Schedule

Keynote Session: The Tahoe Blue Lifestyle – How we can all Keep Tahoe Blue

Lake Tahoe is a national treasure with a unique combination of unmatched natural beauty, diverse outdoor recreation, world-class entertainment and close proximity to urban centers and international airports. In recent years, Tahoe has seen well over 15 million annual visitors leading to the very real possibility of “loving Lake Tahoe to death”. With no single authority or set of rules to protect Tahoe (i.e. not a National Park) it is up to each and every person who visits or resides at the Lake to do their part to Keep Tahoe Blue. Since 1957 the League to Save Lake Tahoe (a.k.a. Keep Tahoe Blue) has been advocating for protections for the Tahoe Basin that find a balance between environmental conservation and enjoyment of this special place. Find out how everyone can live the Tahoe Blue Lifestyle and ensure we Keep Tahoe Blue now and for future generations to come.

Speaker:

Jesse Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer, League to Save Lake Tahoe

Session 1: Air

Chair: Joan Giuliani, Molson Coors
Co-Chair: Jasmine Sodemann, Gannett Fleming

Out of Order or Out of Odor? Come to this session to hear about the inside scoop from a former regulator, now food processor, on how to prepare for an air inspection. Whether your facility is Title V, Synthetic Minor, or Permit by Rule, air permit compliance inspections can be a stressful event. This presentation will provide you with a road map and some strategies to make your next inspection a little less daunting. And, just as important, find out why it makes “scents” to keep your odors at bay. Case studies presented will illustrate the lessons learned and highlight how odor characteristics, equipment attributes, and proximity to sensitive receptors may influence the odor abatement technology selection.

Speakers:

Surviving an Air Permit Inspection – Steve Brockett, Environmental Manager, Basic American Foods

Odor Abatement Technologies – An Overview of Applications in Pet Food Manufacturing – Erika Godwin-Saad, Regional Environmental Manager, Mars Petcare US, Inc.

Session 2: Compliance Trends

Chair: Wesley McGhee, Campbells
Co-Chair: Stephanie Richardson, Dontech Industries

Explore what many companies are facing as ever-changing and shifting regulations, and how to comply.  More than simply complying, how are companies becoming aware of forecasted changes, and some of the challenges faced to meet the new criteria.  As climate change and environmental justice become more and more prevalent, expect to see more enforcement and focus on environmental legislation.

Speakers:

Trudi Hughes, CEO and President, California Food Producers

Greg Hurner, President, Hurner Government Relations and Advocacy

Adam Regele, Senior Policy Advocate, California Chamber of Commerce

Ad-hoc Session: Wastewater

Chair: Keith Bailey, Smithfield

Co-Chair: Brian Arntsen, Veolia Water Technologies

Panelists:

Brian Arntsen, Global Domain Sales Leader, Veolia Water Technologies

Mark Carlstrom, Supervising Staff Engineer, Hormel Foods Corporation

Kyle Newton, Environmental Coordinator, Smithfield Foods

Mark Ritsema, Head of Environmental Sustainability, JBS

Ad-hoc: Sustainability/ESG

Chair: Tom Raymond, Hormel Foods Corporation

Co-Chair: Charlie Quann, The Antea Group

Pressure is mounting on companies up and down the value chain to take decisive action to combat climate change. Join us to learn about new greenhouse gas regulations and get your questions answered as we discuss proposed GHG regulations, adoption of science-based targets, and how these factors impact operations at the facility level. A substantial portion of this ad-hoc will be reserved for audience questions and answers from the panel.

Speakers:

Charlie Quann, Climate Change Advisory Lead and Senior Project Manager, Antea Group

Tom Raymond, Director of Environmental Sustainability, Hormel Foods Corporation 

Kevin Rotsching, Senior Director, Environmental Management, Treehouse Foods

Dinner and Session 4: Enforcement Horror Stories

Chair: Josh Milleson, Land O’Lakes
Co-Chairs: Jeff VanVoorhis, Mead & Hunt and Ted Holt, Fluke Corporation

As dinner entertainment on the first night, food industry professionals share their experiences dealing with the good, bad, and often ugly aspects of environmental compliance. Stories of spills, EPA raids, misappropriation of resources and construction nightmares have all surfaced in the past. Always relatable, rarely anticipated; it’s a fun night!

Speakers

Laboratory Horror Stories – Gary Yakub, Senior Quality Assurance Chemist Environmental Standards, Inc.

The Never Ending Story – Patrick Tieg, Senior Project Engineer, Johnsonville Sausage

Session 5: Food Waste

Chair: Alyssa Hamill, Smithfield Foods
Co-Chair: Houston Flippin, Brown and Caldwell

Food waste recycling & renewable energy production – a proven sustainable solution –Dan Hagen, WM Organic Recycling, Director of Business Development, Food Waste Solutions and Jeff Yorzyk, Senior Director of Sustainability, HelloFresh

Organic Waste Diversion: Challenges and Opportunities – Wesley McGhee, Corporate Environmental Engineer, Campbell’s and Dan Moccia-Field, National Recycling Director, Northstar Recycling

Scaling Organics Recycling Technology to Address Climate Change – Randy Day, CEO, Perdue Farms and Shawn Kreloff, Founder, CEO, Bioenergy Devco

Session 6: Sustainability

Chair: Katlyn Gonzalez, Idahoan Foods

Co-Chair: Katie Jeziorski, Trinity Consultants

Speaker:

Sustainable Cane Sugar Refining from Farm to Factory:  It Takes a Village – Diane Stevenson, Director of Sustainability and Food Technology, Sugaright (a subsidiary of CSC Sugar)

Interested in how different industries have tackled sustainability challenges? Come learn more about how the sugar used in your food and beverage products make their way from the farm to the factory, what environmental risks and challenges in mitigating environmental impacts exist, what sustainability efforts look like to reduce risks (think transportation, supply chain, exploring less intensive refining processes), and hear case studies and examples of others on this sustainability journey.

Session 7: Water Conservation

Chair: Dennis Leikam, Idahoan
Co-Chair: Stephanie Richardson, Dontech Industries

Join us for a discussion of the hottest topics on water conservation.  Learn about the latest in efforts on direct potable reuse (DPR), tools for the correct pricing of water so you can get the capital dollars needed to conserve water, and some practical floor level advice.

Speakers:

Joan Giuliani, Sr. Manager, EHS, Molson Coors

Michael Mercedy, PE, BCEE, Market Sector Director, Food & Pharma, Brown and Caldwell

Erica Pann, Water Stewardship Service Leader and Senior Project Engineer, Antea Group 

Establishing Enterprise-Wide Environmental Compliance and Sustainability Standards

Chair: Ian Toevs, Lamb Weston, Inc.

Co-Chair: Ann Marie Gathright, Environmental Standards 

Speaker (s):

Establishing Enterprise-Wide Environmental Compliance and Sustainability Standards– Kevin Sobnosky, Sr. Global EHS Director – Environmental, PepsiCo and Dan Agramonte, Principal, Montrose

Establishing Enterprise-Wide EHS and Sustainability (EH3S) Systems – Jacob Zollinger, CSP, VP, Strategy and Partnerships, ReadyKey and Mike Zimmerman, Mike Zimmerman, PE, CHMM, CPSA, CPEA, REPA, QISP Principal Consultant, BSI and Kevin Sobnosky, Sr. Global EHS Director – Environmental, PepsiCo

Session 8: Renewable Natural Gas

Chair: Mark Ritsema, JBS Foods 

Co-Chairs: Bernie Sheff, Montrose Environmental Group and Annie Weidert, Mead & Hunt

Speakers:

Jody Anderson, Executive VP, Operations, NLC Energy

Mike Land, Managing Partner, Virentis Advisors

Mark Ritsema, JBS Foods

Session 9: Refrigeration

Chair: Matt Gabris, EH3S and 2023 FBEC Conference Chair

Explore what food and beverage companies are doing to effectively manage their ammonia refrigeration system(s) from a mechanical, administrative, emergency preparedness and efficiency perspective.  Yes, a lot in one session for the most efficient and eco-friendly refrigerant on earth!

Speaker

Matt Gabris, EH3S and 2023 FBEC Conference Chair

Session 10: Wastewater

Chair: Mark Carlstrom, Hormel Foods

Co-Chair: Justin Olson, World Water Works

New Permit and New Limits – To Retrofit or To Replace – Jason Lindquist, Director Environmental Affairs, Smithfield Foods, Shane Reid, VP Operations, Reid Engineering, and Tony Urciuoli, Regional Sales Manager, Food and Beverage, Veolia

Building for sustainability – Lessons Learned from a Greenfield Distillery – Matt Patel, Founder, Aspen Distillers

Session 11: Sustainable Waste Management & Lessons Learned

Chair: Brett Whittleton,  TreeHouse Foods 

Co-Chair: Brian Kardos, Gannett Fleming

Depackaging Food and Beverage Waste: Diverting Difficult-to-Manage Waste Streams from Landfill –  Brittany Webb, Technical Engineer, Vanguard Renewables and Jason Lindquist, Regional Environmental Director, Smithfield Foods

Todd Boehne, PE, CSP, Director, Environmental Managements, Conagra Brands

Session 12: USEPA Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) Action 5.7/Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) – Water Reuse Opportunities in the Beverage Industry

Chair: Paul Bowen, Chair Emeritus – Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (A technical coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector)

Co-Chair: Peter Capponi, VP-Industrial & Manufacturing, GHD & Wrap Action 5.7 Leader

Water Reuse in the Beverage Industry represents significant sustainability opportunities and risk mitigation.  In addition to meeting Sustainability and ESG Goals in a water intensive business there is also opportunity for cost savings. Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) Action 5.7  was created to Identify Water Reuse Opportunities in the Beverage Industry. This Action is part of the USEPA Water Reuse Program whose mission is expand water reuse knowledge and incorporate water reuse as apart of a national resilient water strategy and the linked National WRAP that enables multistakeholder collaborations, technology development and tools and resources. The goals of WRAP Action 5.7 are to develop a white paper and associated action plan to further reuse. To complete these goals a series of meetings of food and beverage manufactures, water non-profits, regulatory bodies, technology companies and other stakeholders will be held to evaluate the opportunities and barriers to water reuse. Detailed evaluations of Regulatory, Treatment/Technology and Stakeholder issues are on-going as critical inputs to the white paper, including inputs from USEPA, Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Water Environment Foundation (WEF), WateReuse and others. This session represents and opportunity for attendees to provide input and then feedback on each of these primary topical areas and to be directly part of the white paper and the findings.

Speakers:

Norton Fogel, PE, Tech. Director, GHD & WRAP Action 5.7 Regulatory Subcommittee Chair

Tyler Abercrombie, Water Engineer, GHD & WRAP Action 5.7 Tech. Subcommittee Chair

Paul Bowen, PhD, Chair Emeritus BIER & WRAP Action 5.7 Stakeholder Engagement Subcommittee Chair