Speakers 2026

Michael Vickers

Executive Director

Summit Learning Systems

Michael Vickers inspires success! Michael redefines the possible for sales professionals, leaders, and managers. Whatever the sales or business opportunity, Michael will enhance the odds. Every person who has an idea to promote, a team to motivate, or a competitor to challenge will attain a new level of success after an event with Michael. Whatever result you are striving for, if it involves influencing others, or achieving success through others, Michael will build your confidence and accelerate your team's performance.

A popular speaker, consultant and educator, Michael coaches thousands of professionals across Canada and the United States, every year to grow individual and organizational performance. Summit Learning Systems, Michael's training organization, brings leading-edge strategies to clients in every sector of the North American economy.

Michael's success is completely grounded in and built on his personal experience. A consummate entrepreneur, Michael is a graduate of his own franchised retailing enterprise, a manufacturing and distribution company, and a highly successful publishing venture. A ceaseless innovator, Michael is constantly researching leading companies, searching for best practices, and distilling the experience of success, many of which can be found in his best-selling books entitled, "Becoming Preferred: How to Outsell Your Competition", and "Dance of the Rainmaker: Creating Authentic Differentiation in Today's Competitive Marketplace".

Michael also shares weekly insights as the host of the podcast, "Becoming Preferred," available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Michael's unique gift is his mastery of the art of influence, and his ability to translate that mastery into practical, powerful techniques anyone can use. His presentations are entertaining, intimate and unabashed. He is hilarious in his stories, boundless in his enthusiasm, and relentless in his message that success is available to everyone!

Zack Newton

Senior Director, Investments

Wittington Investments, Ltd

Zack is currently on the investment team at Wittington Investments, Ltd., the holding company for the Weston group of companies. At Wittington, one of his responsibilities includes the Made in Canada program which seeks to make equity or debt investments in companies or projects that improve Canadian food resiliency. Previously he held roles at organizations including Thomvest and Torys and he has served on several boards of directors.

He received a J.D./M.B.A. from the University of Toronto and a B.A. (Honors) from Cornell University. Zack has been actively involved with several community organizations, including as Vice Chair of Canada’s National Ballet School and as past Co-Chair of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s AGO Next program.

Kelly Dowson

Group Managing Director

F!S Group

Kelly Dowson is the Managing Director of F!S Group, leading a collective of innovation and consumer insight businesses that support growth across the food and beverage industry. With a background in food science and more than 15 years’ experience spanning foodservice, hospitality, retail, and manufacturing, she specialises in turning consumer behaviour and emerging trends into actionable strategies. Kelly is also an industry speaker, awards judge, and expert advisor on food and drink innovation and strategy.

Nestor Gomez

Founder and President

BrightLine Solutions

Nestor Gomez is the founder of BrightLine Solutions Inc., a New Brunswick based technology consulting and professional services firm focused on the agri-food sector. BrightLine Solutions helps food companies validate, pilot, adopt and enhance technology solutions that deliver clear value with minimal risk, while supporting a portfolio of foodtech SMEs and startups expanding into, or operating in, the food sector.

Nestor has over 20 years of experience in technology leadership, analytics, and digital transformation across food manufacturing, innovation networks, and associations. Previously, he held senior technology and innovation roles at McCain Foods and the Canadian Food Innovation Network, where he led digital manufacturing and data analytics initiatives and launched collaboration platforms.

His current work focuses on practical AI applications in the post-farm food sector, including manufacturing, quality checks, process monitoring, packaging, distribution, and food service. He helps organizations move from exploration to execution through clear use cases, change management, and measurable results.

Brett Casavant

CEO

C-Merak

For Brett, agriculture is a profession of execution and optimism. He believes people need to feel a connection to the land that feeds their body, mind, and soul.

Following university, Brett returned to the 4th generation family farm, expanding the operation by 400% and bringing new crop varieties such as faba beans into the Tisdale region. Today as CEO of C-Merak, Brett leads the farm’s growth in value added processing – connecting consumers to quality food ingredients from locally grown protein-rich crops. C-Merak manages every step of the process - sourcing directly from family farms, preparing and storing the feedstock in C-Merak’s grain terminal and creating ingredients in the brand-new state-of-art dry mill and fractionation facility. C-Merak’s portfolio includes our flagship FABAFuel Protein Concentrate and FABAFuel Flour. Simple, pure, all natural and 100% Saskatchewan – C-Merak’s ingredients are totally FABAlous!

Heather Huesison

Co-owner and Chief Operating Officer

Naturally Amped

Heather Huenison is the co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of Naturally Amped, a Saskatchewan-based fermented foods company that has experienced rapid growth by bringing traditionally fermented, gut-supportive foods into mainstream retail. With a background in engineering and an MBA, Heather brings a systems-driven approach to scaling food-as-medicine products within real-world agri-food constraints.

She leads operations, regulatory compliance, and strategic growth at Naturally Amped, overseeing CFIA licensing, ingredient sourcing, production scale-up, and multi-province retail expansion. As demand accelerated, Heather has been responsible for building the operational infrastructure, processes, and supply chains required to support growth while maintaining food safety, quality, and consumer trust.

Heather’s perspective on food as medicine is rooted in execution - how evidence-informed food systems move from concept to shelf, and how they can be produced efficiently, transparently, and at scale. She brings an in-the-trenches view of what it takes to make functional food viable with Canada’s food system.

Cameron Bergen

CEO

Mode40

Cameron Bergen is the founder and CEO of mode40 ltd., where he leads the team behind MAST, the world’s first agentic-AI Manufacturing Execution System (MES) platform built to turn real-time production data into measurable profit on the shop floor. With more than three decades dedicated to the agri-food sector, his career began hands-on in the field before advancing into senior roles at one of Canada’s largest food companies. There, he helped design a $150M processing facility that became central to the company’s growth into a leading exporter and ultimately supported a landmark $1B acquisition.

Over his career, Cameron has helped pioneer practical methods now used across North America to modernize manufacturing through AI, analytics, and Industry 4.0 execution systems. He is known for his grounded, common-sense approach with customers and partners. His standard is simple: the solution must adapt how plants truly operate and the data must prove its worth.

Katherine Ng

Principal Scientist

One.Bio

Katherine Ng is a Principal Data Scientist at One.Bio, a biotech spinout of University of California, Davis focused on creating highly soluble natural fibers that can selectively modulate human health. A microbiologist by training, Kat completed her PhD in Justin Sonnenburg's lab at Stanford University, where she studied antibiotic-mediated disruption of the gut microbiota. She performed postdoctoral work in KC Huang's lab at Stanford, studying the factors that influence recovery of the microbiota after perturbation, including diet. As a senior research associate in Carolina Tropini's lab at the University of British Columbia, Kat worked on understanding how single strain growth of bacteria under stress can be generalized to predicting larger community responses.

In her role as a principal data scientist, Kat has worked with the R&D team to characterize the compositional diversity of dietary fiber in our food systems, as well as to understand how different dietary fibers exert distinct effects on the gut microbiota, enabling the selection of fibers for specific health applications. She has also spearheaded numerous consumer research projects and worked on product development at One.Bio, providing a perspective on functional foods that is informed by basic science and consumer preferences.

Brooke Bulloch

Registered Dietitian & CEO

Food to Fit

Brooke is a Registered Dietitian and CEO at Food to Fit Nutrition. She earned a BSc in Nutrition from the University of Saskatchewan.

Brooke has been working in private practice since 2012, and today her practice includes 7 team dietitians and a social worker. With offices in both Saskatoon and Regina, Brooke and her team support clients in person and online throughout the province.

Brooke is an experienced media spokesperson and has been working with media since 2011. She is a recurring guest on CBC and CKOM radio and has been published in The Globe and Mail, Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Cottage Life Magazine, and Inside Fitness to name a few. Brooke Created content for Co-op Food’s Magazine and blog from 2019-2024. She delivered food, nutrition, and health messaging on Global and CTV Morning News for over 12 years.

Brooke is an advocate for health equity, social justice, and inclusive healthcare practices. She dedicates much of her time to learning, listening, and advocating for change.

As a working mom and business owner, Brooke values simplicity and sustainability in nutrition planning, along with a curious and flexible non-diet approach to food and eating.

Matt MacDonald

National Leader - Food & Beverage Processing

MNP

Matt is MNP’s National Leader of the Firm’s Food and Beverage Processing practice and a Business Advisor, Assurance and Accounting, in Mississauga. Matt proactively helps clients manage their business and set strategic goals for both their personal and professional futures. By leveraging his extensive experience working with family businesses and clients across multiple sectors, Matt helps his clients implement practical business advisory, tax, and accounting strategies, along with strong business fundamentals.

An active participant in the food and beverage processing industry and various associations across Canada, Matt brings more than 15 years of experience to his role as a trusted advisor.

Matt received an Honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) in political science and economics from McMaster University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in executive leadership and finance from Liberty University.

Matt has extensive board experience in both the private and not-for-profit sectors, most recently serving as a national director for Make-A-Wish Canada. He sits on the Oakville Chamber of Commerce board of directors.