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- 15th Global Dairy Congress
15th Global Dairy Congress
Join dairy industry leaders from around the world at the 15th Global Dairy Congress, hosted in Laval near Paris, France - home to the world’s largest dairy group, Lactalis. This three-day event includes a tour of the world’s biggest Camembert cheese factory, two days of conference sessions, a gala awards dinner and extensive networking opportunities. Delegates will hear from key international and regional manufacturers, analysts and innovators, covering a range of key issues for the global dairy industry.
Sponsors
About the event
Join dairy industry leaders from around the world at the 15th Global Dairy Congress, hosted in Laval near Paris, France - home to the world’s largest dairy group, Lactalis.
Zenith Global's annual Global Dairy Congress is designed for manufacturers, suppliers, customers and advisers, with a focus on the latest market trends and thinking on a worldwide scale.
This year's theme of “Natural Advantage” is designed to support the reassertion of dairy credentials by examining in depth the issues of dairy nutrition, sustainability, innovation, communication, investment and commerce.
The three-day Congress will include two days of conference sessions, a tour of the world’s largest Camembert cheese factory, a welcome drinks reception, extensive networking breaks and a gala awards dinner where the FoodBev Media World Dairy Innovation Awards will be presented.
Top international and regional manufacturers, innovators and industry experts will share their valuable insights and perspectives through a series of presentations and interactive panel discussions, where attendees can participate in polling and put forward their questions.
Dedicated networking breaks will enable delegates to build meaningful connections with their industry peers, with an expected audience of up to 200 leading industry manufacturers, suppliers, customers and advisers in attendance.
Speaker include
Tuesday 14 June
Coach departs from Laval for 1 hour drive to Domfront.
Tour Président facility producing 520,000 Camemberts per day. Plant employs 350 people, processing 500 million litres a year from 900 farms. Camembert varieties include bio, campagne, light, reduced salt and portions. Sales of €130 million a year include exports to 145 countries.
Coach returns to Laval for 45-minute tour of the Lactalis Lactopole dairy museum.
Tour completes at 18.30.
With cheese tasting hosted by Master Cheesemaker
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Wednesday 15 June
Emmanuel Besnier, Owner of Groupe Lactalis, France
Piercristiano Brazzale, President of International Dairy Federation
Questions and discussion
Stephane Roger, Global Director – Retail & Shopper for Kantar Worldpanel Division
Mary Ledman, Global Dairy Strategist for Rabobank International
Jennifer Bartashus, Senior Consumer Staples Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
Questions and discussion
Networking refreshments around exhibitor stands
Monica Massey, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Dairy Farmers of America, United States
Mayank Trivedi, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Dairy for Nestlé, Switzerland
Thierry Clement, Chief Operating Officer of Groupe Lactalis, France
Questions and discussion
Networking buffet lunch around exhibitor stands
Hanne Soendergaard, Executive Vice President and Chief Agri and Sustainability Officer of Arla Foods, Denmark
Kelvin Wickham, Chief Executive Officer – AMENA for Fonterra, New Zealand
Nils van Dam, Chief Executive Officer of Milcobel, Belgium
Brian Lindsay, Director of Dairy Sustainability Framework
Nguyen Quang Tri, Marketing Executive Director for Vinamilk, Vietnam
Questions and discussion
Networking refreshments around exhibitor stands
R S Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul, India, and Board member of International Dairy Federation
Merete Myrup Christensen, Director of Dairy Nutrition for Danish Agriculture and Food Council
Yin Woon Rani, Chief Executive Officer of MilkPEP, United States
Ananda Roy, International Senior Vice President – Strategic Growth Insights for IRi
Questions and discussion
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Thursday 16 June
Tolga Sezer, Chief Executive Officer of Solico – Kalleh Group, United Arab Emirates
Dr Matthew Fonte, Founder and President of ColdSnap, United States
Jevan Nagarajah, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Better Dairy, United Kingdom
Questions and discussion
Networking refreshments around exhibitor stands
Dr Zhanyou Yun, Assistant President of Yili Group, China
Dr Richard Walton, General Manager – Research & Development of Meiji Holdings, Japan
Cécile Beliot, Chief Executive Officer of Bel Group, France
Dr Fumiaki Abe, Executive Corporate Officer and Director of R&D division of Morinaga Milk Industry Co, Japan
Questions and discussion
Networking buffet lunch around exhibitor stands
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Speakers
R S Sodhi
Managing Director of Amul, India and IDF board member
Dr. Rupinder Singh Sodhi is Managing Director of AMUL, which is India’s largest Food Products and FMCG organization with annual group turnover of more than Rs. 52,000 crores (US $ 7.0 billion) during 2019-20.
Hanne Soendergaard
Executive Vice President and Chief Agri and Sustainability Officer of Arla Foods, Denmark
Cécile Beliot-Zind
Chief Executive Officer of Bel Group, France
Cécile Beliot is the CEO of Bel Group (The Laughing Cow®, Babybel®, Kiri®, Boursin®, Nurishh®, Materne®, Mont-Blanc®, Pom'Potes®/GoGo squeeZ®…) since May 2022.
In leading the Executive Committee, she is furthering the transformation of the Group and activating its new sustainable growth levers, including accelerating innovation, strengthening Bel’s positions internationally (USA, China) and through new distribution channels (e-commerce, out-of-home channels, etc.).
Cécile Béliot joined the Bel Group in 2018 as Deputy CEO in charge of Strategy, Worldwide Markets and Growth. Alongside Antoine Fiévet, she led the Group's transformation towards a sustainable and responsible performance model. In this role, she defined the pillars of the Group's strategy for a sustainable growth model that fully integrates its financial and non-financial challenges.
With her background and international experience, she embodies a generation of leaders committed to inventing the future of the food industry. Previously, Cécile Béliot worked for 17 years at Danone where she held several marketing and management positions, including General Manager of Danone Eaux France & Benelux, and General Manager of One Danone. She started her career at Kraft Foods
(Mondelez) after obtaining an MBA at Essec Business School.
Jevan Nagarajah
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Better Dairy, United Kingdom
Jevan is the Co-Founder & CEO at Better Dairy. He has over 10 years experience across banking, technology and food at companies including HSBC, Rocket Internet, SumUp, Ritual.co and his own previous startup ShareDining.
Jennifer Bartashus
Senior Consumer Staples Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence
Jennifer Bartashus is a Senior Analyst covering food retail, mass merchants, and packaged food companies for Bloomberg Intelligence.
Dr Matthew Fonte
Founder and President of ColdSnap, United States
Monica Massey
Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Dairy Farmers of America, United States
As DFA’s executive vice president, chief of staff and chief innovation officer, Monica is responsible for a wide range of duties related to the overall success of DFA.
Brian Lindsay
Director of Dairy Sustainability Framework
Brian is UK-based and operates a global consultancy business bridging the gap between food companies and farming in a quest for mutually beneficial approaches to achieving sustainable food systems.
Currently Brian holds the post of Director for the Dairy Sustainability Framework (DSF), launched in November 2013. This program covers 30% of global milk production and is open to all milk producing regions of the globe. The DSF is a model that allows members to adapt their sustainability programs to suit local needs and priorities in a quantifiable way. It is Brian’s role to support the global members with their sustainability initiatives under the Framework, as well as co-ordinating the development of the necessary indicator metrics and associated reporting mechanisms that permits the generation of targeted messaging.
Brian is also Global Dairy Platform’s (GDP) Global sector Lead for Sustainability. This involves reviewing new science, responding to global food industry and political consultations at a number of levels, providing position statements on behalf of the global dairy sector where required in both written and verbal formats. Global Dairy Platform is a membership organisation with it’s Board made up of the CEO’s of the world’s major dairy companies such as Arla Foods, Dairy Farmers of America, Saputo, Fonterra, Mengniu and Friesland Campina. Brian reports directly to the Executive Director of GDP.
Brian is currently coordinating a number of global and sectoral initiatives on methane quantification (GWP*), Carbon Sequestration (C-Sequ) and dairy sector carbon footprinting (IDF).
Brian is currently a Board member of the Dairy Asia initiative. Dairy Asia brings 14 Asian Countries together to collaborate on sustainable dairy production challenges. Brian’s key area of influence on this Committee is to drive the initiative beyond one that just talks and publishes reports. Urgent and demonstrable action is needed in this rapidly growing part of the dairying world ensuring that increases in dairy production are undertaken in a sustainable manner.
Brian also a frustrated (small scale) livestock producer rearing specialist meat lambs for sale directly to customers from his smallholding in Gloucestershire, UK.
Merete Myrup Christensen
Director of Dairy Nutrition for Danish Agriculture and Food Council
Merete Myrup is Director of Dairy Nutrition at the Danish Agriculture & Food Council. Her main areas are research and communication with stakeholders, both in local and international settings, with a focus on health, nutrition and sustainable diets.
Before joining the Danish Agriculture & Food Council she worked for Arla Foods as Nutrition Manager. She has a background as Master of Science and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Nutrition from the Technical University of Denmark.
Kelvin Wickham
Chief Executive Officer – AMENA for Fonterra, New Zealand
With over 30 years at Fonterra and in the global dairy industry, Kelvin Wickham is driven by his belief in dairy as a high-quality source of nutrition for the world.
He also overseas Fonterra’s Active Living nutrition unit, which is focused on developing solutions that cater to very specific consumer needs, including patient wellness, physical wellness, inner wellness and mental wellness.
Over his career, Kelvin has played a key role in building Fonterra’s ingredient’s brand, NZMP, across the world, developing Fonterra’s business in expanding markets, and establishing key customer relationships and partnerships.
He’s also led during pivotal moments in the history of Fonterra and the dairy industry. This includes when he oversaw the launch of Global Dairy Trade, a first for the industry, which in addition to making global online dairy sales possible, offered transparent price discovery to support the development of dairy price risk management tools.
Kelvin holds a Chemical and Materials Engineering Degree, a Master of Management and a Diploma of Dairy Science and Technology. He lives in Amsterdam, Europe with his wife and is a keen swimmer and cyclist.
Piercristiano Brazzale
President of International Dairy Federation
Piercristiano is President and Chair of the Board of Directors of IDF since November 2020. Prior to this position, Mr Brazzale was Chair of the IDF Science and Programme Coordination Committee (SPCC), of which he was an active member since 2015.
Ananda Roy
International Senior Vice President – Strategic Growth Insights for IRi International
Ananda supports top corporate executives in FTSE-100 organisations identify & capitalise on growth opportunities, sharpen marketing effectiveness & optimisation, & use the power of analytics and data-driven inputs to make smart commercial decisions.
Stephane Roger
Global Director – Retail & Shopper for Kantar Worldpanel Division
Stéphane has been working in the French & Spanish FMCG industry for 30 years in several agencies and manufacturers in a range of client facing, marketing and team management roles.
Emmanuel Besnier
Owner of Groupe Lactalis, France
Thierry Clement
Chief Operating Officer of Groupe Lactalis, France
Mayank Trivedi
Senior Vice President and Global Head of Dairy SBU for Nestlé, Switzerland
Mayank Trivedi has been with Nestle, the world’s largest food and beverage company, for more than 25 years in commercial management roles across diverse geographies.
Dr Richard Walton
General Manager – Research & Development of Meiji Holdings, Japan
Nils van Dam
Chief Executive Officer of Milcobel, Belgium
Nils van Dam was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Belgium’s largest dairy cooperative Milcobel in May 2020. He is a seasoned business leader with more than thirty years of experience in the food & drinks industry.
Nils built a strong career and held various executive positions at global, European and local level at, among others, Unilever and AB-Inbev.
Based on his passion for change management, he’s making companies future-proof and purpose-driven. As CEO of Unilever Belgium and Luxembourg, he has helped transform the company to adapt to the digital changes in the market.
Nils has built relevant experience as non-executive director and board member in different companies and industry associations. He has always been a driving force in various sector organisations. He was, amongst others, a member of FEVIA's Executive Board (Belgian Food Federation), where he helped formulate the long-term strategy "Small Country, Great Food". Today, he is a member of the Board of Directors of BCZ, the Belgian Dairy Industry Confederation and of Fevia. He recently became President of Fevia’s Strategy & Growth committee (COSCRO) and member of the Executive Board.
Nils graduated from Antwerp University as commercial engineer and followed non-executive courses at Nyenrode Business Universiteit and Vlerick Management school (Guberna certified director)
Yin Woon Rani
Chief Executive Officer of MilkPEP, United States
Yin Rani is Chief Executive Officer of MilkPEP. Rani brings nearly 25 years of integrated marketing experience across CPG companies and marketing agencies to MilkPEP.
Prior to joining MilkPEP, Rani was VP, Chief Customer Experience Officer for the Campbell Soup Company, where she was instrumental in modernizing the company’s marketing across content, media, design, martech and digital – as well as improving the business trajectory for important core brands and new launches. Before joining Campbell Soup, Rani was president, North America of Universal McCann, the largest operating unit within IPG’s Mediabrands group.
Rani earned a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from the Stern School of Business, New York University. She is active and respected within the marketing industry, earning recognition from a range of industry awards, both as a marketer and as an advocate for diversity – including YWCA’s Women of Year, SheRunsIt “Working Mother of the Year,” Brand Innovators Top 50 Women in Marketing, Path to Purchase Institute “Who’s Who in Shopper Marketing,” among others.
Dr Fumiaki Abe
Executive Corporate Officer and Director of R&D division of Morinaga Milk Industry Co, Japan
Dr. Abe has extensively engaged in the research work of various functional food ingredients, focusing on probiotics, in the R&D division at Morinaga Milk Industry for more than 30 years.
His expertise is well-acknowledged. He is also appointed as a vice president of International Life Science Institute Japan (LISI Japan), a director of The Intestinal Microbiology Society, and a director of Japan Alliance of Health Food Associations, contributing to the progress of life science and healthy life.
Mary Ledman
Global Dairy Strategist for Rabobank International
Rabobank’s Global Dairy Strategist Mary Ledman has over thirty years of experience which includes production agriculture, food processing, government service, agricultural policy, dairy risk management, market information and dissemination...
Tolga Sezer
Chief Executive Officer of Solico – Kalleh Group United Arab Emirates
Nguyen Quang Tri
Marketing Executive Director for Vinamilk, Vietnam
Nguyen Quang Tri has been the Executive Marketing Director of Vinamilk since July 2021.
- From 2014 to 2016, he was the CMO of Masan Nutri-Science JSC
- From 2009 to 2014, he was the Category Marketing Director at Vinamilk
- Before 2009, he held the positions of Marketing Director at Masan Food Corporation, Marketing Manager at Dutch Lady Vietnam.
Dr Zhanyou Yun
Assistant President of Yili Group, China
Dr. Yun Zhanyou got his PhD from Osaka University and has rich experience in food and dairy R&D.
Tours
Lactalis Camembert factory at Domfront in Normandy
- World’s largest Camembert cheese factory
- Production of 520,000 Camemberts per day
- Processing of 500 million litres a year from 900 farms
- Sales of €130 million a year, with exports to 145 countries
- Tour includes a 1 hour tour of the Président facility and workshop with tasting buffet
Lactalis Lactôpole dairy museum
- Former cheese factory, now home to world’s largest dairy museum.
- Collection of 4,000 objects charting the history of dairy production.
- Everything from butter moulds and churns to an array of 20th century packaging and advertising.
Location and hotels
Location
The 15th Global Dairy Congress will be hosted in Laval, near Paris, France - home to the world’s largest dairy group, Lactalis.
Situated in the renowned Loire region, Laval is home to the world’s largest dairy group Lactalis, which was founded in 1933. One of France’s designated “towns of art and history”, Laval enjoys a significant architectural heritage, including its castle, city walls, medieval houses, bridges and churches.
Laval is most easily accessed by high speed train from Paris. There are frequent trains from Gare Montparnasse (Paris) and daily trains from Charles de Gaulle Airport (Paris). Seats should be booked in advance.
Conference sessions will be held at the Espace MAYENNE, 2 Rue Joséphine Baker, 53000 Laval, France
The Gala Industry Dinner will be held at Hôtel Perier Du Bignon, 7 Rue du Marchis, 53000 Laval, France
Hotels
Reservations have been made at a selection of the town's local hotels.
For full details and guidance on how to reserve your accommodation, please download our Accommodation guide.
| Pay by 5 Apr Super saver rate (limited) | Pay by 3 May Early booking rate | Pay by 14 Jun Standard booking rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Congress | Standard rate - one delegate | €1,350.00 | €1,490.00 | €1,590.00 |
| Standard rate** - two delegates | €2,025.00 | €2,235.00 | €2,385.00 | |
| Concession rate* - one delegate | €490.00 | €590.00 | ||
| Concession rate** - two delegates | €735.00 | €835.00 | ||
| Separate elements | 14/15 June tour and reception/conference | €1,150.00 | €1,250.00 | |
| 15 June conference | €850.00 | €950.00 | ||
| 15 June awards dinner | €175.00 | €200.00 | ||
| 16 June conference | €650.00 | €750.00 |
*A concession rate is offered to start-ups and early-stage entrepreneurs. To be eligible, you must have annual sales below €1 million. For more information and to book at this rate, please contact events@zenithglobal.com
**With our two delegates rate, you can register a second attendee for half the price. Please contact events@zenithglobal.com for full details of how to book at this discounted rate.
Substitutions will be accepted at any time. Cancellations will be subject to €150 + VAT administration charge per delegate and cannot be made after 3 May. Bookings are subject to Zenith Global Event Terms and Conditions, available here.
All delegates must pay VAT at the prevailing rate in France, currently 20%. The rate may be subject to change.
Visas may be required from some countries. Zenith Global will be happy to help with visa support and document where possible.
Sponsorship
Our event and awards sponsorship packages offer a unique and effective opportunity to showcase your brand and services to a highly relevant audience.
You can choose from our Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsorship packages, or we can create a custom sponsorship package to suit your specific needs and budgetary requirements.
Sponsorship opportunities include:
- Presentation within the main event programme
- Opportunity to host a workshop, roundtable or drinks reception
- Exhibit display in the networking area
- Distribution of marketing material / product samples
- Delegate passes
- Discounted delegate access for your clients
- Branding across event collateral, including stage backdrop, lectern and programme
- Logo on event webpage hyperlinked to your website
- Sponsored email communication to all attendees
- Sponsored social media posts
- Regular mentions in Zenith Global's event marketing and press releases
- Discounts on Zenith Global market reports and discounted access to our Globaldrinks.com database.
For information and pricing, please contact Francesca Hall, Associate Director - Events
e fhall@zenithglobal.com t +44 (0)1225 327900
Awards
The World Dairy Innovation Awards, in association with Zenith Global, are a celebration of innovation and excellence across every category of the international dairy industry.
The longest and most established awards scheme in the industry, these awards are a fantastic way for you to enhance the promotion of your dairy brand and to ensure it gains global recognition.
Being successfully shortlisted provides a hallmark of success that will prevail long after the awards ceremony and can highlight the contribution your company’s products and team are making to the dairy industry.
This year's categories include:
Products
- Best artisan dairy
- Best butter/dairy spread
- Best cheese
- Best children’s dairy product
- Best dairy alternative
- Best dairy dessert
- Best dairy drink
- Best dairy ingredient
- Best dairy protein product
- Best dairy snack
- Best functional dairy
- Best ice cream/frozen yogurt
- Best infant nutrition
- Best intolerance-friendly dairy product
- Best manufacturing/tech innovation
- Best marketing campaign/initiative
- Best new brand or business
- Best packaging design
- Best probiotic dairy
- Best sustainability/CSR initiative
- Best yogurt
The winners will be announced at a gala industry dinner on the evening of 15 June, during the 15th Global Dairy Congress.
Visit www.foodbev.com/awards or contact dairy.awards@foodbev.com for further details.
Contact
For more information regarding this year's Global Dairy Congress, please contact events@zenithglobal.com or call +44 (0)1225 327900
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