Hans Peter Reust is managing director of Star Farm Consulting, a China-based subsidiary of Metro Group. Since he joined the business in 2007 it has trained more than 800 farm co-operatives and food companies, as well as 12,000 staff at suppliers. There are now 2,000 food products from all over China that are covered by Star Farm's traceability system. Hans previously worked for a dairy company in Switzerland and gained experience participating in projects for international organisations including the UN.

Christine Brunel-Ligneau is senior key relationship manager of food chain management at Bayer CropScience. She acquired 12 years of experience in the stewardship of plant protection products and food chain management in France, developing risk management solutions for protecting workers, the environment and consumers. For the last couple of years she has worked in Germany, supporting the implementation of food chain partnerships worldwide. Christine developed the Bayer Sustainability Radar for measuring the contribution of food chain partnerships towards sustainable agriculture.

Jason Zhang is managing director of the China Marketing department of Golden Wing Mau. Operating under the mission statement, 'Fruit makes life more healthy', his team drives the development of Golden Wing Mau and the Chinese fruit industry. With a focus on sustainability, the company is dedicated to providing safe, nutritious, delicious fresh produce to consumers. It has 15 packing and storage centres, and more than 40 bases in China's main fruit-producing areas, sending fresh fruit from distribution centres to more than 1,000 superstores in over 80 cities. Golden Wing Mau is also an importer-exporter, sending high-quality produce to North America and Australia, and developing wholesale import businesses in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenyang.

Ignacio Smith is general manager of the Shanghai-based joint venture of San Clemente and Vital Berry. He joined San Clemente in 2007 as market manager for Asia, taking responsibility for its East Asian business and helping to establish a branch in Shanghai. Ignacio became commercial manager in 2010 before taking up his current position earlier this year. He is responsible for developing strategic sales programmes in China, sourcing produce from around the world and the general administration of the office. With an MBA from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Ignacio joined the industry after gaining experience in the shipping and real estate sectors.

Kenneth Lee is director of Top Weal, a wholesaler and distributor of high-quality fruit and vegetables in Hong Kong. Kenneth manages vegetable plantations in China and oversees imports from farms in Australia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and other countries. Under Kenneth's leadership, the business has expanded to operate premium fruit, tropical fruit, cut fruit, fresh fruit juice and even sushi counters in major supermarkets. He has also successfully developed an online shopping website.

Kafi Kurnia is managing director of Peka Consult, an integrated food marketing, branding, distribution and retail consultancy in Indonesia whose clients include the California Table Grape Commission, Pear Bureau Northwest and the Washington Apple Commission. Kafi has over 20 years' experience working on projects in the retail industry and agriculture marketing, covering research, in-store promotions, retail technology and retail marketing. He is chairman of the Indonesian Exporters and Importers of Fresh Produce Association and managing director of Omnicom-owned consultancy Interbrand. Kafi also finds time to host Indonesia's biggest syndicated radio talk-show and write articles that have been published as four bestselling books in the last five years.

Rod Hill is import manager for Golden Wing Mau, based in Shenzhen. He has worked for Capespan, a part-owner of Golden Wing Mau, for 35 years, spending time at the Deciduous Fruit Board, Unifruco and Capespan itself. As a sales and marketing manager Rod has experience developing markets in most European countries. He was also a key player in achieving Fairtrade certification for South African empowerment farm projects. More recently his focus has been in the east, first exporting produce to European retailers, then importing fruit to China.

Chusak Chuenprayoth is president of Kamphaeng-Saen Commercial and head of the ThaiGAP working group. He started work in the travel industry in 1968, since when he has continued within the travel and cargo sector, mainly at Lufthansa. He has been president of Kamphaeng-Saen Commercial since 2000. Kamphaeng is Thailand's leading fresh fruit and vegetables exporter. Chusak is also vice-chairman of the ThaiGAP Institute and vice-chairman of the Committee on Food and Agriculture Business at the Thai Chamber of Commerce/Board of Trade of Thailand. He majored in German at college and trained in logistics and supply management over there while working at Lufthansa Cargo.

David Zhang is president and managing director of Spar Beijing, a voluntary chain of independent food retailers. David created Spar Beijing in 2009, following his introduction of the Spar system to China in 2004. He had previously been China representative of the world's largest international voluntary chain of food retailers. David is a well-known expert on food retailing in China and speaks regularly on the country's food retail market.

Adnan Lee Chong Fatt Bin Abdullah is managing director of MBG Fruits. The company was started by Adnan's grandfather as a small stall in the traditional wet market in Kuala Lumpur. Adnan's father took over and managed the stall in the 1970s, before passing it to Adnan in 1994. Today, MBG is a 20-fruit retail chain operating in major shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur. It is a one-stop fruit retailer selling premium-quality local and imported fresh fruit, as well as various fruit products and juices. It offers fruit online, and corporate and home delivery services. MBG stands for 'money back guarantee' and promises a refund to unsatisfied customers.

Kurt Huang is assistant to the general manager at Shanghai Longwu Market. He joined the business in 2005. After spending a couple of years with Fruit San Clemente, a Shanghai-based subsidiary of a Chilean fruit exporter, he returned in 2010 having seen the panorama of the fruit industry. Kurt is now in charge of fruit import services, including customs clearance and logistics, and is familiar with all of the relevant quarantine and customs regulations affecting fruit imports to China.

Ben Cavender is an associate principal with The China Market Research Group (CMR) which he joined in 2006. His work at CMR focuses on consumer insights, strategic planning, brand positioning, and growth strategies in the China market.

His role at CMR also includes oversight of projects for Fortune 500 companies, SMEs, and domestic Chinese companies in the food & beverage, food service, and food manufacturing sectors.

He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and the BBC and is regularly quoted in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and the Financial Times.

Kerstin Uhlig is manager of corporate and public relations at the GlobalGAP Secretariat in Cologne. She joined GlobalGAP in 2004 and since then managed several projects such as the GlobalGAP Risk Assessment on Social Practice. Currently she works with members and partner organisations to provide the market with customised solutions such as entry level standards for emerging markets or environmental add-ons delivered via the GlobalGAP system. Besides this Kerstin also heads the marketing and events department.

Supavadee Nimmanakait is general manager of imported produce for Central Food Retail. After starting at the company as a management trainee, Supavadee joined the produce team in 2004, helping implement direct imports as a new business venture for the firm. Nowadays she is responsible for direct sourcing from overseas, planning internal and external promotions, and exploring opportunities for expansion. Until now 95 per cent of the category has come direct from qualified sources, achieving triple-digit growth since 2004 and upholding produce's position as the fresh business category with the highest sales contribution.

Mandy Lo is commercial manager of China's ParknShop supermarket chain. She has been in the fruit industry for more than 15 years, spending six years on the wholesale side and over nine years in the retail sector. Mandy joined ParknShop in 2003 as buying manager, taking up her current position - and relocating to China - in 2009. She is responsible for sourcing fruit from all over the world for ParknShop in Hong Kong and China, which covers more than 300 outlets with a turnover in excess of US$250m.

Lisa Cork is the owner of Fresh Produce Marketing. A 25-year veteran of the produce industry, she has global experience in produce marketing and retail branding. Her innovative brands and packaging communication insights help produce growers, marketers and retailers sell more produce and make more money. She is an expert at seeing consumer opportunities and turning those into strategies that drive demand growth. Lisa is a popular speaker at industry conferences and writes a column on effective branding and packaging for Produce Plus magazine.

Bryan Balmer is the manager for Thailand and China for the Department of Primary Industries, Victoria Australia. Bryan works with Australian agrifood industries and companies to assist with market access issues and increase their agri-food exports to Asia. Bryan has been based in Thailand for nine years and in that time has built strong networks with Australian and Asian importers, distributors and supermarkets and government departments.

Simon Hegarty is chief executive of the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority. With a background in advocacy roles in New Zealand's primary sector, he took his current job in September 2005. The role includes responsibility for industry liaison on trade barriers and their removal. Simon's skills and experience in trade access and market development have made him a key industry contact person during various free trade agreement negotiations and other wider trade access issues.

Chang-Hwa Oh is president of Jinwon Trading Co, one of the major fruit traders in Korea.
He worked for a subsidiary of Dole Foods from 1995 to 2002, since when he has managed Jinwon. Jinwon was established in 1979 and mainly handles bananas, cherries, citrus, mangoes, pineapples, pomegranates and table grapes. It also produces and distributes Korean fruit for the domestic market.

John Baker is the chief executive of Produce Marketing Australia, which he established in 1998 to provide marketing, promotion and consultancy services to the international fresh produce industry. He has more than 30 years of experience in fresh produce production and marketing. For Washington apples and potatoes, and Northwest US pears and cherries, John has delivered over 100 retail training workshops to almost 200 retail groups in 14 countries. From 1989 to 1998 he was managing director (and marketing manager) of the Australian Horticultural Corporation. Before that he was secretary (general manager) of Sydney wholesale markets, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mario Steta is vice-president and general manager of Mexico for Driscoll's. The founder president of the Mexican Greenhouse Vegetable Growers Association and now the president of the Aneberries association of Mexican berry exporters, Mario is a former president of the North American Tomato Trade Working Group and has spoken at various North American events. He began at Birds Eye de Mexico, helping develop one of the first 'speedling' greenhouse facilities in central Mexico. Mario was general manager of Agros, a hi-tech greenhouse vegetable operation, between 1992 and 2007. He assumed his current position in January 2009, taking responsibility for the operation and management of citrus and field vegetable production entities, and a number of environmentally controlled operations.

Patrick Vizzone is managing director and senior relationship banker at Rabobank International Hong Kong. Previously, he was Asia's regional head of food and agribusiness, and global sector head of fruit and vegetables. Born in Australia, he has 20 years' experience in agribusiness and corporate and investment banking, living in Asia since 1995, working in China, Hong Kong and Japan. Patrick has a BA in history and political science from Monash University and an MBA in finance from Manchester Business School. He is on the board of COFCO Group subsidiary China Agri-Industries Holdings, where he's served since 2007.