Expert Advisory Panel

FoodNavigator-Asia has an Expert Advisory Panel to help us stay on top of the latest industry trends, regulations, product development, research and technological innovation.

Its members are senior industry specialists from across the region who share their insights and expertise individually on an informal basis, as well as on a number of conference calls of all members held throughout the year.

The panel is chaired by William Reed’s Regional Head of APAC and Editor-in-Chief Gary Scattergood and FoodNavigator Asia Editor Pearly Neo.

The Panel

Adhi Lukman​

Chairman of GAPMMI, the Indonesian Food & Beverages Association​

Recognized internationally as an authority on the food industry, Adhi Lukman is the current Chairman of GAPMMI, the Indonesian Food & Beverages Association.

Founded in 1976, the organization champions the interests of the food and beverage industry in Indonesia.

In addition to his role with GAPMMI, Adhi Lukman works with several organizations, as Chairman of Permanent Committee for Development of Food Industry, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KADIN); Commissioner National Consumer Protection Agency (BPKN); Member of Working Team of Indonesia’s National Productivity Board (LPN); Member of Expert Working Group of National Food Security Council (DKP); Member of National Codex Committee; and Executive Board of AFBA (ASEAN Food and Beverage Alliance), among others.

He travels nationally and internationally as a speaker at various forums, and guest lectures at several universities.

Dr Siti Noorbaiyah Abdul Malek, Ph.D. ​

Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology’s (SIT) Chemical Engineering and Food Technology Cluster​

Dr Siti Noorbaiyah Binti Abdul Malek is currently an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology’s (SIT) Chemical Engineering and Food Technology Cluster. She graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.) in Food Science from Rutgers University, New Jersey; MSc. in Food Science from Michigan State University; and BSc. from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.

Prior to joining the SIT, Dr Siti has served in both public and private sectors. She started her career as an academician at Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM) and continued to serve when it attained university status as Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). She left for the private sector in 2008 and served as the CEO of a start-up company, UnipeQ Sdn. After successfully running the company for 5 years, she took up a regional role at the Food Industry Asia (FIA) as its Head of Regulatory Affairs. 

While holding the post, she was seconded to the ASEAN Food and Beverage Alliance (AFBA) as its first Executive Director. Her primary role in AFBA involved work on harmonisation of food standards and addressing Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) in the food and beverage sector so as to facilitate intra-ASEAN trade.

Dr. Siti is active in several national and international committees/councils, including Malaysian MOH’s National Codex Sub-Committee in Contaminants of Food and Codex Sub-Committee on Food Additives; Malaysian MoH’s National Committee on Prepared Foodstuff Product Working Group (PFPWG); Malaysia;s Department of Standards Working Group for the Accreditation of Certification Bodies (ACB) Scheme for HACCP; Asia Steering Committee for GFSI’s Food Safety Conference 2015; and Council Member of the International Halal Foundation (IHF).

Dr Siti is an active member of the Malaysian Institute of Food Technology (MIFT). She has served in different roles since 2004 culminating as the President of MIFT for the 2014/2016 term. She was awarded an MIFT Fellows in 2009 and currently serve as its Fellows Representative.

Geoff Parker​

Chief Executive Officer, Australian Beverages Council​

In 2009, Geoff was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Beverages Council. Since then, Geoff has successfully managed two mergers, significantly raised the the Council’s profile with key stakeholders and firmly positioned the organisation as the peerless, respected voice of the $7+ billion non-alcoholic beverage industry in Australia.

In 2010, Geoff was elected President and Asia-Pacific Regional Director of the International Council of Beverages Associations (ICBA). In 2012 he was elected for a consecutive two-year term. Geoff also serves on the Board of the International Council of Bottled Water Associations (ICBWA), and in 2017 was elected as its Vice-President. Geoff has been on the ICBWA Board since 2009.

Geoff has over 20 years’ involvement in boardrooms including global training companies, national not-for-profits, arts organisations, public companies, statutory authorities and international associations in both director and chair roles.

Geoff is a Fellow of both the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and holds qualifications from The University of Queensland and The University of Cambridge. Geoff divides his time between Sydney, Brisbane and overseas markets. He is a rugby tragic, terrible golfer, avid runner and enjoys cooking and wine matching.

Katherine Rich​

Chief Executive Officer, New Zealand Food and Grocery Council​

Katherine is Chief Executive of the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council, an industry association that advocates on behalf of companies marketing food and other fast moving consumer goods.

She was a Member of Parliament 1999 – 2008 and prior to that held a number of agribusiness marketing roles. She is Chair of Fairtrade Australia New Zealand and the New Zealand Parliamentary Education Trust, and is a Board member of the International Business Forum and children’s charity Barnardos.

She is a former New Zealand member of the APEC Business Advisory Council, Deputy Chair of the Food Safety Advisory and Assurance Council, and board member of the Health Promotion Agency.

Dr Prabodh Halde​

Immediate Past President of Association of Food Scientists and Technologists of India ​

Prabodh has enormous practical industrial experience in the areas of Quality and Food Safety, has total 25 years of string industrial experience in area of food safety, quality and research. He has worked for Bakemans, ACC and Coca Cola India. He is on various board and renowned trainer in area of food processing, food safety and start-ups.

He is a central advisory member for the Indian regulator FSSAI and sits on numerous advisory boards.

Dr Halde is the national resource person for FSSAI’s Fostac programme that has so far supported over 250 start-ups and helped over 400 students in shaping their career.  He has delivered talks at over 300 national and international seminars.

He has also represented India five times at Codex meetings and was selected to be part of a delegation to Tajikistan as a food industry expert in June 2015.

In May 2017, he was invited by the US State Department to take part in an exchange programme for food safety experts.

Prof Anadi Nitithamyong​

President of the Food Science and Technology Association of Thailand (FoSTAT)​

Assistant Professor Dr Anadi Nitithamyong is Senior Advisor at the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University (INMU), Thailand where she served as the Deputy Director for Education and Special Affairs from 2008 to 2011 and Deputy Director for Policy and Planning from 2015 to 2016.

Her research interest and experience involves food processing and product development for nutritional and functional purposes particularly dietary fibre related areas.

She is also involved in food safety research for SMEs and traditional foods manufacture. Currently she is the President of the Food Science and Technology Association of Thailand (FoSTAT) and a member of the Nutrition Association of Thailand (NAT). She is also a member of the Scientific Advisors of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), Southeast Asia Region and is the Coordinator for ILSI Thailand Country Committee. Dr. Nitithamyong received her PhD in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Dr Ralph Graichen​

Senior Director Food & Consumer, Biomedical / Science & Engineering Research Council, A*STAR, Singapore​

Dr Ralph Graichen is currently Senior Director, Food & Consumer at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. He has a co-appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor with Nanyang Technological University, School of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering. In his current position with A*STAR, Ralph is working with strategic partners to administer and develop new initiatives and programmes in the research areas of food, nutrition and consumer care. Ralph is a board member of the Singapore Food Agency as well as a member of the Singapore Food Standard Committee. He is sitting on the advisory panel for the COI Complementary Health Products, Temasek Poly, and is advising multiple start-ups in the food space. 

Ralph has over 15 years of experience in the local and global biomedical and nutrition industry. He was previously Research Operations Manager for Abbott Nutrition in Asia, establishing the R&D infrastructure and managing the research portfolio for Asia. Prior to joining AN, Ralph was Research Director for ES Cell International, the first organization to provide clinical grade embryonic stem cell lines to the world’s research community (now a subsidiary of Bio Time Inc). Preceding ES Cell Ralph was part of the regional business development team at Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific.

Prof William Chen​

Michael Fam Chair Professor in Food Science & Technology​
Director, NTU Food Science & Technology (NTU FST)​

Professor Chen is the Michael Fam Chair Professor in Food Science & Technology at Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU). Professor Chen is also the Director of the University’s Food Science & Technology (NTU FST), an integrated Education – Research - Innovation platform.

In addition to talent development in partnership with Wageningen University & Research (WUR) from the Netherlands, NTU FST has developed innovative technologies of relevance to Singapore food industry. These innovations have contributed to Food Circular Economy in Singapore and have attracted significant interest and investment from government agencies, food industry (including F&N-NTU Innovation Lab), and local / international media (including The Straits Times, The Business Times, CNA, BBC, and CNN). Among his many industry collaborations, he is the Director of F&N-NTU Innovation Lab which is the first external R&D lab in the local company’s 135 years of history.

Professor Chen is an adviser to government agencies and food industry on matters related to food security and future food technology.

Rieko Shofu​

President and CEO, Sensing Asia​
Group CEO, Pokka​

With rich experience of supporting market entry in Asia / ASEAN, Rieko established Sensing Asia in 2014 where she advises business and marketing strategy for many food and beverage companies.
Prior to Sensing Asia, she was corporate officer / executive manager at Hakuhodo Consulting.

Her areas of specialty are business planning, strategy, expansion and marketing. She also serves as Group CEO of Pokka.