Below you’ll find information about some of the speakers you’ll see at PSCC 2019. To see the full program, click here.
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Stéfane Marion
Stéfane Marion is Chief Economist and Strategist for National Bank of Canada and National Bank Financial, a position he has held since November 2008. In 2018, Mr. Marion was ranked the leading economist in Canada according to Brendan Wood International.
In 2012, the C.D. Howe Institute appointed Mr. Marion to its Monetary Policy Council and to the newly established Business Cycle Council. He also sits on National Bank Pension Committee.
Mr. Marion joined NBF’s Economics Group in 1999. Previously, Mr. Marion worked for several years in the federal departments of Finance and Industry in Ottawa, where, in addition to economic analysis and forecasting, he also worked on microeconomic policy impact studies. In particular, he participated in the development of forecasting models and the analysis of the FTA and NAFTA free-trade agreements with the United States and Mexico.
Mr. Marion holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Université de Montréal.
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Sylvain Charlebois
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. He is as well the former Dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. While at the University of Guelph, he was also the Associate Dean of Research for the College of Business and Economics.
Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. He is one of the world’s most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.
He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.
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Samara Foisy
Samara Foisy is a director of product development for Loblaw Brands. She holds a Master of Health Science in Community Nutrition from the University of Toronto and is also a registered dietitian. At Loblaw Samara has held both nutrition and product development roles. Her previous experience resides with non-governmental associations such as Health Check, and Eat Smart! at the Nutrition Resource Centre where she managed their implementation at the provincial level. Over the last 13 years Samara has worked with a variety of industry, government and public health stakeholders who are committed to improving the health of Ontarians. In her spare time Samara enjoys spending time with her daughter, cooking, and collecting wine.
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Chuck Penner
Chuck Penner started LeftField Commodity Research in 2010 to provide market analysis and economic research for Canadian agricultural markets, with weekly newsletters covering small grains, special crops and oilseeds. Chuck grew up on a farm in Manitoba’s Red River Valley and has nearly 30 years in the Canadian grain business, including 15 years in various roles at United Grain Growers and Agricore United, followed by 5 years at Informa Economics as Senior Consultant.
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Cindy Brown
Cindy Brown is co-owner and President of Chippewa Valley Bean & Doane, Ltd, a family-owned agribusiness that grows, processes and markets dark, light red and white kidney beans. Cindy served as a member of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Board for Wisconsin and as President of the US Dry Bean Council and is currently the President of the Global Pulse Confederation (GPC) and is the Chair of GPC’s World Pulse Day Committee. Cindy’s focus and passion is to continue the Chippewa Valley legacy of quality bean production and to promote pulses as the near perfect food for consumers throughout the world.
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Neil Townsend
Neil Townsend acquired his Masters of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Manitoba in 2002. He has spent his career writing market commentary for farmers over the last twenty years through his work with CWB, Cargill, G3 and his current role as Chief Market Analyst at FarmLink Solutions. Neil’s explorations of insights from around the world took him to live and work with farmers in Thailand for three years to see global impacts first hand. He now resides in Winnipeg with his wife and three sons.
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Marlene Boersch
Marlene has been actively involved the agriculture industry in Canada since obtaining her Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan in 1983. She traded and exported Canadian commodities (including pulses) internationally for 20 years. In 2003, Marlene co-founded Mercantile Consulting Venture, a professional services company specializing in private label market intelligence, risk management solutions, and project consulting. The company has grown to be active in Canada, Australia and the EU. More detail is accessible at www.mercantileventure.com.
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Jonathon Driedger
Jonathon Driedger is a Senior Market Analyst with FarmLink Marketing Solutions, where he has worked for the past 12 years. Prior to joining FarmLink he worked as an economist for the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange, a Commodity Risk Management consultant with a major U.S.-based brokerage firm, and as a nutritionist in the livestock feed industry. Jon attended the University of Manitoba where he obtained a BSc in Agribusiness and an MSc in Agricultural Economics. Recently Jon has been a returning guest on BNN Bloomberg, providing context to Canadian agricultural markets. Jon grew up in Grunthal, Manitoba, where he still resides with his wife and three daughters.
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Carl Potts
Carl Potts is Executive Director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG), working on behalf of 15,000 pulse producers in Saskatchewan. SPG’s mission is to provide leadership and create opportunities for profitable growth in the Saskatchewan pulse industry. Carl is responsible for providing strategic leadership to the organization and overseeing a team of professionals that undertake SPG’s work in the areas of research, market development and communications. Carl has nearly 20 years of experience in the grain industry in the areas of international market development, market access, trade policy and government and industry relations. Prior to joining SPG in 2011, Carl served as the Director of Market Access and Trade Policy and Director of Market Development with Pulse Canada.