppaFeel! She started her career in football, working in events and sales, but wanted to put her sales experience into something more rewarding and made the move to the fundraising. She headed up the partnership with JD Wetherspoon and Young Lives vs Cancer for three years – a partnership that has now raised over £25mn – and worked on national campaigns at the Crime Fighting charity Crimestoppers. India has worked at CoppaFeel! since 2020 and enjoys the breadth of purpose driven strategic partnerships that CoppaFeel! attracts. She is inspired by the creativity, energy and enthusiasm that goes into these campaigns.
Isla Haslam
Driscoll’s (UK)
Isla Haslam is the UK marketing manager at Driscoll’s, where she leads strategic marketing initiatives to drive brand awareness and demand for the company’s premium berries across the UK. She brings more than a decade of experience across marketing, PR and communications, having worked both in-house and agency-side across food and drink, lifestyle and consumer brands. She is recognised for her role in launching the “Devoted to Delicious” campaign, helping to strengthen Driscoll’s position as a leader in flavour-led fresh produce. In 2024, Isla was named Manager of the Year at the FPC Fresh Awards in recognition of her leadership and impact within the industry. Known for her collaborative leadership style, Isla embodies Driscoll’s core values of passion, humility and trustworthiness, combining strategic thinking with a creative, results-driven approach to marketing.
Jill Witheyman
Angus Soft Fruits (UK)
Jill Witheyman is head of marketing at Angus Soft Fruit. She has lived and breathed fresh produce since age nine, starting in her father’s wholesale business in Ireland. She’s worked with major supermarket retailers across categories from top fruit and citrus to potatoes and vegetables, but berries are her favourite. For 18 years, Jill has crafted bold campaigns, punnet by punnet.
Katia Kouloumprouka Zacharaki
NIAB (UK)
Katia has worked in soilless cultivation for ten years across glasshouse production and vertical farming, combining technical and commercial expertise. She specialises in strawberry cultivation, with experience spanning start-ups and research organisations, and has contributed to the development and optimisation of publicly and privately funded, high-performance CEA projects.
Kristoffer Skarsgård
Saga Robotics (Norway)
Kristoffer Skarsgård is an operations manager at Saga Robotics, with seven years of experience scaling autonomous solutions across the UK and California. From leading early autonomous UVC trials in Kent to establishing the company’s California operation, Kristoffer has been instrumental in the journey from research to commercial scale. Currently, Kristoffer focuses on building the operational and economic frameworks that enable the Thorvald robots to perform reliably at commercial scale, delivering measurable value to soft fruit growers and shareholders.
Lisette Rosenkvist
Dole (Sweden)
Lisette Rosenkvist is category manager for berries at Dole Nordic. She works strategically with category development, innovation, and market growth, with a strong focus on consumer insights, quality, and sustainable growth across the Nordic markets. She previously spent over ten years at Ica, Sweden’s largest grocery retailer.
Malkeet Padda
AgroFresh (UK)
Dr Malkeet Padda is AgroFresh’s director of R&D and Regulatory for North America,. He brings over 20 years of expertise in berry physiology and post-harvest quality management. He integrates fundamental scientific principles with innovative technologies and digital tools to measure, predict, and extend shelf-life. Previously, he led post-harvest R&D and innovation at Driscoll’s for a decade.
Marco Snikkers
OneThird (Netherlands)
Marco Snikkers is founder – commercial & product strategy at OneThird, the company he founded in 2018 after learning about the tremendous amount of food which is wasted every year. Now on a mission to dramatically reduce that food waste, he now works very closely with retailers and their partners to digitise quality assessments and link these to dynamic actions in the supply chain.
Mario Steta
International Blueberry Organisation (Spain)
Born in Mexico but living in Europe since 2020, Mario is an agronomist who has been involved farming open and greenhouse vegetable crops for over 15 years. He has spent the last 17 years working at Driscoll´s, managing Latin America and operations within EMEA, and now focusing on governmental affairs. He is chair of the International Blueberry Organization, and has been involved in various agricultural associations in America and Europe. He also participated in the latest review of the USMCA agreement, co-heading the private sector labour tract for Mexico.
Massimiliano Persico
Carton Pack (Italy)
With over 25 years of experience driving innovation in the global packaging industry, Massimiliano Persico has operated in international markets, working closely with leading European retailers. His expertise is in eco-friendly packaging, delivering cutting-edge, consumer-focused solutions for the fresh produce sector.
Speakers Row2
Mike Soulsby
Beta Best Produce (Peru)
Mike Soulsby is director of Beta Best Produce, a European network of sales offices for major blueberry grower Complejo Beta in Peru. With nearly 20 years’ experience in the fresh produce industry, he also has experience of exporting UK-grown soft fruit to Asia.
Philip Symons
North Bay Produce (UK)
Philip Symons is EMEA director at North Bay Produce. After graduating from the University of St Andrews, Philip joined Marks & Spencer’s food division, where he spent 13 years in senior commercial roles in fresh produce. He also helped to establish Plan A, M&S’s first comprehensive sustainability plan. For the last 15 years, Philip has set up, expanded and led North Bay Produce’s EMEA operations, developing pan-European customers, and European and African grower networks.
Rachel Letham
The Marketing Society (UK)
Rachel Letham is global head of marketing and brand at The Marketing Society, the world’s leading community of senior marketers, with hubs across the England, Scotland, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE and New York. She leads brand strategy, integrated campaigns and member communications for the global organisation, and recently spearheaded its most significant rebrand in 65 years, including a new sonic identity and visual overhaul. Before moving into the marketing world, Rachel spent over 13 years in the fresh produce industry, working across variety branding, supply chain operations and field-to-market communications with businesses including AGThames and Soloberry. She continues to work with berry industry clients including iBerry Morocco and Berries del Oeste.
Raffaele Benedetti
Unitec (Italy)
Raffaele Benedetti has been a board member at Unitec, an Italian-based international manufacturer specialising in high-tech machinery for sorting, grading and processing fruit and vegetables, since 2009. He has contributed to the expansion and consolidation of the international trading network of Unitec Group over the years.
Salih Hodzhov
WB Chambers Farms (UK)
Salih Hodzhov is chief operating officer at WB Chambers Farms. After his graduation from Shumen University in Bulgaria, Salih first joined the company in 2001 as a fruit picker. He subsequently worked in roles including tunnel manager, farm manager, and production and operations director, before graduating to his present role in 2021. He also works closely with Chambers’ partner growers in Spain, Morocco, Portugal and Mexico, enabling the business to achieve its impressive scale of commercial fruit production. Salih is a former member of AHDB’s soft fruit panel and now a member of the R&D Board of British Berry Growers.
Sid Shaikh
Fieldwork Robotics (UK)
Sid Shaikh is CTO of Fieldwork Robotics. He has over 35 years’ experience in robotics, automation and product development, as well as expertise in developing complex products and taking them to commercial scale. He has a diverse background in different industries and market segments; thrives on solving technical and organisational challenges; and boasts a proven track record of delivering success in fast-paced, changing environments.
Simon Pearson
University of Lincoln (UK)
Professor Simon Pearson MBE is head of the School of Agri-Food Technology and Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln, and a director of data analytics firm Fruitcast. As the founding director of the Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology, he has led agri-tech projects worth over £120mn with 133 different companies, focusing on robotics, AI, and resilient food systems.
Steve Barker
Dyson Farming (UK)
With 25 years in fresh produce, Steve has worked as an agronomist, technical manager and operations director across the UK, Channel Islands and US. He joined Dyson Farming in 2021 as commercial director, leading commercial and operational delivery for CEA and arable farming.
Steve Nelson
Plant Sciences Genetics (USA)
Steve Nelson is president and CEO of Plant Sciences Genetics, a global leader in berry plant genetics. He drives strategy for technology, propagation, and commercialisation, enabling growers worldwide to access healthy plants of the group’s market-leading strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry varieties under its ‘all berries for all markets’ vision.
Tomer Biran
Greenstone (Israel)
Tomer Biran is managing partner at Greenstone, where he advises fresh produce businesses on commercial and legal strategy for varietal development, protection and growth. He also founded Argus 360, a platform supporting structured IP enforcement workflows and royalty visibility. With nearly a decade of berry industry experience – including at BerryWorld where he was the group’s General Counsel – Tomer brings practical, in-house expertise across licensing, commercial frameworks, and varietal IP protection.
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