Amanda DeVries is a graphic designer of 17 years and the owner of Eye Candy Design, specializing in branding and packaging for food & beverage companies. She spent 10 years in Ottawa, where governmental agencies kept her busy but not terribly inspired. Moving to Southwestern Ontario in 2009 presented her with the opportunity to work with small businesses and real people. In her past life, she was an electrical engineer which made her no stranger to project management, budgets and timelines.

Abbi Lezizidis of Take ONE Concepts has been in sales, marketing, and distribution for over 30 years. For the past 15 years, Abbi has thrived in many aspects of the Food Sector.  He understands and values the relationships between Food Retailers, Distributors and Producers.  Abbi understands the craft of integrating great products with lifestyle and sharing a good story. Assisting entrepreneurs to build their dreams within the community of launching & growing to take your food business to another level is what the Take ONE Concepts team does.

Founder & Owner – True Leaves Consulting Expert in launching innovative products in retail & foodservice from concept to plant scale-up.
Over 11 years of experience in product development, quality assurance, and operations management. Some of the brands she has worked with Kraft Heinz, Nuts for Cheese, Nestlé, Subway, Starbucks and McDonalds.

Lisa is a Certified Packaging Professional, Food Safety expert and owner of Co-Motion Packaging Solutions. She is passionate about all things food and packaging. Throughout her career
she has worked with brands like Ferrero, Kinder, Nutella and Tic Tac along with many private label brands. Her experience as a Professor of Food Safety and Traceability at Fanshawe College coupled with her packaging expertise has given her a unique perspective to share with foodpreneurs.

Nicole Haney quit her corporate job in 2015 to start a health food bakery – without any business education or experience in the food industry. In just 4 years, she scaled a tiny farmer’s market bakery to a national energy bar business serving hundreds of retailers across Canada, including grocery store chains. In 2019, she was named Top 20 Under 40 for her business accomplishments and was showcased on the cover of London Inc. magazine. Having built a six-figure national product brand, Nicole is now an Online Business Educator and is incredibly passionate about helping others embrace their dreams and pursue their goals.

Peter Chapman understands the food industry and he works hard to figure out where it is going. Peter’s experience includes both sides of the desk.  Prior to working with suppliers and launching SKUFood, Peter worked for 19 years with Canada’s largest food retailer, Loblaw. He is committed to using this experience to help producers and processors understand retailers and consumers. Peter is the author of A la cart; a supplier’s guide to retailers’ priorities and has provided food industry insights to Canadian Grocer, The Globe & Mail, Maclean’s magazine and Canada AM. 

Renata is the Training Programs Manager at NSF and has more than 20 years of experience in food safety consulting and training. Her work includes developing, maintaining and upgrading resource materials and training programs, working directly with food companies from a start-up stage to multinational food organizations. Renata holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with a specialization in Toxicology. She has extensive experience managing vendor audit programs, implementing of HACCP and food safety programs, food fraud prevention programs, improving food safety culture and managing product testing functions. Renata is a lead instructor for several courses with NSF including the FSPCA curriculum Preventive Controls for Human Food.

Sarah Hamza joined the Fanshawe College Centre for Research & Innovation in 2022. She is now leading one of Ontario’s most exciting innovation hubs and is eager at the opportunity to help grow businesses across Canada. Sarah comes from a background of Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Mechatronics and Master’s in Biomaterials. She spent three years in the polymer industry beginning in sales and moving into management, servicing, and analysis. Prior to that, she worked at a small start-up manufacturing bone grafts. With experience in both small & medium-sized companies as well as working on her own non-profit, Sarah understands the struggles that come at all stages of the business growth cycle.  CRI supports growth in the Canadian agricultural and agri-food industries by connecting talented graduates to growing companies, helping scale businesses, conduct product testing, or leveraging the expertise of experienced researchers. The centre helps advance Canada’s leadership position in agri-food innovation.