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 11 year old 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. 

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.  

Monica Amburn, MS, RDN, is a registered dietitian, nutritionist and communications expert, currently serving as Vice President at Eat Well Global, a strategy and communications agency dedicated to empowering change-makers in food and health. Prior to this position, Monica spent twelve years working in grocery retail, first as a corporate dietitian for BI-LO Holdings and Southeastern Grocers. Following this role, she served as the Senior Director of Health and Wellness at Vestcom, where she supported the healthyAisles® point-of-sale nutrient & lifestyle attribute database program with over 30 retailers. Monica completed both her bachelor’s degree in Foods and Nutrition and dietetic internship at Radford University in Virginia, and completed her master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of North Florida. Monica now lives and works remotely in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of South Carolina. 

Bobby Gibbs is a Partner in the Retail & Consumer Goods practice at Oliver Wyman. Bobby focuses on capabilities building in pricing, promotions, and discount management enabled by advanced analytics, tool development and employee engagement. Bobby is a contributing author to Retail Revolution, Oliver Wyman’s study on major trends in the industry and co-authored numerous articles on industry trends including for the Harvard Business Review.  Bobby is on the leadership for Next Best Basket™, Oliver Wyman’s capability for retail personalization. Bobby has presented on industry trends for several FMI audiences (Board of Directors, Industry Relations Council, Growth Forum), the American Meat Conference, the Texas Insurance Academy, as well as client audiences.  He is a frequent commentator on industry trends in print, radio and television with recent interviews for NBC News, APM Marketplace, the Washington Post, Forbes, Winsight Grocery Business, Progressive Grocer, the Dallas Morning News, KMOX Saint Louis and others.