Meet the Summit 2022 Speakers

Jenny Samaniego is the founder of Conexión Chocolate, and The Cacao and Chocolate Summit, based in Quito, Ecuador. She serves as a Board Member of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund, based in the US. Conexion Chocolate is dedicated to making fine quality chocolate bars and couverture, sourcing cocoa directly from farmer cooperatives, and preserving Ecuador’s cocoa varieties.

Jody Hayden has spent her entire career working in specialty coffee and fine cocoa. She co-founded Higher Grounds Trading Co. in Michigan in 2002 to support Mayan coffee growers in Chiapas, Mexico fighting for indigenous rights. Today she is a co-owner of Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate and a board member of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund.

Regina Varolli is the Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of the trail-blazing eZine Food Activist Mag. A best-selling author, journalist, and communications expert, Gina grew up in the hospitality industry as the daughter of a chef and restaurateur. She immersed herself in politics and activism as an adult and during her time in Washington DC she worked as a lobbyist for human rights legislation, a speech-writer and coach, and a communications manager for NGOs. Gina has traveled the world in search of inspiring people and stories, and as a judge for international dessert, coffee, and chocolate competitions. She combines food issues + politics through her years contributing to HuffPost, her previous start-up CulEpi, her freelance work, and helming Food Activist Mag.

Ephi has over 20 years of diverse professional experience in event production, sustainability consulting, and restaurant marketing. She is certified as a Digital Event Strategist (DES) and works closely with the Events and Education Committee to organize and implement in-person and virtual FCIA events, webinars, conferences, and regional meetups to reach a wide audience.

Johanna has been working for 30 years in Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Belgium, directing projects and generating dialogues with multiple actors. Rikolto is an international NGO that contributes to structural changes towards more sustainable and inclusive food systems, strengthening the position of smallholders within the systems, through pilot projects and contributing to the construction of public and private policies. In Latin America, the focus is on coffee, cocoa and sustainable food systems.

Jack Steijn is co-founder of Equipoise, business consultant for sustainable cocoa supply chains and chair of the ISO and CEN Committees on Sustainable and Traceable Cocoa. Jack has worked on projects such as Cocoa Origins with IDH and the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, sustainable cocoa logistics with the Port of Amsterdam and the port of San Pédro in Côte d’Ivoire, the assessment of potential cocoa exporters from Liberia with CBI, awareness raising seminars for sustainable supply chains with UNIDO in Sierra Leone and with other partners in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Guinea and Peru. He has contributed to national cocoa strategy development in Liberia, Madagascar and in Cameroon.

Jack started his career at the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, where he became director of trade policy and city promotion, he then moved to the Dutch employers federation VNO NCW, where he oversaw the transport and infrastructure dossiers, became director of the Amsterdam Port Entrepreneurs Association ORAM and started Equipoise with Caroline Lubbers in 2014. Jack holds a master’s degree in economics from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Christian is the Head of Mission of an International Technical Assistance of the European Union to the MAG, where he is in charge of promoting and consolidating Associativity and Cooperativism. He is an Agro-economist engineer with a Master’s degree in “Agricultural Business Administration and Rural Development” from the University of Montpellier, France. He has also been a resident in Ecuador for 25 years, and has over 30 years of experience in rural development processes in Latin America (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile), with emphasis on analysis and development of value chains, formulation of agricultural policies, development of organizations and cooperatives of small producers.

He has worked with several European NGOs with a special focus on linking the development sector (NGOs and civil society) with the private sector (Business), and the public sector. Including nearly a decade as Ministerial Advisor in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Ecuador, where he is responsible for formulating Policies for the strengthening of value chains. In particular, he focused on the cocoa, corn, rice, and coffee chains.

Selassie Atadika is the founder and head chocolatier @midunuchocolates. After over a decade of travel through the various corners of Africa, she distilled the essences of the African continent and now offers them to you in Ghanaian chocolate. Taste the subtle infusion of the local bounty – teas, tisanes, and complex spice blends. These flavors represent the beautiful patchwork that is Africa’s culinary heritage, a chef-scripted love story to the continent in every bite. She was a finalist in the 2019 Basque Culinary World Prize, voted #73 in the Best Chef Awards 2020 and 2021 recipient of the La Liste New Destination Champion Award for Africa.

Lauren Adler is a pioneer in the craft chocolate industry with over a decade of experience introducing consumers to fine chocolate. She was the founder of Seattle retail store Chocolopolis and she currently serves as the President of the Board of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA), a non-profit organization that promotes quality, innovations, ethical sourcing, and best practices in the fine chocolate industry.

Spencer is an entrepreneur and investor in internet technology, media and consumer products. Along with his partner Simon Palethorpe, they set up Cocoa Runners in late 2013 to help customers all over the world find the worlds greatest single estate, small batch chocolate.

Cocoa Runners now works with artisan chocolate creators from around the world, such as Marou in Vietnam, Onmon in Iceland, Fruition in the USA and Menakao in Madagascar along with over 100 in over 35 countries. Cocoa Runners runs an online service at CocoaRunners.com to deliver the very best chocolate to your doorstep – as a gift, or as part of their chocolate monthly discovery service.

Mission Chocolate is a small batch chocolate maker based in São Paulo, Brazil. We use ingredients that are: native to the Americas, grow wild, are endangered, promote environmental preservation, encourage community development and taste great.

Our chocolates are the most awarded in Brazil, with 55 national and international prizes in the last 5 years. Our flavors include guava, baru, umbu, cupuaçu and many other exotic and cultural flavors that are good for you, bring awareness to Brazilian gastronomy, and are grown in a respectful manner in the communities in which they come from.

We believe the best chocolate rewards everyone in the supply chain. Our farmers receive almost 4 times more than the market price, including Fair Trade pricing, we buy directly from the producer, no middle person involved. We visit and speak with them often, including our organic sugar producer – working to create the best product.

Kate began her adventures in cocoa as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic where she worked with a cooperative of organic cocoa farmers. During her time there, she learned how to ship cocoa beans by air, container freight and even sailboat. Cacao Latitudes exists to support, facilitate, and elevate the global cacao supply chain by ethically bridging the gap between farmers and fine chocolate makers around the world. She has been connecting chocolate makers with high quality cacao farmers for over a decade.

Graduated as Engineer in Agronomy from Zamorano, Honduras, he holds a master’s degree in Project Management from UNITEC. Since 1998, he has been working in several NGOs among them Swisscontact, Zamorano and CLUSA. In 2010 he has engaged to Rikolto (former VECO), a Non For-Profit Organization with roots in Belgium and since 2017 is the Director for Latin America and Director of the Rikolto´s Cocoa Program in the region.

Simran Bindra is one of the founders of Kokoa Kamili, a boutique cocoa fermentary in Tanzania. Kokoa Kamili was founded with the goals of producing some of the world’s best cocoa, and improving farmer incomes. Kokoa Kamili has a network of 4,500 smallholder farmers from whom they source ‘wet’ cocoa which is fermented, dried, graded, blended and packed before being exported to some of the best chocolate makers throughout the world. Kokoa Kamili is proud to have put Tanzania on the map as a fine flavour cocoa source, and to have significantly increased incomes of the farmers they work with.

As co-founder and chocolate maker at Goodnow Farms Chocolate Monica Rogan is passionate about crafting exceptional bean to bar chocolate using a sustainable, traceable and transparent value chain. She has spent years developing strong, direct relationships with cacao farmers and producers in Latin America ensuring mutually beneficial relationships and access to consistently high-quality beans while also educating consumers about the importance of ethical sourcing.

In 2021, Goodnow Farms earned a spot on Food & Wine Magazine’s list of “The Best Chocolate in America.” Their commitment to highlighting the unique flavors found in single origin cacao beans has resulted in numerous international awards, including gold at the International Chocolate Awards, Academy of Chocolate Awards, and World Drinking Chocolate Competition.

Emily Stone is the Founder and CEO of Uncommon Cacao, a group of Transparent Trade cacao operations including Maya Mountain Cacao (Belize), Cacao Verapaz (Guatemala), and Uncommon offices in the U.S. and Europe. Emily spent 2010-2017 living in Belize and Guatemala developing the specialty cacao value chain operations and working directly with producers. Now based in the U.S., Emily leads Uncommon Cacao’s work supplying delicious, high quality, transparently-sourced cacao from 12+ countries for hundreds of craft and premium chocolate makers globally. Emily is an Ashoka Fellow and Unreasonable Fellow, and a recipient of the FCIA Recognition of Excellence in Outstanding Contribution at Origin in Sustainability of Fine Chocolate.

Luis Orozco Aguilar, current Deputy Director for Research and Innovation for the LWR–MOCCA Project, he has a PhD in Forest and Ecosystem Sciences from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Luis is a dynamic researcher and practitioner of tropical agroforestry with perennial crops (cacao and coffee). Luis has over 15 years of experience in cacao/coffee development projects in Central America and the Caribbean where he has done research, farmers’ training and advised several university students, private companies, NGOs, and cacao boards in the region.

Ing. Monica Patricia Mena Correa: Graduated from the Pan-American Agricultural School 2007, Engineer in Science and Agricultural Production, Master’s student in Agronomy with a mention in Sustainability at the Manabí Technical University, Technical Manager in technified cocoa, banana farms for 5 years and from 2012 to the present in the company Agroarriba S.A, of the Ecom group, in functions of the Sustainable area, Certifications, Sustainability Research of cacao cultivation and currently in Regional Management of Quality and Impact.

Dr. Summer Allen is a senior advisor with the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute where she works on purchasing transparency of fine cacao. Dr. Allen is an agricultural economist passionate about rural development, conservation, and gender equality. She was previously a Research Coordinator at the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA).

Marco is a professional with a special interest of working in cocoa and its relationship with the forest and agricultural sector. Skilled in participatory education approach, sustainable development, climate change mitigation, quality and fine flavor. Since 2017 is the Sustainable Cocoa Specialist in PROAmazonia, a UNDP project that focus on deforestation free production as a Ecuador´s REDD+ action plan.

Ethan Budiansky serves as Senior Director of Environment and leads the World Cocoa Foundation’s overarching strategy on addressing environmental sustainability across the cocoa sector. Heading both the Climate Smart Cocoa Program and the Cocoa and Forests Initiative, he helps cocoa and chocolate companies advance their environmental sustainability commitments, addressing deforestation and the impact of climate change in cocoa growing regions. Ethan also co-led the Cocoa Livelihoods Program to improve farm-level productivity and the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.

Ethan has over 15 years of experience in climate change adaptation in agriculture, natural resource management, conservation, agroforestry and international development. Prior to joining WCF, he was Head of International Programs at Trees for the Future, where he managed agroforestry and sustainable agriculture programs in Africa and the Caribbean. Ethan was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal from 2001 to 2003. He holds a B.A. in Zoology from Connecticut College, a M.A. in International Affairs from American University in Washington, DC and a M.A. in Natural Resource Management from the University for Peace in Costa Rica. In his off time he works at a raptor hospital, rescuing and rehabilitating injured, sick and orphaned birds of prey.

Jerónimo Pruijn was born in The Netherlands. Living in Mexico for over 30 years, has been involved in Fair Trade since 1989 and since 1991 has been working for Small Producers’ Cooperatives and their initiatives in Mexico, Latin America, Africa and Asia. As of 2009 he’s been SPP Global’s CEO, and he currently is the vice-chair on the IFOAM Latin America Board of Directors. His life work has been dedicated to promoting the values of organic small, organized producers.

George Fletcher Lazo is a biologist and small producer of fine aroma cocoa. He works both as manager and regenerative production advisor/technician in UOPROCAE, an organization of small producers. Together with his family, he manages the Chagüisa farm, which is a small permacultural and agro-ecological demonstration farm in the Chocó rainforest.

Sarah is a cacao services provider based in Trinidad. Her solid academic training at the Cocoa Research Unit (early 2000s) laid the first foundation for working with cacao. She then transitioned to direct farmer engagement with intense focus on processing and its optimization for sale of high quality beans to Meridian Cacao. Now her growing practical focus, using cacao systems as the gateway, is soil regeneration to foster genuine, increasing resilience in the farming space.

Aaron started out in the music industry after leaving university, but when he inherited a two-acre food forest from his grandparents, he fell down the rabbit hole of Permaculture, Regenerative Agriculture, and Apiculture.

Aaron decided to move back to Grenada in 2016 to focus on rehabilitating the food forest and establishing his craft chocolate company Tri-Island Chocolate. Soon after launching the brand in 2018, he started incorporating tours spanning a Rastafarian Roots-to-Bar experience to Grenadian Chocolate tasting. In 2019, he opened Tri-Island Chocolate Factory offering their flagship experience, ‘Making your chocolate bar.’ In 2020, he pivoted to offering more virtual chocolate tastings and chocolate making experiences via Zoom and re-opened the chocolate factory in 2021, whilst taking on the position as General Manager of The Grenada Chocolate Company, Grenada’s original tree to bar chocolate maker.

Businesswoman, visionary and environmental advocate Charita Puentespina has been in the agriculture industry for more than 6 decades. As the chairman of the Puentespina group of companies, she has spearheaded the revival of high value crops in the Philippines like cacao through Malagos Chocolate, made huge leaps in agri-tourism with Malagos Garden Resort and pioneered the resurgence of the endemic “Waling-Waling” (Euanthe Sanderiana) orchid saving it from extinction in the 1980s.

John began his career at Guittard Chocolate in 2014 as Director of Sustainability after 25 years in the cocoa and international trade and development business. Guittard’s work in cocoa sustainability under the Cultivate Better program is driven by flavor and quality, gender equity, nutrition and the environment.

John has served on the boards of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association, The Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund and is an active member of Cocoa of Excellence Technical Committee/Sensory Panel and the Working Group on International Standards for the Assessment of Cocoa Quality and Flavour (ISCQF).

Anne Zaczek is the Executive Director of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund, a non-profit organization with a mission to discover, identify and preserve fine flavor heirloom cacao varieties for the conservation of biological diversity and the empowerment of farming communities. With 12+ years in international agricultural development programs, Anne is devoted to working with and sharing the stories of farmers at origin to support the discovery, identification, propagation, and sustainable cultivation of the most flavorful cacao.

Prior to working for HCP, Anne spent almost a decade working for the U.S. Grains Council in Washington D.C. overseeing international development programs throughout the continent of Africa. Anne graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in International Studies, specializing in International Business.

Dr. Lambert Motilal is a triple graduate of The University of the West Indies. His research interests include conservation genetics and plant breeding for the future. He is DNA fingerprinting the cacao accessions in the International Cocoa Genebank Trinidad to help clients worldwide understand the genetic identities and ancestries of their cacao trees. Collaboration with local, regional and international researchers have produced 29 journal articles, 12 book chapters and 24 conference proceedings.