Kareem Elwakil
Partner
PwC
Kareem is a New York-based partner in PwC's management consulting practice, where he specializes in quality management systems and transformation, including digital quality. His experience spans strategic operations, product development, post-market surveillance, design assurance, quality and reliability engineering, compliance, and regulatory affairs.
Benjamin Mack
Director of Solutions Engineering
ETQ
Benjamin Mack, director of solutions engineering, has over 13 years of experience working with ETQ in a variety of roles. He started in technical support, then transitioned to the professional services team where he implemented vital, complex solutions for strategic opportunities. After joining an on-site demonstration to provide technical expertise, Benjamin caught the solutions engineering bug and has been a member of the team ever since.
Tracy Thompson
Global Director of Quality and Manufacturing Excellence
Mark Anthony Group
Tracy is currently the global director of quality and manufacturing excellence at Mark Anthony Group. She started her career working as a wastewater engineer for a major brewery in Canada over 23 years ago. Since then, she has worked in a variety of roles in process engineering to brewing and quality management across the U.S. and Canada. She has been instrumental in ensuring quality and food safety systems as the company has grown exponentially. Her curiosity and love of the industry drives her daily to continuously improve.
(Moderator) Barbara VanRenterghem, Ph.D.
Editorial Director
Food Safety Magazine
Barbara VanRenterghem, Ph.D., is the editorial director of Food Safety Magazine, a position she has held since 2008. From 2005–2008, she was the chief editor of Controlled Environments Magazine and the science editor of Animal Lab News and Lab Manager Magazine at Vicon Publishing. At Eaton Publishing (1999–2005), she rose from the positions of assistant scientific editor for BioTechniques and acquisitions editor for BioTechniques Press to the editor of content development and acquisitions and director of commercial product development. While at Eaton (then acquired by Informa), she served as the chief editor of Preclinica. She received a B.Sc. in biology in 1989 from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 1994 from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.