JIM ELLIS is a 35-year veteran of politics at the state and national levels. Jim began his career with the San Diego County Republican Party, and then served as an original staff member for then-Congressman Bill Lowery (R-CA). He specialized in corporate grass roots lobbying, campaign management and coalition building as President of the Ramhurst Corporation of North Carolina and as a manager of the Public Issues Department of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, NC. 

 Jim’s positions as executive director for two national political action committees built well-recognized skills in advising, strategizing for, and evaluating campaigns. His close-up role as a leading political consultant to the Republican majority leadership of the House of Representatives resulted in a strong reputation for calling races correctly. Jim’s loyal following included political action committee directors, who today are clients gleaning key information and keen insight from his daily columns and other special request reports. Among other projects, he researches and writes on elections, candidates, and races for additional clients that include corporations and trade associations such as NACS, Walmart, Exelon, and UPS. 

Over the years, Ellis has been a consultant to the three national Republican Party organizations in DC, the National Federation of Independent Business, and various national conservative groups. A natural and articulate speaker, he is sought after across the country for keynote speeches to national association meetings, university audiences, PAC member gatherings, and corporate client seminars. During his career, he has addressed numerous campaign schools, congressional orientation sessions, and media training seminars throughout the US, in addition to an international trade conference in Mexico City. Jim has appeared as a political debate participant for WUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC, as a guest columnist for the Washington Times newspaper, and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze news site. He has appeared on the new CCTV network, which broadcasts worldwide, CNN International, Rai Italia, the Italian international network, and the Jim Bohannon national radio show, as well as many local programs around the country. 

Jim Ellis was born and raised in Sacramento, California. He earned a B. A. in Political Science from the University of California at Davis in 1979. Jim raised his daughter, Jacqueline, alone after his wife died following a tragic car accident. He helped establish the Joan Ellis Victims Assistance Network in Rochester, NH. Jim also is a member of the Northern Virginia Football Officials Association, which officiates high school games throughout the region. 

Eric J. Conn is a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey and Chair of the firm’s national OSHA • Workplace Safety Practice Group. His practice focuses exclusively on issues involving occupational safety and health law.  Before launching his own OSHA Practice, Mr. Conn practiced for more than a decade alongside the former first General Counsel of the OSH Review Commission. 

Mr. Conn and his OSHA Team at Conn Maciel Carey develop safety and health regulatory strategies for employers across all industries with a particular emphasis in: 

• Advising and representing clients in relation to inspections, investigations and enforcement actions involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and state and local regulators. 

• Managing the full range of litigation against OSHA, including appeals of citations, negotiations of settlements geared to minimize the impact of enforcement actions on wrongful death and personal injury civil cases, and trials before the OSH Review Commission. 

• Representing employers during U.S. Attorney criminal investigations and prosecutions of alleged OSH Act criminal violations. 

• Advising employers’ other attorneys in civil cases stemming from workplace accidents about the overlapping OSHA regulatory issues. 

• Counseling clients through catastrophic industrial, construction, and manufacturing workplace accidents, including explosions and chemical releases. 

• Developing and auditing safety programs and policies. 

• Providing workplace safety training and compliance counseling for employers. 

Mr. Conn is extremely proud to have presided over Conn Maciel Carey’s national OSHA Practice when it was recognized as one of only three “Band 1” Rated OSHA Law Firms by Chambers USA in 2022 (the first year that Chambers ranked the OSHA Law category).  In that same ranking, Eric was individually recognized as one of only nine Band 1 rated OSHA law practitioners nationwide.  

 Mr. Conn is a prolific writer on all topics OSHA related. He is the curator of Conn Maciel Carey’s award-winning OSHA Defense Report blog, and previously edited a popular OSHA law blog at another firm.  Mr. Conn has authored multiple chapters in OSHA treatises, including “OSHA Inspections” in the Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook, 2nd ed. (Gov’t. Institutes, 2008), and “Defending Against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Increasingly Severe Enforcement Practices” in Complying with the Occupational Safety and Health Act: Leading Lawyers (Aspatore, Inside the Minds, 2012). 

 Mr. Conn is also a popular speaker on OSHA and related legal issues, including as the producer of Conn Maciel Carey’s annual OSHA Webinar Series, and regular keynotes trade group and industry conferences.  He is often quoted as a leader in the field in trade publications. 

Mr. Conn created and curates the OSHA Defense Report Group on LinkedIn, and can be found on X as @OSHA_Guy. 

Mr. Conn lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife and two young children. 

Adam Jones is an executive with more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of talent management, human resources, learning, training, coaching, change management, and inclusion and diversity; bringing a unique combination of skills to assist individuals and organizations to transform their respective industries.  Adam is currently a Senior Manager in Human Capital Capability at Accenture Federal Service where he is focused on Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Accessibility (DEIA) strategy and implementation work with federal clients.  Adam has led internal DEIA teams and continues working strategically with federal partners on transformational efforts to build equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in the workplace.    

James A. Paretti, Jr. is an experienced management-side employment and labor relations attorney with in-depth political
and policy knowledge of labor, pension, healthcare and employment law, regulations and legislation. Jim is well versed
in all aspects of legislative and political processes with demonstrated knowledge in the substance of federal labor and
employment policy. He has over two decades of experience working with federal legislators and policymakers, including
former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Chairmen of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the
Workforce, and senior level administration officials.

Prior to joining Littler, Jim was chief of staff and senior counsel to the acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission. He provided legal and political counsel with respect to all aspects of agency business, administered and
managed the Office of the Chair where he was responsible for over 2,200 employees and a 375 million dollar annual
budget, and served as primary liaison to regulated stakeholders and Capitol Hill.

His extensive experience includes developing policy and providing legal counsel on the Committee on Education and
Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as coordinating external communications and media relations for a
senior member of Congress. Jim represented corporate and nonprofit clients in employment litigation in federal and
state court, before administrative agencies and in private arbitration while with two Boston firms.

During law school, he held positions as editor as well as note and comment editor for the New York University Law
Review.

Dr. Kavanaugh is the Director of the Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  She has been with the FDA for 20 years and prior to leading ONFL, Dr. Kavanaugh led the commissioner’s nutrition innovation strategy and work related to restaurant menu labeling and updating the nutrition facts label. Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Kavanaugh was a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute.  Dr. Kavanaugh received her Ph.D. in nutrition from Purdue University and a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.  She is also registered dietitian. 

Dr. Kristi Muldoon Jacobs is the current Acting Director for the FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety (OFAS). OFAS is responsible for ensuring the safety of direct and indirect food additives, color additives and GRAS substances as well as supporting safety and innovation in food from new plant varieties and made with cultured animal cells. Dr. Muldoon Jacobs earned a Ph.D. from UMDNJ/Rutgers University program in biomedical sciences and continued research at NIH/National Cancer Institute on mechanism of tumor suppression and carcinogenesis. In her previous roles at FDA and USP she served as a toxicologist with expertise in the safety assessment of FDA regulated products including food ingredients, indirect and direct additives, dietary supplements, and drug impurities. She has extensive knowledge regulatory systems globally to ensure quality and safety of products and has served as an expert to JECFA, OECD and ICH committees. She is an internationally recognized expert in the application of new and alternative safety and risk assessment methods such as TTC, QSAR and read-across methodology. She has served as an expert on 15 international working groups and has published over 30 peer reviewed publications in areas related to her expertise.

Karen Remley, MD, MBA, MPH, FAAP, is the Director for the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD). She has more than 30 years of experience in public health and health care, with leadership roles in the public and private sectors. Her “north star” has always been children and families, and she has shaped her career around helping every family have the best opportunity for health and well-being. Prior to joining NCBDDD, Dr. Remley served as Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 response for the Office of the Commissioner, Virginia Department of Health, where she was instrumental in increasing and assuring testing for COVID-19 to ensure it was widely available across the Commonwealth of Virginia. She also worked as a Professor of Pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Dr. Remley has served on many national committees and commissions working on public health education, health equity, and patient safety, including her roles as Chief Executive Officer of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Commissioner of Health for the Commonwealth of Virginia under two governors; Chief Medical Director of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Virginia; and Chief Executive Officer of Physicians for Peace. In 2018, she served as the Inaugural Senior Fellow at the de Beaumont Foundation, a foundation dedicated to pragmatic solutions to improve public health.  Dr. Remley earned an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, an MPH at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her MD from University of Missouri in Kansas City. She completed her pediatrics residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital-Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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.  

Jonna has been an innovator in the fresh foods space for nearly two decades driving the evolution of consumer-centric decision making and big data analytics throughout the perimeter. She has worked extensively in each perimeter department: Meat, Bakery, Deli, Produce, Seafood, Dairy and Floral with both suppliers and retailers. Jonna joined IRI in 2016 and leads IRI’s Fresh COE focusing on solution enhancement, thought leadership and client consultation across both suppliers and retailers. Jonna graduated with highest honors from Bradley University with a degree in public relations and marketing and lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Rick Stein joined FMI in 2014, and is responsible for developing a portfolio of services and activities to assist members in formulating and executing their fresh food strategies.  These categories include everything from  – dairy, frozen, meat, poultry, seafood, and produce to service departments – deli, bakery and fresh prepared meals and related solutions for take-out or in-store dining.

Prior to joining FMI, Rick spent 35 + years in a wide range of retail grocery merchandising and marketing responsibilities.  Most recently Stein was the Vice President of retail marketing & merchandising execution for Safeway Stores, Inc.  Previously he held both divisional and corporate responsibilities in his tenure at Safeway in retail/store operations, category management, sales, marketing/merchandising, and strategy development. He has experience in virtually every facet of the retail food business and helped lead Safeway to achieve operational excellence and increased market share and revenues.Stein graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor of Arts in Behavioral and Social Sciences.  He has earned continuing educations credits in marketing, merchandising and management, most recently with the Disney Institute. Rick serves on numerous nonprofit boards such as the MDA, Children’s Cancer Foundation and Easter Seals of DC/VA/MD.