Speakers

Colman E. Cuff, Managing Director, VP Coffee & Tea
Starbucks Coffee Trading Company (SCTC)

Colman Cuff joined Starbucks Coffee Trading Company (SCTC) in July 2003.

Colman worked as a coffee importer in New York for nearly 10 years before joining Starbucks.

Colman is a graduate from Fordham University School of Law, New York, where he received a Juris Doctorate concentrating on International Trade Law. He was accepted to the New York Bar Association in 2000.

In his role as Vice President, Coffee & Tea and Managing Director, Starbucks Coffee Trading Company, Colman manages and oversees the global green coffee and tea purchasing for Starbucks worldwide. He and his team are responsible for establishing the procurement strategies in accordance with Starbucks quality standards and purchasing guidelines, including C.A.F.E. Practices. In addition, Colman leads the SCTC team in Switzerland, the Tazo tea department in Portland and the Farmer Support Centers in Costa Rica and East Africa.

A partner for nearly five years, Colman brings incredible coffee industry experience and knowledge as well his unwavering personal commitment to ensuring Starbucks remains the leader in specialty coffee.

Daniele Giovannucci, Executive Director, Committee on Sustainability Assessment

Daniele Giovannucci is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA). COSA is a global consortium of institutions and UN agencies advancing innovative ways to measure sustainability.
Mr. Giovannucci has led research and projects on the sustainability issues of developing nations in more than 30 countries since 1992.  His research on markets and agro-enterprise has been translated into a number of languages and has ranked among the top 1% of the more than 160,000 professional authors tracked by the Social Science Research Network for each of the past 3 years.

 Jared Keyes, Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co

Jared Keyes is Partner in charge of New York Banking for Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) in New York City. The group specializes in servicing the needs of global commodity traders and processors – from senior loans to support trade finance and working capital needs, to capital raises to support expansion and growth, and investment services to support the private banking needs of business owners and executives.  BBH’s client base ranges from traders and processors of agricultural products, ferrous, non-ferrous and precious metals, as well as energy.  Coffee traders and roasters represent BBH’s oldest and largest commodity sector concentration.

Jared sits on the Banking Credit Committee, and is also responsible for overall Banking strategy.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude with Highest Honors from Harvard College in 1984 with a degree in East Asian Languages & Civilizations (Mandarin Chinese).  Originally from Concord, Massachusetts, Jared currently resides in New York City with his wife Song-mei and has two children, Simon (23), and Alicia (20).

Jared is Treasurer of New York City Audubon Society for which he also leads bird watching trips, and also sits on the board of the Vermont Center for EcoStudies which does bird conservation work in Northern New England and the Dominican Republic.  He has been active in community affairs over many years, having served 9 years on the board of trustees of The Fenn School in Concord, MA, a three year term as trustee of The Chinese Language School in Belmont, MA where he also served as assistant principal, and is past Treasurer of Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord, MA.

John Boyle, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group, USA

The company is headquartered in Portsmouth, Virginia and is the North American operating division of the Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group – a vertically integrated, global coffee company with nearly 50 group companies in more than 100 countries.
John has over 20 years of experience in the coffee industry, including work at international coffee giants Nestle and Sara Lee.  His current responsibilities encompass all external facing functions at Massimo Zanetti Beverage, USA: Proprietary and Corporate Brand Sales & Marketing, Brand Development for Hills Bros., Chock Full o’ Nuts, MJB, Chase & Sanborn and Segafredo, and Café Development across Segafredo Cafés and Chock Full o’ Nuts Cafés franchises.  Additionally, John oversees contract manufacturing and International licensing.
John currently serves as Vice Chairman of the National Coffee Association and will assume the Chairman position in 2012.  John and his wife Donna live in Virginia Beach, Virginia and have two daughters – Lauren and Jenna.  He enjoys golf, fishing and time on the beach with the family dogs.

Judith Ganes-Chase, Founder and President, J. Ganes Consulting, LLC

Judith Ganes-Chase, founder and president of J. Ganes Consulting, LLC—the leading, independent commodities research and consulting services company—is a world-renowned soft commodities and futures analyst with nearly 30 years of  experience in the food and agricultural industries specializing in coffee but also cocoa, sugar, cotton and orange juice. 

Prior to starting J. Ganes Consulting in 2001, Ms. Ganes-Chase was Director of News and Research at InterCommerical Markets, but spent most of her career on Wall Street working for major brokerage houses Merrill Lynch (now part of Bank of America) and Shearson Lehman (now Smith Barney Morgan Stanley) as a Senior Softs Analysts for their many institutional and retail clients. 

In addition to writing her Exclusive Market Reports and providing Advisory Services to numerous corporations, organizations and investment groups, Judy regularly contributes articles to industry publications, and authors’ major independent studies.  Ms. Ganes-Chase also conducts educational seminars on futures and options, and has been interviewed and quoted countless times in the major print, online and broadcast media outlets worldwide. 

Ms. Ganes-Chase is a contributing member of several financial and research industry consulting associations and is an active member of many industry associations.  Ms. Ganes-Chase is the immediate Past President of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA).

Jürgen Plate and his 50 years in the Costa Rican Coffee Industry

Mr. Jürgen Plate originally comes from Hamburg, Germany, where he was born in 1938. On November 23rd, 1963, he arrived to Costa Rica and later in 1968, he married Margarette Aming, with whom he had two children, Astrid and Oliver.

Prior to his arrival to Costa Rica, he worked at Sclüter & Maack company in Germany from 1955-1958, where he had his first professional experience in the coffee industry. In 1959, he joined the military in the new “Deutsch Wehrmacht” now called “Bundeswehr”. And later, from 1960-63, he continued to work for Sclüter & Maack to perfect his knowledge of coffee. Upon arriving to Costa Rica in 1963, he began working for Café Capris. He later worked for Peter Schoenfeld, a subsidiary of Café Capris and then with Volker Brothers. In 1989, with a vast wealth of experience, he returned to Café Capris, where he is currently the General Manager.

During these years, he negotiated the sale of more than 10 million bags of green coffee under very different circumstances:
Low prices from $35-$50 and high prices from $250-$300.

Don Jürgen remembers that during only 3 of the years while living in Costa Rica, had coffee prices reached these highs and lows; In 1975, because of the frost and in 1985 during the drought, and again from 1994-1997 because of another frost.

Don Jürgen has always said that since the beginning of the 1990’s, Costa Rica has put forth great efforts to change from a commercial coffee producing country to a quality coffee producer, and he is proud to have been part of this transition together with other coffee industry colleagues and institutions, like ICAFE, SINTERCAFE, the Export Chamber, Coffee Chamber, CAFES FINOS and the Chamber of Roasters, among others.

He received the 2005 Coffee Merit award from the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE), recognizing his participation to better the quality of coffee production, milling and also for helping to reach superior conditions for sales and marketing for Costa Rica’s “Grano de Oro”.

Many times he has said that coffee is more than just coffee beans, it’s a passion and it’s his life, which he gives of himself devotedly.

His wonderful sense of humor, astuteness, knowledge and passion for coffee has turned him into a fundamental part in positioning Costa Rican coffee as a high quality beverage in international markets. In addition, after all of these years of living in Costa Rica, he recalls that coming to this small country was a good choice and he feels proud to be part of its coffee history; the history of the grain of gold; the history of a country filled with good people, but most of all for his coffee family and great friends.

 Keith Flury, Senior Commodity Analyst,  Rabobank International

Keith Flury is a Senior Commodity Analyst with Rabobank International in London.  He is focused on the soft commodities forecasting and analysing the coffee, sugar, cocoa, and cotton markets.  Keith was formerly with F.O. Licht in Germany and prior to that position he was an analyst at Nidera in Rotterdam.  Keith holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis and a Masters in Agricultural Economics from the University of Hohenheim in Germany.

Nathan Herszkowicz, Executive Director, Brazilian Coffee Roasters Association - ABIC

Mr. Herszkowicz, is the Executive Director of Associação Brasileira da Indústria de Café (Brazilian Coffee Roasters Association - ABIC) since 2003.
This are some other activities related to managing coffee agribusiness organizations on which Mr. Herszkowics has participated or participates:
•    He was president of the Sindicato da Indústria de Café do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State Coffee Roasters Association) 1995-2003
•    CEO of the Sindicato da Indústria de Café do Estado de São Paulo (SINDICAFÉ-SP) – 2003-present.
•    Councelor of  the 4C Association – Code of Conduct for the Coffee Community, the worldwide organization for coffee sustainability, with headquarters in Bonn, Germany -  2007 - 2009
•    President of the Coffee Chamber of the Department of Agriculture and Food Supply of the State of São Paulo – 1997-present
•    Founding Member and Director of the Coffee Brewing Center and Barista School, in Sao Paulo  -  1996 to present
•    ABIC’s Representative at the International Coffee Organization (ICO), and invited member of its Private Sector Consulting Board (PSCB), with headquarters in London
•    Member of the International Relations Council (IRC), of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), USA, representing ABIC
•    Head and Commercial Coordinator of the APEX BRASIL Program to promote roasted coffee exports, 2002-present
•    Member of the Board and founding Member of the Cafés do Brasil Museum in Santos – State of São Paulo
•    Member of the Coffee Advertising and Marketing Steering Committee (CDPM/Café), of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supplies
•    Director of the Coffee, Confectionery, Wheat and Bakery Division of the São Paulo Federation of Industries (FIESP) Agribusiness Department.
Mr. Herszkowics has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineer and a Graduate Course in Industrial Administration.
 

Paul Rice, President  & CEO, Fair Trade USA

Paul Rice is President  & CEO of Fair Trade USA. Since launching the Fair Trade Certified label in 1998, Paul has pushed to mainstream the Fair Trade movement by partnering with over 800 U.S. companies, expanding certification across food products, and exploring new categories such as apparel. With 2009 global retail sales of almost $5 billion, Fair Trade certification is helping millions of small farmers and workers live better.
Paul has been honored for his pioneering work as a social entrepreneur by Ashoka, the World Economic Forum, Ethisphere, Fast Company magazine, and the Skoll Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.  Previously, Paul worked for 11 years as a rural development specialist in Nicaragua, where he founded Nicaragua’s first Fair Trade, organic coffee export cooperative. Paul holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from UC Berkeley.
 

 Roberto Mata, General Manager, Coopedota R.L.

 Roberto Mata is an agricultural farmer from the region of Dota-Tarrazu, and has been the General Manager of the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Dota R.L for the past 17 years.  He was recognized by El Financero business newspaper as Business Man of the Year in 2003.  His achievements include the successful implementation of business strategies which have positioned Café Dota at the highest level of the specialty coffee market worldwide.  Also, with the development of operations and equipment, Mr. Mata has maximized the use of energy and coffee sub-products, achieving the first carbon neutral certification for coffee in the world.