A seasoned Executive in the FMCG world with unique leadership skills in transforming businesses in severe internal and external circumstance into a profitable sustainable model. He is a visionary who comes with a proven track record in building a business from the ground, based on the lean accelerated model within the largest F&B company. While creating the first pure born brand in Nestle since 35 years (Nespresso 1986). His open-mindedness, strategic thinking and creativity helped inspire the organization to transform, following the same model in other businesses. He successfully renovated a failing business challenged by forex devaluation along with a major restructuring risk, renovating it to the fastest growing business retaining market leadership and its employees. Deep knowledge across the entire value chain of the businesses, with sustainability credentials. A professional with deep experience in building business, growing and inspiring people besides leading innovation through collaborating with startups, scouters and incubators.

After the graduation in Economics at Università Bocconi and a Master of Science in International Public Policy at UCL (University College London), Matteo joined The Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm, supporting companies' business development in EMEA. He joined Barilla in 2008 and moved from Marketing to Innovation in 2012 to develop and launch CucinaBarilla, which he led as the CucinaBarilla Managing Director. In 2018 he was appointed Global Marketing Director at Barilla, leading of the most dynamic and vibrating product categories of the company with a global footprint. He is passionate about Food, business modelling, trends and innovation. He will be chairing the Food Innovate Summit for the second time and attending it for the third time.

30 years of experience in RD&Q as Manager, Director and Chief Officer in Italy and International environment in FMCG companies. Degree in Agricultural Science (110/110 cum laude), Member of the Academy of Georgofili, Florence (the oldest Scientific Academy in Italy)

Major Areas of Competencies are:

• Innovation, Product Innovation, Phase & Gate process, New Trends, Research
• Projects, Product, Design and New Product Development Management, Food safety
• Management, Quality Improvement, Global Team Building, Co-Manufacturer
• Management, Consumer Feedback Management, Employee Development, Career
• Planning and Mentoring

A native Apulian with a passion for spreading the gospel of his native soil, Vito Palumbo is the embodiment of Italy’s blossoming wine region of Puglia: sunny, breezy, sleek and soulful – all words describing the man and the place. With his finger on the pulse of what’s making Italy’s southern coastal gem a burgeoning wine travel destination, Vito is well connected to the art, music, literature and trending cultural vibrancy that is leading Puglia, with Tormaresca at the forefront, to become Italy’s next top wine region. Vito Palumbo is the Brand Manager for Tormaresca, with responsibilities that include directing the sales and marketing strategy of the company. A former KPMG accountant and renewable energy consultant, Vito entered his family business (his father Giuseppe is the CEO of Tormaresca) of the Antinori-owned estate in 2010. In addition to running the wine sales strategy for Europe and North America, Vito oversees production, packaging creative (he implemented the colorful, edgy label design by artist Valeria Patrone on Tormaresca’s popular Calafuria Rosato), and the opening of the winery’s proprietary restaurant Tormaresca Vino e Cucina in Lecce. Vito attended Bocconi in Milan - Italy’s leading business university - where he earned his Bachelor degree and a Master of Science in Economics and Management of Public Administration and International Institutions.

A passionate and entrepreneurial digital business leader with years of experience for leading, managing and scaling digital businesses in Food Retail, Media, Entertainment, e-Commerce and Startups.

In-depth Marketing, Product & Business building experience for businesses in all 3Cs of Digital domain(Content, Community and Commerce). Distinguished achievements in Technology utilization, Digital, Data etc.. Having love for technology along with entrepreneurship at core made me led innovative & Strategic projects/products ahead of the curve like use of AI, Chatbot, Voicebots, etc.

Built India's first Hyper local on-demand Food delivery Digital Commerce Platform and made it into biggest Food Tech platform i.e. Domino's India Digital commerce ecosystem.

As the founder of Eatable Adventures back in 2015, José Luis pioneered the nascent Food Entrepreneurship movement in Europe; which resulted in an emerging ecosystem of new companies that are improving the way we eat. He also led the launch of Gastroemprendedores, the largest global network of Food & Beverages Startup founders and entrepreneurs, reaching well over 25.000 individuals; similarly launched Food Business Angels, the first global network of early stage investors in early stage phases of F&B startups. Prior to his involvement in the Food Space, he has been active in the innovation and new technologies industry for almost 30 years, working with such international corporations as Cisco, Oracle, BBVA and Unisys as EMEA and LATAM new markets and emerging sectors development business director. Educated as a Computing Engineer at Extremadura University, José Luis completed his tech studies with business and culinary studies at Stanford University —Graduate School of Business' Executive Program – Le Cordon Bleu at Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid — Diplôme de Cuisine – Reims Champagne- Ardennes University – Diplôme Universitaire DUGGAT – and Haas Business School Berkeley University – Venture Capital Executive Program.