Ranjana Choudhry is the SVP of Media and Data Platforms at Inmar Intelligence, a billion-dollar 
MarTech organization that uses data science and technology to deliver innovative solutions for 
brands, retailers, and healthcare organizations. Previously, she served as VP of Advertising and 
Social Media at Wakefern Food Corp, a $19 billion retail cooperative, where she spearheaded 
marketing and digital content strategies, iconic promotions, and multi-channel campaigns. 
With over 25 years of global marketing and communications expertise, Ranjana began her career 
at Grey Advertising. While at WPP, she led over 400 team members across 220 countries, 
driving Colgate-Palmolive’s brand strategies in regions spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, and the 
Americas. 
 
Ranjana also shares her expertise as an adjunct professor at NYU SPS, teaching Integrated 
Marketing and Digital Strategy to future marketers. 

Doug Baker is the vice president of industry relations at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), a leading trade group for the grocery sector. He assists FMI's member communities in growing and thriving in various domains, such as private brands, technology, supply chain, and asset protection. He leads the Asset Protection Council, which strives to reduce merchandise loss and establish safe and healthy stores and workplaces, as well as the Technology Leadership Council, Supply Chain Council, Private Brands Council, and cross-industry efforts focused on transparency and data accuracy. Doug has more than 35 years of experience in food retail, working with Fry's Food Stores, Kraft/Nabisco, and Federated Foods in roles related to retail operations, consumer packaged goods, and private brand creation and marketing. 

In her role as the Vice President of Resource Development and Partnerships, Laura provides leadership, influences strategic direction, plans and executes national events, identifies, and generates resources to support the JA Area network, including external constituents and local JA Area staff. Her work focuses on developing high quality and sustainable relationships with corporate and association/organization partners to increase the quantity, diversity, and quality of JA partners. Additionally, Laura works cross functionally to ensure a positive JA experience by all stakeholders that will increase the connection to Junior Achievement with the goal of strengthening commitments and developing advocates. Laura has been with the Junior Achievement organization since 2006 working both at the local JA Area level and in various roles with the National office. 

David Fikes is the Executive Director of the FMI Foundation, which has the mission of supporting the food industry through a focus on research and education in the areas of food safety and health and well-being. His position allows him to act upon his conviction that humans have a right to safe food and consumers have a right to clear information and viable choices. 

Formerly, David served as FMI's Vice President for Communication and Consumer/Community Relations and before joining FMI he was the Director of Communication for the American Frozen Food Institute. Prior to entering the world of food trade associations, he worked for 20 years as an Episcopal priest, serving parishes in Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.  

He and his wife, Lisa, are the proud parents of Harper whose soccer skills have now exceeded those of her Dad. 

Banks Baker is Senior Director of New Product Strategy for PIC, a global animal genetics and biotechnology company.  He is responsible for the global introduction and launch of one of the first gene edits for commercial livestock, a pig that is resistant to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus.  

Banks supports genetic improvement and gene editing as a way to continually improve animal agriculture and provide holistic benefits across the value chain, including improved animal welfare, reduced environmental impact, and more efficient protein production.  

Previously, Banks led protein sustainability for McDonald’s USA, creating and implementing greenhouse gas reduction strategies and managing animal health and welfare commitments and antibiotic policies.   

Prior to McDonald’s Banks established a regenerative agriculture research department for a private operating non-profit foundation and managed farms and ranches across the United States.   

Banks has an undergraduate business degree from Warren Wilson College and holds master’s degrees in agriculture and business from Colorado State University and The University of Notre Dame. 

David Fikes is the Executive Director of the FMI Foundation, which has the mission of supporting the food industry through a focus on research and education in the areas of food safety and health and well-being. His position allows him to act upon his conviction that humans have a right to safe food and consumers have a right to clear information and viable choices. 

Formerly, David served as FMI's Vice President for Communication and Consumer/Community Relations and before joining FMI he was the Director of Communication for the American Frozen Food Institute. Prior to entering the world of food trade associations, he worked for 20 years as an Episcopal priest, serving parishes in Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.  

He and his wife, Lisa, are the proud parents of Harper whose soccer skills have now exceeded those of her Dad. 

David Fikes is the Executive Director of the FMI Foundation, which has the mission of supporting the food industry through a focus on research and education in the areas of food safety and health and well-being. His position allows him to act upon his conviction that humans have a right to safe food and consumers have a right to clear information and viable choices. 

Formerly, David served as FMI's Vice President for Communication and Consumer/Community Relations and before joining FMI he was the Director of Communication for the American Frozen Food Institute. Prior to entering the world of food trade associations, he worked for 20 years as an Episcopal priest, serving parishes in Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.  

He and his wife, Lisa, are the proud parents of Harper whose soccer skills have now exceeded those of her Dad. 

Krystal Register, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND is the Vice President of Health and Well-being at FMI - The Food Industry Association. She is responsible for overall leadership, strategic planning and execution of nutrition, health and well-being activities and initiatives at FMI. She serves as the lead coordinator and subject matter expert for nutrition policy, programs, operations, and communication issues across the food industry for FMI members, industry partners and community collaborators. Krystal is committed to connecting the science of food and nutrition to improved public health. 

Prior to joining FMI, Krystal was a food retail dietitian with Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. for twelve years and made significant contributions to company-wide wellness programs, consumer health messaging, employee wellness, community events, and media response. Krystal’s background includes environmental and nutrition science studies with degrees from the College of William and Mary and James Madison University, with both clinical nutrition and personal coaching professional experience. 

Krystal currently serves as Chair of the Food & Culinary Professionals (FCP) Dietetic Practice Group with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is an Academy Fellow.  She has served for many years with FCP as Supermarket/Retail Subgroup Chair, Treasurer, and Membership Chair. She also served as mentor to the Academy Foundation Nutrition in Food Retail Program Development Fellow, and contributes to many advisory committees, including the Portion Balance Coalition, USDA’s MyPlate National Strategic Partnership, and the National Fruit & Vegetable Consumption Coalition.  

Leslie G. Sarasin is the President and CEO of FMI – The Food Industry Association. Under her leadership, FMI has become a member-centered organization, helping food retailing venues find innovative ways to feed families and enrich lives. Before joining FMI 16 years ago, Sarasin was the president and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute. She holds a JD from the University of San Diego and a BA in economics from Smith College. 

 Sarasin is admitted to practice law in California and the District of Columbia. She serves on the Boards of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Partnership for a Healthier America, and the Congressional Hunger Center. She is also involved with the National Association of Manufacturers and the International Women’s Forum of Washington, D.C. and serves on the Business Advisory Council of Western Kentucky University’s Gordon Ford School of Business. 

 Sarasin has been recognized multiple times as a Progressive Grocer “Top Women in Grocery” and among Mass Market Retailer’s “Most Influential Women.” She received the Hospitality Good Scout Award in 2019 and was named “Association CEO of the Year” by CEO Update in 2021. 

Jennifer's passion for the value of community and business associations has deep roots, emanating from her family's ownership of three diverse small businesses in her native Knoxville, Tennessee.  Here she experienced the valued camaraderie, creativity and the positive impact of trade associations -- goals she has sought to achieve throughout her professional career. 

 Jennifer serves as Chief Public Policy Officer for FMI - the Food Industry Association overseeing FMI’s federal, state and regulatory efforts on public policy, legislative and political issues impacting the food industry. Jennifer has supported the expansion and growing complexity of the association for the past two decades that now includes retail, wholesale and manufacturing operations reflecting the full spectrum of the supply chain.  She has been involved in leading successful advocacy efforts to reform the debit card marketplace; legislate and implement the Food Safety Modernization Act; and to preserve the confidentiality of business data via a U.S. Supreme Court case, FMI v. Argus Leader.  

Jennifer has been recognized by the industry as a Top Woman in Grocery, 2016; and as one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists, 2020, 2021.  She was recognized in 2022 as Association Lobbyist of the Year by CEO Update. 

 Previously, Jennifer served as Chief of Staff to United States Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL), later Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee; Special Assistant and White House Liaison at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during President George H.W. Bush’s Administration; and a White House intern during President Ronald Reagan’s Administration. Jennifer has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Communication from Vanderbilt University and a master’s in Government from Johns Hopkins University. 

In her volunteer work, Jennifer is immediate past Chair of the Board of the Friends of the National Arboretum (2019-2021), charting a successful path for growth for the organization during an incredibly challenging time for non-profits. She is also a member of the DC Board of Directors of Common Threads providing children and families cooking and nutrition education.  

Steve Markenson leads FMI’s research & insights practice. Markenson is a market research executive with 30 years of progressive experience in his field – from research assistant to president of a full-service national market research firm – and his diverse experience includes research design, information/data collection and analysis and strategic planning. 

In his role at FMI, Markenson oversees the research & insights practice at FMI, specifically the study design, survey fielding and efforts with outside knowledge partners and FMI subject matter experts. He leads the discovery process on the latest industry trends and operational insights that champion FMI as a credible voice of the food retail industry.  

Colin is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Leicester, where he is a guest lecturer and a member of the School of Criminology external advisory board. For the last 25 years, he has lead ECR Retail Loss, a platform for collaboration that seeks to find new imaginative ways to tackle the problem of retail loss through collaboration. Over 400 retailers and CPG’s participate in the group’s activities that include commissioning and publishing new research projects, regular in-person and online meetings and Innovation Challenges. Prior to this role, Colin worked for the Procter & Gamble company for 30 years, in UK, European and Global positions in Marketing, Customer Development, Brand Protection and Retail Store Execution.  

Colin has published multiple papers and articles on retail loss, including articles in the Harvard Business Review. In 2009, he co-authored a book entitled: New Loss Prevention: Redefining Shrinkage Management, published by Palgrave Macmillan. 

Andrew S. Harig currently serves as Vice President, Tax, Trade, Sustainability & Policy Development at FMI-The Food Industry Association. In this position, he is responsible for lobbying Congress and the Administration on behalf of FMI members, with a primary focus on agriculture, taxes, trade, sustainability, food waste, and pensions. 

Prior to joining FMI, Andy was an associate trade advisor and speechwriter for the Senate Finance Committee under its Chairman, Max Baucus (D-MT).  From 1999-2001, he was the senior research associate for the Global Economic Policy Project at the New America Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank. Andy holds a B.A. from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. from DePaul University in Chicago, IL.cago, IL.

Ricky Volpe received his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis in 2010. He then spent four years working as an economist at the USDA Economic Research Service in Washington DC. There he researched a variety of topics, including food price formation, competitiveness in the food industry, and the healthiness of grocery purchases in the U.S. Ricky was also responsible for forecasting retail food price inflation at the national level. 

Now at Cal Poly, Ricky teaches courses on food retail and supply chain management, transportation and logistics, and data analysis. He also maintains an active research agenda using a variety of large data sets to study issues related to market structure, firm performance, food prices, consumers’ food choices, and health outcomes. He also works closely with industry leaders in food retailing, wholesaling, and distribution to facilitate collaboration on public-private partnerships, student internships, and scholarships.