It is only through the generous financial contributions from our sponsors that make this event possible. Their donations are greatly appreciated. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Visit the Sponsorship Opportunities page.
We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. Suggestive statements, sexual innuendo, or offensive remarks are not appropriate during any activity, including during talks, poster sessions, workshops, social functions, after hours parties, via Zoom chat or on Twitter or other online media. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Those violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled without a refund at the discretion of the organizers. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns about participant behavior, please notify the organizers immediately.
It is possible you may be contacted by a company claiming to be the official housing bureau for this conference. These companies contact conference exhibitors and attendees, telling them the guest room block is sold out at the host hotel. The company then quotes a rate at another hotel, claiming it is an official room block and that you must reserve through them to get discounted rates. They ask for your credit card information so they can make a reservation for you. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS or you will lose your money. This scam is affecting conferences all over the country. No matter what meeting you attend, always use the hotel reservation links provided on the host organization’s website.
Senior Director
Technical Consumer Research
Coca-Cola
Pam leads Technical Consumer Research team at The Coca-Cola Company is an enthusiastic and innovative Sensory & Consumer Insight champion with a passion leveraging the voice of the consumer to drive growth. Pam drives excellence and delivers critical insights to enable innovation by elevating sensory & consumer science to the next level and integrating data science & responsible AI in the approach.
Pam joined TCCC in 2006 and has over 25 years of consumer-packaged goods experience that includes Research & Development, Market Research and Brand Development in a range of categories: Food & Beverage (retail and Food Service), Personal Care, Child Care, Business-to-Business Marketing.
Pam is an engineer by training but an artist at heart. She has Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Go Jackets!). In her spare time, she is an avid amateur ballroom dancer and formal national champion. She also loves true crime documentaries and has a passion for understanding the "why" people do the things they do and say the things they say.
Senior Research Chemist
Symrise
Smita Raithore obtained her PhD in Food Science at the University of Minnesota under the supervision of Dr. Devin Peterson. In her work, she investigated the effect of sugar alcohols on flavor release in confectionery products such as chewing gum. Next, she joined the USDA-ARS laboratory in Fort Pierce, Florida, where she researched the effects of the citrus greening disease HLB on the flavor profile of oranges. In 2015, Smita joined Symrise in Teterboro, New Jersey, embarking on her journey in the flavor industry. In her current role, she and her team focus on analysis-based flavor and product development, as well as product quality improvement.
CEO and Founder
W2O Food Innovation
Alex is the founder and CEO of W2O, a flavor technology firm for the past fifteen years based in the USA. He specializes in creating Better Food with niche expertise in contemporary taste & smell neuroscience and state of art clean label plant-based ingredients.
Food and beverage companies hire him to bring food science to their new product development efforts on topics such as sugar reduction, salt reduction, and multisensory eating experience. Food ingredient firms retain him to lead the creation of plant-based ingredients particularly taste modulators.
Alex also served as Chief Science Officer for Sweeteners for Amyris, a precision fermentation clean ingredient company (2019-2021), and as Chief Innovation Officer for Nascent, a stevia sweetener leader (2017-2019). He is currently on the board of the World Taste & Smell Association, an art and science organization, on the science advisory board for both Olfactive BioSolutions, a food aroma as medicine startup, and Advance International, a marine protein startup.
Prior to that, Alex had held various R&D leadership positions in companies including Pepsi, Starbucks, and Wrigley. He led technical teams to achieve business results. Alex holds a PhD in Food Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Research Fellow
Givaudan
Stefan Furrer is a Fellow in Givaudan's Taste & Wellbeing Science & Technology Department. His main research focus is on developing cheminformatics and data science tools to support ingredient discovery and flavour creation. Stefan graduated from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Chemical Engineering & Organic Chemistry, holds a MS degree in Cheminformatics from the Indiana University and has been with Givaudan for 30 years.
Director, Global Food Market
Agilent Technologies
With nearly two decades of experience in the food industry, Dr. Lorna De Leoz serves as Global Food Market Director at Agilent, working closely with scientists, regulators, and industry leaders to advance food safety, quality, and authenticity. Her mission is to empower customers with innovative analytical solutions that deliver reliable, actionable insights — helping them protect public health and adapt to evolving regulatory and consumer expectations.
Prior to Agilent, Lorna spent seven years at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where she advanced glycoform characterization by developing mass spectrometry protocols, spectral reference data, and data analysis tools. She also led a global interlaboratory study on NISTmAb glycosylation, driving greater consistency in glycoanalysis.
Lorna earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of California in Davis, where she investigated milk oligosaccharides and their role in infant gut health, as well as glycans as potential cancer markers, using high-resolution mass spectrometry. She holds dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Computer Engineering, and a Master of Science in Chemistry from Ateneo de Manila University.
Her early career included roles as a computer engineer at San Miguel Foods, a research specialist at the Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and a professor of chemistry and electronics at Ateneo de Manila University.
In recognition of her customer impact and contributions to Agilent’s success, Lorna received Agilent’s highest sales honor – the President’s Club award -- in 2022.
VP Flavorist
International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. (IFF)
Dana Daneker Gasiorowski is a Vice President Flavorist at IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances), where she helps shape the future of taste for some of the world’s most loved foods and beverages. With a background that blends analytical chemistry, sensory science, and innovative flavor creation, Dana brings the science of flavor to life in ways that excite both students exploring career paths and product developers pushing the boundaries of food innovation.
Her flavor passions span botanicals, citrus, vanillas, and cheeses, and she’s known for translating complex chemistry into delicious, memorable flavor experiences. As the leader of the IFF Flavor School for North America, Dana mentors early‑career scientists and flavorists, offering hands-on insights into how creativity and chemistry come together to build the products consumers love.
She is a Certified Member of the Society of Flavor Chemists and holds a BS in Biology from York College of Pennsylvania and an MS in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. Outside the lab, Dana finds inspiration in horsemanship, reading, and mushroom hunting, interests that strengthen her connection to the natural world and spark fresh creative ideas.
Chief Customer Officer
Datassential
Colleen has 25+ years of experience in strategy, marketing, insights, and innovation across retail and foodservice. Throughout her career, she has translated trends and insights into profitable action across food and beverage categories. She founded and successfully sold a food-tech startup in the alcohol industry. At Datassential, Colleen is a customer and growth executive who launched the company’s adult beverage division, supported a founder-led transaction in 2019, and most recently helped lead a successful private-equity transaction - ensuring continuity for customers and momentum for growth. She is a Master of Wine candidate and holds the DipWSET in Wine, CSW, and Certified Sommelier credentials, and is a Certified Napa Valley Wine Educator. Colleen also holds an MBA in International Business, an MS in Management Information Systems, and a BS in Neurobiology and Physiology.
Associate Professor - Food Science
UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center
Dr. Yu Wang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center. She leads an interdisciplinary program that integrates analytical chemistry, metabolomics, sensory and consumer science, and data science to advance flavor-driven innovation for citrus and specialty crops. Her work spans discovery of key flavor and bioactive compounds, development of high-throughput chemical and sensory workflows, and translation of research into industry partnerships and commercialization pathways. Dr. Wang is also the founder and lead organizer of the International Flavor Summit, building a forum that connects academia and industry to accelerate practical solutions in flavor and food innovation.
Senior Director, Business Development, Global Sugar Reduction
dsm-firmenich
Srini Subramanian is a senior leader focused on business development of sugar reduction solutions at dsm-firmenich. His 30+ years of experience in the food and flavor ingredients business included roles in innovation, product development and customer support. His expertise in Taste modulation gives him unique perspective of understanding the challenges in making healthier food taste great. He is a scientist with degrees in Chemical technology and a Ph.D. in Food Science from the University of Massachusetts. A long career that started with antioxidants and healthy fats to all things “flavorings and sweeteners” that play a key role in making our food taste delicious and yet remain nutritionally relevant.
Senior Director, Business Development, Global Sugar Reduction
dsm-firmenich
Jennifer Tartaglia is a R&D Director at PepsiCo where she leads flavor innovation and research that drives consumer-centric flavor design. A Certified Flavor Chemist, she holds a Ph.D. in Food Science & Nutrition from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Food Science from Rutgers University. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Jennifer worked at Takasago International Corp (USA) for over 17 years in roles such as a Sr. Scientist, Flavorist, and Director - Flavor Creation Sweet. She is a published researcher in the field of flavor release and flavor perception. She shares her passion for flavors any time she can, including serving on the board of directors for the Society of Flavors. Her work specializes in developing innovative sweet flavor solutions grounded in deep scientific expertise. At PepsiCo, Jennifer leads a high impact team shaping the future of beverage flavor innovation through bold vision and breakthrough science.
Global Lead Expert - Taste Modulation
Doehler
With two decades of experience in Food and Flavor industry, Priti serves as Global Expert Lead in Taste Modulation for Doehler group where she helps understand the taste challenges around health driven functional Food and Beverages and helps bridge the Taste gap using Technology driven Flavor solutions and Food ingredients. She works closely with Flavor creation, Application development, Sensory science, Regulatory functions to bring Scientific Ideas to life. Along with her client facing responsibility, she is also actively collaborating with the Discovery team to develop new technology around Taste optimization and is keen to look for solutions addressing Taste challenges while meeting the guardrails around regulations, cost and performance. Priti is passionate mentoring young scientists and students from the academic institutions with corporate exposure and career guidance in Science and Technology. Currently, she is mentoring few students following MBS program at Rutgers. Prior to Doehler, she worked for Symrise, Firmenich, Unilever and started her career with Cadbury/ Mondelez. She holds a Master’s degree in Food Science and Technology from CFTRI, India.
