Valerie Casagrande
Valerie Casagrande is the founder of BIOMILK Probiotic Skincare, the first natural beauty brand supporting the health of your skin through complete healthy nutrition. Valerie graduated from ESCEM School of Business and Management in France. Moving soon after to the US and prior to launching BIOMILK, she spent 12 years leading the growth of well-known international brands in the beauty, personal care and health space at Johnson & Johnson and Church & Dwight. In its first year in market, BIOMILK was awarded most innovative natural brand at Cosmoprof NA 2018, and is now growing in the US and Internationally.
Darcy Bomford
Darcy Bomford is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of True Leaf, a leading global cannabis and hemp wellness brand for pets, headquartered in British Columbia, Canada.
Darcy is a pet industry veteran who started out as a veterinary assistant and then turned young entrepreneur when he recognized a gap in the market for higher-quality natural pet products. At the age of 16, he started marketing his own supplements for dogs out of his van, which evolved into a small bakery and eventually became a public company with three federally-inspected plants and 50 employees.
In 2012, and with almost three decades of experience in manufacturing, branding, distribution, and sales, Darcy founded True Leaf – a company that pioneered hemp-based pet supplements that are legally compliant in all markets.
True Hemp™ is the first hemp-based pet product line to be marketed globally. The company’s dog and cat chews, dental sticks, and oil supplements are now sold in more than 3,500 stores across North America and Europe, as well as on Amazon. The success of the product is rooted in an innovative formula of active ingredients – and anchored by hemp – to target specific pet health challenges such as calming support, hip and joint function, and the supplementation of healthy omega-3s.
Inspired by the unconditional love our pets give us every day, Darcy and True Leaf return that love through products which help maintain and protect the natural vitality of our pet companions. “Return the Love” is the purpose that drives True Leaf’s business and is at the heart of the company’s values to bring happiness to pets and their owners.
True Leaf continues to build momentum around the world as pet owners recognize the health benefits of hemp and cannabis – not only for them – but for their pet companions too.
Tami Lieberman
Tami Lieberman joined the MIT faculty in January 2018. She leads a computational and experimental research group focused on uncovering the principles governing colonization, niche range, and personalization in the human microbiome.
Tami trained in molecular biology and mathematics at Northwestern University, where she conducted research in the laboratory of Jon Widom and was funded by a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. She then earned a PhD in Systems Biology from Harvard University, where she conducted research in Roy Kishony’s laboratory. During her graduate research, Tami developed new genomic approaches for understanding how bacteria evolve during infections of individual people. As a postdoc in Eric Alm’s lab at MIT, she further developed and applied these genomic approaches to understand the microbes that colonize us during health. Tami has also made contributions to our understanding of antibiotic resistance, including the co-invention of a new platform for visualizing evolution in real time. Her work has been covered in the popular press, including online coverage from The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, The Boston Globe, and ArsTechnia.
Jessica O'Connell
Jessica O’Connell provides strategic advice to a broad range of companies and trade associations in engaging with food and drug regulatory bodies and Congress. She assists clients in complying with U.S. regulatory requirements for the manufacture and sale of foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, OTC drugs, and animal products, and the import and export of FDA-regulated products. She also regularly counsels clients regarding potential crises, such as recalls and unanticipated regulatory attention.
Ms. O’Connell is expert in issues relating the implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and has advised clients both within the United States and abroad on compliance with the range of new requirements under that legislation. She also works closely with food, cosmetic, and OTC clients to develop labeling and advertising options that are low-risk from both a regulatory and litigation perspective while also meeting marketing goals and objectives, and has specific expertise regarding organic labeling, “healthy” claims, and claim substantiation requirements. Ms. O’Connell has engaged with Congress on cosmetic legislative efforts and food labeling requirements, and has prepared comments on behalf of individual companies and trade associations to FDA, USDA, and the NOSB.
Kathleen Dunnigan
Kathleen Dunnigan, Senior Attorney, joined NAD March 2008. Prior to joining NAD she has worked for the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division defending children in both child welfare and juvenile delinquent proceedings. She was also a staff attorney at the Center for Appellate Litigation representing indigent defendants and a public policy advocate at the Center for HIV Law and Policy. For many years, Kat litigated employment discrimination and civil rights claims representing only employees. She has been involved in many New Jersey employment cases on behalf of workers before the New Jersey Supreme Court, New Jersey Appellate Division and at the trial level. She also submitted an amicus curie brief on behalf of NELA-NJ before the New Jersey Supreme Court. Kathleen Dunnigan graduated from S.U.N.Y. Maritime College with a degree in Engineering and as an officer in the United States Merchant Marines in 1993 and NYU Law School in 1999.
