Kevin R. Malchoff is the Group president of International at Rich's. Malchoff joined the company in 1981 and served in many marketing leadership roles until his appointment as group president, US/Canada in 2004. In this role, Malchoff was responsible for overseeing all of Rich's food service and in-store bakery businesses in the US and Canada.
Kevin Malchoff received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Cornell University in 1974, majoring in Agricultural Economics, and an MBA in Marketing from Cornell's Johnson School of Business in 1975.
William D. Perez succeeded William Wrigley, Jr. II as CEO of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, the world's largest chewing-gum manufacturer. He is the first person outside the Wrigley family to head the 116-year-old company.
Previously, he succeeded Phil Knight as CEO of Nike, Inc and served from November 2004 until his announcement on January 23, 2006 that he was resigning from Nike due to disagreements with Nike founder and chairman Philip Knight over how to run the company. Previous to his position at Nike, Perez worked for eight years as president and CEO of S. C. Johnson & Son.
Bill Perez received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a graduate degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Robert Tobin retired as CEO of U.S. Foodservice in 2003. Prior to that, he served as CEO of Ahold U.S.A., an international food provider based in the Netherlands. Ahold U.S.A.'s retail operations include Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover, Giant-Carlisle, Tops and Peapod. He was chairman and CEO of Stop & Shop Supermarkets from 1993 to 1998.
Robert Tobin received his bachelor of science degree from Cornell University.
Pauline Kneale is a Professor of Hydrology at the University of Leeds in the UK. Her major research interests lie in defining the inter-relationships between soil water processes and the physical, chemical and biological properties of the regolith. Peat hydrology and hillslope hydrology are fields of particular expertise. Kneale has also developed a strong interest in curriculum development and in teaching transferable skills to undergraduate geographers. Pauline Kneale received her Bachelors in Science from University College in London and her PhD from Bristol University.
Irene Rosenfeld is CEO of Kraft Foods Inc., having been appointed June 26, 2006.
Rosenfeld had spent more than 20 years with Kraft and General Foods before joining Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, in 1994, and rejoining Kraft as president of Kraft Canada in 2000. Rosenfeld left Kraft to become CEO of Frito-Lay in 2004 before returning to Kraft in June 2006.
Rosenfeld is a food industry veteran. She began her career with General Foods in 1981 as Associate Market Research Manager. She spent more than 20 years with Kraft. During that time, she advanced in a variety of leadership roles, spanning numerous Kraft businesses in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Early in her career, Rosenfeld served as Associate Product Manager on Country Time Lemonade. From there, she moved through successively more responsible positions, driving innovation. In 1991 she was named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Beverages Division. Three years later, Rosenfeld was named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Desserts & Snacks Division.
In 1996, Rosenfeld became President of Kraft Canada, that nation's largest packaged food company. In 2000, in addition to her responsibilities in Canada, she was named Group Vice President, Kraft Foods, and President of Operations, Technology and Procurement. In February 2001, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Information Systems were added to her responsibilities.
Among Rosenfeld's many accomplishments at Kraft, she led the highly successfully integration of the Nabisco acquisition. In addition, she has led the restructuring and turnaround of a number of key businesses. She also served on the senior team that led Kraft's Initial Public Offering in 2001.
Irene Rosenfeld received bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees from Cornell University.
Burt Swersey has been teaching design and problem solving courses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for the past for the past 16 years. His courses include Inventor's Studio (a capstone design course), Introduction To Engineering Design and Studio One of Product Design and Innovation, which combines the study of engineering and the humanities.
Prior to his role at RPI, Swersey spent 25 years starting and running 4 medical equipment companies. He holds over 15 US patents.
Burt Swersey is a graduate of Cornell University.
Bill Grant is the Program Manager of the Technology Management Program at University of California - Santa Barbara's (UCSB) College of Engineering. Grant facilitates intimate working luncheons, 'Leaders in Innovation' seminars, lectures, cable tv, and his "On the Edge" radio program on KCSB91.9FM. Created and hosted by Grant and UCSB students, the weekly show features successful entrepreneurs and innovators and discusses how ideas become inventions.
In 2007, Grant received the Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Award for his work at UCSB in creating and managing extracurricular activities that enable students to network and share knowledge and experience with successful scientists, entrepreneurs, innovators and other business experts.
Paul Hudnut is Director of the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise Program at Colorado State University and teaches entrepreneurship classes at the College of Business. He is also Co-Director of CSU's Global Innovation Center for Energy, Health & Environment and serves as Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases. Hudnut is a visiting instructor in entrepreneurship at the Bordeaux Business School and Bainbridge Graduate Institute.
Hudnut's background and interest is in building companies, technology transfer, and intellectual property in the bioscience, energy and information services industries. He is particularly interested in business models which emphasize an entrepreneurial approach to global issues of environment and health.
Hudnut is a founder and director of Envirofit International, Ltd., which was a TechAward laureate in 2005 and was recently recognized by Stanford Social Innovation Review for its innovative approach for commercializing environmentally friendly technologies in the developing world.
Prior to joining CSU, Mr. Hudnut was an executive at Heska Corporation, U S WEST Marketing Resources and PR Pharmaceuticals.
Paul Hudnut earned his BA from Colorado College and his law degree from University of Virginia and completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School in 1991.
Karen Katen is retired Vice Chairman of Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company; and she is chairman of the Pfizer Foundation, the company's global philanthropic arm devoted to supporting healthcare access, education and community outreach initiatives.
Most recently, Katen served as President of Pfizer Human Health - the company's principal operating group, responsible for discovery, development, manufacture, distribution and commercialization of prescription medicines, and for providing a broad array of innovative human-health services. Katen joined Pfizer in 1974.
Karen Katen was named among the top ten in Fortune Magazine's ranking of "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" again in 2005, a list that included her for eight consecutive years.
Karen Katen received her BA and MBA from the University of Chicago, where she now serves as a University Trustee and a council member of its Graduate School of Business.