The Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA), McLean, Va., announced the general session speakers for the 2015 FPSA Annual Conference taking place March 18-20 at the Omni Resorts La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif.

With the conference theme “Expanding Horizons,” FPSA will open the 2015 Annual Conference with keynote speaker J.B. Bernstein, noted 25+ year veteran of the sports marketing industry and the subject of the 2014 Disney movie, Million Dollar Arm. Bernstein will share with conference attendees the inside story that led him to India in search of new baseball talent and ultimately resulted in the first Indian born men to ever sign pro sports contracts in the United States.

Joining Bernstein on the 2015 program is best-selling author and professor of Innovation and Executive Director of the Berkley Entrepreneurship Center at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Luke Williams. As one of the most respected voices on innovation leadership, Williams will share concepts from his book Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business with the goal of helping conference attendees to plan and ultimately take advantage of change in the marketplace and in their business.

FPSA will have a special session about ESL/aseptic dairy processing

The dairy track of sessions will include presentations from Steve Goldenstein of Shamrock Foods Company and Jeffrey Andrews of HP Hood, who will both discuss the challenges in ESL and aseptic processing at two of the nation’s leading dairy processors. They will be joined on the program by Michael Brennenstuhl of Cheese & Whey Systems who will share his insights from a career in artisan cheese making.

“We are excited about the program as it complements well the trend study that the Dairy Council has been putting together since the Fall,” said Nick Tetlow, Chairman of the FPSA Dairy Council. “Both Shamrock and Hood have impressive operations in this area and we look forward to what they can share with us.”

FPSA will be adding a third general session to the 2015 Annual Conference with its inaugural Lunch ‘n Learn session taking place on Thursday, March 19th. The highlight of this session will be a presentation by Valarie Sparks. Ms. Sparks will teach attendees how to maximize LinkedIn as a tool for professional/personal branding and continual network/client engagement in order to stay top-of-mind and stand out among the noise on LinkedIn. This session will include lunch and is open to all conference attendees and spouses.

Registration for the 2015 FPSA Annual Conference is now open with an early-bird rate of $850 for FPSA members and $1,300 for non-members. Anyone interested in attending can register on-line at www.fpsa.org. For more information on the FPSA Annual Conference, contact Dolores Alonso at (703) 663-1226 or dalonso@fpsa.org.

SOURCE: The Food Processing Suppliers Association

This article was updated on Jan. 15 with information about the dairy processing program.