The judging panel for the World Plant-Based Awards 2022, in association with Plant Based World Expo North America, has now been announced.
This year’s panel includes recognised and reputable names from across the global plant-based industry and between them, they will be responsible for deciding the winners of the World Plant-Based Awards, taking place in September 2022.
There are 16 trophies to be won in total, and being shortlisted provides a hallmark of success that will prevail long after the awards draw to a close. To find out more information, including how to enter, click here.
A full list of the 2022 judges can be seen below.
Alok Prakash
R&D and Innovation Manager – Greater Asia, Roquette
Alok Prakash is a plant-based food enthusiast, currently managing Innovation at Roquette, a global leader in plant-based ingredients and a pioneer of new vegetal proteins. He is a Biotechnology graduate from Vellore Institute of Technology, India, and Master’s in Sustainable Food Technology & Management from ISA – Lille, France.
Alok has been published as author and co-author of over 15 research, review and book chapters in peer-reviewed biotechnology and food science journals and books. Since 2014, Alok has been working with Roquette at several locations (France, China & India) in Research and Operational functions.
For the past few years, Alok has been extensively involved in developing plant-based meat ecosystem in Asia Pacific by supporting regional start-ups with technical expertise for product and process development. He firmly believes, sustainably feeding 10 billion people by 2050 can only be possible by using a plant-based diet as the major component of our food intake.
Click here to view Alok’s LinkedIn profile
Antonia Garrett Peel
Editor of The Plant Base, FoodBev Media
Antonia Garrett Peel is the editor of The Plant Base, the newest publication from business-centric multimedia platform, FoodBev Media.
The magazine provides new insights on the rapidly developing plant-based sector, covering topics ranging from processing technologies to ingredient innovations and product launches. In her role as editor, Antonia has taken an in-depth look at many burgeoning areas of the market, while also reporting on the latest news and trends to come out of the plant-based category.
In addition, alongside the rest of the editorial team, Antonia helps shape the output of the FoodBev website, a source of news and analysis from across the global food and beverage industry.
Click here to view Antonia’s LinkedIn profile
Zhan Bao
Chief Scientist, Vesta Food Lab
Zhan Bao is the Chief Scientist of Vesta Food Lab, a meat analogue manufacturer in China. He was working for BASF in Germany and Singapore on nano technology and macromolecules. He is a food writer and a science advisor for food documentary “Once upon a bite”. He was one of the 15 named inspectors for Meituan Black Pearl Restaurant Guide 2020 in China. He was also on the judging panel of World Plant-Based Awards 2021.
Click here to view Zhan’s LinkedIn profile
Francesco Benazzi
Head of Regional Sales and Global Development, OraSi
With more than 15 years of experience in senior marketing roles around Asia, Francesco Benazzi stepped into the plant-based world in 2015 in Hong Kong. Since then, he has been the spokesperson for the Italian brand OraSi, signing regional deals with the biggest worldwide players (Starbucks, IKEA, Compass, Google) and all the major retailers. Lactose intolerant, coffee lover, and plant-based food enthusiast, he is married and the father of two beautiful kids.
Click here to view Francesco’s LinkedIn profile
Guillaume Millet
VP Danone Plant-Based Iberia
Guillaume is a French citizen, living between Barcelona and Paris. With more than 20 years of Marketing & Business positions in Europe and Latin America, Guillaume has developed extended expertise on Food & Beverages categories and trends.
Guillaume is now the proud leader of the plant-based business for Danone in Europe, and he is fully convinced that going plant-based is the most powerful individual step one can take to fight against climate change and improve everyone’s health.
Click here to view Guillaume’s LinkedIn profile
Mitch Lee
Development Chef, Heura Foods
After working as a chef and manager in a vegan restaurant in Hampshire, Mitch moved on to create his own plant-based frozen meal brand Mitch’s Kitchen. This taught him the level of drive, passion and high standard required for a product and founder to succeed.
Mitch now works in the sales team for the Spanish plant-based meat successor brand Heura as the development chef. He is truly passionate about the industry and always on the lookout for new and exciting products entering the market. He can’t wait to see how plant-based food and drink continue to improve in the coming years.
Click here to view Mitch’s LinkedIn profile
Jenna McGuinness
Senior Buyer, The Vegan Kind
Plant-based expert Jenna McGuinness has worked within the vegan food industry for seven years within buying and curating subscription boxes so has had the opportunity to witness the incredible growth of plant-based food in recent years. She has her finger on the ball for all vegan NPD.
She can’t wait to see what new vegan creations the entrants have developed and learn all about the finalists. As Senior Buyer of the leading vegan retailer in the UK, Jenna finds and selects the best vegan products to launch online and feature in vegan subscription boxes. Things Jenna is looking out for amongst the entries for this year’s World Plant Based Awards are innovation, sustainability and unique-ness – she can’t wait to hear about the next big (vegan) thing!
The Vegan Kind is the leading online vegan retailer and subscription box service in the UK, offering nationwide shipping of more than 5,000 products. TVK is a family business with a huge vision to make veganism accessible to all, while being kind to humans, animals and the planet.
Click here to view Jenna’s LinkedIn profile
Jeremy Johnson
R&D Manager (Plant Based Beverage, Packaging Engineering & Innovation), SunOpta
After spending several years outside of the food industry, Jeremy made a career change and never looked back. Starting out at General Mills, he gained valuable experiences in processing, product and packaging R&D, sourcing, innovation, and minority investments.
After many years of learning the industry, he shifted his focus to plant-based products and worked with many amazing teams at Beyond Meat, Kite Hill, Rhythm Superfoods, and No Cow. Currently, Jeremy works at the sustainably-focused SunOpta Incorporated. He leads a technical team on plant-based external partnerships, packaging engineering, and internal branded innovation (Sown, Dream, West Life). Creating new sustainable opportunities for plant-based offerings is definitely a dream.
Click here to view Jeremy’s LinkedIn profile
Marina Carli de Moraes
Innovation Director and Co-founder, Solucionaria
Marina is a food engineer and specialist in New Food Product Development. She has been working as a food consultant since 2019, leading projects with plant-based companies, from startups to big corporations. In 2021, Marina co-founded Solucionaria, a food consultancy focused on R&D, innovation and regulatory affairs for the food and beverage industries. She has experience in the quality and food safety areas.
Working in R&D is her dream job, because it is dynamic, creative, and challenging. Another area she focuses on is trends and launches on the local and global markets, giving insights to companies on how to create or improve their products. The plant-based market is here to change the food industry for the better, and she hopes to help that happen in the best way possible.
Click here to view Marina’s LinkedIn profile
Florence Dusseaux
Vegan Expert, Vegg2Food
Florence Dusseaux is a vegan expert for consulting agency Vegg2Food. She helps the transition towards a plant-based food system, through marketing and communication, strategy, business development and project lead.
Florence has been a vegan since 2015 but passionate about food since the beginning of her entrepreneurial career. In 2021, she was nominated as an influential plant-based food promoter among eight other French influencers for the first plant-based food award in France. Florence is also co-founder of La Pondation de Félicie: a sanctuary for laying hens.
Florence helps companies around the world (Canada, UK, India, South Africa, Caribbeans) to promote their plant-based alternatives from the idea to the final destination: consumer plates. Every week she decrypts food tendencies in the plant-based innovative sector in France and around the world.
Her motto is: Changing the world through plant-based food, one meal at a time.
Click here to view Florence’s LinkedIn profile
Dr. Ritu Chhatwal
Founder, GreenGourmet Foods
Born in Havana, Cuba, Dr. Ritu Chhatwal has lived and worked in over 10 countries. Be it teaching primary school in the Middle East, tackling social development and public health issues at CIDA and the UN, or running a therapy practice in India, she brings a unique global point of view. She is a serial entrepreneur passionate about creating foods that revive your health, support farmer communities, and rejuvenate the planet. Her latest venture, GreenGourmet Foods is developing a line of delicious, nutritionally dense, planet friendly products to help us “eat our way out of extinction!” A TEDx speaker, a frequent panelist, Dr. Chhatwal lives in New Delhi, India.
Click here to view Ritu’s LinkedIn profile
Chris Nemchek
General Manager – Plant Based World North America
Chris Nemchek is a 30-year veteran of the International Exhibition and Global Commerce Industries. He spent 22 years at the Specialty Food Association (SFA) and is well recognised for his role in leading and developing the Fancy Food Shows into North America’s premiere specialty food marketplace.
As Senior Vice President at SFA, Nemchek oversaw the departments responsible for developing and driving the strategic direction of the Fancy Food Shows, all revenue generation for the SFA enterprise and member success. His work included development and execution of membership growth and advancement programs.
Following his years at SFA, Nemchek was named General Manager of the Plant Based World Conference & Expo in August of 2019, where his role is to oversee the future growth of the event and expansion of the brand.
A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Nemchek’s industry leadership includes Board of Directors of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) and their NY Chapter (NYIAEE). He is also past chairman of IAEE’s MATSO Council advancing the interests of the US’s largest trade shows.
Are you a plant-based industry innovator worthy of our judges attention?
Enter the World Plant-Based Awards 2022 now!
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