Upcoming Speakers

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Past Speakers
  1. -

    The Journey of Yoggu! Through the Plant- Based Yogurt Business

    Jade Herrmanann , CEO and Founder| Yoggu

    Yoggu! A plant-based yogurt manufacturing company based in Coquitlam, BC. Her vision is to build Yoggu! as a force for good - creating nourishing food for all as well as using business as a means to create positive impact in the world

  2. -

    Revolutionizing the Dairy Industry with Sustainable Plant-Based Alternatives

    Sunny & Vanita Gurnani , Co-founders, Plant Veda

  3. -

    Women in Leadership Roles in the Food & Ag Tech Venture Capital Sector

    Kookai Chaimahawong , UpperStage Capital, ESG Partner

    Kookai is an ESG Partner at UpperStage Capital, an impact-focused private equity fund investing in Canadian SMEs driving sustainability impact in climate resilience and community. Prior to joining UpperStage, Kookai’s career spanned from launching an award-winning technology start-up, forming SDG partnerships at the United Nations, and integrating an impact lens to invest in breakthrough technologies at a hard-tech Venture Capital fund.

  4. -

    Richberry Group of Companies: Agribusiness Ventures, Business Model & Community Involvement

    Vincent Quan , The Richberry Group, Finance Vice President

    Mr. Quan is currently the Vice President of Finance for the Richberry Group of Companies. In his role, he is responsible for the overall financial and administrative management of all 6 independent farming operations within the group. He is part of the executive management team that oversees the management of over 1,200 acres of Ocean Spray cranberry bogs both in BC and Quebec.

  5. -

    Climate is Eating Everything

    Justin Bull , UBC Sustainability & Ethics Group

    Justin is a lecturer at the Sauder School of Business and Chair of the Sustainability and Ethics Group. He teaches extensively on sustainability, innovation, and strategy, with a focus on graduate and executive learners. He has worked with big companies – like IKEA, Lyft, and Rolling Stone – to implement climate innovations.

  6. -

    A Career in Agri-Food Management Consulting and Advisory Services

    Harvey Bradford , Director at Serecon

    Harvey is a Director at Serecon Inc., a firm based in Western Canada providing objective value-added services to the agriculture and food sectors through asset and business valuation, management consulting and advisory services. Harvey is also the President of Field to Market Canada and is heavily involved in the strategic direction and implementation of the organization's vision and mission

  7. -

    How Theory Becomes Operationalized

    Bruce Turris , Executive Manager- Canadian Groundfish Research and Conservation Society

  8. -

    Environmental Metrics and Impact Investing

    Vikram Raju , Managing Director & Head of Climate Investing- Morgan Stanley

    Vikram Raju is a Managing Director and serves as Head of Climate Investing for the Private Credit & Equity platform of Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM)

  9. -

    Boosh Plant-based Brand - From Start-Up to Growth & Capital Raise Stage

    Connie Marples , Founder & President - Boosh

    What started as making dishes for friends in a tiny kitchen in Vancouver has grown to a publicly traded company with Boosh Food in grocery stores all over Canada. America is next.

  10. -

    Technology, Climate Change and Agriculture

    Tomas Nilsson , Professor - Werklund School of Agriculture Technology

    Tomas teaches courses in the Agriculture Technology Integration and Precision Agriculture programs and researches digital agriculture technologies at the college. Tomas is also involved in developing the new Bachelor of Digital Agriculture Degree.

Explore the complexities of food and resource economics issues.

Open to the general public. Come join us!

The MFRE speaker series is part of the MFRE professional development program and is designed to show a glimpse into these complexities and ‘real world’ food and resource economics issues. Join us to learn more about how exciting technological progress, global environmental pressures and unprecedented demographic changes are rapidly reshaping the world’s food and natural resources systems.

 

The speaker series aims to cover two main topics:

 

 

 

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Food & Agribusiness

Provides students with the opportunity to interact with key industry experts from the food and agribusiness sector and learn about industry opportunities & trends, or the challenges in running an Agri-Food entrepreneurial business.

 

 

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Resource & Environment

Provides an opportunity to interact with a range of people either influencing environmental policy, or shaping the natural environment through their activities. Guests are typically government officials, industry leaders, pioneers in resource management, academics or NGO representatives.

2023 / 2022 speakers:

 

UBC MFRE vertical farming canada poster
Plant Veda Sustainable poster UBC MFRE

 

women venture capital Kookai UBC MFRE poster
vincent quan richberry agribusiness UBC MFRE poster

 

Justin Bull_MFRE Digital Post
harvey serecon agri-food consulting UBC MFRE poster

 

Bruce_Turris
Vikram_Raju_Morgan Stanley

 

Connie_Marples
UBC MFRE speaker climate change and agriculture poster

 

poster konscious food ubc MFRE
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Economics and Valuartion UBC MFRE speaker poster
Durability Carbon Capture Markets Forest UBC MFRE speaker poster

 

Produce UBC MFRE speaker poster
Niel Van_Telus Agriculture

 

Human-Wildlife_Interactions
Kirk Homenick

 

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philippe poster MEC