Dr Burak Alver
Dr Lihua Yu
Rob Fink
Rob Fink is CEO of Big Drop, a company he founded with zero brewing experience less than three years ago. And there wasn’t even anyone he could emulate… Rob was the first ever brewer to focus exclusively on Alcohol Free beer and the first to apply left-field fermenting techniques that meant no alcohol needed to be artificially extracted from the end product after brewing. Big Drop’s range of 0.5% ABV craft beers are available in supermarkets (Tesco, Ocado, Morrisons) with on-trade listings including: All Bar One, The Ivy Group, Barworks and Draft House. It has won numerous awards including No/Lo Champion at the 2019 International Brewing Awards and - the ‘Holy Grail’ of any non-alcoholic drink - winning against full-strength competitors (eg at the World Beer Awards and King of Craft at the Casual Dining show). Now with exports shortly to account for half of sales, Big Drop is also becoming a big name overseas too.
Dr. Nur A Hasan
Dr. Nur A Hasan is a molecular microbiologist with experiences in microbial genomics, metagenomics, and molecular ecology. Dr. Hasan is the Chief Scientific Officer at CosmosID Inc. and an adjunct faculty at the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Dr. Hasan received his Bachelor and Masters in Microbiology, M.B.A in Marketing and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. He has authored over 75 peer-reviewed articles and over 70 conference proceedings. Currently, Dr. Hasan is leading an effort in developing the world’s largest curated genome databases and ultra rapid bioinformatics platform for pathogen detection and cross-disciplinary microbiome research.
Stephen Dillon
Stephen Dillon is the founder of Dublin based drinks innovation company RTM Beverages - The RTM portfolio is heavily focused on the No-Lo categories - Noki & Co. The Alcohol Free Gin & Tonic flavoured drink was launched in November 2018 and Loki & Co. Europe's first 'Hard Seltzer' was launched in 2017. A serial entrepreneur in the drinks industry Stephen has previously established a number of brands and businesses, he most recently worked as European Sales Director for the craft & speciality division of Ab-InBev. Stephen is a qualified beer sommelier and holds a WSET diploma in wines & spirits - he specialises in spotting trends in the drinks industry and bring innovative products to market at pace.
Giorgio Dell’Acqua
Giorgio Dell’Acqua, PhD, is a cosmetic scientist and a consultant for the personal care industry. A graduated from the University of Rome, Italy, he worked for 15 years as an investigator in applied medical research in Universities such as Mount Sinai Medical School in New York and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Moving to the private sector in 2000, he has spent the last 19 years as an executive and cosmetic scientist in the personal care industry. He is specialized in skin and hair care ingredients, finished product development and technical marketing. He has helped bring more than 200 successful active ingredients and finished products to market and has authored more than 60 publications in medicine and cosmetic science. From last 10 years he has been writing and lecturing on natural cosmetic ingredients, sustainable supply chain, and helped sourcing, developing and bringing to market many natural ingredients. Some of his recent product development activity has focused on food by products to cosmetics, prebiotics to skin, and adaptogens for skin and hair care. He is an award winning speaker on natural ingredients and a regular columnist on sustainability and cosmetic science. He is also the chair of the Scientific Committee for the New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists and its scientific blogger.