Reimagining the Food Value Chain
April 5, 2025
What is FoodCon?
FoodCon is the premier event for MBA students passionate about food, agribusiness, and sustainability. Co-hosted by Duke Fuqua and UNC Kenan-Flagler, it connects industry leaders and innovators to explore trends, share insights, and drive solutions. Past speakers include leaders from John Deere, the Chobani Incubator, and Tony’s Chocolonely.
Our Mission
The food system drives economic growth, sustainability, and social equity. With food demand set to rise 50% by 2050, innovation is crucial. FoodCon empowers future leaders to tackle challenges like food insecurity and climate change while creating economic value.
Tickets Are Now Live: Here
Agenda:
Geneen Auditorium, Fuqua School of Business
10:00 – 10:30 Check-in & Coffee
10:45 – 11:15 Keynote: Lauren Contreras, Director of Sustainability, Sysco Foods
11:20 – 12:00 Panel 1: AgTech and the Farm of the Future (Mod. by Steven Prager, Gates Foundation)
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- Neil Bentley, VP Agriculture Solutions, BASF (M.B.A. ‘08)
- Ian Miller, COO, Pairwise (J.D., ‘07)
- Hongjun Wang, Chief Science Officer, SoilLogia
- Archie Griffin, Owner, Griffin Farms
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12:10 – 12:50 Panel 2: Field-to-Fork Supply Chain Innovation (Mod. Justin DePue)
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- Todd Dolinsky, Chief Product Officer, Trustwell (B.S.E.E. ‘02)
- Michael Druga, CEO, SinnovaTek
- Alex Piasecki, COO and Co-Founder, Seal The Seasons
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12:50 – 2:00 Lunch Break at Fuqua Kirby Winter Garden
2:10 – 2:50 Panel 3: Shaping Consumer Food Choices (Mod. by Jack Prommel, MBA ’25)
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- Megan Overbay, COO, Big Spoon Roasters (M.B.A. ‘03)
- Nathan Algrhim, Sr. Manager, The Good Food Institute
- Megan Thomas, CEO, Ladder 17
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3:00 – 3:40 Panel 4: Investing in Food & Ag (Mod. by Liz Scarinci, Assoc. Partner, McKinsey & Co)
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- Mark Forbes, Executive Director-Food & Agribusiness, JP Morgan
- Charlie McNairy, CEO, International Farming
- Hannah Webb, Venture Partner, Levert Ventures
- Anthony Abbenante, Managing Director, RRG Capital Management
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3:45- 5:00 Reception & Happy Hour at JB Duke
Tickets Are Now Live: Here
Speakers:
Anthony Abbenante, RRG Capital Management
Anthony “Tony” Abbenante serves as a Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer of RRG Nature Based Solutions and a Managing Director of Renewable Resources Group LLC, a global alternative asset manager. At the firm, Tony focuses on strategy, partnerships, financing, project development and all aspects of monetization and growth initiatives. Prior to joining RRG, from 2010 to 2019, Tony held senior leadership positions within the Ivanhoe Capital Corporation group of companies. He focused on corporate development, venture capital, project financing and capital markets activities for business enterprises owned and directed by Chairman and Founder, Robert M. Friedland. From 2005 to 2010, Tony practiced corporate law in the New York, NY and Washington, D.C. offices of Mintz Levin P.C. and Kalbian Hagerty LLP, based in Washington, D.C. Tony started his career as a strategy and management consultant with American Management Systems in New York, New York.
Tony has executed transactions and developed business relationships throughout North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Tony holds a J.D. from the American University, Washington College of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.
Nathan Ahlgrim, Good Food Institute
At GFI, Nathan manages the Alt Protein Project as it seeds alternative protein education and research programs at universities across the world. Nathan’s experience as a scientist, educator, and naturalist informs the interdisciplinary approach he brings to his work at GFI. He holds a B.S. in biology and psychology from UNC Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Emory University.
Michael Druga, SinnovaTek, Inc.
Michael Druga is a seasoned leader in the food and beverage industry with a strong background in engineering and innovation. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Engineering Leadership and Management at Oklahoma University. In 2016, he co-founded SinnovaTek, followed by SinnoVita in 2017, and FirstWave Innovations in 2019—establishing a robust manufacturing operation that leverages proprietary food processing technologies. Michael holds more than a dozen internationally issued patents and has successfully raised over $50 million in equity and debt to scale his companies into a full-scale aseptic manufacturing leader.
Mark Forbes, J.P. Morgan
Mark is an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan specializing in Food & Agribusiness banking. He focuses specifically on input suppliers and vertically integrated Ag production and food processing companies. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Mark was an SVP leading Food & Agribusiness Banking at Wells Fargo. With over 36 years of experience in the sector, he understands the seasonality, cycles, commodity prices, and many other unique characteristics of Food & Agribusiness. He holds a B.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MBA from East Carolina University.
Lauren Horning Contreras, Sysco
Lauren Horning Contreras is a passionate advocate and corporate intrapreneur for local agriculture and sustainable food sourcing. Growing up on a small hobby farm in central Pennsylvania planted the seeds for Lauren’s career. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on organic farms in Argentina, followed by an urban farm in Pittsburgh, graduating with a dual-degree in Environmental Studies and Spanish. In 2016, she joined FreshPoint, a produce distributor and subsidiary of Sysco, to develop their local sourcing program in the Carolinas, and later nationwide across 26 FreshPoint warehouses. Lauren now oversees sustainability for all Sysco subsidiaries, as well as Sysco’s regenerative agriculture strategy.
Charlie McNairy, International Farming
Charlie McNairy serves as CEO & Chief Investment Officer of International Farming, an alternative asset manager, where he has overseen more than $2.1 billion in farmland acquisitions, midstream assets, and ag-tech investments across a multitude of geographies and crop types. He grew up working for his family’s farming businesses, including L. Harvey Farm and Harvey’s Falling Creek Produce Company, which were founded in 1871. Charlie began his career as an analyst in Morgan Stanley’s real estate division where he focused on principal investments, mergers & acquisitions, and REIT advisory work.
Charlie was a Morehead Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa at UNC Chapel Hill where he played on two Final Four basketball teams for Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith. Charlie serves on the UNC Kenan-Flagler Board of Visitors and previously served on the Board of Directors of the UNC General Alumni Association. Charlie received his MBA from Harvard University.
Megan Overbay, Big Spoon Roasters
Megan is the Co-founder and COO of Big Spoon Roasters, a maker of handcrafted nut butters and snack bars in Hillsborough, NC. When Megan met her partner in business and in life, Mark, in 2010, they shared a passion for food, transparency, and sustainability. At the time, there was an American craft food movement happening in categories including coffee, bread, beer, and cheese, but not in pantry goods. Very few people were talking about small-batch, culinary-inspired, fresh pantry products sourced and packaged with care. Megan and Mark decided to change the way people think about nut butter, a personal favorite food that is found in nearly every household in the U.S. In doing so, they managed to shift an entire category of food toward the craft and values they cherish. Big Spoon focuses on integrity, flavor, and freshness, and they develop at least four new nut butters a year, each one a culinary innovation that pushes the boundaries of what nut butter can be.
While food has always been a guiding force in Megan’s life, it has not, until recently, been what actually put food on the table. Her first job out of college was in IT, and after business school, she built her career in strategy, operations, and leadership development, primarily in higher education. She was the Director of Admissions for Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and is a Principal at a boutique higher education consulting firm that she helped launch. Megan’s responsibilities at Big Spoon include strategy, operations, purchasing, human resources, and finance. She loves that every day is different, and that she is able to work with her hands, her head, and her heart in a values-based business with a fabulous team.
Outside of her career, Megan is a certified personal trainer, spinning and PiYo Strength instructor, and an avid baker. She loves to spend her free time outside with Mark and their hounds, Rioja and Grüner. She has held Board positions at the Durham YMCAs, where she was formerly Chair, and Orange County Living Wage, as Treasurer. Megan earned her B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University in 1997 and her MBA at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 2003.
Featuring Speakers From:
For more information, please reach out to Javahar Mariwala (javahar.mariwala@duke.edu) or Frannie Gurzenda (frances.gurzenda@duke.edu).
