Archived events

March 28, 2023 @ Vancouver, BC

Meet the panelists

Dr. Federica Di Palma holds a PhD in Immunogenetics from the University of Reading and brings over 15 years of experience in genomics and data science, with strong international connections in the US through institutions such as NIH, Harvard, and MIT. Most recently she was Director of Science at the Earlham Institute in the United Kingdom where she led the Institute BBSRC core strategic programme in food security, as well as a wide variety of research programmes aimed at delivering the crossdisciplinary application of novel computational and molecular biology technologies to the understanding of living systems.
Federica is passionate about exploring and preserving biodiversity around the world. She leads numerous multidisciplinary international research programs for Development Assistance Committee countries aimed at generating strategic partnerships, building human and infrastructure capacity, and translating scientific knowledge into policy and private sector engagement to deliver long-term impact. She remains Professorial Fellow in Biodiversity in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia.
Federica’s previous experience includes her roles as the Assistant Director, Vertebrate Genome Biology at the Broad Institute of Harvard, a Senior Research Scientist and Service Centre Manager at the Hubbard Centre for Genome Studies at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, and a Fogarty Fellow, National Institutes of Health.

Mr. Dhillon is active in several business enterprises, most notably as President and CEO of the Richberry Group of Companies and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ocean Spray.

Evan is Director of Arrell Food Institute and a professor of Geography at the University of Guelph. There, Evan works to bring large and diverse teams together to develop strategies that balance our need to produce and distribute accessible, healthy, and nutritious food while stewarding the ecosystems on which we all depend for life. He believes that it is only by building bridges between the corporate sector, government, civil society, and academics that we will be able to create the food systems fit for the challenges of the 21st century.

Dr. Philip Steenkamp, president and vice-chancellor of Royal Roads University in British Columbia, Canada, is a galvanizing leader with broad experience.
Spanning a 17-year career in public service, Steenkamp held senior leadership positions in multiple provincial ministries, including office of deputy minister from 1997 to 2011.
As president and chief executive officer of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games Secretariat, Steenkamp held provincial oversight and management of the largest event, at that time, in the world.
Recent positions include vice-president, external relations at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.

Terramera Founder and CEO, Karn Manhas, is an AgTech industry pioneer on a mission to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture. With Terramera’s revolutionary Actigate™ platform and a powerful suite of machine learning tools, the company is tackling audacious goals of reducing global synthetic pesticide loads 80%, increasing global farm productivity by 20%, and boosting organic soil carbon 100% by 2030. The company’s growth is fuelled by its ability to fuse science, nature and artificial intelligence to support the transition to climate-smart regenerative agriculture practices that enable the natural sequestration and retention of soil organic carbon.

Bahram Rashti is the CEO and Co-founder of Fresh Green Farms, as well as UP Vertical Farms, an agricultural technology company specializing in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Fresh Green Farms is on route to become one of Canada’s biggest and most sustainable indoor vertical farming producers of leafy greens, producing the safest, nutrient-dense, best tasting fresh salad greens all year round. Now seven years after its inception, the company is about to disrupt the agriculture industry with their research and innovative technologies.
Fresh Green Farms has decentralized the current model of leafy greens production and distribution and will allow retail to have Just-in-Time leafy greens from their planned facilities across Canada and the US. The company, in partnership with The Oppenheimer Group (Oppy), will enter the market in March 2023 under the UP Vertical Farms brand.
Bahram holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Ottawa and a Doctor in Dental Medicine from McGill University. After two years of hospital residency at Vancouver General Hospital, he began his dental career by establishing a dental facility in Northern Saskatchewan where dentist and specialists rotated through to treat and provide care to mostly the underserved First Nation community. During his many rural rotations, he realized the food security problem within Canada and teamed up with his brother Shahram Rashti to tackle part of this problem.