Meet our industry’s brightest minds and thought leaders

Jon Allen – Co-Founder – Jon manages the day-to-day brand design and creative team and helps assist, but has taken a step back from QC & green coffee sourcing and travel. He also designs interiors for all Onyx cafes and consults on numerous hospitality projects across the country. In his free time enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, cooking and drinking natural wines, and is an avid basketball and soccer fan.

Andrea Allen is the co-founder of Onyx Coffee Lab. She is head of operations for all Onyx cafes and the roastery. Andrea manages all things people, and she creates and develops Onyx leadership roles. She also holds the 2021 U.S. Barista Champion title and the runner-up 2021 World Barista Champion. In her spare time, she hangs out with her husband and two daughters, is an avid runner, and is a barrel-racer (at the local rodeo).

From a coffee-producing family in Mexico, SCA’s Technical Officer Mario Fernandez has worked with coffee for close to 30 years. His experience includes different positions along the coffee value chain, universities, and non-profit organizations, focusing on coffee flavor, coffee quality, coffee processing and producer education. Mario combines his experience in the industry with a passion for scientific research about coffee flavor and how it is generated. He holds a PhD degree in Food Science (University of Otago – New Zealand), an MS Food Science (Université de Montpellier II, France), and a BS Food Technology (Universidad de las Américas-Puebla, Mexico). Mario recently inherited a geisha coffee farm from his late father in Veracruz, Mexico.

Senior Vice President of Trading at StoneX, who has combined his knowledge of the Coffee, Cocoa, and Palm Oil markets with his experience in implementing risk management strategies in Futures, Options, and Structured Products in the international commodity markets.

She has worked in coffee for the past two decades and is a previous Q grader instructor. She is a past president of the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) and often Director. She is also a former board member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA).

Born in Sweden, Rachel’s family moved to Hacienda La Esmeralda, a farm in the Boquete region of Panama, when she was very young. Hacienda La Esmeralda discovered Geisha coffee in Panama and first introduced it to the world in the 2004 “Best of Panama” competition.

Co-founder of Nomad Coffee Consulting and an experienced c-level executive with over 24 years’ career in the global coffee industry. He has extensive experience in strategy, international business, sales & marketing, manufacturing, distribution, and governance.

Since 2011 has been involved in coffee related – nonprofit associations covering various roles like being an SCAE Membership Chair and then SCAE President in 2014, and he is currently one of SCA’s elected Board Directors and has been appointed to the role of treasurer, starting from January 2023.

Cosimo has also been a licensed Q Arabica Grader and Q Processing generalist.

Executive Director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA), who for over 20 has been working in the field of organic agriculture. She began her career advocating for shade-grown, fair-trade, and organic coffee growers in Central America. Now, at the ROA, she oversees the finest details of the holistic and high-bar Regenerative Organic Certified® in over 30 countries across the globe.

Coffee buyer for ST.ALi Coffee Roasters, one of the largest independently owned specialty coffee roasters in Australia. She has experience in 20+ coffee-producing countries and over 15 years’ of experience in coffee sensory skills, global coffee supply management, roastery operations, consumer education, and producer advocacy.

Her passion is bridging the gap between the farm and end user, helping consumers understand what they are drinking and inspiring them to be advocates in their own communities. Her belief is that education is the key to ensuring quality coffee’s long-term economic and environmental sustainability.

Co-founder and CEO of Canyon Coffee, a roasting company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2016 by Casey and his partner Ally. His lifelong interest in sustainability and soil health began with his witnessing the damaging effects of corporate agriculture and monoculture on his community’s environmental, economic, and social well-being and played into Canyon Coffee’s decision to source and roast certified organic coffees from its inception. He has been a believer in regenerative and biodynamic agriculture since learning about the practices as a teenager and has great enthusiasm for the Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) in coffee as a result. He believes ROC promises the best future not only for coffee and agriculture at large but for drawing down atmospheric carbon and mitigating the damaging effects of climate change.

Carli fell in love with coffee and coffee farmers when she was the coffee buyer for Walmart US stores for four years. Since then, she has taken on many roles at Walmart and currently leads a global team responsible for sourcing private brand products. In addition to being actively involved in Walmart’s regeneration commitments, she also serves on the board of a sustainability nonprofit (theCOSA.org) and has her own passion project working with coffee farmers in Rwanda

Sarah Allen is the editor and co-founder of Barista Magazine, the leading journal for independent café owners and coffee professionals in the world, with subscribers in 86 countries. She is a regular guest author on coffee trade and politics for such publications as The Guardian U.K., the New York Times Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times. Sarah lives in Portland, Ore., with her husband, Barista Magazine’s publisher, Kenneth Olson, and their many dogs and cats.

Trond is the Co-Founder and CEO of ROEST. Before getting involved in the industry, he worked at a bank and a few other non-coffee-related businesses. 

But – thankfully – he discovered his passion for coffee, and along with his brother, they decided to open their own company based on the crazy idea of making the world’s best sample roaster, which won Best New Product in 2022 at the SCA Expo.

During the past 12 years, Veronika Galova Bolduc gained coffee experience wearing different hats in the various parts of the coffee industry. Former 5 times national champion during the years 2014 – 2018. After working in a coffee shop, and roastery, being independent in the coffee industry, and running a barista school, managing sales at a green coffee import company, she found her passion in the innovation and technology of the coffee industry as a Head of Marketing at ROEST.

2014 Czech CiGS champion 

2015 Slovak Barista champion

2016, 2017 and 2018 Slovak Brewers Cup Champion

Shanita is co-founder and co-CEO of Sip & Sonder, a Black women-owned coffee roastery headquartered in Inglewood, CA, with a portfolio of coffee houses and consumer packaged goods, along with her partner Amanda-Jane Thomas. She is passionate about the intersections of entrepreneurship, community, and coffee. Within Sip & Sonder, Shanita brings her experience in chemical engineering and enterprise technology to the company’s roasting team. Through her legal career, Shanita focuses on general start-up and venture capital financing work and corporate exits.

Originally French, Bachelor in Business Administration Erasmus University and Masters in Sustainability & Social Innovation HEC Paris,  Ludivine has worked in the Netherlands, China, Thailand and Paris and has been based in Uganda for the past five years. 

Ludivine worked for Jacobs Douwe Egberts for a one year consultancy project to design their sustainability strategy on the ground and create a documentary and workshops about sustainability challenges that farmers face in the coffee sector. 

She founded Marula Creative Consultancy, an agency specialized in storytelling for impact. Ludivine also founded Marula Proteen Limited, a company that transforms organic waste into animal feed and organic fertilizer for farmers in Uganda, with a focus on coffee farms that promote regenerative agriculture.

Erin joined Swiss Water in 2018 as Director of Marketing. She is responsible for advancing consumer awareness and preference for coffee decaffeinated by the Swiss Water® Process, and delivering value for roaster and importer partners globally.

Prior to joining Swiss Water, Erin spent over a decade at Starbucks where she held roles in regional, national and international marketing, and product management. She also has several years of experience in marketing in the premium golf segment and collegiate athletics, as well as in banking for venture capital backed startup companies. She has an M.A. from the University of San Francisco and a B.S. from the University of Southern California.

With more than 15 years of experience in marketing and trade in the coffee sector, Blanca is currently the Chapter Relations Manager for the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA), supporting and coordinating groups from 32 chapters around the world. She is also the Board President of the Conservation and Eco-Development Foundation in Guatemala (FUNDAECO), and a member of the Specialty Coffee Association Advisory Council Committee,Event Committee, and the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force.

Her journey with the IWCA started when she volunteered at the organization supporting Global Projects in Central America. Blanca has a strong network and experience in public relations and communications, which enable her to identify needs and solutions to approach the coffee market.

Tropicalist agronomist, specialized in the management of development projects, the formulation of technical proposals and in agricultural dissemination, training and technology transfer, research activity, horticulture and fruit growing in temperate, subtropical, and tropical climates, the definition of the best practices and production regulations for quality productions, in the marketing of agricultural products, in market studies, in supply chain studies, in the enhancement of territorial productions and in the certification of origin, in organic productions; in the fight against desertification and environmental sustainability, in credit programs, in the enhancement of excellent products (coffee, cocoa, dates, spices and tropical fruit, etc.), short supply chains, packages, and packaging. 

For the last 15 years he’s been the manager of coffee and cocoa projects of the Italian Cooperation in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador) and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic) –  (Programa CafèyCaffè), in Cuba, in Ethiopia, in Vietnam, in Cape Verde, at the moment Coffee Research Leader of the Espresso Academy of La Marzocco in Florence (Italy) and responsible for contacts with the origins and coffee sustainability.

He has worked in Italy, China, Cape Verde, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Vietnam, Indonesia.

Kathrine Löfberg has coffee in her veins. She is the chair of the board of Löfbergs, which is one of the biggest family-owned coffee roasters in the Nordic countries. The company was founded in 1906 by her great-grandfather. In 2015, Kathrine succeeded her father as chair of the board as a part of a planned change of generations. Kathrine has many years’ experience of board work in different companies and organizations, for example as chair of International Coffee Partners and coffee&climate where the work is largely about contributing to the possibilities of small-scale coffee farmers to meet the climate changes and improve their living conditions.

Lalo is a founder of BUNA and Come Vital. Buna has worked through added-value agricultural goods to finance the conservation of ecosystems in Mexico. BUNA’s decades long research into biological management in agriculture spawned a consulting company, Come Vital, that assists producers through the transition from conventional to biological management. Lalo also works to assist entrepreneurs in establishing businesses with a sustainability focus within the agriculture supply chain.

Carlos Rene Guerra is a coffee farmer and barista from Copán Ruinas, Honduras. A graduate from the Escuela Agricola Panamericana, commonly known as “El Zamorano,” Carlos later went on to study artisanal cheesemaking in the US. He has also been trained in brew methods, roasting and is a certified Q Grader. Today, he owns Cafe San Rafael – arguably the best coffee shop, wine bar and cheese deli in Honduras. 

At his family farm, located in the mountains surrounding Copán, Carlos supports production management, quality control and roasting. He also manages a local dairy farm for cheesemaking. More recently, Carlos has been nationally (and internationally) recognized as the National Barista Champion of Honduras in 2019 and 2020. He also placed 16th at the World Barista Championships in Boston, USA in 2019. 

Be sure to stop by his coffee shop while at Let’s Talk Coffee for the brew method of your choice!

Alex is the Representative for Americas for Stronghold Technology. He has been working with Stronghold Technology in different capacities for the past almost 6 years now.

He owns multiple coffee companies in Canada and oversees all Canadian Coffee Competitions as the SCA Canada chapter’s coordinator.

Alex hopes to be able to bring a versatile perspective to the panel and the event.

Ted Stachura has been involved in the coffee industry for nearly three decades. For the past twelve years as Director of Coffee at Equator Coffees in San Rafael, California, overseeing coffee procurement, roasting and quality assurance. Prior to Equator, Ted was a consultant with Kenneth Davids Consulting, an editor at the online publication Coffee Review, and co-founder of Coffee Informatics, developer of data management system RoastLog. Ted was also Coffee and Tea Training Program Manager at Peet’s Coffee & Tea, among many other roles. Ted’s passion for coffee is expressed through his study of coffee, daily cupping and his efforts to educate the public about quality coffee.

Lauren Jones is a current fellow in the 2023 Sustainable Harvest NextGen Program. She studies environmental economics, public policy, and sustainable business at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on the migration crisis and its impact on the coffee sector in Honduras and greater Central America.

She works with East Bay Sanctuary Covenant’s Amplifying Sanctuary Voices team focused on climate migration. Her primary areas of interest are migration, human rights, health and agricultural systems, and natural resource management in Latin America. 

Lauren hails from a rich coffee family tradition that spans the entire supply chain for more than six generations, with her grandmother’s farm Finca Dos Marias in Guatemala and a family roasting wholesale business in Pasadena, California. Her father, Chuck Jones, is the CEO of Jones Coffee Roasters, and her grandmother Mireya Asturias Jones was an early pioneering founder of the International Women in Coffee Alliance (IWCA).

Arno Holschuh is the Chief Coffee Officer of Bellwether Coffee, in which capacity, he provides industry expertise in the design, manufacture, and sales of the company’s innovative ventless electric roaster. He also manages the green and roasted coffee businesses for the firm.

Alan, founder and CEO of ProfilePrint, invented its patented A.I. digital food fingerprint technology. He was previously the Assistant CEO of IHDpay Group and has professional experience with CapitaLand, where he headed M&A and investments in the United Kingdom, was General Manager for South China Ascott, and Assistant to Group CEO President CapitaLand. Alan is also a reserve deputy Squadron Commander at the Singapore Air Force with previous key appointments. He holds a PhD candidate in Operational Research from INSEAD, completed a post-graduate management program at Tsinghua University, and graduated with French Singapore Double Engineering degrees (1st Class) from Ecole Centrale Paris and National University of Singapore on a government scholarship.

Debra has been Managing Director and owner of Knight Mattingly Coffee Roasters (KMCR) for fifteen years.

Her business training started with an MBA in finance from Columbia University, New York, where she lived for a number of years after completing her studies.  Debra worked in the finance industry for nearly 15 years before moving into the world of coffee.  

KMCR has won a number of medals for its coffee since she took over, as well as business awards for customer service.

She has been involved in a number of not-for profit activities, including the Inaugural Chair of the Mac.Rob Foundation.  

She holds a BA (Hons) from Melbourne University, an MBA (Deans List) from Columbia and an Advanced Professional Certificate in Business Law and Taxation from New York University.

 Ji Hoon, founder of EGGSTONE, a South Korea-based IT(information technology) startup that analyzes green coffee beans through AI(Artificial Intelligence) and light spectroscopy.

EGGSTONE helps you see the unseen of green coffee beans and make better decisions.

EGGSTONE’s goal is to prepare for the digital transformation coffee industry and contribute to its sustainable development.

 Ashley Singer (she/her) is a Senior Partnerships Manager, Beverages at Fair Trade USA, working primarily with coffee partners. She joined FTUSA’s sustainability initiative in 2019, melding 10 years of experience in business development in the advertising tech industry with social impact and coffee.

At Fair Trade USA, she supports large brands and private label manufacturers in their journeys to responsible sourcing while also working closely with producer teams.  As a member of the commercial team, she navigates supply chain intricacies to ultimately connect the impact at origin to the finished consumer product. She is heavily involved in impact reporting & strategy with partners, driving growth & longevity of sustainable ingredients.  Ashley studied Marketing and Spanish at California Polytechnic University and lives in Sonoma, California where she frequently hits the road with her dog.

Sarah Baker has more than a decade of editorial experience in the B2B space. Having studied Journalist at Latrobe University, Sarah is one of the world’s most recognized industry journalists in the coffee space, as Editor of BeanScene and Global Coffee Report, and has traveled globally in support of international coffee trade shows and origin experiences. She currently leads Prime Creative Media’s Editorial team as Group Managing Editor, promoting the very best in B2B journalist practice.

Sarah Baker has more than a decade of editorial experience in the B2B space. Having studied Journalist at Latrobe University, Sarah is one of the world’s most recognized industry journalists in the coffee space, as Editor of BeanScene and Global Coffee Report, and has traveled globally in support of international coffee trade shows and origin experiences. She currently leads Prime Creative Media’s Editorial team as Group Managing Editor, promoting the very best in B2B journalist practice.

Organic agriculture is definitely one of the futures of our modern food yet sometimes it might be a bit too romantic in the greater scheme of things. Not only because the transition to agriculture is very time-consuming and expensive but also because consumers haven’t yet fully jumped on board with it. One thing we do forget which Lalo reminds us is that “Biology is the best technology on Earth”. He has come up with a holistic biological approach to coffee (and many other crops as well) farming which in just one year can render positive results with higher yields and lower costs and still be ecologically regenerative. Tommie Hooft of Proteen discusses the innovative use of black soldier flies to regenerate the soil, based on the project work in Uganda. They use city waste, coffee waste and other organic residues to create an organic fertiliser, which is being distributed to (coffee) farmers across Uganda. One of the many challenges has been the lack of knowledge farmers have in general about the function of their soils.

Co-Founder of Café Comunión