Tuesday, June 6, 2023

The challenges of transporting perishable goods requires ingenuity, adaptability, and collaboration. And as food scarcity and food costs for consumers increase, pressure is being put on making our food "go further" - in terms of reducing food waste, helping keep costs down, and food loss. 

In this panel, you'll hear thought-provoking discussion of the issues facing food transportation right now, and some of the best-in-class strategies being used to help fight food insecurity in Canada, providing valuable insights to any logistics operation.

Moderated by:

Cliff Hacking
President & CEO
Electronic Products Recycling Association (EPRA)

Cliff Hacking is the founding president and CEO of the Electronic Products Recycling Association (EPRA), the most comprehensive end-of-life electronic stewardship program in North America. EPRA, under Cliff’s leadership, has recycled over 1.2 Million Tonnes of e-waste since the organization’s inception. Through EPRA’s Recycle My Electronics programs, EPRA has helped Canadians divert e-waste from landfills and illegal export with over 2,500 collection sites across Canada. In prior roles, Cliff increased revenue and profitability at such industry-leading companies as Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and Canadian Tire. He holds an MBA from Western University and has an ICD designation from the Rotman School of Business.

Cliff is an expert in driving lower costs and increased economies of scale on a national level. Under his tenure, EPRA has introduced new programs in Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, while expanding efforts in Nova Scotia, PEI, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and evolving within new legislative requirements in Ontario and Quebec. Cliff also brought efficiency and consistency to EPRA’s 7,800 stewards.

Cliff is the host of A Welcome Diversion, EPRA’s podcast that covers sustainability and recycling. Cliff has elevated public awareness of EPRA and Recycle My Electronics as a leader in the environmental and technology sectors reaching today’s on-demand audience. The podcast series is available on Apple, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Panelists:

Lori Nikkel
CEO
Second Harvest

Lori Nikkel is a visionary leader and champion of social and environmental justice issues related to food. She is an international thought leader on Perishable Food Recovery with a strategic focus on increasing awareness of the negative impacts food loss has on climate.

Lori’s guidance has changed the way Canada manages food loss and waste. She is a co-author of the The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste, a world first evidence-based research project that identifies where, why, and how much food is lost and wasted across the supply chain, and Canada’s Invisible Food Network that identifies the extent of food support to charities and non-profits across the country. In 2022 she co-authored Wasted Opportunity which dives deeper into food loss and waste in the food industry, the types of surplus edible food, and proposed solutions.

A favored media contributor, Lori is sought after for her commentary and recommendations. She was globally recognized by the United Nations as Canada’s Food Hero in 2020. Lori is also a Clean 50 recipient and one of Canada’s 2021 Women of Influence. In 2021 Lori was named one of Waterstone Capital’s Most Admired CEOs and in 2022 she was appointed to the Order of Ontario.

As CEO of Second Harvest Lori has developed a national food recovery network that redistributes healthy surplus food to thousands of communities in need.

Jane Proctor
Vice President, Policy & Issue Management
Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CMPA)

Jane has over 37 years’ experience in the produce industry as part of the CPMA working in marketing, government relations, education, food safety and industry technology.  Jane is the CPMA representative on many international committees and groups examining issues that impact the industry.  Through these efforts she works with industry groups, standards-setting bodies, and multi-sectoral perishable initiatives and was involved in the creation of the Global Traceability Standard, the standards for DataBar, the North American Product Transportation Best Practices, the globalization of the produce PLU identification scheme and was the industry lead in the effort to create the Global Fruit & Vegetable Traceability Guide.  Jane is the CPMA lead on the Produce Traceability Initiative.

Jane has participated in many initiatives domestically, bilaterally (with the U.S.) and internationally and was instrumental in the development of the International Federation for Produce Standards (IFPS) and served as its first Chair. Currently, in her position as the Canadian produce industry representative internationally, Jane sits on the Board of the IFPS, Chairs the IFPS Produce ID Committee and represents the industry on various committees.

Jane holds two degrees from Saint Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada and was the Canadian Produce Person of the Year in 2013.