2017 Illinois Food Safety Symposium Speakers
Robert Brackett, Ph.D.
As IFSH Director, Dr. Brackett is responsible for management of the institute and will continue to improve its stature as a national and international leader in the fields of food safety and nutrition science. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Brackett served for three years as Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer with the Grocery Manufacturers Association in Washington, DC. Dr. Brackett also served as Director of the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA CFSAN), where he provided executive leadership to the Center’s development and implementation of programs and policies relative to the composition, quality, safety, and labeling of foods, food and color additives, dietary supplements and cosmetics.
Jessica McAnelly
Jessica McAnelly received her degree in Biology from Blackburn University and obtained her Licensed Environmental Health Practitioner certification. She has been in public health for 20 years, working in Environmental Health Divisions within three local health departments and most recently for the Illinois Department of Public Health as Division Chief of Food, Drugs and Dairies. Jessica likes training and conference planning, working with the public, and has always been dedicated to food safety programs within public health. She enjoys music and animals and lives with her husband, two sons and daughter.
Laurie Jahn, LEHP, MPA
Laurie Jahn is a Senior Specialist for the Lake County Health Department. She is a Licensed Environmental Health Practitioner and has her master’s degree in public administration from University of Michigan. She received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Health from Illinois State University. Currently at Lake County, she is responsible for working with management in addressing ongoing issues to develop solutions with training, technology and quality improvement, with an emphasis in the food program. She was previously employed by TPC/PFG as the Training Manager where she certified all the sales staff in Food Service Manager Certification. In addition to TPC/PFG she has also worked for the Oakland County Health Department as a Senior Sanitarian and Medline as the Training Manager. Her experience in human resources and public health has given her the opportunity to broaden her career while maintaining a focus in training and development.
William Weissinger
Mr. William (Bill) Weissinger is the director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Chicago office as well as the director of the regional human and animal food inspection program. The FDA Chicago District Office coordinates civil regulatory actions in the State of Illinois including inspections, investigations, emergency response, recall audits, and complaint handling. Products covered include drugs, medical devices, imported products, biologics, human and animal food, and clinical trials.. Mr. Weissinger previously served as deputy district director where he assisted with day-to-day management of all district operations, both crisis-oriented and routine. He also supervised the district’s emergency response functions and facilitated integration with state and local health departments though partnership and contracts. Mr. Weissinger was also an investigator with the Chicago District Office and a Quality Control Manager for Vandervoort’s Dairy in Ft. Worth, TX. He received his B.S. in biology from Purdue University in 1997 and his M.S. from the University of Georgia in 2000 where he specialized in food microbiology.
Eric F. Greenberg
Eric F. Greenberg is Principal Attorney of the law firm Eric F. Greenberg, P.C., with a practice concentrated in food and drug law, packaging law, and commercial litigation.
His food and drug work has included regulatory counseling, label and claims review, new product development, GRAS and food contact materials evaluations and clearances, negotiations with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state agencies, handling recalls, and defending enforcement actions.
He and his firm counsel a wide range of consumer product companies, packaging manufacturers and others on regulatory and labeling requirements, and handle related contractual and litigation matters.
In addition to his law practice, Eric is a member of the Adjunct Faculty of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he teaches Food and Drug Law and Administrative Law, and Michigan State University School of Packaging, where he teaches Packaging Law and Regulation.
Eric wrote the book, Guide to Packaging Law, the Second Edition of which was published in October 2007. He serves as Legal Editor and monthly legal columnist for Packaging World Magazine. Eric has served as General Counsel of the Contract Packaging Association for over 15 years.
His firm is based in Chicago and represents clients based all over the world.
Bar Admissions include:
State of Illinois
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit
Education:
Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York 1983
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 1980 - Major: Anthropology
Dave Park
In 2001, Park launched his own food safety and food defense consulting business, Food-Defense, LLC, near Washington, DC. Park and currently assists industry clients with FDA and USDA-FSIS process authority services, including activities involving thermal and non-thermal preservation technologies which comply with FDA and USDA-FSIS low-acid and acidified canned food GMP regulations. While at TechniCAL, Inc. in New Orleans, LA, Park co-developed the industry application and market-launch of NumeriCALTM, the worlds’ first and, today, most widely used finite-difference heat transfer model for complex thermal processing calculations and also co-developed the first commercially introduced FDA & USDA-FSIS-accepted automated PC-control system for retort sterilization (LOG-TECTM). While at John Bean Technologies (JBT) in Madera, CA, Park managed their process authority and process development laboratory activities and later became a Technical Fellow serving on the FMC FoodTech Global Technology Council. Park co-founded the Institute of Thermal Processing Specialists (IFTPS). Park currently serves as an industry instructor for the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) Better Process Control Schools, the U of MD Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) International Training Programs and U of MD Food Nutrition and Food Science Department. Park is an FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Foods (PCHF) Lead Instructor, and holds an appointment as an Adjunct Expert for the Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI) at the University of Minnesota in 2016. Park has received the National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) Honorary Doctorate of Food Service Award, the U.S. Army Civilian Patriotic Service Award and Purdue University Outstanding Food Science Alumni Award. Park received a food science degree from Purdue University and is a Lifetime Member of Phi Tau Sigma Food Science Honorary and was elected as an Alternate Councilor-At-Large in 2016.
Jeffery H. Newey
Jeff Newey was appointed Manager of Deseret Transportation in February 2013. Deseret Transportation is the private fleet of the Welfare Services department of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The fleet provides transportation services in support of the Church’s charitable efforts to care for the poor and needy throughout the United States and Canada.
Jeff also serves on the board of directors for the Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference (AFTC), which is the national organization representing motor carriers and allied members of the American Trucking Associations on critical issues affecting agricultural commodity and food transportation. The AFTC was a major voice for the transportation industry during the writing of the sanitary transportation of human and animal food rule.
Prior to his assignment as Manager of Deseret Transportation, Jeff served in various positions in Welfare Services, including supervision of the department’s food quality assurance program.
Prior to joining employment with the LDS Church, Jeff served a 22-year career in the U.S. Army as an Armor officer and retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Among his assignments in the Army, Jeff served in a variety of positions in armor and infantry units; in research and development of advanced night vision, robotics, and command communication systems; and at the Pentagon in the office of the Inspector General of the Army.
After his retirement from the U.S. Army, Jeff worked in commercial trucking before joining Welfare Services.
Jeff and his wife Suzanne have been blessed with 5 children and 11 grandchildren.
Matthew Botos
Matthew Botos is the CEO and Co-Founder of ConnectFood. ConnectFood (https://connectfood.com) offers a step-by-step, “Do-It-Yourself” food safety plan generator to help companies comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act and On-Demand plan reviews from a national network of food experts.
Matthew Botos is the former Director of the Illinois Center for Food Safety and Technology, a non-profit consortium of Illinois food companies, regulatory personnel and academics focused on food safety and the advancement of science and technology for both local and global food sources. As Director, Mr. Botos managed and administered statewide outreach programs involving the training and education of industry, regulatory, and academic institutions.
Mr. Botos is currently on the Food Safety and Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) International Subcommittee. He is also one of a few approved instructors of the FSPCA Lead Instructor program launched in October 2015 and has taught over 800 of the nation’s leading food safety experts.
Mr. Botos is a former officer at The Institute of Food Technologist, a member of a business advisory board for The Civilian Research and Development Foundation, a member of the Illinois Agricultural Task Force, has had an appointment as a scientific advisor for the Department of Energy, and was Senior Advisor for the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition.
Mr. Botos brings extensive experience in aseptic manufacturing and extended shelf-life products, packaging products, and heat exchanger systems. He continues to work with food and life science companies to adapt to the ever changing landscape of new processing technologies and the challenge of adhering to Good Manufacturing Practices to combat both intentional and unintentional food supply contamination. Mr. Botos was also a participant in several government sponsored initiatives that included international programs for-and-with the USDA and USAID specific to the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Botos received his Bachelors of Science in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue University with an emphasis in thermodynamics and kinetic modeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.
Tanesia Cole
Tanesia Cole is the Food Regulatory Operations Manager for US Foods. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and her MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. She’s responsible for managing the regulatory activity at USF distribution centers, providing training for new regulatory requirements or updates, and ensuring the recall program is executed effectively. Tanesia started her career in food and beverages with PepsiCo. She worked in various quality and process improvement roles, some of which involved managing and implementing HACCP systems, performing cost study analysis, and new product startups. She also has experience in the meat processing industry where she implemented statistical process control systems, worked as the quality SME for new facility startup, and performed internal audits for sites in the US and Taiwan. During this time she decided to enhance her process improvement knowledge and obtained a Six Sigma Green Belt certification from Purdue University. She enjoys watching football and basketball and spending time with her family.
Chris Metz
Chris Metz is the Chief Technology Officer of ConnectFood.
Mr. Metz was a Principal Software Engineer in Argonne National Laboratory’s Global Security Sciences Division (GSS). Mr. Metz managed, designed, and developed emergency response planning and exercise software for the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (DHS/FEMA) and the United States Army’s Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. Co-invented five copyrights recognized by the Department of Energy, including such projects as the Virtual Community Platform, Sync Matrix Enterprise, and the Virtual Business Emergency Operation Center (https://www.onvcp.org/iema). Mr. Metz was an 2015 Research & Development 100 magazine award finalist for the invention of the Virtual Community Platform.
Deployed across the U.S., these enterprise systems enabled collaboration, communication, community, and coordination of real time data and people to support thousands of emergency management first responders, over 900 unique organizations, and some of the U.S. based largest private sector companies in some of the largest disasters in U.S. history such as Hurricane Irene and Sandy. Over the lifetime of these projects, managed over $10 million in Federal and State funding and on average, an annual team of twelve people.
Mr. Metz received his B.A. in Marketing and Operational Management from the University of Kentucky. He also holds an M.S. in Software Engineering and an M.S. in E-Commerce Technologies from DePaul University.
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