SPEAKERS

Meet our incredible speaker lineup

At Bio Innovations Midwest you’ll hear from the bio pioneers who are bringing ground breaking sustainable solutions to the market, investors funding the acceleration, consumer facing brands who are integrating bio within their wider sustainability strategy and the community enablers who can supercharge scalability and commercialisation. The program will address every part of the industrial biomanufacturing ecosystem from farmer to consumer and everything in between.

Click here to view the full agenda.

Doug Friedman

CEO
BioMADE

Amy Davis

Head of Public Affairs & Communications
Novonesis

Christophe Schilling

CEO and Founder
Geno

Chris Forgey

Senior Segment Director
ADM

Kelly Knopp

Principal & Founder
Citroniq

K.C. Belitz

Director
Nebraska Department of Economic Development

Chris Boeckerman

Vice President, R&D, Fabric & Home Care, P&G Chemicals and Surfactants, Fabric & Home Care Materials, and New Forms
P&G

Anand Sundaresan

Senior Vice President, Head of Clean Sugar Platform, Innovations & Strategic Partnerships
Green Plains

Norbert Baum

Senior Executive Manager, Global Business Development Chemicals
HELM

Jill Zullo

EVP & COO
BioMADE

Damien Perriman

Chief Business Development Officer
Gevo

Reid Wagner

Executive Director
Nebraska Ethanol Board

Rene Garza

Senior Vice President, Planetary Health Biosolutions
Novonesis

Sarah Jelken

Vice President, Industrial Segment Leader
Cargill

Noah Helman

Founder & CEO
iMicrobes

Kate Engel

Executive Director
Nebraska Innovation Campus

Alex Buck

Director of Industrial Innovation
Iowa Corn

Muriel Dewilde

Business Development Manager
Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

Mark Norman

Vice President – Economic Development
Greater Omaha Chamber

James Glueck

Executive Director
Plant Based Product Council

Mark McHargue

President
Nebraska Farm Bureau

Betsy Dirksen Londrigan

Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative Services
USDA BioPreferred Program

Neal Suntken

Associate Principal Education Science & Community
HDR

Jessica Monserrate

Head of Sustainability

BASF Agricultural Solutions North America

Stephen Rapundalo

President and CEO
MichBio

Nicole Sedlacek

Economic Development Manager

Nebraska Public Power District

Nigel Reuel

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering

Iowa State University

Billy Hagstrom

CEO & Co-Founder
Bluestem Biosciences

Dan Hoffman

CEO
Invest Nebraska

Josh Witt

Co-location Product Line Manager

Cargill

Rachel Whitehair

Director of Innovation & Stewardship
Nebraska Corn

Kousay Said

CEO
Ecovia Renewables

Kaylee Williams

Investment Director
InnoVenture Iowa

Mike Jung

Managing Partner
Grit Road Partners

Brad Fingland

Director – Venture Creation
Michigan State University Research Foundation

Jason Noel

Senior Vice President
Vestaron

Mary Anne Phillippi

Program Design Specialist Waymaker Group

Chad Beeson

President
Rainwood Development Partners

Atul Rathod

President, Industrials
Manus

Nádia S. Parachin

VP Industrial Biotechnology Cemvita

Kelly Davis

Vice President

New Energy Blue

Joseph Affholter

Program Director, MTRAC-AgBio Innovation Hub
Michigan State University Research Foundation

Abby Ceule

Vice President Functional Systems

Corbion

John Hannon

COO

Vertimass

Crystal Jones

Global Sales & Marketing Lead

QIRA

Cliff Fleener

Vice President – Sustainability & Environmental Affairs

Omaha Public Power District

Darren Siekman

Vice President, Policy and Industry Strategy, Valley Agriculture

Valmont

Marilene Pavan

Innovation Manager

LanzaTech

Kelsey Weimer

Director, Strategy & Partnerships

Synonym

Anna Wishart

Senior Director of Public Affairs

Monolith

Jules Roelofs