Executive MBA from INSPER, Bachelor in Economics and Political Science from the University of Montreal.

With over 12 years of international experience in agribusiness, Louis Gourbin is an expert in physical commodities trading and risk management. He was previously Financial Risk Manager and Trader (soybeans, meal, oil, biodiesel) at Bunge Brazil. He initiated his career as a biofuels Trader at Avril Group (France) during the implementation of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive. Louis’ career has brought him a deep understanding of product flows and value-chain, from the farmer to the final consumer.

Miriam is Senior Economic Analyst at the International Grains Council (IGC), a London-based intergovernmental organisation, where she covers the analysis of a wide range of commodities within the Council’s remit, national policy and trade developments, freight rates and daily price reporting. She is also responsible for the Food Assistance Convention. Prior to joining the IGC, she worked for two years in providing business intelligence to companies in enterprise applications at Datamonitor’s Technology Business Unit. Miriam studied business administration and economics in Germany and France.

Darren has spent more than two decades in the commodities sector, covering different markets and industries, including mining and metals, tropical commodities and agriculture, notably grains, rice and oilseeds. He is a Senior Economist at the International Grains Council, and has experience spanning all of the body’s activities. He has presented and chaired at many international events.

Joined the IGC as an Economist in January 2016. While Alexander is involved in most of the organisation’s activities, his major focus has been on the global maize market and ocean freight of grains and oilseeds. Prior to joining the IGC, Alexander spent almost a decade in consulting and investment banking spheres in Moscow, as well as trade-related diplomatic service in London.

Peter is a market analyst at the IGC with a focus on rice and oilseeds. Having previously been editor of the Live Rice Index, a specialist rice market reporting agency, Peter has expertise in rice pricing and agricultural supply and demand dynamics.

Mr. Taras Kachka was appointed as the Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture – Trade Representative of Ukraine on 6 September 2019.

Mr. Kachka is an expert in international law with extensive experience in the private sector, international environment and government. He was a member of Ukrainian negotiating team for Ukraine – EU Association Agreement. Previously, he worked as a Deputy Executive Director and a Strategic Advisor at the International Renaissance Foundation (2016-2019). In 2014-2015, he was Vice President for Strategic Development at the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.

He started his career as a public servant in 2001 at the Ministry of Justice taking office of the First Deputy Director of the State Department for Legal Approximation. He also served as Director for Foreign Economic Relations at the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food.

Mr. Kachka is a lawyer; he graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a Master’s degree in International Law and the National School of Public Administration in Warsaw (Poland).

Taoufik Saidi is the Chief Executive Officer of the Tunisian Grains Board (Office des Céréales). He has more than 30 years’ experience in international grains commerce, agricultural policies to ensure food security and market analysis of cereals and oilseeds crops.

His previous positions include, Chief of Staff to the Minister of Trade and Handicraft, Deputy Director General of the Office of Livestock and Pasture and Director of various departments in the Tunisian Grains Board.

He is a GAFTA Qualified Arbitrator.

He has a Diploma in Economic Sciences from the Tunis Faculty of Law, Political and Economic Sciences, and a Diploma of higher studies in International Commercial Law from the Tunis II Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences.

Agronomist, graduated from the University of Brasília - UNB, since 1997, with a specialization in phytotechnics from UNB and MBA in Agribusiness Management with an Emphasis in Risk Management from the Federal University of Lavras - UFLA / MG, currently pursuing a MBA in Management of Agricultural Policies from the National School of Public Administration. Worked with plant production and defense at the Agriculture Secretariat of the Federal District, as technical manager and irrigation designer in agricultural dealerships, in multinationals such as Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto do Brasil and Compo do Brasil. Career employee of Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento, acting as a crop analyst, later as a market analyst. He has worked as a corn market analyst since 2009 and, in addition, holds the position of Manager of the Agricultural Products Management, which is responsible for monitoring the markets and proposing public policies for corn, soybeans, wheat, cassava and meats.

Cannady serves as the Manager of Global Trade for the U.S. Grains Council, a non-profit organization that promotes the use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products worldwide. In this capacity, Cannady provides trade servicing expertise to the Council, strengthens the Council’s relationships with the U.S. and global traders and further the export marketing interests of the U.S. feed grains and co-products.

Prior to joining the council, Cannady spent two years in Amarillo, TX working for Attebury Grain, LLC as a trader. In this capacity, he served as a liaison between Attebury’s headquarters office and Mexico office, specializing in wheat export markets. Cannady also worked domestically in the cattle feeding industry, serving customers all over the states of Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma; he also worked very closely with foreign-owned companies with feed operations in Texas.

Cannady served as President of the Financial Literacy Community Project, a non-profit organization with a mission to teach financial literacy throughout Philadelphia public schools. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in economics with a dual concentration in finance and management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in 2016.

Nick Goddard is joint CEO of the Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF), and Pulse Australia. Both organisations are ‘whole of value chain’ bodies, representing the respective industries both locally and internationally.

Nick has had a long and successful career in the food industry, working for the end-user portion of the agricultural value chain, with companies such as Goodman Fielder and Unilever. Nick draws on his end-user and consumer knowledge in bringing a ‘market driven’ approach to the oilseed and pulse value chains.

Nick holds an MBA, a B.Comm (Marketing), and a Grad.Dip in Rural Science, and is based in Sydney, Australia.

Ryan LeGrand serves as the President and CEO for the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), a non-profit organization that promotes the global use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including ethanol and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS).

LeGrand joined the Council in 2015 as the assistant director and then director of the Council’s Mexico office where he identified and addressed all relevant trade, technical and policy-related factors relevant to building and maintaining the market for U.S. grains and co-products in Mexico. Before joining the Council, LeGrand worked for Gavilon as the director of ingredients, located in Guadalajara, Mexico. In this capacity, he managed the company’s feed ingredients trading, import and distribution throughout Mexico. LeGrand also served as the director of exports for Hawkeye Gold, LLC where he exported DDGS to Latin America and Asia.

LeGrand earned a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University in international business.

Florent started his career in fixed income at UBS Investment Bank in 2003/2004. More interested by commodities he soon joined ED&F MAN in 2005 as a physical trader, learning about coffee in Costa Rica, shipping in New Orleans, futures in the cocoa pit of the NYBOT and trading physical cocoa in West Africa for 3 years.

Florent then relocated to NY to learn about options market-making and built an Over-The-Counter risk management business from scratch until 2015.

Thereafter he joined J.P. Morgan as an Executive Director in charge of Agricultural OTC Sales for EMEA.

\Florent holds an MSc. in Finance from EDHEC Business School and an MSc. in politics from the London School of Economics.

Ms Koroleva joined the FSI “Center for Grain Quality Assurance” in April 2006 as Deputy Head and Head of Foreign Relations. In 2008 she was promoted to Deputy Director and was appointed Director of the organisation in 2015.

Thanks to Ms Koroleva, FSI “Center for Grain Quality Assurance” has established cooperation with international organizations. The Institution is currently a member of the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) and is accredited as Analyst and Superintendent.

FSI “Center for Grain Quality Assurance” is also a member of the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC), the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), the Federation of Oils, Seeds and Fats Association (FOSFA) and the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC).

Ms Koroleva was awarded the title of Honorary Worker of Agricultural Industry of Russia by the Ministry of the Agriculture of the Russian Federation. She has also been awarded commendations from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and the Federal Service of Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor). Ms Koroleva graduated from the Moscow State Institute (University) of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MGIMO).

Gary C. Martin has served since June of 2000 as President and Chief Executive Officer of the North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA,) www.naega.org. Since 2104 he has served as the President of the International Grain Trade Coalition (IGTC) www.igtcglobal.org. In addition, his many industry leadership activities include service as a Co-chair of U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialog for Trade Agreements, and a Co-Chair of the Canada-U.S. Grain and Seed Trade Task Group www.canada-usgrainandseedtrade.info.

Before assuming the presidency of NAEGA, Gary was a NAEGA Board Director and officer, representing Farmland Industries, Inc. At Farmland he had several responsibilities including Director of Trade and International Relations, Director of Grain Marketing, and Founder and President of Farmland Graños in Mexico. From 1990 to 1992 Mr. Martin served the Administration of George H.W. Bush at the US Department of Agriculture as Deputy Administrator of Commodity Operations and as an officer of the Commodity Credit Corporation. In the first year of the Clinton Administration, from 1992 to 1993, he served as an advisor to the Special Ambassador to the former Soviet Union at the US Department of State.

Gary earned a B.Sc. in Agricultural Economics, with highest honors, from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He is also a graduate of the University of Missouri, Institute of Cooperative Leadership, and has graduate studies in International Transactions at the George Mason University.

Philippe Mitko started his career in 1985 as an internal physical broker for the national federation of grain cooperatives (UNCAC), then became an oilseed trader in 1992 and participated actively in the foundation of Euronext futures commodities contracts, and in the management of the executing and clearing house SIGMA Terme, subsidiary of French cooperative group SIGMA. After being in charge of the national management of the relations with cooperative members of Union InVivo for grains from 2004 to 2011, he moved afterwards to a business development position for South Eastern Europe.

He is now head of public affairs of InVivo Trading, was a GAFTA Council member from 2017 to 2019, was elected as treasurer of Synacomex, the French Union of grain and oilseeds traders, as well as vice-chair of the European Commission Civil Dialogue group on “arable crops”.

He was elected President of Coceral in May 2019.

Civil Society Representative at Brazil´s Ministry-level National Council on Energy Policy (CNPE), 2016-2018, reassigned 2019-2020.

President, DATAGRO Consulting, one of the world’s leading consulting company specialized in agricultural markets, serving clients in 41 countries since 1984.

M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, was Professor of Economics at FGV SPaulo 1984-2001.

Executive Director and President of the Board of the Brazilian Association of Automotive Engineers, 2000-2002.

Chief Economist in trade disputes involving ethanol exports to the US (US ITC), and subsidized sugar exports from the EU, EU bananas import regime, and Brazilian regime for import of used and retreaded tires (WTO).

Lead author of IPCC, Consultant for Biomass Energy other than Wood, to the World Energy Council.

Luc Ozanne joined Sofiproteol, the finance and development subsidiary of the Avril Group, as Managing Director in 2011. He has extensive investment experience in the food and agribusiness sectors providing tailor-made financial solutions as well as contributing its recognized industry expertise. He graduated as an agronomy engineer from ENSAIA (National School for Agronomy and Food Science) and holds a management diploma from Ecole Polytechnique.

Naohiro Matsuda joined Mitsui & Co. in 2007 and has served in various positions primarily in the ICT and Food sectors with five years experience in the EMEA region.

Mr. Matsuda has been involved in a number of investment projects, most recently in 2018, when Mitsui invested in Zalar Holding, a poultry integration company in Morocco. After this investment, he is in latest position to create additional value of Zalar Holding.

Brent serves as Regional Director of Europe& Middle East/North Africa at the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Current responsibilities include leadership of USSEC’s Europe, Middle East/North Africa region in building preference for U.S. soy and focus on market access issues such as biotechnology and sustainability. Brent led development of the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol(SSAP) outlining the national conservation program utilized by U.S. soy farmers. In addition to his present duties at USSEC, Brent has served U.S. soy producers in promoting U.S. soy exports since 1998 at USSEC and the American Soybean Association-International Marketing in a variety of duties. Brent leads marketing programs working closely with U.S. farmers, USDA-FAS, the U.S. export industry and soy buyers around the globe. Brent holds a Master Degree in Marketing from Webster University and a B.A. in Business Administration from Murray State University.

Jim Everson became President of the Canola Council in May 2017. He is responsible for leading the efforts of the Council’s professional staff and reporting to the Board of Directors on securing the key objectives of the Canadian canola industry.

Jim Everson first joined the Canola Council of Canada (CCC) in 2008 as Vice President of Government Relations and lead the Council’s government activities which included trade policy, market access and regulatory affairs. In 2013, the CCC and the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association (COPA) entered a service agreement through which the Canola Council provides association management services to COPA. Jim lead this initiative as Executive Director of COPA and was responsible for all aspects of association management and strategy. He left the CCC in 2014 to became Soy Canada’s first Executive Director.

Before joining the CCC, Jim had been achieving solutions on government issues for private companies, associations and non-profit groups for over 15 years. Following nine years working as a political advisor in the federal government, Jim worked with a major Ottawa-based government relations company. Over six years, he worked with a wide variety of clients and issues. He held the increasingly senior positions of Senior Consultant, Vice President (Ottawa) and President. In 1998, Jim established his own government relations and public affairs practice, Everson Public Affairs.

Jim’s government experience involved eight years as a senior political advisor to federal cabinet ministers including Chief of Staff to the Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board.

Jim obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) from Queen's University, Kingston, ON.

Joanna Hitchner is an oilseeds economist at the World Agricultural Outlook Board in USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist. Prior to her current position, she spent six years as a poultry analyst and program specialist for the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. From 2005-2009, she consulted and worked for agribusinesses in Senegal, Martinique, and Ecuador, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama working for a women’s agricultural cooperative. In early 2018, she was detailed to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Trade and Agriculture Directorate in Paris to work on the cereals section of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018-2027. She has B.A. in economics from Connecticut College and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.

Stephen began his career in the rice industry in 2009, joining Jacksons Son & Co. as a physical rice broker. Stephen later developed a new industry report on the international rice markets, launching the Live Rice Index (LRI) in 2011. The LRI established itself as a global provider of information on the rice industry and a leading source of benchmark price assessments for rice. In 2019, the LRI was acquired by S&P Global Platts, ensuring that the Platts LRI price assessments will continue to adhere with the Principles for Price Reporting Agencies set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Andy is Head of Value Chain Sustainability for Nestlé’s UK&I businesses, responsible for the development and delivery of the Environmental Sustainability strategy both within the operation and across the value chain.

He has worked for Nestlé UK&I for over 20 years, originally in operational and engineering roles. He is both a chartered environmentalist and IEMA fellow, as well as a chartered engineer (IET). He is focussed on bringing together the engineering expertise, operational experience and environmental insights of the organisation alongside collaborative partnerships with academia and key delivery partners to develop and implement robust and effective sustainability programmes.

Andy co-developed the LENs (Landscape Enterprise Network model) with 3Keel, to enable effective shared interest investment, at scale, into the regeneration of multifunctional landscapes and resiliency in the food system.

Stephan is the Managing Director of UFOP e.V. (Union for the Promotion of Oil- and Protein Plants) based in Berlin, Germany.

Before joining UFOP e.V. in 2012, from 2006 - 12/2011, he was the Senior Policy Adviser for Agricultural Policy and Consumer Protection Policy for the Christian Democratic Union, CDU/ Christian Social Union, CSU in the German Bundestag.

He holds a Science Degree in Agricultural Economics from the Institute for Agricultural Policy and Market Research, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen

Franco Costantini is Control Union UK’s Managing Director. He joined Control Union in 2016 and has worked for about 15 years in the Testing, Inspections and Certifications sector, across a range of industries including agri-food, consumer products, industrial.

Before then he carried out research work in Aeronautics and Aerospace. Franco holds a Master of Business Administration MBA, a post-grad Research Master (M.Res) in Fluid Dynamics and a Master of Engineering (M.Eng) in Mechanical Engineering.

Pedro is a Brazilian Engineer with 13 years of international experience in corporate sustainability. He has a strong track record advising some of the largest consumer goods and other sector companies in the development and implementation of their sustainability strategies. Pedro works as Global Focal Point for the animal protein industry and leads/contributes to projects on beef, soy, palm oil and cane sugar. Previously, Pedro worked as Climate Change and Sustainability Manager at ICF, a global consulting firm with market cap of USD1.4 billion.

He holds a B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering from São Paulo State University and an M.Sc. in Energy/Environmental Planning from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Iliana Axiotiades is the Secretary General of Coceral, which represents European traders in agri-commodities and agrosupply, Euromalt, which brings together the European malting industry, and Unistock, the European association of portside storekeepers of agri-bulk commodities. This involves managing the three associations and representing their interests with the European institutions, Member States and third country Permanent Representations to the EU. Iliana is also currently the Vice-President of the IGTC – the International Grain Trade Coalition, and Lead of the IGTC’s Plant Breeding Innovation Policy Team.
Prior to her current role, Iliana was with Johnson Controls where, as Director of Government & Trade Relations Europe, she worked very closely with the Power Solutions, Automotive and Building Efficiency businesses of the company to identify the policy drivers impacting their growth, and design strategies aimed at seizing the opportunities and mitigating the risks created by political decisions. She was also the company Lead for the TTIP negotiations. Before joining Johnson Controls, Iliana held several positions in the agri-food sector over a 20-year period, as a consultant, at the helm of the European starch industry association, and in Cargill.
She joined Cargill as Director of Government Relations for the starch and sweeteners businesses where she played an active role in anticipating changes to the sugar regime. Thereafter, she was appointed as Director for Business Development, leading an investment project in bio-ethanol, as well as a project aimed at determining the strategy for all Cargill’s food ingredient businesses in Central & Eastern Europe.

Gustavo Idígoras, President, Argentine Chambers of Edible Oilseeds Industry and Grain Exporters (CIARA-CEC) Gustavo Idigoras was government negotiator for 18 years on international agriculture market access negotiations including a position as Agricultural Minister at European Union, based in Belgium. After that, he used to work as Regional Public Affair manager for MONSANTO as well as founder Director of Business Issue Management (A Consultant group on agribusiness and bioenergies in Argentina).

Jaine Chisholm Caunt was appointed Director General of Gafta in 2014. She is also the current Chair of the Federation of Commodity Associations. Jaine was previously the Chair of the International Agri-food Network (IAFN) which co-ordinates the work of the Private Sector Mechanism (PSM) at the UN Committee on World Food Security from 2015-2017.

Jaine was Secretary General of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association from 2011 to 2014 and was previously the Director of Stakeholder Relations and Policy for Cogent, the skills body for the UK's science-based and process manufacturing from 2006 to 2011. Jaine has been a member of a wide range of government working groups, and has served as a Trustee on several charity boards. Jaine has a BA (Hons) in Politics & English and a PGCE in Further Education, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Member of the Institute of Directors.

Ms. Chen Qin is a Senior Analyst at the National Grain & Oil Information Center in China. She has been conducting research on the cereal market for 10 years and has also participated in various research projects and published many papers.

Brazilian born, Marcos Amorim has lived 45 from his 49 years of age in the city of São Paulo in Brazil. A language and culture lover, he fluently speaks Portuguese, French, English and is almost fluent in Spanish.

Having worked for Cargill for 31 years, he has spent his entire career in the agricultural sector and a big part of it in the Trading Execution. When he left the company in 2017, he was the country leader of a team of more than 70 people responsible for the import and export of feed, food and other items.

After a sabbatical period of 2 years, Marcos has joined ANEC, the Brazilian National Association of Grain Exporters, as the head of the External Contracts Committee (a committee of which he has been a member of for several years).

Educational Background: EMBA, University of International Business and Economics(UIBE). Bachelor of Economics, Faculty of International Economics cooperation, UIBE.

Work Experience: Has been working in COFCO Corporation for 29yrs. Successively engaged in affairs such as: personnel, legal, import & export business, stock-holding system reform, Exhibition, governmental work for aid for Tibet, etc.

Main posts: Deputy General Manager, COFCO(Chengdu) Oils & Grains Industries Co., LTD. Secretary-General, Corporate Youth Federation, COFCO Corporation.

Tim was a co-founder and director of AgriCensus prior to its acquisition by Fastmarkets, and held joint responsibility for the strategic direction of the company. He has focused most of his recent efforts in developing the corn and grains coverage for AgriCensus. A former director at S&P Global Platts, Tim led the agriculture reporting team that was instrumental in the development of the Black Sea swaps market and has been at the forefront of price reporting for 13 years. He was also responsible for Platts’ benchmark biofuels assessments, including global ethanol benchmarks. Before moving into agriculture, Tim was an oil market pricing expert focusing on the European refined product markets.

Tassos Haniotis is Director for "Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis" in the DG for Agriculture and Rural development of the European Commission. During his 30-year career in the European Commission he has also held posts as Acting Director for Direct Payments, Head of Unit in the Agricultural Policy Analysis and Perspectives Unit and the Agricultural Trade Policy Analysis Unit in DG AGRI, as Deputy Head of Cabinet of former European Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler, and as Agricultural Counsellor in the European Commission’s Delegation in the US.

Tassos holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia in the U.S., and a B.A. in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business in his native Greece, and was a visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Agricultural Studies, Wye College, University of London.

A member of the Executive of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium during 2012-14, Tassos currently represents the European Commission in the G20's Rapid Response Forum, which he will Chair in 2020-21.