IMR International

Dennis Seisun has worked in England, France, Belgium, and, since 1980, has been based in San Diego, California. He graduated from Bath University in England with a bachelor of science degree in engineering and a master of science degree in industrial marketing. He worked as an engineer for Foster Wheeler, as a consultant for C.H. Kline S.A. in Brussels, and for Kelco (then a division of Merck) as commercial development product manager. He was closely involved in the market development of many new biopolymers to follow xanthan in the marketplace. In 1985, Dennis founded IMR International and has since focused his attentions on the food hydrocolloid markets of the U.S. and Western Europe. The Quarterly Review of Food Hydrocolloids was started by IMR International in 1991 and has become established as a comprehensive and independent source of information on the food hydrocolloid market. IMR has chaired the International Conference on Food Hydrocolloids since 1996 alternating between the USA and Europe.

Nesha Zalesny has over 20 years of technical experience in the food industry starting with 12 years at CP Kelco in R&D and Technical Service. She developed formulations and prototypes for everything from baked goods and dairy applications to salad dressings and sauces. She developed consumer products at Javo Beverage as Director of New Product Development and did technical sales and service at Fiberstar, working on a wide variety of clean label applications. Ms. Zalesny joined IMR in 2019, where she offers technical and business insights, hydrocolloid training and test development, product development consultation and ingredient resourcing. Ms. Zalesny has a BSc. in Food Science from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Cal State San Marcos.

Sjoerd Peekstok is the Director of Global Procurement – Category Raw Materials, at Haribo. Sjoerd brings a unique perspective to his gelatin procurement activities at Haribo having worked in the entire gelatin supply chain. He worked at BRF, a Brazilian meat processing company for six years from 2009 to 2014. He spent nine years, 2015-2023 at Gelnex Brazil, a major producer of gelatin as EU Sales Director. In 2023, Sjoerd joined the world’s largest food gelatin user Haribo and is based at the Luxembourg office. With this background, it is not surprising for Sjoerd to describe himself as “Passionate about the gelatin market”.

Angela is the Global Category Buyer at AGRANA FRUIT SERVICES GMBH. Her previous posts include roles as Senior Technologist at CP Kelco, an Application Technologist at Kerry and an R&D Analyst at W Hydrocolloids. She graduated as a Food Technologist and has worked in several roles in the food industry sector focused on Product Development in Stabilizer/ Hydrocolloid Industries. Her in-depth technical knowledge of Food Ingredients has made her invaluable in her commercial role as a Global Category Buyer for Stabilizers. Angela has experience working with diverse cultures across the globe.

Lara has built a 30-year marketing career on strong analytical and communication skills. She is committed to the promotion of functional and sustainable ingredients that improve quality of life. She joined GELITA in 2003 and was at the forefront of creating markets based on the health benefits of bioactive collagen peptides. Lara also has rich experience in gelatin markets and has spent years with Gelatin Representatives of the World in public relations and marketing roles. Prior to GELITA, Lara spent a decade in the building & construction and tool industries. Lara lives on her fifth-generation family farm with her husband and three teenage children where she’s often found working cattle, driving tractors and advocating for spinal cord injury research. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Nebraska Wesleyan University and from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, respectively. (Go Salukis!)

I graduated from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics, and an MBA in Finance. I started my career in banking and finance and worked as a financial analyst for Wells Fargo Bank and Unocal Chemicals. I then transitioned into sales and marketing and began working for an importer/distributor of food, pharmaceutical, and nutritional supplement ingredients. I have worked in the food, pharmaceutical, and nutritional supplement industry with leading U.S. based and global ingredient manufacturers such as Bunge/Loders Croklaan, Corbion, and Cargill. I have thirty years of experience in various senior sales, business development, and marketing leadership roles, specializing in leading, mentoring, and developing technical sales teams and new product and market development. Key customers that I or my sales team have managed include General Mills, Unilever, Abbott, Pfizer, Lonza, Kellogg’s, Nestle, Pepsico, and Con Agra, The majority of my experience has been in the agribusiness/edible oils industry. I lived in the Chicago area most of my life before moving to Raleigh, NC to work for Nitta Gelatin, NA. Most of my family, including my twenty-five-year-old daughter live in the Chicago area. I life an active lifestyle and have passion for sports, fitness, and nutrition. I enjoy traveling, going to concerts and sporting events, food, volunteering in my community, and being active in my church.

Lynn Dornblaser brings more than 35 years of product trend knowledge to her work at Mintel, which she joined in 1998. She applies her unique perspective on the market and new product development to tailored client research and to extensive public speaking. Prior to joining Mintel, Dornblaser covered new product trends at several trade magazine publishing companies, as editor and editorial director of publication New Product News. She has been quoted by major US news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, and CNN. In addition, Dornblaser has also served as keynote lecturer and speaker for numerous industry groups and sales forums. Dornblaser holds a BS in Journalism from the University of Illinois and has also contributed to a textbook on new product development. She can usually be found in the aisles of a supermarket somewhere in the world.

Sowmya Balendiran is Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer development at Sea6 Energy. She has a background in Biotechnology and Business management. She has more than a decade long experience in establishing business and markets across the globe. At Sea6 her role involves taking the novel products derived from Seaplants and developing market opportunities for them globally. Currently, Sea6 is developing a variety of products for use in Agriculture, Animal Health, Food ingredients and Bioplastics. She has been recognized in many international forums including Forbes 30 under 30, Top innovator in Uplink by World Economic Forum Davos 2023, Top 50 women in Biotech in India by Bio spectrum and in Women pushing the boundaries by GP-ORF.

Asim Syed is the Senior Director of Innovation and Applications, at Brenntag Nutrition, Americas. His team of technical experts helps food CPG companies develop healthier, nutritious, and sustainable products, by providing assistance in product development, texture enhancement, and ingredient selection. Asim is a food industry veteran, having led research and development teams at Unilever, Land O’ Lakes, ConAgra Foods, Dow Food Solutions and Beyond Meat. His teams have commercialized more than 100 new products for the retail, food service and CPG markets. For the past 15 years, Asim’s research focus has been plant-based food solutions that address the growing consumer concerns around health & wellness, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability.

Jamie claims his area of expertise is talking, but anyone who knows Jamie would say he is an expert at people. He not only leads the IFPC team, he does it with the firm conviction that we are more than a supplier to our customers and partners – we are their trusted ingredient advisor. That is important to Jamie because we not only supply quality ingredients to our partners, we share vital technical advice to food and beverage manufacturers, food service companies and dairies throughout the U.S. Jamie received his B.S.B.A. degree from St. Louis University. He began his career in sales at IFPC more than 25 years ago. Today, as IFPC’s General Manager, Jamie thrives on providing direct guidance to our partners, as well as coaching and mentoring teammates throughout IFPC. Jamie is the best in the business at building lasting relationships with both his teammates, supplier partners, and customers..

Curtis Park is a Principal Scientist in Research and Development at HP Hood, a food and beverage manufacturer based in the Boston, MA area. In his current role he leads a team working on long term innovation projects, troubleshooting difficult technical problems, and working with co-manufacturing partners. In addition, he has led an effort to learn, teach, and implement Statistical Design of Experiments in the R&D department. Prior to HP Hood, Curtis received his B.S. in Food Science from Brigham Young University and M.S and PhD in Food Science from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Amanda Dainton’s role as a Product Development Scientist at Freshpet involved developing new cooked, refrigerated pet food products and evaluating new ingredients in terms of animal nutrition and product functionality. In addition, she currently serves as the 2022-2024 Companion Animal Committee Chair for the American Society of Animal Science Conference. Her doctoral degree was earned at Kansas State University where she conducted research with the university’s Pet Food Processing Laboratory, focusing on micronutrients and hydrocolloids in canned pet foods. Dr. Dainton also holds a master’s degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s degree in Feed Science and Management from Kansas State University.