Live Summit Speakers
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Managing Director, Marketing & Membership, Cup of Excellence & Alliance for Coffee Excellence
After graduating with a degree in international business from the University of Portland, Anna moved to Greece, where half of her family lives, and played professional volleyball for Panathinaikos. The café culture of Portland brought Anna back once again to Portland to attend Portland State University for an MBA. Upon graduating, she started a career in food and beverage, serving as a brand manager for one of the US’s largest hog slaughterhouses located just outside Philadelphia. Anna’s desire to work in coffee and return to the Pacific Northwest brought her to ACE, where she helped establish the Portland HQs. Anna served as the Marketing Director for Rogue Ales launching several coffee beers and holding the world’s first International Cold Brew Coffee Throwdown. She also served as the Marketing Director for Corwin Beverage, launching Revolt organic coffee, a gourmet coffee for convenience stores. Anna has been back with ACE and CoE since 2020 and is grateful to work in specialty coffee.
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Sustainable Sales Director, RGC Coffee
Stephanie Alcala is a trader specializing in sustainable coffee supply chains. She works for RGC Coffee, a family-owned importer with a robust in-house sustainability program, enabling her to pursue her passion for agriculture and its ability to support community economic development. Prior to RGC, Stephanie received a Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Her research explore the genetic variation of the geisha coffee variety grown in Panama. In addition to working in the private sector, Stephanie also remains active at her undergraduate alma mater, Whittier College, where for the past three years she has been developing a Sustainability in Coffee Program and teaching a course titled, “Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains: Coffee.” By coupling her professional work experience with her academic training in biological sciences, the program aims to introduce students to the agricultural business of coffee and its ability to advance towards the sustainable development. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys biking, spending time with her family and friends, eating, and being in green, mountainous spaces.
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Executive Director, The Chain Collaborative
Nora founded The Chain Collaborative in 2014 to invest in local leaders as they develop and implement community projects in coffee regions around the world. She holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the Graduate Institute at School for International Training, where she focused her studies on gender in development and food systems. She is part of the Creator’s Group for the Coffee Sustainability Program of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), and is currently an Authorized SCA Trainer for the program. Under the banner of TCC and in collaboration with other industry colleagues, she consults on a number of projects, has written for several coffee magazines and blogs, and has taught at a variety of educational institutions. She speaks English and Spanish.
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Founder and CEO, Digital Coffee Future
Elisa is the Creator of Digital Coffee Future and the Founder and Lead Consultant of Expressing Origin, a consultancy whose mission is to support coffee stakeholders to digitalize their value chains and tech providers to improve their solutions. Before fully dedicating herself to a career in coffee, she deepened her understanding of the application of digital solutions in agriculture in Ghana and worked in Colombia in the sustainable development arena where she first entered into contact with coffee. She holds an MSc in Food Policy from the City University of London and a BSc in Food & Agriculture from the University of Gastronomic Sciences.
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Regional Community Director, Specialty Coffee Association
Mansi Chokshi joined the coffee industry in 2008 and is currently the SCA Regional Community Director supporting the professional communities of Barista Guild, Coffee Technicians Guild, LEAD Scholars, Re:co Fellows and North American Chapters of Canada and US. Mansi serves on the BOD for the IWCA as the Co- Vice President and is responsible for fundraising and events. She’s passionate about community-building, fostering collaborative relationships and creative problem-solving while being respectful of all personalities/cultures, focusing on inclusivity and getting resourceful. Mansi is a proud mother to an active and inquisitive 4-year-old who calls her mama a “coffee-maker.”
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University of Naples Parthenope and FAO
Dr Davide Del Prete is an associate professor of economics at the University of Naples Parthenope (IT) and a research affiliate with the FAO of the UN. Davide’s research interests lie between international trade, development economics, and econometrics. For his projects, Davide has collaborated with several international organizations, such as the UNCTAD, ITC, World Bank, FAO, and numerous governments. The most recent research activities use unique firm-to-firm trade datasets to investigate Global value chains at firm-level with a specific focus on the effects of the pandemic-related disruptions and the power dynamics
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Chief Sustainability and Knowledge Development Officer, Specialty Coffee Association
Kim Elena Ionescu is the Chief Sustainability and Knowledge Development Officer for the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), where she develops strategy and leads action on behalf of coffee-centric businesses and organizations both large and small in the United States, Europe, and beyond to tackle the challenges coffee faces now and in the future.Prior to joining the association, Kim spent a decade buying coffee and creating and directing sustainability at Counter Culture Coffee in North Carolina, where she resides with her husband and two daughters. And although these days she is more likely to be found behind desks and podiums than cupping tables and espresso machines, Kim believes that innovation and collaboration across the coffee value chain are critical for our community to thrive.
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Director Strategic Initiatives, Azahar Coffee Company
Vera is a Development Economist with a focus in agricultural products. She serves as an advisor for the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture on specific coffee related activities such as living and prosperous income and serves on the Board of the SCA and The Chain Collaborative.She worked at the research arm at ANACAFE and subsequently as Regional Manager Latin America at UTZ, now called Rainforest Alliance. From 2016 to 2018, Vera worked for the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture focused on harmonizing the elements of sustainable coffee production in the national coffee program.
She is also leading the Strategic Initiatives of Azahar Coffee Company, specifically the research behind “A Sustainable Coffee Buyer’s Guide”, a new pricing tool, and initiating export operations in Mexico. She has published with the Specialty Coffee Association, “A Business Case to Increase Specialty Coffee Consumption in Producing Countries” and also with IICA on “El Mercado del Café en la región Mesoamericana.
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Technical Director, Specialty Coffee Association
From a coffee producing family in Mexico, Mario R. Fernández-Alduenda has tried to understand coffee for almost 30 years, under the light of food science. He has played many roles along the chain, from processor to coffee shop owner, but has mostly focused on the study of coffee flavor, how it is perceived and appreciated, and how it is formed. He is the Technical Officer of the SCA, which he joined in 2020.
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Professor, Telfer School of Management - University of Ottawa
Tommaso Ferretti is Assistant Professor of International Business at Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. His research lies at the nexus of sustainability, innovation, and financialization in global value chains, with an emphasis on impact investing in the coffee sector. Tommaso holds an LLM from Universitá di Pisa, an MPA from LUISS University, and is completing a Ph.D. from McGill University. Before his Ph.D., Tommaso was a consultant at the International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of UNCTAD and WTO in Geneva, Switzerland. He still collaborates with ITC on SMEs’ financing, and he co-authored the ITC Coffee Guide.
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Chief Research Officer, Specialty Coffee Association
Peter Giuliano is the Executive Director of the Coffee Science Foundation and Chief Research Officer of the Specialty Coffee Association. With more than 30 years’ experience in the coffee trade, his focus now is on promoting research and scientific inquiry on coffee, and bringing evidence-based insights to the coffee industry.
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Strategic Sustainability Advisor, Radio Lifeline
Peter Kettler has been active in the specialty coffee industry for over 25 years, with experience in the roasting, retail, trading and development sectors.
In 2004 he founded Coffee Lifeline, a farmer-focused initiative that created a network of community radio stations to provide farmers with vital information and in 2010 he launched the Black Earth Project, the first large-scale research into the use of biochar by smallholder coffee farmers.
In 2019 Peter joined Fairtrade International as the Global Coffee Manager and most recently he has served as Senior Coffee Advisor to the International Trade Centre.
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Associate Professor in Management, London School of Economics and Political Science
Rocco Macchiavello’s passion is to understand markets and firms in developing countries – so that better interventions can be designed to share the gains from trade with farmers and workers in those countries. Much of his research focuses on the coffee value chain and on industrial relations in emerging markets. Rocco holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where is currently an Associate Professor in Management. Previously, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford University, and at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor at Warwick University. Rocco acts as IGC Lead Academic (Myanmar), is a Research Fellow at BREAD, CEPR, IPA, J-PAL and ERC Grant recipient. Rocco has conducted extensive field work in several countries, including Bangladesh, Colombia, Kenya, India, Myanmar and Rwanda partnering up with government agencies, private firms and international organizations.
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Managing Director, Addis Exporter PLC
Michael Mamo is the Managing Director at Addis Exporter PLC, a family-owned green coffee exporting company established in 1972. Michael has 19 years of experience in the coffee industry and currently oversees all coffee operations from farming to export processing.
Michael is also a partner in Osito Coffee, a coffee and cocoa import company based in the US, as well as a shareholder in Arkena Coffee Market (the largest digital small-holder coffee market in Ethiopia focusing on small holders).
Michael is a former All-American Track and Cross Country Athlete who’s passionate about equality, farmers, transparency, tech, and empowerment. Please email Michael at mike@addisexporter.com or go to IG @addisexporter to contact Michael.
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Sustainability Director, Specialty Coffee Association
Andrés Montenegro is the Sustainability Director at the Specialty Coffee Association. He is graduated as Agroindustrial Engineer and holds a M.Sc. in Process Design and Management with a major in food-bioprocesses. With over 15 years of experience navigating the coffee industry, he has focused his professional activity in the intersection between private companies, civil society, and governmental organizations for joint creation of innovations with shared purpose. As a coffee lover, and self-described coffee geek, he is passionate about findings ways to make coffee better, acknowledging the handprint & footprints to keep the coffee ritual thriving in tandem with society & environment.
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Owner, JNP Coffee
Founder of JNP Coffee and Burundi Friends International, Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian is a dedicated supporter and advocate for the empowerment of women coffee farmers in her native Burundi, East Africa. Farmers produce high-scoring specialty coffee beans, earn premiums from JNP Coffee’s global sales and gain financial literacy skills in a partner-sponsored program. With an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School and a 20-plus-year international career, Jeanine entered the coffee industry in 2012. Now a licensed Q. grader and Q. processor, Level 1, she is an elected SCA board member.
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Community Experience Officer, Specialty Coffee Association
Vicente is the Community Experience Officer at the Specialty Coffee Association where he manages the team in charge of the organization’s communications, customer service, and support of community groups including Guilds, Chapters, and Competition Bodies. Prior to working at the SCA, Vicente served as Communications Officer at the International Coffee Organization for three years. He started his career working on agricultural development programs in Central America and Africa with organizations like World Coffee Research, the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, and the Center on Conflict and Development.
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Editor, Specialty Coffee Association
Jenn Rugolo is curator and editor focused on communicating complex ideas in specialty coffee. Perpetually curious about how people create culture and belonging through different activities, Jenn holds a Bachelors of Music Ad Hoc (Northwestern University) and a Masters of Arts in Ethnomusicology (University College Cork). Before taking on her current role as Curatorial Director at the Specialty Coffee Association, where she focuses on the association’s print and digital communications, Jenn worked to design, run, and communicate casual educational platforms across roles at 3FE, World Coffee Events, Facebook, and Tamper Tantrum. Concurrently a partner in Playset Coffee, Jenn spends her “free time” supporting progress in specialty coffee through projects that embrace collaborative learning and sharing.
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CEO Algrano, Algrano
Raphael Studer, a Swiss economist and entrepreneur, reimagines coffee trading as the CEO of Algrano. Motivated by the vision to democratize coffee trading and to build a highly scalable online business, Raphael and his team are on a journey to transform the coffee supply chains. During his PhD in economics Raphael researched the statistical measurement and modelling of human well-being. He left academia to join an energy company as a pricing and hedging specialist for commodity trading. With two fellow entrepreneurs, Raphael co-founded Algrano. He moved to Brazil to learn on the ground about the ongoing structural change in coffee trading. A few months later the online platform Algrano.com was launched and awarded by the Specialty Coffee Association as the best Product and IT innovation in the industry. 6 years later, several hundred coffee roasters manage their sourcing and contract execution online and trade directly with hundreds of growers from 20 countries. In 2022, the SCA awarded Algrano again with the Best IT Award for the MyCustomer feature, empowering coffee growers to make informed selling decisions.
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Managing Partner, List + Beisler
Philip von der Goltz, Managing Partner List + Beisler, Q-Grader, International Consultant to UN-ITC
Philip grew up in Argentina and eventually discovered his fascination with coffee at an international green coffee trading company in Germany. He developed his first sustainability projects in Colombia, where he also spent several years actively involved in the world of coffee. From that point onwards, sustainability became a recurrent feature in his life, and so he decided to pursue it professionally. He was in charge of designing new strategies for sustainable supply chains for a renowned coffee roaster in Germany. In addition, he was responsible for developing a subsidiary company in Tanzania and implementing sustainability projects in eight origin countries alongside around 30,000 smallholder farmers. Philip combines his passion for coffee with responsible trade practices in green coffee.
He is an international consultant to UN-ITC and responsible for the strategic guidance and coaching of the authors’ team, as well as co-authoring the 4th edition of the Coffee Exporters Guide.
Philip holds a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Göttingen and an MBA from Oxford Brookes University combined with more than 20 years of deep coffee trade and industry knowledge.
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Freda Yuan is the Director of Coffee for Origin, and a licensed Q-grader. An advocate for transparency across the industry, Freda works tirelessly to build relationships while navigating the complexities of supply chains to purchase coffee.
As winner of the SCA UK Cup Tasters (2017, 2018, 2020), as well as 3rd and 5th place wins in the World Cup Tasters (2017, 2021), Freda is a trusted voice. Her win as Best Coffee Writer (Sprudgie Awards, 2021), for her book, Sip ‘n’ Slurp, testament to this. Her passion in sensory elements began after her struggle – and recovery from – bulimia.
