Tyler Atkinson is a business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

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Atkinson, who joined the Bank in 2010, analyzes U.S. economic growth, inflation, labor market trends and the role of monetary policy. His research interests include economic forecasting and the macroeconomic effects of the zero lower bound on interest rates.

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He earned an MS in economics from Boston College and a BS in economics from Texas A&M University.

Meredith Connor is the Senior Sustainability Analyst for Ferrero North America where she focuses on initiatives and policies that impact packaging, plastic waste reduction, raw material sourcing, and emissions reduction. Meredith has helped implement Ferrero’s Sustainability to Trade framework to engage with retailers on sustainability issues and facilitate collaboration and partnership.

Prior to her work with Ferrero, Meredith was the Sustainability Advisor to the U.S. House of Representatives where she developed programs that improved the sustainability of House operations.

Dave Davis is the President and Chief Legal Officer of the Utah Food Industry Association. Dave joined the Association in 2007 as their Vice President and General Counsel and was elected by the Board of Directors to serve as President in March of 2010. As the President of the association, Dave serves as the spokesman and chief lobbyist for the grocery and convenience store industries in Utah. Immediately before joining the associations Dave spent a decade as the Director of Human Resources and Legal Counsel for Associated Food Stores based in Salt Lake City.

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Dave graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a law degree from Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark School of Law.

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Dave and his wife Kerri reside in Draper, Utah and have three daughters, three sons-in-laws and a granddaughter.

Linda M. Doherty serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Food Council (NJFC), a Trenton-based business trade association representing supermarkets, convenience stores and the food distribution industry in the Garden State.  NJFC represents some of the largest and finest employers in NJ, with a $136 billion economy feeding almost 10 million New Jerseyans a day.  Ms. Doherty is the fifth and longest serving NJFC President in its 55-year history.

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Prior to her promotion by the NJFC Board of Directors, Ms. Doherty served as executive vice president, vice president, and has also held the position of director of communications and public affairs for the association.  She recently celebrated her 30th anniversary with the Food Council and has served as president & CEO for more than two decades.

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Additionally, Ms. Doherty is Chair of the NJ Clean Communities Council, past Chair of the State WIC Advisory Council, is a strategic partner on the Board of the NJ Food Processors Association and serves as an External Advisory Board member for the NJ Institute for Food, Nutrition & Health at Rutgers University.  She was nominated by NJ Governor Murphy to sit on the NJ Restart and Recovery Advisory Council to help formulate the State’s COVID-19 response. She is the longest serving member of the NJ Child Labor Law Enforcement Advisory Board in the NJ Department of Labor.  She is former Chair of the Food Industry Association of Executives Board of Directors, a national organization of state executives in the grocery and retail industry representing 95 percent of the grocery and food industry in the United States. Ms. Doherty served on the Board of Directors of the National Grocers Association.

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She is also a Sector representative on the NJ Infrastructure Advisory Committee. Under her leadership, Ms. Doherty has been instrumental in creating and developing Emergency Management, and Food Safety & Defense programs for NJFC members in conjunction with government partners. 

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She is consistently ranked as an influential food policy expert and business leader. She was named to NJBIZ Power 100 list in 2024 and to NJ Influencers Power List, was ranked 10th on the NJ Food & Beverage 100 Power List, and was recognized by ROI-NJ as a Manufacturing Influencer. She has also been named a Top 100 Policymaker by InsiderNJ and was recognized by NJBIZ as one of the Best 50 Women in Business in NJ.  She was named a NJ Top 25 Leading Women Brand Builder. In 2023, the Clean Communities Council honored her with the Business Partnership Award for her work on the rollout of the NJ single use plastic and paper Bag Ban Law. Ms. Doherty was named 2016 Female Executive of the Year by The Griffin Report and she received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the NJFC Board of Directors. She is a recipient of the Friends of the Food Industry Award.  She was recognized as the Person of the Year by the NJ Weights and Measures Association. Also, Ms. Doherty was honored with the Food Marketing Institute's Donald H. MacManus Association Executive Award for her extraordinary leadership in public affairs.  Ms. Doherty was also honored three times by the national Consumer Brands Association, formerly the Grocery Manufacturers Association with the prestigious “Excellence in Government Affairs” Award for her work on food retailer and supplier issues. 

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Prior to joining NJFC, Ms. Doherty was communications specialist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).  While at DEP, she was awarded EPA’s Environmental Quality Award for managing a communications campaign on marina recycling.

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Ms. Doherty received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.  She is married to former Mayor William Tilton, Jr. of North Hanover, NJ, has three children and two grandchildren.

With a passion for politics and a keen understanding of how business and government intersect, Kelly Knowles is a recognized expert on state and federal advocacy, political engagement programs and political action committees.

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Kelly has over twenty years of experience working in national trade associations, industry foundations and campaigns. She is known for her work revitalizing the American Bakers PAC, the Political Action Committee of grain‐based foods. Under her leadership, the PAC grew from $50,000 per election cycle to over $380,000 and secured its place as one of the top food processing PACs in the nation. She also implemented a strategic plan to guide disbursements which helped recruit and retain key contributors.

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Knowles is also known for her legislative leadership marshaling pro‐business initiatives to respond to critical issues such as Prop 65, independent contractor reclassification, state snack tax proposals and recycling reform measures. Kelly also led and secured passage of state‐level legislation in Texas to combat food industry tray theft.

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Kelly provides expert PAC fundraising, disbursement and communications advice to clients and serves as Senior Political Advisor for a leading business organization that works to advance economic prosperity by empowering private sector employees to become pro‐jobs voters and advocates through education, grassroots, and PAC participation.

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In addition to advocacy, Kelly has worked closely with corporate executives to create custom programming designed to develop and cultivate emerging leaders within organizations.

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Kelly has also spent nearly a decade working on development for a national food industry foundation and consults for various industry trade associations and Fortune 500 corporations.

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Kelly holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, a Graduate Certificate in PACs and Political Management, and a Masters in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University.

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A Goldsboro, North Carolina native, Kelly was raised in small business. Kelly resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband Andy DeVilling, and their daughter, Savannah.

Jennifer Lawson is President and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, a national nonprofit that works to inspire and educate people to improve and beautify their community environment. Previously, Jenny served as Chief Civic Innovation Officer at Points of Light where she led programs to help companies achieve their social change goals through the actions of their employees.  She was also the executive sponsor of Listen. Learn. Act to End Racism, Points of Light’s partnership with Morehouse College and served as an advisor to the National Trust for Civic Infrastructure. Jenny came to Points of Light from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change (now C2ES), where she led Make an Impact, a global campaign focused on energy efficiency and environmental awareness with some of the nation’s largest companies.

Her career began with community development and affordable housing advocacy in Northern Virginia, where she served as the founding Executive Director of the Alliance for Housing Solutions.

She is a graduate of the University of Virginia where she studied Philosophy and Mathematics.

Jim's background encompasses over 25 years of digital marketing, public relations, and business development experience in B2B, government, ecommerce and consumer environments. He has provided both digital strategic counsel and creative planning for clients including Adobe, Mastercard, Ferrero (CRUNCH, Butterfinger, Kinder), Verizon, 7-Eleven, Wendy’s, IBM, Kikkoman and Frito-Lay in the ever-evolving realm of digital platforms, social influencers and content. His specialty is bringing brand experiences to life by converging these elements to spark conversation that builds engagement and ultimately drives action.

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​An active speaker in conference circles, Jim has spoken about the intersection of brands, influencers and social media at PR Newswire, Social Media Week, CMO Club, American Marketing Association, Public Relations Society of America, PR Week and the NFL Players Association events. One unique area of expertise that Jim has leveraged for clients including Frito-Lay, Verizon, GE Digital, Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Orange Theory, 7-Eleven, and PepsiCo has been building executives’ social media presence through coaching, content, and engagement. A native Bostonian, Jim holds a BA degree in psychology from Harvard University.

Chris Perkins is an expert in quantitative and qualitative analysis. He’s considered one of the most accurate pollsters and top public opinion experts in the United States. Since 2010, Chris has polled for nearly one hundred winning Republican candidates for Governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, and a variety of other offices. Chris has also been a key resource for numerous organizations tackling public policy issues, including Fortune 500s, trade associations, and non-profit organizations.

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When he's not wading through petabytes of data, Chris can usually be found at one of his kids’ baseball games, hosting friends to some of the best block parties in Austin, or explaining the virtues of Austin barbecue to the uninitiated. And rest assured, while Chris’s barbecue is never over seasoned, his highly detailed memory of every campaign he's ever touched intimidates even his most seasoned employees.

Bob Waxman has been selling to supermarkets large and small since 1992. At Imperial Dade, he commands respect by selling more each year than any other Representative, and more than some entire divisions. His passion is his work, and his customers, but did you know that Bob Waxman was a rock and roller of some repute? Download his tunes at iTunes and you know there’s more to this lad than meets the eye.

​Since her first Motorola RAZR flip phone, Beth has made a verb out of the word "nerd." She's here to help you filter through thousands of apps, gadgets, widgets and doodads to find the perfect free and bargain technology tools for work and home. Although the only real trophy she ever won was for making perfect French fries at McDonald's in high school, Beth Z has been featured on Best Speaker lists by several organizations that write best speaker lists. She has written a whole shelf of books on apps and has spoken to more than 100 thousand audience members just like you. And if you're puzzling over why she goes by "Beth Z"... it's because she only finds about three people a year who can pronounce her last name.