Speakers

Featured in the book and Netflix documentary “Poisoned”, Bill Marler is one of the world’s foremost voices and attorneys in the field of foodborne illness and food safety.

As the founder and Managing Partner of Marler Clark, a Seattle-based law firm specializing in representing victims of foodborne illness outbreaks, Bill has been a driving force for change and accountability in the global food industry.

Over the past three decades, he has represented clients in some of the most high-profile foodborne illness cases in U.S. history, including the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, the 2006 Dole spinach outbreak, the 2011 Jensen Farms Listeria outbreak, and the 2018 romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak.

At the Aquatiq Food Forum, Bill will share key lessons from these landmark cases — and how industry, regulators, and consumers can work together to prevent future outbreaks.

Outside the courtroom, Bill is a passionate advocate for food safety reform, working closely with government agencies and industry leaders to strengthen global standards. His work has earned him numerous honors, including the Seattle University Distinguished Law Graduate and Professional Achievement Awards, as well as the Washington State Public Justice and Outstanding Lawyer Awards.

His story — told through the book and Netflix documentary “Poisoned” — continues to inspire a global movement for a stronger food safety culture.

Dr. John Donaghy is Global Head of Food Safety at Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, operating more than 300 factories across 75 countries.

During his 14 years at Nestlé, he has held key roles in microbiology, allergen management, and global HACCP development. In recent years, his focus has been on how data, digitalization, and new technology can strengthen risk management and enable more dynamic systems for food safety across Nestlé’s global operations.

With a research background from the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI) in Northern Ireland, where he led government- and EU-funded projects, John combines solid scientific expertise with extensive industrial experience. He is recognized for his professional integrity and his ability to translate science and data into practical solutions for factory operations.

John is also actively engaged in international forums addressing emerging risks, the link between sustainability and food safety, and the need for harmonized standards in global value chains.

At the Aquatiq Food Forum, he will share insights from Nestlé’s factory network – what works, what doesn’t, and how to build robust systems for food safety and continuous improvement.

How do you build one shared culture across four countries – each with its own rules, habits, and traditions?

At Aquatiq Food Forum, Madelene Weistrand will share insights from McDonald’s journey toward a unified Nordic structure and culture for food safety.

As Nordic Food Safety & Quality Lead at Food Folk Nordic, Madelene is responsible for ensuring food safety and quality from farm to fork across the company that operates more than 490 McDonald’s restaurants in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

With a PhD in Chemistry and broad experience in food science and quality systems, she has dedicated her career to advancing food safety and quality within the Nordic food industry. Her previous leadership roles include Quality Manager at Aryzta Nordics, Quality and Environmental Manager at Lantmännen Unibake Sweden, and Lead Auditor at DNV, where she specialised in BRC and FSSC 22000 standards.

Madelene combines deep technical expertise across the entire value chain with a strong commitment to collaboration, culture, and competence – offering a unique perspective on what it takes to deliver safe food, every day, everywhere.

Pellegrino Riccardi is an award-winning TEDx speaker and a leading expert on culture, communication, and human relationships. For nearly four decades, he has dedicated his career to exploring what it truly means to be human – and what makes people work well together.

Pellegrino first joined the Aquatiq Food Forum in 2018, where his talk “Leadership in a Multicultural World” became one of the event’s highlights. After great success then, he is finally back – this time with a brand-new topic and fresh perspectives. Those looking forward to something extraordinary will not be disappointed!

Throughout his career, Pellegrino has delivered talks, workshops, and training for audiences across both the public and private sectors – including some of the world’s most recognized brands. Known for making complex ideas simple and engaging, he avoids jargon and “fluff,” focusing instead on clear, memorable insights that stick.

Holding Master’s degrees from the University of Leeds and the University of Oslo, and with additional qualifications in psychology, NLP, and pedagogy, Pellegrino combines strong academic grounding with humor, energy, and genuine human insight.

His presentations are a unique blend of humor and depth. With fearless honesty and an engaging style, Pellegrino challenges audiences to reflect on their own communication, culture, and behavior – and to rediscover what it truly means to be human.

Hilde Talseth is CEO of Norsk Kylling. She leads a company that, in a short period of time, has achieved significant improvements in animal welfare, climate and environmental performance. Over the past ten years, Norsk Kylling has changed its chicken breed, reduced mortality rates and implemented several major improvements.

Hilde is committed to how learning and collaboration across the food industry are essential for achieving better animal welfare and improved climate and environmental outcomes.

Gunnar Andreas Aarvold is Plant Director at Norsk Kylling. With a background as a mechanical engineer and a strong foundation in continuous improvement, he first became involved with chicken production during the construction of the new factory and has since played a key role in developing the operations.

He has a strong passion for building culture and is committed to how culture is essential for succeeding with safety, food safety and continuous improvement in practice.

Stian Johnsen is Special Envoy for Food Production at the Norwegian Delegation to the EU in Brussels. He closely follows EU regulatory developments in food and veterinary policy, including food safety, inputs (feed, seeds, plant protection products and fertilizers), animal and plant health, animal welfare and organic production.

His core mission is to ensure that Norway fully utilizes the opportunities within the EEA Agreement and that EU legislation is shaped and implemented in ways that reflect Norwegian interests. He holds a Master’s degree in Fish Health from the University of Tromsø and has experience from the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, the European Commission, and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), where he contributed to the development and implementation of the global aquatic animal health strategy and worked on One Health initiatives.

In his presentation, he provides a strategic perspective on the EU’s shift from sustainability to competitiveness – and what this means in practice for Norwegian food industry stakeholders and their room for manoeuvre under the EEA framework.

Anders Thorheim is Section Manager for Societal Security and Emergency Preparedness at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s head office. He works to ensure that the organisation is prepared to prevent and manage incidents across the full crisis spectrum, and to strengthen cross-sector collaboration to enhance the resilience of Norway’s food and water production – including within the framework of Norway’s total defence concept. Thorheim has broad experience in security and emergency preparedness, including roles within the defence sector and humanitarian work, with responsibilities in preparedness leadership and operational crisis management. In his presentation, he addresses how a more complex risk and threat landscape affects the food industry – and the expectations this places on leadership, collaboration and preparedness in practice.

Coop is leading a technological shift in the food industry with a fully automated salad factory and vertical farming without soil and with minimal climate impact. This is more than new technology — it represents a new way of thinking about food safety, sustainability, efficiency and competitiveness.

At Food Forum, Hege will share how innovation can create smarter and more resilient value chains, ensure quality for consumers, and contribute to strengthened national food security.

Hege Berg-Knutsen has 25 years of experience within Coop and has held senior leadership roles in procurement, category management, private label development and product assurance — both in Norway and across the Nordic region. Since 2018, she has served as CEO of Coop Norway Industry, after several years leading Coop’s strategic private label initiatives.

Coop Norway Industry is one of Coop’s largest suppliers, operating 14 production facilities that deliver a broad portfolio of products including bakery goods, salads and vegetables, juices, jams and berries, as well as seafood and shellfish products. Innovation and development are core priorities for the company, with the Himmelgrønt initiative representing one of its most significant investments.

Nils Kuehnel is Managing Director and CTO for the Fish Division at BAADER. He holds a Master of Science in Engineering and has more than 20 years of experience in engineering, production and business development across industries including maritime, oil and gas, and the food industry.

He has been part of BAADER for more than seven years and, since June 2024, has been responsible for leading innovation and the further development of the company’s solutions within fish processing.

Kuehnel has extensive experience in project management, research and development, as well as service and aftermarket operations.

Randi Nordstoga Haldorsen is Group Technical Manager Food Safety & Quality at Mowi ASA. She has extensive experience within the seafood industry, working with food safety, quality management and continuous improvement across processing operations.

In her role, she is responsible for developing and implementing standards and solutions that strengthen food safety and operational performance across Mowi’s global operations.

Haldorsen brings strong hands-on experience from industrial environments, with a particular focus on how practical implementation and technology can deliver measurable improvements in hygiene, resource efficiency and production stability. She will present results from practical implementation and how new solutions improve hygiene, efficiency and sustainability.

Ane Simonsen is Head of Sustainable Value Chains at NorgesGruppen. Over the past seven years, she has worked with quality, environmental management and sustainability within the group, playing a central role in the development and implementation of NorgesGruppen’s packaging strategy – including the implementation of the new EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and the follow-up of the group’s targets on recyclability and plastic reduction.

In her role, she works closely with interpreting and operationalising the new regulatory requirements, assessing how stricter demands for recyclability, reuse, chemical safety and packaging design can be translated into practical priorities – both in dialogue with suppliers and in NorgesGruppen’s own packaging portfolio.

In her presentation, she will share how the regulation is interpreted and translated into concrete requirements and expectations. What does this mean for suppliers? What dilemmas arise when sustainability, food safety and practical feasibility intersect? And what should be in place already now to be better prepared for what lies ahead?

Ane holds a degree in Biology and Environmental Toxicology from NTNU, with strong expertise in plastics, hazardous substances and chemical safety.

Cathrine Signe Svindland is a veterinarian working at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s head office, where she is involved in regulatory development, interpretation of regulations, guidance and communication related to microbiological food safety. She has particular experience with issues related to Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods.

In the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s presentation, a brief introduction will be given to the new regulations on Listeria in ready-to-eat foods and what businesses will need to consider going forward. The main focus, however, will be on how the Norwegian Food Safety Authority will follow up the regulations in practice through inspections, what types of assessments are made, and which areas businesses should have particularly strong control over.

Paw Dalgaard is Professor of Predictive Food Microbiology at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), National Food Institute (DTU Food). For more than 30 years, he has conducted research on microbiological safety and quality of fresh and lightly preserved foods, particularly seafood and dairy products.

His work focuses on developing predictive models and risk-based strategies to determine, predict and improve food safety and shelf life. His research includes pathogens and spoilage organisms such as Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium botulinum, histamine-producing bacteria and Bacillus cereus.

Professor Dalgaard and his team developed the widely used Food Spoilage & Safety Predictor (FSSP) software, supporting the practical application of predictive microbiology in food production environments.

In his presentation, “Listeria monocytogenes and listeriosis – effective interventions”, he will present science-based and practical approaches to managing Listeria risk, combining predictive modelling with real-world processing conditions and product characteristics.

What happens when a former criminal hacker and an experienced security expert take the stage together?

The result is one of the country’s most engaging and popular presentations on how digital attacks actually happen – and why they succeed. Live Hacking – Serious and humorous in the very same sentence.

Eddie Strandengen brings more than 25 years of experience in IT security and business development. Having worked closely with over 300 IT partners, he is known for his ability to make cybersecurity relevant and understandable for executives and decision-makers.

Marius Jordet has a unique background as a former criminal hacker. Today, he works as an ethical hacker, conducting penetration tests, Red Team exercises, and vulnerability assessments. His experience provides rare insight into how attackers truly think, plan, and exploit both human and technical weaknesses.

Together, they combine strategic leadership perspective with hands-on offensive expertise. Through live hacking demonstrations, real stories, and humor, the audience gains both a wake-up call and practical actions they can take back to their own organization.

This is not theory. It is reality – explained in a way that both engages and challenges.

Lukas Ogenvall is Senior Advisor – Hygienic Engineering at Aquatiq. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Product and Innovation Management and has more than 15 years of experience in project management from companies including Aquatiq, ÅF, APV/SPX and Advancia. Through this, he has developed strong expertise in project management and hygienic process design.

Ogenvall has played a central role in the development of the Closed Cleaning Concept and has been a key contributor to the BioDry innovation project. His work has focused on developing technology to reduce bacterial growth and biofilm formation on critical processing equipment in the food industry.

The objective of this work is to contribute to safer food, reduced food waste and lower production costs, while also reducing environmental impact.

Heidi Camilla Sagen Ohren is Head of Food Technology & Aquaculture at Aquatiq. She holds a Master’s degree in Food Safety and has developed strong expertise in microbiology through many years of experience in the laboratory sector, both as a manager and technical specialist.

Heidi is actively involved in R&D projects and incident response related to Listeria and other microorganisms, and also works as a senior consultant supporting the food industry.

She has played a key role in the BioDry project from start to finish, leading the work on behalf of Aquatiq, including technology development, validation and testing in real industrial environments.

Thomas Henschien is an experienced host and debate moderator with a solid background in Norwegian business, media, and cultural sectors.

As a journalist and former news anchor at TV2 Nyhetene (news), he has covered major international events, including the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and played a key role in developing TV2 Nyhetskanalen (news canal), which he led from 2006 to 2011.

With academic training in both economics and journalism, and professional experience from NBC in the USA, TVNorge, and several leadership roles in Norwegian industry, Henschien combines professional communication skills with strategic insight. He has led major international conferences, panel debates, and webinars for many years.

At Aquatiq Food Forum, he brings precisely this blend of journalistic curiosity, stage confidence, and the ability to create flow and connection throughout the program. Henschien is particularly known for asking the right questions, highlighting the essence of complex topics, and tying together diverse themes in an engaging and professional manner – making him the perfect host for this year’s forum.

Eirik Bugge is the CEO of the Aquatiq Group, an international company dedicated to knowledge, technology, and solutions for safe food and clean water.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, specializing in Management and Finance, and took over as CEO from his father, Elvin Bugge, who founded the company.

At this year’s conference, Eirik welcomes the participants and sets the tone for the event. With his background and experience, he continues to lead Aquatiq forward with a strong emphasis on innovation, collaboration, and sustainable growth.