2026 Annual Conference – Rebooting the food system

Dr. Jessica Agnew is the Director of the Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Initiative and Associate Director of CALS Global at Virginia Tech, where she provides strategic leadership to global partnerships, applied research, and advocacy efforts focused on accelerating sustainable agricultural productivity growth. She serves as the managing editor of the annual GAP Report and is leading the development of a next-generation decision-support platform to provide actionable insights to policymakers, investors, and industry leaders worldwide. Her work bridges policy, business, and innovation to translate evidence into action across agri-food systems, with deep experience engaging public, private, and multilateral partners. Dr. Agnew holds a PhD in Planning, Governance, and Globalization and a Master of Public Health from Virginia Tech, and advanced degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Guelph.

Silvija Aile is a senior EU policy official with long-standing experience in environmental and resource policy. She is currently Deputy Head of Unit D1 – Land Use and Management at the European Commission, within the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV). This unit deals with land use policy, soil management, and environmental sustainability, contributing to EU policies on biodiversity, natural resources, and land governance.

Delphine Babin-Pelliard,  an agronomist by training, is an expert in sustainable agricultural and food systems. Since 1 February 2026, she has been a Senior Advisor in the Food and Agricultural Systems team at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). From 1998 to 2008, she began her career with fieldwork in Asia and Africa, focusing on agricultural value chains, food systems, and project impact evaluations. She then worked for ten years at the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, as well as at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on food security and nutrition issues, in Paris and at the Permanent Mission of France to FAO in Rome. She also worked for eight years for the United Nations, at the FAO liaison office in Geneva, as a food systems and environment specialist, and for the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement. She has thus participated in national and global efforts to promote sustainable and resilient food systems, contributing to the development of policies, strategies and knowledge products on climate change and biodiversity, sustainable agricultural practices and participating in numerous multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder processes on these topics.

Cristina Bruce is Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Social Impact at Anglo American, working closely with the Groups’ businesses to create a positive sustainable impact in our regions of operation. A government relations and public policy professional, she has experience in sustainability, permitting, political risk management, strategic stakeholder engagement, communications, and international advocacy. She has direct experience of working with the extractive, NGO, multilateral and governmental sectors across the Middle East, Europe, Southern Africa and Latin America and is a former British diplomat, covering South America and Middle East. She has been Chair of the Board and Trustee of Canning House, the UK-Latin America think tank.

Michael Brückner is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors at Munich Re Investment Partners GmbH. He leads Munich Re Group’s specialist asset management firm, which focuses on delivering systematic, climate-native investment solutions for institutional asset owners. With about 20 years of experience across the financial landscape, Michael has held senior leadership roles in buy-side, sell-side, and advisory capacities. He is committed to drive change through institutional-grade investment performance.

Martin has led the Digital Transformation of Crop Protection R&D since 2019, and is responsible for R&D Collaborations and Sustainability including Soil Health. He is a passionate advocate for the integration of science and new technology in a future vision for global agriculture and has led or contributed to strategies for R&D Innovation, Digital Transformation, Crop Protection, CP Sustainability and Plant & Soil Health.​

Over 37 years of industry experience with Syngenta, Martin has held senior R&D leadership positions in the UK, USA and Switzerland, including Crop Protection Research, Biotech R&D for Seeds, Project & Portfolio Management for CP and Seeds, and Global Product Biology.​

For 13 years, Martin chaired the Plant Sector Advisory Board for Innovate UK Business-Connect, the network partner of the UK government agency - Innovate UK - linking science to industry, retiring from the role in 2025.​

He holds a PhD in insect environmental physiology from the University of Leeds and Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Birmingham, UK.

Barry Cowen was elected in June 2024 to the European Parliament as an MEP for the Midlands North-West constituency. He now serves on the European Parliament’s Agriculture and International Trade committees where he focuses on securing better outcomes for farmers, advancing renewable energy and safeguarding Ireland’s pro-enterprise economy.

A native of county Offaly, Barry has over three decades of experience in public office, beginning as a local councillor and later serving as a member of Dáil Éireann from 2011 to 2024 where he represented the Laois-Offaly constituency.

During his time in national politics, Barry held several prominent roles within Fianna Fáil, including key spokesperson and Programme for Government negotiating team positions, as well as serving as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2020.

Sandrine Dixson-Declève is Global Ambassador for The Club of Rome and Executive Chair of Earth4All and divides her time advising, lecturing, and facilitating difficult conversations. She also sits on several non-executives and advisory boards including the Climate Governance Commission, EDP, BMW, UCB Climate KIC, Leonardo Centre, Imperial College London and is a Senior Associate and faculty member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), an Ambassador, for the Energy Transition Commission (ETC) and the Wellbeing Alliance (WeAll) and a Fellow of the World Academy of Science & Art.

Until recently, Sandrine was Chair for the European Commission Expert Group on Economic and Societal Impact of Research & Innovation (ESIR). She has also sat on the European Commission’s Mission on Climate Change & Adaptation.

Sandrine is a TED global speaker and recently published “Quel Monde Pour Demain” lucpire editions and Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity. She was recognised by Reuters as one of 25 global female trailblazers in 2023 and by GreenBiz as one of the 30 most influential women across the globe driving change in the low carbon economy and promoting green business.

Nomindari currently serves as CEO of the Mongolian Nature’s Legacy Foundation (MNLF), an environmental trust fund established in 2024 as part of the ‘Eternal Mongolia’ Project Finance for Permanence Initiative jointly implemented by the Government of Mongolia, The Nature Conservancy, and MNLF. Previously she served as CEO of the Mongolian Sustainable Finance Association, as well as Advisor to the IFC-facilitated Sustainable Banking and Finance Network focusing on developing knowledge products on key global sustainable finance topics such as sustainable finance roadmaps. With over a decade of leadership in sustainable finance and public-private partnerships, Nomindari has been a driving force behind many key sustainability initiatives in Mongolia and internationally. She led the design of critical sustainable finance policy documents including the Mongolia Green and SDG Taxonomy, National Sustainable Finance Roadmap, and financing vehicles such as the Mongolia Green Finance Corporation and Billion Tree Fund. Nomindari’s expertise also extends beyond national borders. She held advisory roles with organizations such as the United Nations Joint SDG Fund, UNEP, IFC, ADB, and EBRD, among others, on a number of projects related to portfolio emissions calculation, taxonomy development and piloting, green loan portfolio assessment, green bonds, gender finance, ESG integration, sustainability reporting and capacity building. These achievements earned her a spot on Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen List of Honour in 2022, recognition as an EU Young Leader for Development, and One Young World Ambassador in 2017. She holds a Master’s in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and is a certified Adaptation Finance Expert from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Henri de Gerlache is a Belgian filmmaker and specialist in the history of Antarctica's exploration. He is best known for his expeditions in polar regions, following in the footsteps of his distinguished family. He is the grandson of Gaston de Gerlache and the great-grandson of Adrien de Gerlache, who led the famous Belgica expedition to Antarctica — the first expedition to overwinter in Antarctica.

He has taken part in numerous scientific and media missions to observe the effects of global warming in polar regions. He is also involved in educational projects aimed at informing the general public and young people about environmental issues. He is also a screenwriter, author of books, and president of SA Galeries and Belgica Films, a company that manages an art-house cinema and an exhibition centre in central Brussels (Cinéma Galeries).t environmental issues. He is also a screenwriter, author of books, and president of SA Galeries and Belgica Films, a company that manages an art-house cinema and an exhibition center in central Brussels (Cinéma Galeries).

Martin Hubert Gerzabek is an Austrian ecologist and soil scientist. He is a professor of ecotoxicology and isotope application and was rector of BOKU, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna from 2010 to 2018.  He is also a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Tassos Haniotis recently retired, after a 33-year career in the Commission, as the Director of Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis in the Directorate General for Agriculture of the European Commission. Tassos is Sustainable Productivity Adviser for the Forum for the Future of Agriculture and a Senior Guest Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He previously held posts as Head of Unit in the Agricultural Policy Analysis and Perspectives unit and the Agricultural Trade Policy Analysis unit in the same Directorate General, as Member and subsequently Deputy Head of the Cabinet of former European Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler (with respective responsibilities the preparation of the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, and the agricultural chapter of the Doha WTO Round and the EU-Mercosur negotiations), and as the Agricultural Counsellor of the European Commission’s Delegation in the United States. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia, USA, and a B.A. in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business, in his native Greece. Before joining the European Commission, he spent six months as a visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Agricultural Studies, Wye College, University of London, focusing on EU-US agricultural trade relations in the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations. He hold a Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Thessaloniki. Active in the ag research community, he is a member of the International and European Associations of Ag Economics, the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium, and the EU Nitrogen Expert Panel.

Dr. Mariangela Hungria received the 2025 World Food Prize for her extraordinary scientific advancements in biological nitrogen fixation, transforming the sustainability of soil health and crop nutrition for tropical agriculture. The low-cost technologies and products that she has developed have increased crop productivity affordably and sustainably across tens of millions of hectares. By harnessing symbiotic soil microorganisms as an effective alternative to synthetic fertilizers, she has not only improved plant nutrient uptake but also enabled farmers to save billions of dollars while mitigating environmental risks associated with pollution and emissions—producing more with less.

Jörg-Andreas Krüger was elected as NABU President for the first time on November 9, 2019 by the Federal Representatives' Meeting of NABU. He is a member of various steering committees and panels, including the German Council for Sustainable Development and the Future Commission on Agriculture.

Harvey Locke is a globally recognized conservation leader. He is a co-founder of both the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and the Nature Needs Half Movement and was president of CPAWS. Currently Harvey chairs the Beyond the Aichi Targets Task Force for IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas whose goal is to influence global conservation targets. Harvey lives in Banff National Park where his family has deep roots and where he worked for many years on the successful effort to restore wild Plains bison to the park.

Lauren M. Phillips is an international political economist and currently Director of Partnerships and UN Collaboration at the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Between 2021 and 2025, she was the Deputy Director of FAO’s Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division.

Prior to joining FAO in 2021 she worked in a variety of policy, strategy and advisory roles at another specialized agency of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics (2008-2014), as a Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (2005-08), and in a variety of private finance roles in the City of London and New York. She started her career at Care International.

She holds a PhD in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Master and Bachelor degrees from Stanford University. Lauren was also an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy, and has published widely on finance and development.

Dr Janez Potočnik graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. After a successful career starting in 1989 in Slovenia as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research, Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (1994), he was appointed Head of the Negotiating Team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU (1998). He was also Director of Government Office for European Affairs (2000), Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister (2001) and Minister responsible for European Affairs (2002). In 2004 he joined the European Commission, first as "shadow Commissioner for Enlargement and then as Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. In 2010 Dr Potočnik became Commissioner for Environment. His term ended in November 2014 and he was appointed as a Co-Chair of UN Environment International Resource Panel and was also appointed as a Chairman of The Forum for the Future of Agriculture and RISE Foundation and a Member of the European Policy Centre's Advisory Council. From April 2016 he is also the Partner in SYSTEMIQ. More information Twitter – @JanezPotocnik22 Facebook – potocnikjanez LinkedIn - janez-potocnik-872470a7

Justin Rose is president, Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division, Small Ag and Turf, and is responsible for the European, African, and Asian markets. He leads a team dedicated to developing equipment and technology solutions for small ag and turf care customers globally. He was named to the role in November 2025.
Justin previously served as president, Lifecycle Solutions, Supply Management, and Customer Success. In this capacity, he oversaw the company's global aftermarket operations, customer support programs, precision upgrade solutions, supply chain strategies, and business transformation initiatives. He was also
accountable for advancing recurring revenue growth and achieving customer success targets.
Before joining Deere, Rose worked at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for twenty years, serving as senior partner and managing director. He led BCG’s North American industrial goods practice and was part of the firm’s global leadership team, with assignments in Austin, Chicago, Bangkok, Tokyo, and Mexico City. During his time there, he partnered with Deere on multiple projects and contributed to the development of the company’s Smart Industrial Strategy and Operational Model.
He earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics, as well as an MBA from Northwestern University. He has co-authored a book on U.S. manufacturing and serves on the advisory committee for the World Food Program’s Innovation Accelerator.
Originally from Minnesota, Rose now resides in Germany and works at John Deere’s Mannheim location.

Ethan Soloviev is Chief Innovation Officer at HowGood; Co-Founder of Regen House; and President of the Institute of Regeneration. He is the author of "Levels of Regenerative Agriculture" and "Regenerative Enterprise", owner of High Falls Farm, and Managing Partner at AppleSeed VC.

Martin Stuchtey is the Founder of The Landbanking Group, which uses systems-thinking to stop and reverse nature loss and redefine prosperity for the long-term. In addition, Stuchtey is an Honorary Professor of Resource Strategy and Management at the University of Innsbruck School of Management. He was previously a Director at the Munich office of the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment. In 2007 he co-founded McKinsey’s Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice. In 2014 Martin became Director of the McKinsey Global Center for Business & Environment. Both for strategic and financial investors, he analyzed the resulting growth opportunities in the “circular economy”

Ricard Ramon is the Head of Unit in charge of policy perspectives at DG AGRI (European Commission). He is currently working on the CAP for the period post-2027, the new Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) as well as the future Farmland Observatory and the on-farm sustainability compass. For the last 25 years he worked on strategy, analysis, design and implementation of agricultural policy in the EU. He has been directly involved on the policy design and negotiations of the last three reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as well as the preparation and approval of the current CAP Strategic Plans for the period 2022-2027. More recently, he was part of task force which supported the works of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture (2024) and coordinated the works on the Vision for Agriculture and Food (2025), which defines the strategic roadmap for the future actions of the Commission for the years ahead. He studied at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the London School of Economics.

Jurgen Tack studied biology (marine ecology) at Brussels Free University where he also obtained his PhD in Sciences. Within the Framework of the Kenya Belgium Project in Marine Sciences (Coastal Farms Kenya) he developed a number of oyster farms along the Kenyan coast. In 2000 he joined the team of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (Belgian Science Policy Office) where he was responsible for European and international science policy in the field of biodiversity and biodiversity related research. In 2007 he became the CEO of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (a research organization under the umbrella of the Flemish Authority). In 2015 he became Secretary-General of the National Science Foundation (Flanders) In 2016 he took the position of Scientific Director at the European Landowners’ Organization (ELO), CEO at Landelijk Vlaanderen (Flemish Landowners’ Organisation) and CEO of the Aanspreekpunt Privaat Beheer Natuur en Bos (an advisory organ for private landowners on the management of nature and forest). In 2023 he became Secretary-General of the European Landowners Organisation (ELO). He coordinates several EU projects on private land conservation. On behalf of ELO he chairs the European Commission’s Large Carnivore Platform and acts as expert for the EU Biodiversity Platform and the EU Expert Group on Cultural Heritage.

Mark joined SpiritsEUROPE as their Director-General in September 2025, having enjoyed a long career in the agri-food sector, principally at Syngenta where he held several senior leadership and executive level positions in corporate affairs and business sustainability in the EAME region and globally. After leaving Syngenta in 2017, Mark became the CEO of EngineeringUK before joining Indigo Ag, where he held a variety of different roles before becoming Head of Corporate Affairs and a Member of the Executive Team in 2024. Mark is a Co-founder and a former Director of the Forum for the Future of Agriculture. He is now a Member of the Forum’s Advisory Council and a Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Policy Network.

Kurt was appointed Director General of DG CLIMA on 16 January 2023. Until then, he was the Green Deal and Health advisor to President Ursula von der Leyen since 1 December 2019. He had joined the cabinet of the President coming from DG Research and Innovation where he was Director for Policy & Programming since 1 February 2016 and Acting Director for Research & Innovation Outreach since 1 June 2019. Before that, he was Director for 'Climate action and resource efficiency' at DG Research and Innovation since July 2013.

He served in the Cabinet of Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin (1999-2004) and as Head of the Cabinet of Janez Potočnik, who was Commissioner for Research and Innovation (2004-2009) and subsequently for Environment (from 2010). Kurt joined the European Commission in 1996 as co-ordinator of the Commission’s Intermodal Transport Task Force and of the Transport Research Programme.
Before entering the Commission, Kurt worked for four years as a manager at Ernst & Young Association Management, where he set up, managed and represented international trade associations.

After reading French and Italian literature at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) and obtaining a degree in Public and International Affairs at the University Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL), Kurt gained a Master of Arts degree in International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (S.A.I.S.) in Bologna, Italy and Washington D.C., US., and subsequently, acting director for research and innovation outreach at DG RTD. He also served as head of the cabinet of EU Commissioner Janez Potočnik between 2004 and 2010, and in the cabinet of Philppe Busquin from 1999 to 2004. He holds a master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Michael Werz is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His work focuses on the nexus of food security, climate change, migration, and emerging countries, especially Turkey, Mexico, and China. He is a member of the steering committee at the Center on Contemporary China and the World at Hong Kong University, a founding member of the WP Intelligence Council on Global Security, and the codirector of Nexus.

Founded in 1921, CFR is a nonpartisan, independent national membership organization, think tank, educator, and publisher, including of Foreign Affairs. It generates policy-relevant ideas and analysis, convenes experts and policymakers, and promotes informed public discussion—all to have impact on the most consequential issues facing the United States and the world.

Previously, Michael was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund working on transatlantic foreign policy and the European Union. He has held appointments as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, and as a John F. Kennedy memorial fellow at Harvard University’s Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.

Werz has published numerous articles and several books dealing with a wide range of scholarly and political topics, including race and ethnicity in the twentieth century, Western social and intellectual history, minorities in Europe and the United States, and ethnic conflict, European politics, and anti-Americanism. He is a graduate of the Institute of Philosophy at Goethe University in Frankfurt, a former professor at Hannover University in Germany, and a former and adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for German and European Studies.