 |
Michael Gregory is Deputy Chief Economist and Head of U.S. Economics for BMO Capital Markets. He manages the team responsible for forecasting and analyzing the North American economy and financial markets. Michael began his career in economics with Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal in the mid-1980s, before moving to Toronto to work in RBC’s foreign exchange and money market research group. Returning to Canada at the end of 2001, Michael headed up the Financial Services Analysis team at Bank of Montreal, focusing on regulatory and industry restructuring issues, before shifting to BMO Capital Markets Economics in 2004. He moved to Chicago in late 2013, providing research support for the U.S. and Canadian fixed income business and working with the Global Fixed Income Strategy team, before returning to Toronto in 2016. |
 |
Dr. David Acheson, President & CEO of The Acheson Group, brings decades of experience across the entire food and import safety sector, helping clients enter new markets, enhance the value of their products, and navigate dynamic scientific and regulatory systems. David’s background in medicine, food safety, molecular pathogenesis and the regulatory environment of both FSIS and FDA provides a unique depth of experience that is shared with our clients. Prior to forming TAG, David served as the Chief Medical Officer at the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service and then in 2002 joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as the Chief Medical Officer at the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). After serving as the Director of CFSAN’s Office of Food Defense, Communication and Emergency Response, David was appointed as the Assistant and then Associate Commissioner for Foods which provided him an agency-wide leadership role for all food and feed issues and the responsibility for the development of the 2007 Food Protection Plan, which served as the basis for many of the authorities granted to FDA by the Food Safety Modernization Act. |
 |
Brian Grant, Director of Food & Agribusiness at Cottingham & Butler, has been focusing on risk management consulting for commercial businesses for 13+ years and has built a niche focus in the food and agribusiness space. Brian has worked with all size companies at all levels of the supply chain from ingredient importers and distributors to large candy and mustard companies. His expertise lies in understanding the inherent risks within the business and keeping a pulse on changes and regulations that constantly change the risk landscape. Brian continues to further his knowledge with HACCP certifications and numerous risk and insurance designations. |
 |
Dr. Rolando González, Vice President of Public Health at The Acheson Group, has held technical and thought leadership roles at major national and global companies including Target Corporation, Bühler AG, and 3M Food Safety. Dr. González brings over a decade of practical food safety and quality management experience across a broad variety of food platforms spanning from perishables to dry and low moisture foods, with primary focus on risk mitigation and brand protection. His specific areas of expertise include food defense, sanitary design of food handling facilities and equipment, development and implementation of cleaning and sanitation and microbial environmental monitoring programs, amongst others. |
 |
James Acheson, is an Account and IT Manager for The Acheson Group (TAG). In previous positions James developed extensive client relations interfacing with both suppliers and customers. He handled logistics and inventory management in a retail supervisory capacity with experience in the food service and companion animal industries. His prior experience includes web site design and project management along with developing graphics and designing templates for a variety of marketing material. James’ undergraduate education is in business and focused on graphic design and business communications and he is HACCP certified. |
