Ellen M. Jordan
President and Founder
America’s Food Technologies, Inc.
Ellen Jordan is President and Founder of America’s Food Technologies, Inc. (AMFOTEK®) a privately held blending and packaging operation specializing in product development and manufacturing of custom and private label beverages for the foodservice and specialty coffee arenas. During her 30 year coffee career, Ms. Jordan has served on numerous coffee industry boards. She is past chairperson of the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) and director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). She is a recipient of the SCAA’s Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award for her work on coffee sensory evaluation and coffee quality assessment. She also serves as a member of the National Coffee Association’s Scientific Advisory Group. In the private sector Ms. Jordan serves on the board of directors of the R.C. Bigelow Tea Company.
Ms. Jordan is a member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the Illinois Institute of Technology. She serves on the board of advisors of IIT’s Knapp Entrepreneurship Center Knapp and is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Stuart School of Business. She also serves on the Board of Overseers of the Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH).
Brian Schaneberg, Ph.D.
Executive Director, IFSH
Illinois Institute of Technology
Brian Schaneberg, Ph.D., is the Executive Director for IFSH, and Industry Professor of Food Science at Illinois Tech. Brian has more than 20 years working in the natural products and food industry with experience in food safety, quality, regulation, and science. Prior to joining IFSH, Brian was a director within the Global Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory team at Starbucks Corporation with accountability in leading a team of scientists that interpret food and beverage regulations and consult with researchers and consortiums across multiple categories in areas such as coffee, nutrition, ingredients, claims substantiation, allergens, and risk assessments. Prior to Starbucks, Brian was the Quality & Food Safety and Scientific & Regulatory Affairs Director for Mars Botanical, a division of Mars, Inc. focusing on cocoa flavanol science and product development. Before Mars Botanical, he was the Director of Technical Services at ChromaDex, Inc. in Irvine, California and was an Associate Research Scientist at the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi under the guidance of Dr. Ikhlas Khan, in a position funded by the US FDA for the development of methods to ensure the quality and safety of botanicals and dietary supplements. Over the years, Brian has worked closely with trade groups, industry, academia and government leaders. Most recently, a Special Guest Editor Section in Journal of AOAC International. He has been a member of various review committees including NIH grants, analytical validation ERPs at AOAC International, and the Registry of Carcinogens. Brian was made a Fellow of AOAC International and was the Chair of the Science Leadership Council at the National Coffee Association. Brian also had the pleasure of holding an adjunct faculty position at the University of Colorado, Denver, advising a student that received his MS in Analytical Chemistry isolating phytochemicals and developing analytical testing procedures for Horse Chestnut.
Brian has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.A. in Chemistry with a minor in Biology from Central College in Iowa. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications and presentations.
Darsh Wasan, Ph.D
Vice President & Motorola Chair Professor in Chemical Engineering
Illinois Institute of Technology
Dr. Darsh Wasan has spent the past 40-plus years at IIT doing and being everything from department chairman, dean of engineering, vice president for research and technology, vice president for academic affairs and provost at the university. Dr. Wasan founded NCFST, working with the US Food and Drug Administration to establish the institute as an FDA Center of Excellence. He has co-authored more than 400 publications, and has been supervisor and mentor to sixty doctoral students, fifty-five M.S. students, and fifteen postdoctoral fellows. Among his numerous awards and honors, Dr. Wasan was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest honors an engineer can be given in the US.