Meet our industry’s brightest minds and thought leaders

Dr Aaron Davis is Senior Research Leader of Crops and Global Change at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom. His research is focused on coffee, as documented in a broad range of scientific publications, including those on the naming and classification of coffee species, molecular (DNA) studies, conservation, climate change, agroecology, and sustainable development. He is the leading authority on coffee species and has travelled widely in Africa, Madagascar, and Asia to study coffee plants in the wild and in cultivation. His ongoing work includes the use and development of wild and underutilized coffee species, particularly within the context of climate change adaptation and sensory diversification. Research output includes ~150 peer-reviewed scientific papers and several books, including the Coffee Atlas of Ethiopia, and the naming of more than 35 new coffee species.

Audrey Waldrop is the Global Sustainability Manager for Blue Bottle Coffee, based in Oakland, California. She developed the company’s sustainability strategy and oversees its strategic initiatives, including commitments to emissions and waste reductions as well as sustainable sourcing. Her work centers partnership building, education, and transparency, and since joining Blue Bottle in 2017 as a barista, she has spent time in cafes, the cupping lab, and with producers at Origin.  

Audrey previously worked in international peacebuilding in Washington, D.C., and the Middle East after earning her master’s in conflict resolution at Georgetown University. Audrey lives in San Francisco, California. 

Benjamin C. Brewer is a seasoned specialty coffee professional who has been with Blue Bottle Coffee since 2009. Benjamin has over a decade of experience in coffee quality, sensory analysis, and research and development. From 2013 to 2023, he led coffee quality and R/D at Blue Bottle Coffee, where he played a pivotal role in setting global standards for coffee sourcing and coffee production.  His innovations include the development of all Blue Bottle CPG products- from cold brew to instant coffee and Nespresso capsules, as well as the creation of the immersive STUDIO experience.  With deep expertise in sensory evaluation and a passion for innovation, Benjamin is committed to elevating coffee through thoughtful, quality –driven practices.  Guided by a belief in the purity of coffee, he continues to explore new frontiers in flavor, form, and experience.   

Daniel Rivera has worked at Root Capital since 2007 and currently serves as Head of Programs – Latin America, where he oversees Root Capital’s lending and advisory services in South America, Mexico, and Central America. He is also the Regional Team chair for South America, ensuring the regional team has the right tools and resources to efficiently and effectively execute Root Capital’s mission. 

Daniel came to Root Capital with experience in lending, finance, economic research, and project management across multiple sectors, including a previous role at a Peruvian coffee exporter company. Daniel has a B.A. in Economics from Catholic University in Peru. 

Jorge is the Chief Coffee Officer at Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers. His 30-year career in coffee spans roles with producers, cooperatives, dry mills, exporters and importers. His participation in the coffee industry also includes volunteer roles at CQI, SCA, NCA and Fairtarde International among others. 

Kat Nolte Ferguson is the Managing Director of Sustainable Harvest. She has worked in the coffee industry since 2000. After completing her degree in accounting and music performance, she lived in rural Africa and worked in microfinance. She entered the green side of coffee trading as the financial controller for a specialty importer in 2011. She worked for Twin Trading, developing East African coffee supply chains and helping cooperatives gain sustainable certifications and access international markets. She is a Q-grader and served as chair for the SCA Sustainability Council. Her passion is cultivating greater sustainability in the coffee industry. At Sucafina Specialty, she continues to invest in the success of farmers, roasters and the coffee industry as a whole. Today, she lives in Seattle with her husband, two young daughters and a very big dog.  

Jimmy More is the Country Project Manager for World Coffee Research in Peru, where he leads the implementation and coordination of programs related to coffee breeding, trial networks, quality evaluation, and the development of planting material distribution systems. 

He holds a degree in Agronomy from the Universidad Nacional Agraria de la Selva in Tingo María, Peru, and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. 

With over 10 years of experience in the coffee sector, Jimmy has contributed to various coffee renovation initiatives, focusing on training farmers to enhance productivity and adopt more sustainable farming practices. His commitment to coffee goes beyond his professional role—he is also a micro coffee farmer, bringing a grounded, hands-on perspective to his work in research and development. 

Michael is from the Chirinos district in Peru and comes from a family with roots in education and coffee farming. His father was a teacher, and his mother was a homemaker and coffee producer. He studied Business Administration at the National University Pedro Ruiz Gallo in Lambayeque. 

Michael began his career in 2012 as an Administrative Assistant at Tumbas Reales S.R.L. In 2014, he joined the Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera La Prosperidad de Chirinos, initially as Head of Administration and Production, and later as the leader of the Finance and Administration Department. Since January 2019, he has been the General Manager, and in 2023, under his leadership, the cooperative became the first in Peru to achieve Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC). 

Since June 2023, he has served as the Producer Director on the boards of Cafédirect (UK) and NGO Producers Direct, advocating for smallholder farmers and promoting social responsibility in coffee-growing communities. 

Michael Sheridan is the CEO of Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), a pioneer in fine Robusta whose mission is to improve the quality of coffee and the lives of the people who produce it. Before joining CQI, Michael led green coffee sourcing at the U.S.-based roaster Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago  (2016-2023) and coffee programming for the international development agency Catholic Relief Services, mostly in Central and South America (2004-2016). He has written and spoken widely on issues related to sustainability and social inclusion in the coffee trade. In 2021, SCA recognized Michael for his work with its annual Sustainability Award. 

T.J. Ryan is the Director of Mission Engagement at the Coffee Quality Institute, with over 35 years of experience in international development across Africa, South America, and Asia. Over the last 24 years, he has focused on agribusiness development in the coffee and cocoa sectors, providing technical oversight and managing projects and partnerships with public, private, and civil society entities throughout these value chains. Mr. Ryan has supervised and contributed to projects at the design, implementation, and evaluation stages. He has employed a market systems approach in the coffee and cocoa sectors with businesses ranging from farmer cooperatives to multinational corporations. He recently completed five years as the project director for ACDI/VOCA on the USDA-funded PhilCAFE project, which successfully strengthened the coffee sector throughout the Philippines. Mr. Ryan holds an MBA in International Business from Johns Hopkins University and is fluent in English and Spanish, as well as proficient in French. 

Al Liu joined the Sustainable Harvest team at the beginning of 2024 to maintain the legacy of the “Let’s Talk Coffee®” event as well as develop new opportunities for the program. He has spent 25 years in both the roaster/retailer and importer sectors of the coffee industry, possessing extensive experience working with producers and exporters in Latin America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia. Al served for two terms on the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s board of directors and was a member of the SCAA Sustainability Council for many years. He holds an MA in environmental policy from Tufts and a BSFS in international politics from Georgetown. Prior to starting in the coffee industry, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in eastern Bolivia, working on regional ecotourism development.

Adam is a husband, father of two girls, and loves working in the world of specialty coffee. He is the Director of Coffee, Sourcing, and Innovation with Upcountry Coffee in Maui, HI. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Chain Collaborative, a next-generation non-profit that supports community-led change in the coffee sector. With a diverse professional background spanning nearly two decades, Adam’s experience includes co-founding a coffee roasting business in Southern California, developing and building multi-family affordable housing, managing urban infrastructure reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, co-founding and leading a non-profit start-up in Nicaragua, and serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras. Adam is a fluent Spanish speaker with a BA in Theology from Boston College and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA. 

Paul Alvarez has served as Program Director at the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA) since 2022, spearheading initiatives to promote regenerative organic agriculture on a global scale. With 25 years of experience, Paul specializes in strategy design, project management, and stakeholder engagement, focusing on merging environmental sustainability with social responsibility in both food and non-food industries. 

His professional journey includes extensive experience working with small producer organizations across various supply chain landscapes, including the coffee sector. Paul has collaborated with farmers and cooperatives in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Southeast Asia, emphasizing increased productivity, ensuring fair labor practices, and advocating for sustainable farming techniques. 

Paul brings a cross-cultural perspective to his work, having engaged with varied international contexts. His efforts have led to the development of standards that promote regenerative practices and social equity in the agricultural sector. 

Based in Northern California, Paul resides with his family, where he continues to champion practices that restore soil health, enhance biodiversity, and promote fair labor conditions in both the food and non-food sectors. 

Jay Kling is a professional green coffee buyer and the founder of www.efficiency.coffee. Jay’s mission is to increase the sustainability of the specialty coffee industry by helping coffee roasters improve their supply chain management. Jay holds a degree in Supply Chain Management from Syracuse University and has been working in the specialty coffee industry since 2015. Jay has been the Director of Coffee for Irving Farm Coffee Roasters in New York City since 2019, and founded www.efficiency.coffee in 2023. 

Shanita is co-founder and co-CEO of Sip & Sonder, a Black women-owned coffee roastery headquartered in Inglewood, CA, with a portfolio of coffee houses and consumer packaged goods, along with her partner Amanda-Jane Thomas. She is passionate about the intersections of entrepreneurship, community, and coffee. Within Sip & Sonder, Shanita brings her experience in chemical engineering and enterprise technology to the company’s roasting team. Through her legal career, Shanita focuses on general start-up and venture capital financing work and corporate exits.

Originally French, Bachelor in Business Administration Erasmus University and Masters in Sustainability & Social Innovation HEC Paris,  Ludivine has worked in the Netherlands, China, Thailand and Paris and has been based in Uganda for the past five years. 

Ludivine worked for Jacobs Douwe Egberts for a one year consultancy project to design their sustainability strategy on the ground and create a documentary and workshops about sustainability challenges that farmers face in the coffee sector. 

She founded Marula Creative Consultancy, an agency specialized in storytelling for impact. Ludivine also founded Marula Proteen Limited, a company that transforms organic waste into animal feed and organic fertilizer for farmers in Uganda, with a focus on coffee farms that promote regenerative agriculture.

Erin joined Swiss Water in 2018 as Director of Marketing. She is responsible for advancing consumer awareness and preference for coffee decaffeinated by the Swiss Water® Process, and delivering value for roaster and importer partners globally.

Prior to joining Swiss Water, Erin spent over a decade at Starbucks where she held roles in regional, national and international marketing, and product management. She also has several years of experience in marketing in the premium golf segment and collegiate athletics, as well as in banking for venture capital backed startup companies. She has an M.A. from the University of San Francisco and a B.S. from the University of Southern California.

With more than 15 years of experience in marketing and trade in the coffee sector, Blanca is currently the Chapter Relations Manager for the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA), supporting and coordinating groups from 32 chapters around the world. She is also the Board President of the Conservation and Eco-Development Foundation in Guatemala (FUNDAECO), and a member of the Specialty Coffee Association Advisory Council Committee,Event Committee, and the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force.

Her journey with the IWCA started when she volunteered at the organization supporting Global Projects in Central America. Blanca has a strong network and experience in public relations and communications, which enable her to identify needs and solutions to approach the coffee market.

Tropicalist agronomist, specialized in the management of development projects, the formulation of technical proposals and in agricultural dissemination, training and technology transfer, research activity, horticulture and fruit growing in temperate, subtropical, and tropical climates, the definition of the best practices and production regulations for quality productions, in the marketing of agricultural products, in market studies, in supply chain studies, in the enhancement of territorial productions and in the certification of origin, in organic productions; in the fight against desertification and environmental sustainability, in credit programs, in the enhancement of excellent products (coffee, cocoa, dates, spices and tropical fruit, etc.), short supply chains, packages, and packaging. 

For the last 15 years he’s been the manager of coffee and cocoa projects of the Italian Cooperation in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador) and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic) –  (Programa CafèyCaffè), in Cuba, in Ethiopia, in Vietnam, in Cape Verde, at the moment Coffee Research Leader of the Espresso Academy of La Marzocco in Florence (Italy) and responsible for contacts with the origins and coffee sustainability.

He has worked in Italy, China, Cape Verde, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Vietnam, Indonesia.

Kathrine Löfberg has coffee in her veins. She is the chair of the board of Löfbergs, which is one of the biggest family-owned coffee roasters in the Nordic countries. The company was founded in 1906 by her great-grandfather. In 2015, Kathrine succeeded her father as chair of the board as a part of a planned change of generations. Kathrine has many years’ experience of board work in different companies and organizations, for example as chair of International Coffee Partners and coffee&climate where the work is largely about contributing to the possibilities of small-scale coffee farmers to meet the climate changes and improve their living conditions.

Lalo is a founder of BUNA and Come Vital. Buna has worked through added-value agricultural goods to finance the conservation of ecosystems in Mexico. BUNA’s decades long research into biological management in agriculture spawned a consulting company, Come Vital, that assists producers through the transition from conventional to biological management. Lalo also works to assist entrepreneurs in establishing businesses with a sustainability focus within the agriculture supply chain.

Carlos Rene Guerra is a coffee farmer and barista from Copán Ruinas, Honduras. A graduate from the Escuela Agricola Panamericana, commonly known as “El Zamorano,” Carlos later went on to study artisanal cheesemaking in the US. He has also been trained in brew methods, roasting and is a certified Q Grader. Today, he owns Cafe San Rafael – arguably the best coffee shop, wine bar and cheese deli in Honduras. 

At his family farm, located in the mountains surrounding Copán, Carlos supports production management, quality control and roasting. He also manages a local dairy farm for cheesemaking. More recently, Carlos has been nationally (and internationally) recognized as the National Barista Champion of Honduras in 2019 and 2020. He also placed 16th at the World Barista Championships in Boston, USA in 2019. 

Be sure to stop by his coffee shop while at Let’s Talk Coffee for the brew method of your choice!

Alex is the Representative for Americas for Stronghold Technology. He has been working with Stronghold Technology in different capacities for the past almost 6 years now.

He owns multiple coffee companies in Canada and oversees all Canadian Coffee Competitions as the SCA Canada chapter’s coordinator.

Alex hopes to be able to bring a versatile perspective to the panel and the event.

Ted Stachura has been involved in the coffee industry for nearly three decades. For the past twelve years as Director of Coffee at Equator Coffees in San Rafael, California, overseeing coffee procurement, roasting and quality assurance. Prior to Equator, Ted was a consultant with Kenneth Davids Consulting, an editor at the online publication Coffee Review, and co-founder of Coffee Informatics, developer of data management system RoastLog. Ted was also Coffee and Tea Training Program Manager at Peet’s Coffee & Tea, among many other roles. Ted’s passion for coffee is expressed through his study of coffee, daily cupping and his efforts to educate the public about quality coffee.

Lauren Jones is a current fellow in the 2023 Sustainable Harvest NextGen Program. She studies environmental economics, public policy, and sustainable business at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on the migration crisis and its impact on the coffee sector in Honduras and greater Central America.

She works with East Bay Sanctuary Covenant’s Amplifying Sanctuary Voices team focused on climate migration. Her primary areas of interest are migration, human rights, health and agricultural systems, and natural resource management in Latin America. 

Lauren hails from a rich coffee family tradition that spans the entire supply chain for more than six generations, with her grandmother’s farm Finca Dos Marias in Guatemala and a family roasting wholesale business in Pasadena, California. Her father, Chuck Jones, is the CEO of Jones Coffee Roasters, and her grandmother Mireya Asturias Jones was an early pioneering founder of the International Women in Coffee Alliance (IWCA).

Arno Holschuh is the Chief Coffee Officer of Bellwether Coffee, in which capacity, he provides industry expertise in the design, manufacture, and sales of the company’s innovative ventless electric roaster. He also manages the green and roasted coffee businesses for the firm.

Alan, founder and CEO of ProfilePrint, invented its patented A.I. digital food fingerprint technology. He was previously the Assistant CEO of IHDpay Group and has professional experience with CapitaLand, where he headed M&A and investments in the United Kingdom, was General Manager for South China Ascott, and Assistant to Group CEO President CapitaLand. Alan is also a reserve deputy Squadron Commander at the Singapore Air Force with previous key appointments. He holds a PhD candidate in Operational Research from INSEAD, completed a post-graduate management program at Tsinghua University, and graduated with French Singapore Double Engineering degrees (1st Class) from Ecole Centrale Paris and National University of Singapore on a government scholarship.

Debra has been Managing Director and owner of Knight Mattingly Coffee Roasters (KMCR) for fifteen years.

Her business training started with an MBA in finance from Columbia University, New York, where she lived for a number of years after completing her studies.  Debra worked in the finance industry for nearly 15 years before moving into the world of coffee.  

KMCR has won a number of medals for its coffee since she took over, as well as business awards for customer service.

She has been involved in a number of not-for profit activities, including the Inaugural Chair of the Mac.Rob Foundation.  

She holds a BA (Hons) from Melbourne University, an MBA (Deans List) from Columbia and an Advanced Professional Certificate in Business Law and Taxation from New York University.