WHY ATTEND?
The Healthy Aging and Proactive Nutrition Summit 2023 aims to accelerate nutritional approaches to enhance health span and resilience for the full age spectrum.
Serving as a platform for collaboration, innovation, and strategic partnerships, the Summit will bring together pioneering start-ups, multinational and independent brands, investors, retailers, and ingredient suppliers to explore cutting-edge strategies, share valuable insights, and showcase innovations that have the power to transform the landscape of healthy aging.
Research & Development
Unlock the future of healthy aging via cutting-edge nutritional insights. Discover the latest scientific breakthroughs in mobility, sports nutrition, brain and mental health, hormone balance, gut health, and personalized nutrition, with focus on interconnectivity, and insight into new product formulations and applications.
Innovation & Investment
Elevate your strategic positioning in the world of proactive nutrition. Stay informed about the latest investment opportunities and launches in the healthy aging sector, with forward-thinking sessions on high-potential trends, partnership opportunities, and our ‘Make it #HAPN’ Spotlight.
Marketing & Regulatory
Thrive, not only survive. Position yourself at the forefront of industry trends and shifting policy landscapes. Leverage invaluable insights from industry trend-makers to influence and retain your target market, offering authenticity, credibility, and longstanding impact.
KEY STATISTICS
INNOVATION SHOWCASE
Applications are welcomed from innovative start-ups, spanning functional foods and beverages, vitamins, supplements, nutrition tech, and ingredients. Our esteemed Selection Committee will select five finalists to pitch their brands live to them, with a 5min presentation on the main stage, followed by quickfire Q&A. Our audience will then pick the “Best in Show” winner!
Applications are closed.
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Arpesh Mehta
Holly Jackson
Lindsay McCorkle
Lindsay is a Director at Blue Horizon, a fund focused on sustainable food systems. She is responsible for North American deals across the food and ag sectors, ranging from seed to pre-IPO. Prior to Blue Horizon, she worked at Rabobank where she developed early stage agrifoodtech coverage for the research and investing teams. Previously, Lindsay worked in private equity at MacAndrews & Forbes and as an M&A banker at Moelis & Company. She has worked as competitive pastry chef for the last 15 years.
Susan Roddy
Ms. Roddy is a senior member of Houlihan Lokey’s Consumer, Food & Retail Group, leading the firm’s Consumer Health and Personal Care practice. Her focus areas include health & wellness and personal care, including women’s health and intimacy, healthy aging and mom & baby.
Ms. Roddy has nearly two decades of corporate finance experience, with a particular passion for advising high-growth consumer brands. Her recent work includes the sales of Zesty Paws to H&H Group, Nuun to Nestlé Health Science, SmartyPants to Unilever, Care/of to Bayer, and Zarbee’s to Johnson & Johnson. She also has significant expertise in corporate carve-outs and divestitures, as well as contract manufacturing and private label across sectors.
Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Ms. Roddy worked in Corporate Strategy & Development at PepsiCo, where she led deal execution in Europe and was responsible for executing the company’s strategy to expand into good-for-you and better-for-you food & beverage categories. Prior to that, she worked in Investment Banking for Deutsche Bank and as an accountant for Ernst & Young.
Ms. Roddy holds a B.S. in Accounting from Bucknell University and an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. She was previously a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Pennsylvania (expired).
Steven Gwozdz
Steve is an angel investor supporting and advising emerging companies in health and wellness, consumer finance, and consumer services. He is a cornerstone investor in the Nutrition Capital Network, where he serves on the selection committee for their capital introduction events. Early in his career, Steve was an early member of the team driving the growth at Nantucket Nectars, a better-for-you beverage start up which realized a successful exit to a strategic. Steve has since built a career advising institutional asset managers on their public equity investments in emerging and developed markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
Steve earned his Bachelor of Arts from Boston College and his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Alison Minter
2023 SPEAKERS
Laura Kunces
Dr. Laura Kunces currently serves as VP of Medical Strategy of Thorne HealthTech. Previously, Laura served as SVP of Strategic Marketing for Onegevity Health, LLC from March 2019 until its merger with Thorne in March 2021. Before Onegevity, Laura was the Director of Medical Affairs and Clinical Research at Thorne, The Director of Nutrition Research at Arla Foods, and the Director of Research at EXOS, and an Assistant Professor at Central Connecticut State University. Laura earned her PhD from the nationally top-ranked Kinesiology Department at the University of Connecticut with a focus in nutrition. Laura holds two Master’s Degrees, one in Exercise Physiology from the University of Connecticut and one in Clinical Nutrition from the University of Memphis. Her undergraduate Bachelor of Science is in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Connecticut, where she was also a four-year D1 collegiate swimmer. She has been a registered dietitian for 15 years. Her expertise is in sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, personalized wellness, and metabolism research and communications.
Lindsay McCorkle
Lindsay is a Director at Blue Horizon, a fund focused on sustainable food systems. She is responsible for North American deals across the food and ag sectors, ranging from seed to pre-IPO. Prior to Blue Horizon, she worked at Rabobank where she developed early stage agrifoodtech coverage for the research and investing teams. Previously, Lindsay worked in private equity at MacAndrews & Forbes and as an M&A banker at Moelis & Company. She has worked as competitive pastry chef for the last 15 years.
Bodi Zhang
Dr. Bodi Zhang currently serves Chief Strategy Officer of Thorne HealthTech. Previously, Dr. Bodi Zhang has served as Chief Science Officer for Onegevity Health, LLC from January 2018 until its merger with our company in March 2021. Prior to his current role, Dr. Zhang served as Vice President, Corporate and Medical Strategy from January 2015 to 2018, and as General Manager, Strategic Alliance from January 2013 to 2015. Prior to joining our company, Dr. Zhang worked at Deallus Group, a global healthcare consultancy. Prior to the Deallus Group, Dr. Zhang was a Research Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at Tufts University, Boston. As a scientist, Bodi’s research focused on autoimmune diseases and published top-tier research publications, including in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Nature Reviews. Dr. Zhang holds a Ph.D in Pharmacology and Biochemistry from Tufts University, Boston, an M.P.H in healthcare management from Harvard University, Boston and a M.D. from Peking University, China.
Dayle Sampson
Courtney Stanton
Eva Hurt
Jin-Xiong She
Barry Didato
Angie Kalousek Ebrahimi
Monica Feldman
Holly Jackson
Julia McCalmont
Emily Stein
Dean Kelly
Arpesh Mehta
Shelley Balanko
Shelley Balanko has an informed understanding of social and cultural influences impacting the marketplace of today and tomorrow. Shelley regularly engages diverse audiences spanning the foodservice, consumer packaged goods and retail segments as she shares leading-edge consumer insights and implications. As a member of The Hartman Group leadership team and head of business development, her focus is understanding industry challenges and needs.
Shelley graduated from the University of Windsor with a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology. She has a MA in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan and a BA in Psychology from the University of British Columbia.
Barb Stuckey
Barb has been at Mattson since 1997 and is currently Chief Innovation &
Marketing Officer at North America’s most successful independent developer of
foods and beverages for the retail food and chain restaurant industries. Barb is
known as a taste, food trend, innovation, consumer insights, and product
development expert.
As part of Barb’s role in the innovation projects that make up her daily job, she is
required to taste food and figure out how to make it better. After more than 2
decades doing this, she’s honed her tasting skills and ability to help others make
food taste better. She shared this insight with the world in 2012 when her book
Taste What You’re Missing was published. In 2013, the paperback edition was
released (under the simplified title Taste).
Barb was instrumental in helping The San Francisco Cooking School integrate
the science of taste into their curriculum. She now teaches the Fundamentals of
Taste to each entering class. Barb is also a contributor to Forbes.com where she
writes about the food industry.
Barb lives with her hypertaster husband, two artisan cats, and splits her time
between San Francisco and Healdsburg, in the heart of Sonona wine country.
Rick Weiss
Alison Minter
Quinn Kennedy
Dr. Quinn Kennedy earned a PhD in Psychology and completed postdoctoral training in Cognitive Aging, both at Stanford University. She is the Director of Aging Research at neuroFit. Previously, Dr. Kennedy was a Research Associate Professor and Director of the Healthcare Modeling & Simulation Education Programs at the Naval Postgraduate School, where she was the recipient of the Richard Hamming Interdisciplinary Research Achievement Award. Dr. Kennedy’s 20+ years of research in adult aging has been recognized through multiple awards, grants, and peer reviewed journal publications including Psychological Science, Psychology of Aging, and Journals of Gerontology. With her collaborators, her work has been featured on Channel 2 news, NPR, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Science. Dr. Kennedy is a popular speaker on healthy cognitive aging and is a guest contributor to Psychology Today.
Bob Messerschmidt
Bob is the Founder and CEO of Cor Health in San Diego, CA. Cor Health is developing technologies to track inflammation and the impact of lifestyle choices. We call this Self Health. Bob is formerly Director of Platform Architecture, and Watch architect. He is an Inventor & Entrepreneur with 3 exits in tech and health tech. Bob's career spans more than 25 years in the field of instrumentation for spectroscopy. He was awarded the Williams-Wright Award in 1996 for outstanding contributions to infrared spectroscopy. He is the author or co-author of 12 articles and book chapters and co-editor of one book on infrared micro-spectroscopy, holds 62 issued and pending US patents. He is past president of the Coblentz Society, past president of the Rio Grande section of the SAS, a past-president of the Southwestern Connecticut section of the Optical Society of America, and a member of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. In his spare time he makes wine, pizza and sourdough. He and his family live in San Diego California.
Hartley Pond
Tim Gerke
Tim Gerke is a noteworthy leader of positive disruption who specializes in strategies harmonizing people, process, and technology to take organizations to the next level in growth and profitability. With a passion to drive success for all stakeholders in human and animal health, Tim loves innovating business strategies that focus on an overall proactive approach in making sustainable health a centerpiece to a better world.
Tim has over 25 years of successful execution on this mission in executive and leadership roles with Fortune 500 companies like Bayer and Deloitte, preparing him to be a dynamic change agent for small to mid-size companies hungry to strengthen their position in the marketplace. In the last decade Tim has led the repositioning, rebuilding, and turnaround of several companies who were then sold in premium transactions to private equity including FoodScience with the DaVinci, VetriScience, and Pet Naturals brands sold to Wind Point Partners, Clinics Choice as part of the VetsPlus , Inc sold to DW Healthcare Partners, and most recently rejuvenating the Allergy Research Group, Nutricology, NutriLink and Clinical Education, UK to be sold as an attractive portfolio to WM Partners. Tim has partnered with numerous companies to reorganize sales and marketing strategy and leadership development, while also consulting to update and clear regulatory hurdles for several contract manufacturers for both pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products.
Tim is a sought-after speaker for organizations, groups, associations, and non-profits because of his innovative strategies for building effective leadership and culture. Tim has facilitated hundreds of forums on critical human skills such as trust, emotional intelligence, change management, conflict resolution, and effective communication.
Tim is committed to finding the next innovations that will advance the cause of optimal health for a world in need.
Adam Sud
Momo Vuyisich
Momo Vuyisich, Ph.D. is the Founding CSO & Head of Clinical Research at Viome. Momo is an entrepreneur-scientist with over 25 years of R&D experience in biology, chemistry, and bioinformatics. He has led large programs, from ideas to successful commercial products.
Claire Chang
About igniteXL Ventures
igniteXL Venturs is a Silicon Valley-based global seed fund investing in game-changing entrepreneurs at the intersection of technology, beauty and wellness. With the advancement of technology and the rise of conscious consumers who demand authenticity, sustainability, transparency, and inclusivity, the wellness industry is undergoing digital and cultural transformation. And that transformation represents excellent investment opportunities to investors with high margins, recurring and engaged customers, with attractive exit opportunities.
About Claire Chang
Having immigrated from Korea to the US when she was 12 years old, Claire is bilingual and bicultural, which has always given her the unique perspective of being both an insider and outsider able to bridge different perspectives. Combining her passions for connecting people and helping them realize their dreams, Claire launched a global accelerator in 2014 which impacted over 200 Korean startups' ability to expand to the US market. In 2018, Claire launched SVBeautyTech, the first-ever independent beauty-tech accelerator, to provide a cohort of mostly female beauty-tech founders access to the Silicon Valley resources previously enjoyed almost exclusively by male, locally networked tech entrepreneurs. Leveraging her global accelerator network and broad brand connections, Claire is excited to work with passionate innovators and disruptors working at the intersection of technology, beauty & wellness.
Yaqi Gao Grover
Susan Roddy
Ms. Roddy is a senior member of Houlihan Lokey’s Consumer, Food & Retail Group, leading the firm’s Consumer Health and Personal Care practice. Her focus areas include health & wellness and personal care, including women’s health and intimacy, healthy aging and mom & baby.
Ms. Roddy has nearly two decades of corporate finance experience, with a particular passion for advising high-growth consumer brands. Her recent work includes the sales of Zesty Paws to H&H Group, Nuun to Nestlé Health Science, SmartyPants to Unilever, Care/of to Bayer, and Zarbee’s to Johnson & Johnson. She also has significant expertise in corporate carve-outs and divestitures, as well as contract manufacturing and private label across sectors.
Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Ms. Roddy worked in Corporate Strategy & Development at PepsiCo, where she led deal execution in Europe and was responsible for executing the company’s strategy to expand into good-for-you and better-for-you food & beverage categories. Prior to that, she worked in Investment Banking for Deutsche Bank and as an accountant for Ernst & Young.
Ms. Roddy holds a B.S. in Accounting from Bucknell University and an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. She was previously a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Pennsylvania (expired).
Vineeta Singh
Nate Matsusheski
Steven Gwozdz
Steve is an angel investor supporting and advising emerging companies in health and wellness, consumer finance, and consumer services. He is a cornerstone investor in the Nutrition Capital Network, where he serves on the selection committee for their capital introduction events. Early in his career, Steve was an early member of the team driving the growth at Nantucket Nectars, a better-for-you beverage start up which realized a successful exit to a strategic. Steve has since built a career advising institutional asset managers on their public equity investments in emerging and developed markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
Steve earned his Bachelor of Arts from Boston College and his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Yi Sherry Zhang
Ari Tulla
Ari Tulla is a San Francisco-based entrepreneur and the co-founder & CEO of the smart nutrition service, Elo, whose mission is to transform food from the leading cause of disease to medicine. Ari is also an active angel investor and advisor with a portfolio of 40 startups, including Virta Health, Good Eggs, and Ōura.
Previously, Ari was the CEO of Quest Analytics, the market leader in doctor data and network management. Ari led the company through a pivotal growth stage from $15M to $40M in revenue. Before joining Quest Analytics, Ari was co-founder and CEO of BetterDoctor, a doctor search engine.
BetterDoctor raised $30M from first-tier investors, including NEA and Uncork Capital. In June 2018, BetterDoctor was acquired by private equity firm Vestar Capital. Before BetterDoctor, Ari led Nokia’s game and application studios.
When not working or co-parenting his two young children with his wife, Ari spends his time on the steep cliffs, powdery slopes, and big cold waves that only Northern California can offer.
Marc Washington
Christopher Bailey
Christopher Bailey, Ph.D. serves as Gencor’s Director of Scientific Affairs. After earning his doctorate in exercise physiology at the University of Miami, Christopher has accumulated experience in the dietary supplement industry in several areas by working with direct-to-consumer brands and raw material manufacturing and distribution companies in regulatory and scientific affairs. Christopher now translates data on Gencor’s latest ingredients into content to be shared and used by product formulation, marketing, and brand teams for dietary supplements, functional foods, and personal care products.
Lynn Yu
Ashley Ferguson
Jodi Katz
Jodi’s career has spanned the quickly evolving communications marketplace. She started her career agency-side at BBDO, followed by jobs with magazine publishers, digital start ups and beauty brands. Prior to launching Base Beauty, Jodi was the Creative Director of the global prestige French brand L’Occitane en Provence. She graduated from
Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania with a degree in Government in Law and lives with her family in New Jersey. Her hobbies include fitness, Rent the Runway and watching reality TV on Bravo (her current favorite show is Below Deck).
2023 PARTNERS
GOLD PARTNER
Gencor
Website: www.GencorPacific.com
At Gencor, we believe nutrition is critical for human potential. Our worldwide partnerships provide sophisticated and rigorously tested extracts, ingredients, and technologies to enhance the changing health needs through all of life’s stages. Merging our pharma and scientific background with a deep appreciation of Ayurvedic practices, Gencor continues to advance how natural products are used to attain optimal health and wellness.
Our numerous partnered technologies offer increased bioavailability and delivery, and our growing line of ingredients ranges from liver health to cognition to sports nutrition to healthy aging and gender-specific conditions – all manufactured according to strict GMP manufacturing practices. Visit www.GencorPacific.com to learn more.
EVENT PARTNERS
Bayer
Website: https://www.bayer.com/en/
Bayer is a recognized leader in the area of women’s healthcare, with a long-standing commitment to delivering science for a better life by advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments. Bayer offers a wide range of effective short- and long-acting birth control methods as well as therapies for menopause management and gynecological diseases. Bayer is also focusing on innovative options to address the unmet medical needs of women worldwide. Today, Bayer’s research and development efforts focus on finding new treatment options for menopause as well as gynecological diseases and includes several compounds in various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development. Together, these projects reflect the company’s approach to research, which prioritizes targets and pathways with the potential to alter the way that gynecological diseases are treated. Additionally, Bayer intends to provide 100 million women in low-and-middle income countries by 2030 with access to family planning by funding multi-stakeholder aid programs and by ensuring the supply of affordable modern contraceptives. This is part of the comprehensive sustainability measures and commitments from 2020 onwards and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
Mibelle
Website: https://www.mibellegroup.com/en/
Mibelle Biochemistry Switzerland designs and develops novel, high-quality actives for the beauty industry, which are based on naturally derived compounds and profound scientific know-how.
Inspired by nature – realized by science. Our scientists transform naturally derived plant compounds into truly functional bioactive cosmetic ingredients. All of our actives are supported by a biochemical concept, clinical studies – in vitro and in vivo – and considerable marketing documentation. Our boutique offering can help clients achieve: moisturizing & barrier repair, skin radiance, collagen stimulation, anti-redness, anti-oxidation & energizing properties, protection against photo-aging, and scalp care & hair regrowth. We offer a wide variety of COSMOS approved natural actives and a commitment to sustainability.
MEDIA PARTNERS
Cosmetics Business
Website: https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/
Through digital, live and print products, Cosmetics Business informs and inspires business leaders and decision-makers around the world. With a digital-first strategy, the Group’s Editors write breaking news, product releases, technical papers, innovation features, trend reports and live content agendas covering the entire industry from ingredients and packaging to regulation, retail and marketing.
With more than 2 million website visitors, 100,000 subscribers and 170,000+ LinkedIn followers* worldwide, advertisers can expect to engage with a captivated and loyal community of professionals, and align their business with a trusted industry partner.
Base Beauty Creative Agency
Website: https://www.basebeauty.com/
We are the omni channel branding agency hyper-focused on the beauty and wellness industries. We create everything that the consumer sees and touches.
InnoVision Professional Media
Website: http://innovisionhm.com/about.html
InnoVision Professional Media publishes professional and consumer magazines, journals, websites, and newsletters. InmoVision serves consumers and health professionals interested in integrative, holistic, and natural medicine. Professional journals contain the latest research, case studies/reports, interviews with industry thought leaders, and breaking news concerning the holistic and integrative healthcare marketplace.
STYLUS
Website: https://www.stylus.com/
Stylus are the expert source for trends and insights.
At Stylus, we uncover trends, predict change, and provide the intelligence that helps businesses prosper. With a relentless curiosity for what’s new, what’s now and what’s next, our experts are the authority in over 20 sectors – including Beauty, Consumer Attitudes, Technology, Retail and beyond – and have a deep understanding of the most influential emerging trends affecting consumers around the globe. It’s the reason we’re trusted by more than 600 of the world’s leading brands, agencies and businesses: to help them reveal what’s possible, not just predict what’s probable.
Stylus. See past the now.
PARTNER WITH US
Based on your objectives, we can create bespoke packages designed specifically for you – from presenting your expertise on the main stage, to hosting a private dinner. You can partner with us showcase your brand and make valuable new connections. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories: Thought Leadership, Branding & Networking.
To discuss your objectives and partnership opportunities please contact [email protected]
Interested in a media partnership?
We'd love to hear from you and how we can support one another to connect with the industry. Contact [email protected]
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