SPEAKERS

ENEKO ATXA AZURMENDI

Eneko Atxa, is a chef from Biscay with 4 Michelin stars. Azurmendi, his restaurant, has been distinguished with the Most Sustainable Restaurant award by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, as the Best European Restaurant by The Opinionated About Dining (AOD), and the Best Restaurant in the World, by Elite Traveller. Eneko Atxa was also awarded the National Gastronomy Prize in 2015 and he has been one of the European’s Young Leaders. His passion, sensitivity, cultural roots, his bond with the territory, its produce and the traditional cookery book, has been and continues to be the pillars of each of his creations. He always tries to craft pleasure, to accomplish excellence, to generate added value, to share wealth and knowledge; in short, he designs a very personal experience whilst aiming to grow in a sustained and sustainable manner.

PEDRO BALLESTEROS TORRES

Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW holds an Agronomical Engineer degree and a Master’s in Viticulture and Oenology; he achieved the WSET Diploma with distinction, and became a Master of Wine in 2010. Pedro also studied in the wine regions of Jerez, Rheingau, Burgundy, Napa and Bordeaux. A columnist at several papers and magazines in Spain and Belgium, he also regularly writes for wine magazines in the UK and Italy. Chair in major international wine competitions, including Decanter’s WWA, Vinitaly’s 5 Stars, Concours Mondial Bruxelles, Bacchus and others. He is active in the fields of promotion and education, and sits on the Council of the Institute of Masters of Wine, the governing board of the Spanish Taster Union, the Board of the International Federation of Wine Journalists, the Basque Culinary Centre’s Wine Committee and other institutions. He is the national expert for Spain at OIV. He is also member of Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino.

ANDREW STEPHEN

Since joining the Sustainable Restaurant Association as Chief Executive in 2016, Andrew has led the organisation and its missions to make the food service sector sustainable. He has extensive experience in helping business adopt more sustainable practices and has technical expertise around best uses of technology and communications. Andrew holds an MSC in Business Strategy and the Environment. Prior to joining the SRA he ran partnerships and product development for 2degrees. Before that Andrew spent ten years in film production and communications strategy. He developed and ran sustainability communications campaigns and projects for some of the world’s largest organisations.

IÑIGO GAZTELU BILBAO

He joined Eroski cooperative in 1989, where he became partner in 1990. He has been responsible for supermarkets and general manager of the oil bottling facility of this organization. In 2004 he requested an unpaid leave to become director of Baigorri Argitaletxea S.A, printing house. In 2011 he return to Eroski. From 2015, he is the mayor of Larrabetzu.

DRA. INMA ESTÉVEZ

Professor on Zoology, specialised in animal behaviour and welfare. She started her research career on wild fauna and later on she focused on domestic animal species dedicated to industrial production. She was researching in Canada, Sweden and France and in 1997 she joined Maryland University (USA), leaving her position as full professor in 2008 to join Ikerbasque Foundation. She is currently in charge of the behaviour and welfare animal department at Neiker-Tecnalia. She was awarded with the Etología Gonzalo Nardiz Price in 1991 y 1993 and the “Hy-Line International Research Award 2003” and “Poultry Welfare Research 2006” for her contribution in animal welfare and behaviour research.  She is scientific advisor on international programmes of animal welfare certification (American Humane Association and Humane Farm Animal Care). In Europe she has collaborated on scientific studies for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the world organization for animal welfare (OIE), in relation to animal welfare.

PAUL NEWNHAM

Paul Newnham currently heads up the SDG 2 Advocacy hub.  The SDG2 Advocacy Hub coordinates global campaigning and advocacy to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2: To end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030 based out of the UN World Food Program.

The Hub brings together NGOs, advocacy groups, civil society, the private sector and UN agencies to share expertise, ideas, and to collaborate on campaigns so that our overall impact as a community of influencers is increased.

Paul has over 20 years’ experience in National and Global roles with a focus on Campaigning, Youth Mobilisation, Advocacy, Marketing and Communication.   A dynamic, strategic innovator who brings teams together to achieve planned objectives, by providing inspirational and evocative leadership. An effective communicator able to enthuse and motivate others, achieving goals beyond expectation. Extensively travelled and sensitive to cultural diversity and differences, regardless of the environment in which he is working, Paul is able to bring out special skills in others, drawing on his own extensive skills and experience.

Paul is passionate about helping bring in new voices to the Global goals conversation particularly around Zero Hunger

Asier Bárcena

Graduate on Business Management for the Basque Country University and Master on Business Management on food chain companies. He is 15 years experience in distribution and retail. Actually, he is the purchasing manager of Makro Food in the areas of fresh products and wines. Furthermore, he is responsible for Alma Makro, a social corporate responsibility programme and an active participant in the development of Metro´s Group provisioning policies for perishable products.

JUAN MARI ABURTO

Since June, Juan Mari Aburto has been Mayor of Bilbao, a city that has over the last few years undergone one of the most innovative socio-economic, cultural and urban transformations, and boasts the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao as one of its most recognisable icons.

A lawyer by profession, specialising in Economic Law and Public Policy Assessment, he has a long career in the world of politics and in public management at the most relevant Institutions of the Basque Administration. Among the positions he has undertaken, he has been the Minister for Employment and Social Affairs of the Basque Government, MP for Social Action and Deputy President of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, as well as posts of responsibility on the Security Council during the tumultuous period of terrorist violence in Euskadi.

Well known for his deep social commitment and vocation for public service, his priority objective has always been to work by and for the people. Amongst the challenges as the new Mayor of Bilbao are employment and economic activity generation, as well as to position the city at international level.

PEIO CRUZ

Peio Cruz is Technical Chef of Unilever Food Solutions and team leader for the culinary team of the food service division of Unilever in Spain. After training as a chef in his hometown, Bilbao, Peio acquired international experience in the UK for 5 years, working for the Hilton Hotels chain. As R&D Chef at Unilever, Peio participates, together with the international chefs community of Unilever, in the creation of ingredients for chefs. With a deep knowledge of the market, its trends and needs for each type of business, Peio and his team help chefs to love what they do.

MIGUEL TORRES MACZASSEK

Miguel Torres is the fifth generation of one of the most prestigious wine families in Spain, rooted in the Penedès for more than three centuries, so it could be said that he carries the wine in his blood. With a degree in Business and Management from ESADE and studies in enology from the Rovira i Virgili University, he joined the family business in 2001, first as director of the Jean Leon winery and later as head of the marketing department. He took the reins of the family business in 2012, after directing the family winery in Chile for three years, orienting it towards sustainability, organic viticulture, premium wines and fair trade, and contributing to revalue old varieties such as País. Today, as general manager of Familia Torres, he works on the recovery of ancestral varieties together with his sister Mireia, a project initiated by his father over thirty years ago, and focuses on making wines with personality, from unique vineyards, in a clear commitment to territory and sustainability.

ROBERTO MARTINEZ

Business Studies and Economics degree UPV/EHU (Basque Country University) and Master in business administration (MBA) Instituto de Empresa (IE). Experience: 18 years in retail, last 10 as Regional Director focused in HORECA business development.

John L. Trachsel

“Head of Iberia Cluster” at Electrolux Professional. Electrolux Professional is a Swedish manufacturer of industrial equipment for professional kitchens and laundries and is known in the market and certified as a sustainable company. The purpose of Electrolux is “Shape living for the better for the people and the planet”

John’s professional experience is based in the sectors of food, consulting and industrial equipment. In all these sectors he defended sustainability and the maximum use of ressources, in order to additionally ensure the profitability of the businesses.

JOAN ROCA

It is said that together with his other two brothers, Josep and Jordi, they form a gastronomic triangle which has stirred up the gastronomic dining scene. The three-party restaurant he leads, El Celler de Can Roca, recognized as the best restaurant in the world in 2013 and 2015 (Restaurant Magazine), has accumulated a number of distinctions from the sector. There is consensus about the Roca brothers: they bring back empathy and admiration equally. Everyone speaks well of them: “this is not a strategy. There is lot of commitment, effort, work, and from outside you can see that we have worked in this way because we have been lucky enough to make our profession our passion, we are nonconformists and ambitious, as one has to be to grow at our pace”.

LEIRE BARAÑANO

Leire Barañano, a graduate in Business Administration and Management, has also completed the UPV/EHU Foreign and International Trade Master not to mention the Food Company Management Programme (DEA) with San Telmo International Institute, among others. She is currently the Managing Director of NEIKER-Tecnalia and a member of the Boards of trustees of Tecnalia Foundation, Elhuyar Foundation and Elika Foundation, besides being on the Board of directors of Tecnalia Technology Corporation. Throughout her 20 year professional career she has had the opportunity of getting to know the value chain in its entirety, thereby providing her with an invaluable cross-section vision to detect the challenges facing the agrifood and gastronomic sectors. Her day to day is aimed at finding solutions, opportunities and new business lines, not to mention responding to consumers’ future demands and needs so both realities can connect.

She has worked at EROSKI, a food distribution firm, as the Corporate Control and Planning Manager. In addition, at this same company she also performed the duties of Corporate Planning and Image Director as well as Customer-Brand Marketing Director, where she was able to acquire in-depth knowledge of the food processing and production sectors besides the end market. During her time at AZTI-Tecnalia, a food and marine research centre, she undertook Value Management functions and set herself the challenge of ensuring research teams were oriented towards seeking solutions for the food sector.

She has been the Managing Director of NEIKER-Tecnalia, a technological centre offering the agrifood and forestry sectors innovative solutions, since the beginning of 2017 where her main duty is to continue working on converting scientific knowledge into value contributions for companies in these sectors. Standing out among her goals is the creation and launching of a strategy aimed at improving the competitiveness of the timber forestry sector.

MIREN ONAINDIA OLALDE

Miren is Professor of Ecology at the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU) and Director of the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Development and Environmental Education. She is the director of the Master in “Environment and Sustainability” of the UPV/EHU. She has been a visiting professor at a number of international universities including the University of Oxford and the University of Veracruz, Mexico amongst others. Her research has focused on the study of biodiversity, landscape and evaluation of ecosystems, with application to landscape sustainable management. She has published a total of 70 papers in scientific journals and books. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Committee of the MaB-UNESCO program of Biosphere Reserves (Ministry of Rural and Marine Environment) since 2008, of which she was president between 2008 and 2012. She held the university’s representation at the Patronage of the Armañón Natural Park / Biscay from 2009 to 2017. She has held the positions of Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Sciences and Director of International Relations for the UPV/EHU.

ROGELIO POZO CARRO

Rogelio holds a PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU). He has developed his professional career at AZTI-Tecnalia, where he is currently the CEO. He has 25 years experience in Product Development and International Funds, as an entrepreneur and investor in the Life Sciences sector, developing and launching new products to the market (B2B and B2C), offering business and strategic development advice for companies in the food sector, whilst also being a Managing Partner in F4F Capital in Food Sector. He is a member of the Basque Culinary Centre Foundation, ELIKA – Basque Food Safety Agency, Aquarium San Sebastian Foundation, Euskalit – Basque Quality Management Foundation, UCL Wine maker at Rioja, MM SL – Mussels and oyster production, and he has been secretary of SARETEK, Basque Network of Science, Technology and Innovation from 1997 to 2007. He has published over 100 scientific papers and publications in different media, with 8 patents published, whilst also lecturing and researching.
He is author/co-author of 6 books on food technology and food safety. He has been member of the EU “Food Fraud” Technical Committee representing Spain, 1994-1997. He is a regular collaborator for the Euro-toques pan-European Association of Star-Chefs Teaching Activities and he was professor of the Master on Food Safety by the Faculty of Veterinary and Medicine at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Spanish Agency of Food Safety and Nutrition, 2009-2016.

NICK JEFFRIES

Nick works for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a UK based charitable organization with a mission to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.  The Foundation approach is to build the knowledge base for this transformation and then create catalytic platforms to make it happen.  Within the Foundation, Nick works for the Insight and Analysis team, for which his principal role is to manage the case study program and in doing so attempt to answer the question – what does the circular economy look like in reality?  Recently he has been involved in articulating the Foundation’s position on water as well as help initiate the latest systemic initiative focused on the role of cities in transforming the global food system. Before joining the Foundation, Nick worked for many years as an environmental engineer on assignments in the commercial, humanitarian and international development sectors. When not working he likes walking in mountains, foraging for wild food and culinary journeys in his kitchen on the Isle of Wight.

RODOLFO GUZMÁN

Rodolfo Guzman opened his restaurant, Boragó at the end of 2006. From this moment he started a learning process; to be able to understand what grows from the Andes to the coast and from north to south Chile, and moreover, to generate a deep knowledge around the ingredients. This has had the effect of re-designing new local economies with community collectors and small producers, integrating the restaurant’s value chain, whilst linking Chilean culture with the sustainability of Chilean territory. Rodolfo and his team have positioned Boragó among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

AMAIA AGIRRE INZA

She is degree on Science and food technology. She has a diploma in human nutrition and a master degree on quality and in quality and business excellence. I November 1996 she joined the Quality system and environment department in Aunsolan, where she is currently the head. During her professional career she has also been  responsible for the procurement department, which has given her a broad view of the company’s supply chain. Ausolan serves 250.000 meals per day and at present, the company’s strategic priorities are how to incorporate circular economy principles to the operations and a sustainable school canteens concept.

DIEGO PRADO

Currently chef researcher in BCCINNOVATION, research and development department in Basque Culinary Centre (BCC) San Sebastian, Spain. A pioneer faculty and research centre driven dedicated to promote the socioeconomic potential of gastronomy through education, research and innovation. Coordinator of BCulinaryLAB a kitchen/laboratory mainly focus in innovation, creativity driven by techniques and products like fermentation and wild plants, taking sustainability as the core of every research and development, using new techniques to use “food waste” from product development with gastronomical value. Chilean born, starts his career in Boragó (Santiago, Chile) currently nº2 in Latin America’s 50 best restaurants (San Pellegrino`s 50 best) being sous chef and head chef in the R&D department, after pass a time at Noma (Copenhagen, Denmark) starts his own studio in Santiago, Prado.

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