Plenary Speakers

Helmy Abouleish is the Chief Executive Officer of SEKEM Holding, the Initiative for Sustainable Development in the Egyptian desert, which works holistically in the four pillars of sustainable development: Ecology (biodynamic agriculture and its promotion), Economy of Love (production of phytopharmaceuticals, organic textiles and food), Social Life (sustainable community development) and Cultural Life (individual potential unfolding in schools, university, medical center).He is also the President of the Biodynamic Federation - Demeter International, in which he has been involved since its founding and contributed to defining the Demeter International Vision Mission Principles Values.

Nathalie Appéré was born in Plœmeur, Morbihan, in 1975. She moved to Rennes in 1993 to study at the Institute of Political Studies, from which she graduated in 1996. In 1997, she obtained a postgraduate degree (DEA Action publique et territoriale) at the IEP of Rennes - University Rennes-1. She then worked as a consultant for local authorities and in local social development. She became involved in politics in 1995, first with the Mouvement des Jeunes Socialistes, then with the Socialist Party. In 2001, she was elected to the Rennes city council. First deputy mayor in charge of associations, in 2008 she was appointed first deputy mayor in charge of solidarity and vice-president of Rennes Métropole, in charge of social cohesion. She was elected deputy for the 2nd constituency of Ille-et-Vilaine in 2012. In 2014, she won the municipal elections and became the first woman mayor of Rennes. She was appointed president of the National Housing Agency (Anah) in 2015 and left the National Assembly in 2017. In 2020, she was re-elected mayor of Rennes and became president of Rennes Métropole.

Christophe Barnouin is the President of Ecotone, a French company, pioneer and leader in organic and vegetarian food in Europe, whose brands Bjorg, Bonneterre, Clipper, Alter Eco... are an alternative to the dominant food model.
After a career in the consumer goods industry (Orangina, Reckitt Benckiser, Mars) in marketing and sales functions, he took over the management of the French subsidiary in 2006 and then the management of the group in 2014. Under his leadership, the company focuses on organic and vegetarian food, becomes the first European food company to obtain B Corp certification, leaves the Amsterdam stock exchange to relocate its headquarters to France and adopts the status of a company with a mission.
In 2020, Ecotone had a turnover of 700 million euros and employed 1,600 people committed to preserving and growing biodiversity through food.

Beth Bechdol is Deputy Director - General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In this role, she continues her service to food and agriculture – now on a global scale. Ms Bechdol is responsible for FAO’s Partnership and Outreach work, including Partnerships and UN Collaboration, Resource Mobilization and Private Sector Partnerships, South - South and Triangular Cooperation. She also leads programmes in the area of Plant Production and Protection and oversees FAO’s main technical advisory committee on agriculture, the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) as well as the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat. Before joining FAO, Ms Bechdol was President and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana, the Midwestern state’s economic development initiative focused on advancing the agbioscience sector and developing 21st century talent.

Prior to her leadership of AgriNovus, Ms Bechdol was Director of agribusiness strategies at Indianapolis - based law firm Ice Miller LLP where she helped build the firm’s dedicated legal practice to food and agribusiness clients. She also was the former Deputy Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. Ms Bechdol’s dedication to public service in agriculture and her extensive trade and farm policy experience started in Washington, D.C. where she served in key roles as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and as Economist on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

She began her career in the Washington office of Informa Economics. As the first female Vice President in the firm, she assisted clients in understanding critical food and agriculture issues such as global trade negotiations, federal farm policy, technology advancements, farm structure, risk management tools, among other major trends. She also provided market information expertise to several international development projects in Egypt, the Republic of North Macedonia and Ukraine. Ms Bechdol excels at building unconventional alliances and connecting people. She has had significant roles on boards and commissions, including the National FFA Board of Trustees, the Purdue Research Foundation and the Farm Foundation Round Table.

Ms Bechdol was raised on a multi-generation family grain farm in rural Indiana. She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in international law and international affairs, and completed her master’s degree at Purdue University in agricultural economics.

Thales Bevilacqua Mendonça is a young agroforestry farmer from Brazil, growing vegetables, fruits, mushrooms and forests. Member of INOFO Latin America, working with agroforestry organic farming, PGS Systems (Participatory Guarantee Systems) and consulting in agroforestry systems.

Loïg Chesnais-Girard is President of the French Brittany region. In 1995, he became a municipal councillor of Liffré, a commune located north-east of Rennes; he was then 18 years old. He is now available to devote himself to his mandate as President of the Region. At the age of 30, he was elected Mayor of Liffré. In 2010, he will join the regional team of Jean-Yves Le Drian. He was appointed Vice-President for the Economy and Innovation of the Brittany Region in 2012 and then First Vice-President following the 2015 regional elections. In 2017, he was elected President of the Brittany Region following the resignation of Jean-Yves Le Drian. He won the regional elections in June 2021 with his list "La Bretagne avec Loïg" and was re-elected President of the Region of Brittany. At 44, Loïg Chesnais-Girard is the youngest President of a Region in France. He is the author of a book, "le souffle breton, une région pour la République", in which he presents his vision of Brittany and the transitions to be led. He has been awarded the Order of Agricultural Merit.

President of the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine’s Council. Jean-Luc Chenut joined the civil service in 1986. He has held various professional responsibilities in the cities of Saint-Herblain and Le Rheu, and then worked for the Public Housing Office of the metropolis of Rennes1 until 2008. Promoted to Territorial Director in 1999, he has been on secondment since 2008 for the exercise of local elective mandates. He was elected municipal councillor of Feins in 1995 and became Mayor of Le Rheu in 2001. He got re-elected in 2008 and 2014. He was also Vice-president of the metropolis of Rennes from 2008 to 2015, in charge of the municipal finances. Following his election as President of the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine’s Council, he ceased his mandates as Mayor of Le Rheu and Vice-president of the metropolis of Rennes in April 2015. Since then, he is the President of the Department’s Fire and Rescue Service. Jean-Luc Chenut has been re-elected President of the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine’s Council on July 1st, 2021. He was promoted to Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur on January 1st, 2021.

Olivier Clanchin is the third generation president of the family business Triballat Noyal. Since 1951, the Breton food company, which specialises in organic dairy and cereal products and plant-based alternatives, has sought to be a source of life for people and the planet.

Born on 14 August 1980 in Cahors in the Lot region, Julien Denormandie is an agronomist by training and holds an MBA in Economics. He joined the French administration in 2004 in the Water and Forestry Engineering Corps at the Ministry of Finance. He became an advisor to Pierre Moscovici, Minister of Economy and Finance, in 2012, then to Nicole Bricq, Minister for Foreign Trade. In 2014, he joined the cabinet of Emmanuel Macron, then Minister of the Economy, Industry and the Digital Economy, as Deputy Director. He left his position in 2016 to take part in the construction of the En Marche! movement, where he held the position of deputy secretary general. In 2017, he was appointed Secretary of State to the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, and then became Minister for Towns and Housing in October 2018.

After a Master's degree in Economics, Pierrick De Ronne wished to live a volunteer experience, which led him to manage a Hospital in Cameroon for 2 years. After returning to France to complete a master's degree in political science, he spent 2 years working on a project to provide access to medicines for HIV patients in Niger. Recruited as shop manager in 2009 in the Biocoop shop in Annonay, Pierrick De Ronne has helped this small business grow from 3 to 22 employees and from 1 to 3 shops. After his first steps within the Biocoop network, Pierrick De Ronne was elected by his peers to various mandates in regional commissions as early as 2011 and to the national Board of Directors in 2016. Today, Pierrick De Ronne is particularly attached to the Social and Solidarity Economy and to the cooperation of the network. Pierrick De Ronne has always been guided by meaning and cooperation. Combining personal convictions and employment has always been a matter of course.

Famara Diédhiou is from Senegal and joined the Organic Agriculture movement in 2004 as an agent of the NGO Agrecol Africa, where he started his activities by supporting access to organic markets for small producers and the partnership between the NGO and the municipality of Thiès to promote organic consumption. Beneficiary of GROLINK's training courses in the framework of Organic Agriculture Development (OAD), he volunteers part of his time to the Intercontinental Network of Organic Producers' Organisations (INOFO) since 2011, of which he became the Secretary General in 2017. He is regularly called upon by IFOAM to provide training on the continent and is currently the West Africa Programme Officer of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) with a focus on the promotion of farmer seed systems.

Martin Frick is the Deputy of the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Food System Summit 2021. He served before as the Senior Director of UN Climate Change where he was overseeing the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the secretariat's Climate Action work.  As programme director for former Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Foundation, he developed the founding narrative of climate justice. He previously served as Director for Climate Change at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He was the German representative for human rights and humanitarian affairs at the UN General Assembly and served as the European Union’s lead negotiator in the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council. As Ambassador to the international organizations based in Germany, he helped building up the UN’s sustainability hub in Bonn. He holds a PhD in Law from Regensburg University and was a guest lecturer at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

Bablu Gangulyis a World Board member of IFOAM - Organics International. He is a founder member of PGS Organic Council that has been spearheading the PGS movement in India to help small-holder farmers move back to life sustaining organic agriculture and strengthen their socio-economic status by promoting just and equitable relationships with the consumers of their produce.

Phil Howard is a professor at Michigan State University and a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. He is the author of Concentration and Power in the Food System: Who Controls What We Eat? His visualizations of food system changes have been featured in numerous outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The Ecologist.

Honorary President of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Mankind, which he created in 1990, Nicolas Hulot has been Minister of the French Ecological Transition and Solidarity, Special Envoy of the President of the French Republic for the protection of the planet, and also a journalist and television producer. His career, full of discoveries and encounters across the planet, has forged his fight for ecology, with a more humanistic approach to the world. Convinced of the convergence of ecological and social issues, Nicolas Hulot participated in the creation of the Pacte du Pouvoir de Vivre in March 2019.

Dr. Katrin Kaeufer is a Director of Just Money at the MIT Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Executive Director of the Presencing Institute (https://www.presencing.org). Her 2013-book co-authored with Otto Scharmer is titled “Leading from the emerging Future: From Ego-system to Eco-system Economies”. In 2021 she published: “Just Money. Mission-based banking and the future of finance.” (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2021).

Charles Kloboukoff is the President and founder of Compagnie Léa Nature. After 10 years of experience in the field of mass distribution and dietetics, he created his company in 1993, the year he turned 30.
Initially specialising in natural food supplements and phytotherapy products, his business expanded in 1995 to include organic food, natural and organic cosmetics and ecological home care. A man of conviction and action, Charles Kloboukoff has built up over the years a village of small and medium-sized organic, independent and family businesses, with 21 production sites that today employ nearly 2,000 people.
President of the 1% for the Planet France endowment fund, he has made 18 of his brands join the worldwide 1% movement: they donate 1% of their turnover to environmental protection associations.

Organic farmer and French member of Parliament, Sandrine Le Feur is part of the French sustainable development commission and is actively engaged in issues such as climate, biodiversity conservation, agriculture and food transition and farmers' rights specifically. She was responsible for a piece of legislation called "Egalim" in 2017 dealing with food sustainability and equity in market relations in the agricultural and food sector. She is currently leading a parliamentary working group on food sovereignty.

Julia Lernoud has been working in the organic movement for nearly 15 years. In 2006, she started to work at her family company, an organic retail shop and restaurant. Since then, she has worked in different areas of the organic sector, such as marketing, advocacy, and research. In 2017, she became part of IFOAM – Organics International world board. Between 2011 and 2019, she worked as a Data and Information Manager of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). There, she worked on the collection of organic market data worldwide and the production of the annual report “The World of Organic Agriculture”. She also collected key market data on Voluntary Sustainability Standards worldwide for FiBL, and produced the “The State of Sustainable Markets” re port in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI). Since 2020, she is Co-President of Young Organics Global Network, a global platform for youth working in the organic movement.

Louise Luttikholt, born and raised on a small farm in eastern Netherlands, is the Executive Director of IFOAM – Organics International. She has extensive experience in organic agriculture, fair trade and development cooperation at a strategic, management and regulatory level. Earlier she worked as the Director of HELVETAS Germany and Senior Advisor Sustainable Agriculture at HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation. Prior to this, she held various roles at Fairtrade International, Biologica and served at the board of ‘Stichting Zaadgoed’ in the Netherlands. She is grounded in the Principles of Organic Agriculture and was the driving force behind the articulation process of them. Louise wants to build the resilience of the organic sector, and see it reach out from a strong foundation to show wider audiences and stakeholders that organic agriculture is a means to help heal the world.

Karen Mapusua is Vice President of IFOAM - Organics International. She co-founded the Pacific Organic and Ethical Trade Community and was extensively involved in developing a region wide Participatory Guarantee System approach including unique aspects such as whole island certification. Previously, she served as a Director of Fairtrade Australia New Zealand.

Peggy Miars is President of IFOAM – Organics International and has represented North America on the IFOAM World Board since 2014. She is also on the Board of Directors of the IOAS, an international organic and sustainable accreditation organization. Since 2010, Peggy has served as Executive Director/CEO of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) in Oregon, USA, and was previously Executive Director/CEO of California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), North America’s largest organic certification body. She has worked in the organic movement for 25 years, previously in marketing and management positions with Earthbound Farm, Whole Foods Market, nonprofit organizations, and her own marketing consulting business. She enjoys outdoor activities and spending time with her husband of 41 years, Tom, and their dog and four cats.

Shamika Mone is a researcher turned organic farmer and entrepreneur originally from Maharashtra, India. She does organic farming of traditional rice varieties and vegetables in 4 Acres (1.6 Ha) of leased farm land. She is also Treasurer and the Managing Committee member of The Organic Farming Association of India - a network of organic farmers across the country. Her documented book, “ A Source Book on India’s Organic Seeds” was officially released in February 2015 which serves to increase the accessibility and availability of indigenous seeds for the farmers in villages as well as cities. She was first elected as the South Asia representative of organic farmers in Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organisations (INOFO), a self organised structure within IFOAM Organics International. In the 2017 World Congress in New Delhi, Shamika was elected as the new Chairperson (President) of INOFO.  Since then she has served her best for the organisation development and her responsibilities for INOFO.

Jan Plagge is the President of IFOAM Organics Europe, having been elected in May 2018. Heis also Chair of the IFOAM Organics Europe Farmers Group and President of the organic farmers association Biol and representing about 6,000 farmers and 100 market partners inGermany and South Tirol, Italy. With involvement in the organic sector for several decadesJan converted his own horticultural farm to organic in 1992.

A member of the French Green Party since 2000, Barbara Pompili accompanied Noël Mamère's presidential campaign, was a parliamentary assistant to Yves Cochet and participated in the founding congress of the EELV party. Elected as a Member of Parliament in 2012, she became co-chair of the ecologist group in the National Assembly. In 2016, she joined the Ecologists! party and launched the "New Era" movement. She was appointed Secretary of State for Biodiversity in the French Government. On 7 July 2020, she was appointed Minister for Ecological Transition.

Rasmus Prehn is a Danish politician of the Social Democrats. He has been a member of the Danish Parliament since 2005. Rasmus Prehn was appointed Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries on November 19th 2020. From 2019-2020 he was Minister for Development Cooperation. Rasmus Prehn was born in 1973 and in private he is married to Heidi. The couple has three children together.

Michel Reynaud is involved in organic farming since 1984, first in France as coordinator of the French Organic Farmer Federation (FNAB), and Member of the French Organic Advisors Associa-tion (ACAB) and then in Germany as Farmer on a Biodynamic Farm. Founding Member of ECOCERT in 1991, he is currently Vice President of ECOCERT SA in charge of international and Institutional Relation, Member of the Strategic Committee ECOCERT SA. He was active as organic inspector, certification Director, Quality Manager and in charge of the international development for ECOCERT.

Ruth Richardson is Executive Director of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, a strategic alliance of philanthropic foundations working together to transform global food systems. Ruth brings over 25 years of experience in food systems to this role and, of particular relevance to this undertaking, has extensive experience in systems - thinking and starting new and complex things. Previously, Ruth was Director of the Unilever Canada Foundation, Founding Chair of the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers’ Network, Founder and Chair of the Small Change Fund, and the first Environment Director at the Metcalf Foundation. In 2020, she has been appointed Chair of the UN Food Systems Summit Champions Network.

Johan Rockström is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam. He is an internationally recognized scientist on global sustainability issues and led the development of the Planetary Boundaries framework for human development in the current era of rapid global change. Professor Rockström is a leading scientist on global water resources, with more than 25 years experience in applied water research in tropical regions, and more than 150 research publications in fields ranging from applied land and water management to global sustainability. He is i.a. member of European Commission expert group: Mission Board for adaptation to climate change including societal transformation, chair of the Earth Commission, Chief Scientist of Conservation International, and elected member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Janus Wojciechowski was born in Rawa Mazowiecka, Poland, in 1954. Member of the European Commission since 1 December 2019, responsible for Agriculture, lawyer, attorney. He has advanced legal studies: Master’s degree inlaw, graduated from the University of Łódź, Department ofLaw and Administration. He was Member of the European Court of Auditors, representing Poland, from May 2016 to November 2019. He wasalso a judge, President of the Supreme Audit Office of Poland, Vice-marshal of the Parliament of theRepublic of Poland, Member of the European Parliament of three terms (2004-2016); Member of the European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals in the European Parliament since his first term in 2004; since 2014 its President.

Aïssata Yattara is Regional Advisor (coordinator) of the National Confederation of Peasant Organisations of Guinea (CNOP-G) in Lower Guinea, a member of COPAGEN (Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage), and the focal point for all issues related to agro-ecology and the promotion of peasant seeds. She has particularly evolved in support/advice to farmers' organisations: structuring, economic and institutional capacity building, ADOP, strategy of installation/insertion of young people in agricultural entrepreneurship.