The Southeast Produce Council has announced its lineup of speakers for upcoming Southern Innovations, Sept. 22-24. Held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the conference will continue to build upon SEPC’s “What’s New?” platform, which debuted during last year’s conference.
The sessions and speakers for the expo are:
- Keynote Speaker – Rorke Denver, Navy SEAL Commander & New York Times Bestselling Author
- Denver will share perspectives and lessons learned from the battlefield to help teams and individuals perform at higher levels. Denver is the founder of Ever Onward, a new brand designed to use Navy SEAL principles to call leaders to take action, to suffer and to be bold so they can perform at their highest levels.
- Southern Roots Reception Speakers
- This session will feature two produce industry leaders; Dan’l Mackey Almy, founder and CEO of DMA Solutions Inc., and Megan Zweig, president of DMA Solutions Inc.
- For the past 18 years, Almy has led DMA Solutions, a marketing agency that serves fresh produce companies, restaurants, better-for-you food products, floral, nonprofits and associations.
- As president of DMA Solutions, Zweig guides the daily business operations and oversees the company’s growth and client service excellence. She is passionate about the fresh produce industry and about ensuring people have access to fresh fruits, vegetables and other sources of food.
SEPC University Educational Session Speakers:
- Educational Session I – Leading Today’s Superheroes; presented by Laura Juarez, founder and partner of 10X Leadership Lab.
- Juarez is the creator of 10X Leadership Lab, a coaching and consulting practice dedicated to supporting middle market companies in achieving results by aligning with purpose and values, creating strategy that inspires stakeholders and cultivating thriving cultures and high performing leadership teams.
- Educational Session II – What’s New from the Consumer View; presented by Anne-Marie Roerink, president of 210 Analytics.
- Working closely with retailers, wholesalers, growers, shippers and trade associations, Roerink has developed a perspective on the ever-changing wants and needs of the produce consumer in a one-size-fits-no-one world.
- Prior to founding 210 Analytics, Roerink was the head of research for the FMI. She designs and authors the annual Power of Produce study and monthly performance reports, along with similar studies in meat, deli, frozen, bakery and other categories.
“I am absolutely thrilled about our outstanding speaker line-up for Southern Innovations 2022. We have a powerful ensemble of thought leaders and innovators that will inspire attendees to harness creativity and implore innovation,” said Raina Nelson, SEPC chairman, president and CEO of Westfalia Fruit Marketing USA.
“My chairman’s theme is cultivating superstars for the future of our industry and each speaker was hand-selected to ensure we continue to deliver complementary content. A thriving culture of innovation is a critical element in building for the future; it can be a company’s most powerful competitive edge. You will not want to miss one minute of these entertaining, world-class speakers. They are the leading voices on innovation.”
For more information, visit seproducecouncil.com.
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