The Future of Seafood

Will Biggar brings 10 years of financial and operational experience working with growth-stage businesses. As the CFO of LocalCoho, he is focused on fundraising, investor relations and the exploration of partnerships to lower buildout costs. Will has also worked with other growth-stage food business including MightyVine, Handcut Foods and Local Foods, advising on the sale of those businesses to strategic partners. In addition, Will is cofounder and Managing Partner of 2050 Ventures, an investment firm that invests in and advises disruptive technology that supports the supply chain to feed the world's growing population. Prior to Grow Forward, Will worked at Tyson Foods where he was an associate manager in the fresh poultry and frozen chicken business. Additionally, he has 5 years of investment experience at PIMCO where he worked in portfolio analysis and creating optimal capital allocation models. Will graduated from Colgate University with a degree in Economics. He has an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is a CFA Charterholder.

Deniz Ficicioglu has a B.A. Economic and Social Communication and is the author of 2 cookbooks on sugar-free, vegan eating. In Turkish, “Deniz” means the sea - so her destiny at Bettafish was inevitable. Besides her successful cookbooks, she also worked with food startups like Kitchen Stories and researched on the future of food at HERMANN’S. Product development, brand management and culture are her superpowers. She was also named one of V-Labels “Food Heroes” and EYs Entrepreneurial Winning Women 2022.

Steve Markenson leads FMI’s research & insights practice. Markenson is a market research executive with 30 years of progressive experience in his field – from research assistant to president of a full-service national market research firm – and his diverse experience includes research design, information/data collection and analysis and strategic planning. In his role at FMI, Markenson oversees the research & insights practice at FMI, specifically the study design, survey fielding and efforts with outside knowledge partners and FMI subject matter experts. He leads the discovery process on the latest industry trends and operational insights that champion FMI as a credible voice of the food retail industry.

Moria Shimoni is an experienced biologist, R&D executive, and entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in leading technological and transformational initiatives. In her past role as EVP of R&D at Believer Meats, Moria led the tech strategy while, implementing, managing, and evaluating the company's technology resources, IP, regulation and leading the R&D teams to scaling up. Before that, Moria was the Co-Founder & CTO of VAYU Sense - a company that developed a revolutionary real-time, high-sensitivity, bio-process control system for optimizing fermentation and bioreactor processes. Moria holds a Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University, the department of Sackler School of Medicine. Her research focused on developmental cell biology.

Deniz Ataman is the deputy editor for FoodNavigator-USA where she reports on the food and beverage industry through an ingredient, policy and business lens. Previously, she served as the managing editor for the trade publication Perfumer & Flavorist Magazine where she led the brand's digital and print editorial, including the launch of Two Sense, an audio and video series featuring interviews with perfumers, flavorists, suppliers and industry experts on the business, science and art of flavor and fragrance development. She also served as conference director for the magazine's two events, Flavorcon and World Perfumery Congress in both the US and Europe. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Psychology