Improving the Working Relationship between Food Safety & Quality and Innovation Teams to Launch Products Effectively

Kraft Heinz’s vision is: Sustainably grow by delighting more consumers globally! Rachid is accountable for External Manufacturing & Supply Chain and with a senior professional team distributed across the globe to mitigate Food Safety & Quality risks, lead various improvement initiatives, govern various global processes, manage change and trouble shoot where required cross functionally and creates real long-lasting partnership wherever he goes.

As some of you may already know, Rachid is very skilled at making events he chairs interactive while working closely with the audience to stimulate conversation and enhance learnings.
We look forward to having Rachid back with us. Get ready for some exciting conference days!

With more than 25 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Johan has dedicated his career to providing the industry with innovative new ideas and offerings to help companies of all sizes grow their business. As Chief Product Officer, Johan is responsible for Dawn’s R&D and Category marketing globally, prioritizing innovation efforts within Dawn to provide customers with the best bakery products in the business. Since joining the team in 2012 as vice president of R&D in Europe, Johan has led the research and development of multiple Dawn product launches, specifically the Dawn Balance Line, which contains clean label, vegan and better-for-you products. In addition to his focus on product development, he also drives global technology projects to keep Dawn at the front of introducing new industry capabilities both for bakers and within the walls of the company. Prior to joining Dawn, Johan was the Innovation Director at Sara Lee and also previously held various R&D roles across food product categories at Unilever in the Netherlands and the UK. He holds a masters and a PhD in Molecular Science from the Agriculture University of Wageningen, and an MBA from Rotterdam Erasmus University.

Paul brings 32 years of experience in beer & cider production, Food Safety and Quality within Heineken, as one of the 50 Master Brewers of Heineken globally. After finishing his Ph.D. in Yeast Genetics & Physiology in Amsterdam, he started his career in Heineken R&D. He was for years the ‘Yeast doctor’ within Heineken. He gained practical operational experience in breweries as Quality Manager and Head Brewer in Shanghai, Panama and Den Bosch breweries. And he was also for several years technological consultant for Heineken for our breweries in South America, the Caribbean and Europe. In 2013 he became Quality director of Heineken USA, till 2019. Currently he’s senior Global Lead for Licenses & Quality, within Heineken Global Supply Chain team, based in HQ in the Netherlands.

A seasoned Executive in the FMCG world with unique leadership skills in transforming businesses in severe internal and external circumstance into a profitable sustainable model. He is a visionary who comes with a proven track record in building a business from the ground, based on the lean accelerated model within the largest F&B company. While creating the first pure born brand in Nestle since 35 years (Nespresso 1986). His open-mindedness, strategic thinking and creativity helped inspire the organization to transform, following the same model in other businesses. He successfully renovated a failing business challenged by forex devaluation along with a major restructuring risk, renovating it to the fastest growing business retaining market leadership and its employees. Deep knowledge across the entire value chain of the businesses, with sustainability credentials. A professional with deep experience in building business, growing and inspiring people besides leading innovation through collaborating with startups, scouters and incubators.