Speaker confirmations stack up for Identity Preserved International Summit in Hawaii

When you plan to bring together the world’s leaders in identity preserved agriculture, you need to secure the best and brightest guest speakers and panel guests to set the stage.  

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) has found the cream of the crop with the announcement of its first set of featured speakers and panelists for the second Identity Preserved International Summit Feb. 18-20, 2025, in Honolulu 

“The global demand for Identity Preserved crops continues to expand. With that comes potential customers hungry for information. This summit is intended to help inform customers and potential customers around the world,” said Bob Sinner, SSGA board chair. “I am confident this lineup of speakers will reflect their interests.”

Included in the most recent lineup of confirmed speakers are Paul Maass, Nicole Atchison, Japnit Singh, Molly Burns, Mr. Takashi Sadakane and Mr. Huy Pham. Learn more about the presenters below. 

Paul Maass – CEO, Scoular 

As the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Scoular, Paul Maass has been responsible for providing the company with worldwide strategic leadership since joining them in 2016. Scoular is a 130-year-old company with over $10 billion in annual sales that provides diverse supply chain solutions in the grain, feed and food ingredient and biofuels industries from over 100 offices and facilities worldwide.  

Prior to joining Scoular, Maass served as president of ConAgra Foods’ Commercial Foods and Private Brands segment, where he led the creation of Ardent Mills, their milling focused partnership with Cargill and CHS and served as board chairman. Maass is a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in agricultural business.  

Nicole Atchison – CEO, Puris 

Nicole Atchison has been CEO of Puris since 2017, helping lead innovation across their company’s portfolio of companies including ingredient technologies, processing technologies, seed genetic strategy and channel strategy. PURIS cultivates a spectrum of plant-based foods and ingredients from U.S.-based organic and non-GMO sources. A native of Minnesota, Nicole holds a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a degree in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University.  

Japnit Singh – Yamada Consulting & Spire 

Japnit is the Chief Operating Officer at Yamada Consulting and Spire. He specializes in supporting organizations with marketing entry and growth consulting in Asia. With over 15 years of regional experience, he has worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as government agencies from the U.S., Singapore, Spain, Oman and Japan. Singh’s expertise lies in market analytics, business partner matching and go-to-market strategies for multinational organizations as well as small-and-medium-sized businesses. In his career, Japnit has successfully completed over 1,000 market research projects globally.   

Japnit holds a degree in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, and is a part of the MBM 2004 Batch of AIM. 

Molly Burns – Food Export Midwest/Food Export Northeast 

Based in Chicago, Molly Burns is the Branded Program director for Food Export Midwest & Food Export Northeast. Founded in 1969, Food Export Association is a nonprofit organization that collaborates with regional state agricultural promotion agencies and the United States’ Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Burns works with hundreds of suppliers annually to create strong marketing plans and grow internationally. Burns’ and Food Export’s Branded Program reimburses food and agricultural companies for half of their international marketing expenses. She majored in International Studies at Loyola University-Chicago.  

Mr. Takashi Sadakane & Mr. Huy Pham 

The Identity Preserved International Summit is also excited to welcome Japan’s Agricultural Counselor, Mr. Takashi Sadakane, and Mr. Huy Pham, the Vietnamese agricultural counselor to speak on the significant potential of Japanese and Vietnamese markets for U.S. IP soybeans and other special grains.  

Other previously announced guest speakers include Dr. Phanwin Yokying, applied researcher at the East-West Center, and Ken A. Eriksen, founder of Polaris Analytics & Consulting. The Summit will include presentations and panel sessions from industry leaders exploring topics in identity preserved agriculture, such as electronic documentation, quality assurance, supply, crop conditions and more. The event will also include a trade show, networking opportunities and tours.  

The agenda for the Summit is being updated regularly.  

“Our first Summit was extremely successful, and many customers are already committing to this event again coming up in February 2025,” said Sinner.  

Interested in attending the Identity Preserved International Summit in 2025? Register now at usipsummit.com! International attendees may be eligible for complimentary registration. 

Businesses interested in sponsoring and/or exhibiting at this one-of-a-kind conference can view options at this link.