2021 Strengthening the transatlantic cooperation for research and innovation in the agri-food system

Michael Doane is the Global Managing Director for Sustainable Food and Water for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Michael leads a team of the organization’s foremost experts to scale up conservation outcomes across productively managed farming, ranching and agroforestry landscapes. Providing food and water sustainably is a top global priority for TNC with a focus on minimizing the conversion of natural landscapes to agriculture, restoring degraded croplands and grasslands with advanced soil health, grazing and nutrient management techniques, and securing freshwater in basins threatened by pollution or overuse. TNC has significant food, water and climate programs across the America’s and emerging programs in Africa, India and China. Michael and his team are developing creative strategies to build new business models designed to accelerate conservation gains through catalytic finance, innovation, public policy and agri-food supply chain programs. Michael brings 20 years of relevant business and leadership experience to the role and holds a B.S. in Agribusiness and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics, both from Kansas State University. He has led high performing teams in the agribusiness and non-profit sectors across corporate strategy, business development, commercial sales and marketing, public policy and sustainability. In addition, he has played a catalytic leadership role in the development of multi-stakeholder sustainability programs such as the No-Till on the Plains, Soil Health Partnership, Collaboration for Forests and Agriculture, Field to Market Alliance and The Sustainability Consortium. Michael started farming at a young age and is a partner in his family’s cattle and row crop farming operation located in Kansas. He combines his passion for agriculture with his love for nature as an avid angler and sportsman. He makes his home in Parkville, Missouri, with his wife, Julie, and their two children.

Dan Glickman is a distinguished fellow of global food and agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. For nine years, he co-chaired the Council's Global Food and Agriculture Program. Glickman served as US Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton Administration. Representing the 4th Congressional district of Kansas for 18 years in the US House of Representatives, he was very involved in federal farm policy of the House Agriculture Committee and also served on the House Judiciary Committee as a chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In addition, he is the former chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. and former director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Glickman has served as president of the Wichita, Kansas School Board; was a partner in the law firm of Sargent, Klenda, and Glickman; and worked as a trial attorney at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his BA in history from the University of Michigan and his JD from George Washington University. He is a member of the Kansas and District of Columbia Bars.

Galina Peycheva-Miteva studied Econometrics and Statistics in New York and graduated in 2005, when she joined the family farm. She started her active agricultural activity in 2007 by managing 1,650 ha of land. She was instrumental in creating the family vineyard, lavender fields and rose fields. She changed the direction of the family business towards crop diversity adding milk thistle, coriander, alfalfa, grass mixes, cotton and acacia to the traditional wheat, barley and sunflower. She changed the method of farming from conventional to minimum disturbance and has made numerous efforts to preserve and improve soil fertility, fight water and wind erosion and has in the process certified as biologic over 580 ha of arable land. She allocated 200 ha of her arable land to be converted to pasture grass land in order to ensure the sustainable long-term management of the land. For those efforts, she was awarded the prestigious Soil Award in Brussels, in 2017. She was named Business Woman of the Year for 2017 by the Agrobusiness Magazine of Bulgaria. Galina is the Vice-Chairman of the Bulgarian Landowners Association, holds a seat on the Board of the Association of Agricultural Producers in Bulgaria and is a member of the National Grain Producers Association. She is actively involved in policy-making and advocating the rights and responsibilities of farmers and landowners. In 2018, she joined the Wildlife Estates label and is passionate about promoting the message of sustainability and the active role of landowners in protecting and promoting biodiversity.

Florian Schattenmann is Cargill’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President for Innovation and Research & Development (R&D). He oversees a global team that is driven by the vision of relentlessly creating value for Cargill and its customers via research, application and product development, and technical service support across agriculture, food, animal feed and bio-industrial markets. Prior to joining Cargill in November 2018, Florian spent eight years at The Dow Chemical Company. His most recent role was Vice President for Performance Materials & Coatings R&D, where he led innovation across a diverse set of specialty businesses leveraging unique chemistries and advanced technology to drive market-focused product development. Florian has also held leadership roles at SulphCo Inc., GE-Bayer Silicones, a joint venture of General Electric and Bayer AG based in Leverkusen, Germany, and globally for the Silicone Elastomers Business. Earlier in his career, Florian managed several research laboratories at GE’s Global Research Center. Florian is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, holds seven U.S. patents and has numerous publications. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards for Texas A&M AgriLife and College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the College of Science and Engineering at University of Minnesota, and the Department of Chemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA and his Diplom Chemiker degree from the Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany. Florian and his family live in Golden Valley, MN.  Besides spending time with the family, he loves playing the bass, road cycling and working out.

Peggy Yih is the managing director of the Center on Global Food and Agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She joined the Council in 2020. Previously, she served in various capacities at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC for more than 14 years. As a senior program officer with the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources at the National Academies, Peggy worked with the nation’s foremost experts to provide research, analysis, and policy advice on complex challenges in food and agriculture. In this role, she led an advisory panel that identified emerging technologies and developed an innovative strategy to advance food and agricultural research for the next decade. The strategy was incorporated into the 2018 Farm Bill, formed the basis for the 2020 USDA Agriculture Innovation Agenda, and led to the creation of the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority. Her portfolio of work also includes issues such as sustainable development in international agriculture, food systems, biotechnology, biosecurity, food security, food safety, animal health, public health and nutrition, worker safety and health, renewable fuels, climate change, natural resource management, conservation, and agricultural education. Peggy has a MA in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs and a BS in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics; Secondary Major in Political Science (International Relations concentration) from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Nicolae Ștefănuță MEP (Renew Europe) is a full member of the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Special Committee on Beating Cancer. He is a Vice-President of the Delegation for relations with the United States. He is also Substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee and of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. Among his areas of interest as a MEP are: climate change, foreign policy, security, public health, European budget and European rights. Nicolae Ștefănuță is the Vice-President of the Union to Save Romania party and he has been serving as a Member of the European Union since 2019. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, where he obtained a Master of policy management degree. He has a bachelor's degree in economics, obtained in Timișoara, Romania and a master's in advanced international studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Austria and in European studies from the University of Vienna. He began his professional career working for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Once Romania joined the European Union in 2007, Nicolae started his European career working for the European Parliament in various public policy areas, including budget and agriculture policy, as well as in the area of Transatlantic relations for the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the United States.