The International Food Information Council (IFIC) has expanded its team and confirmed a new slate of trustees to further strengthen its food, nutrition, and agriculture expertise, and to guide and execute its new strategic vision. IFIC is led by a public-private board of trustees comprising academic and food industry leaders with expertise in nutrition, food safety, risk communications, and biotechnology, along with government liaisons. The majority of IFIC’s board is composed of independent academic researchers.
As a food-focused research and educational nonprofit under new executive leadership, IFIC is set to release new consumer behavioral research and insights; enhance its science communication capabilities, including its digital and social media platforms; and broaden its multi-sector stakeholder engagement partnership platform this year. IFIC remains proactively invested in the mission-driven priorities most necessary and valuable to support multiple stakeholder needs, including those of consumers, in making informed food decisions.
“IFIC’s mission is to effectively communicate accurate and actionable information at the intersection of science, food, and the consumer,” says IFIC President and CEO Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RDN. “Through best-in-class consumer research, science communications, and convening thought leadership, we look forward to working with our trustees to advance the food systems dialogue and science-based decision-making.”
At the December 2023 Annual Meeting, IFIC confirmed the following Board of Trustees:
- Arti Arora, PhD (The Coca-Cola Company)
- Regan Bailey, PhD, MPH, RD (Texas A&M University System) (Co-Chair)
- Regina Benjamin, MD (Bayou Clinic Inc., & Former U.S. Surgeon General)
- Susan Bond (Kerry, Inc.)
- Jessica Campbell, PhD (General Mills) (Secretary & Treasurer)
- Russ Dyer (Mondelēz International) (Co-Chair)
- Mario Ferruzzi, PhD (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences)
- Jeneen Fields, PhD (Purdue University) (Co-Vice Chair)
- Simin Meydani, DVM, PhD (Tufts University)
- Amy Preston, PhD, RD (The Hershey Company)
- Tia Rains, PhD (Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc.)
- Dojin Ryu, PhD (University of Missouri-Columbia)
- Barbara Schneeman, PhD (University of California, Davis)
- Timothy Sellnow, PhD (University of Central Florida)
- Anna Maria Siega-Riz, PhD (University of Massachusetts- Amherst)
- Jessica Smith, PhD (Mars, Inc.)
- Jeffrey Zachwieja, PhD (PepsiCo) (Co-Vice Chair)
A full list of IFIC trustees and public liaisons can be found here.
Additionally, IFIC named Milton Stokes, PhD, MPH, RD, FAND as senior director of food and nutrition. Stokes will lead the organization’s food and nutrition strategy in support of its mission to effectively communicate science-based information on food safety, nutrition, and sustainable food systems.
A registered dietitian and communications professional, Stokes previously served as a consultant to IFIC and held other leadership positions in food, nutrition, and agriculture. He has experience building strategies and communication plans, executing engagements with strategic stakeholders, and creating and delivering education globally. A former professor of food and nutrition, Stokes has taught courses in nutrition communication, food science, and the fundamentals of nutrition.
“Our work at IFIC is to design and deploy science communications based on research and consumer insights,” Reinhardt Kapsak states. “I am thrilled to add Milton with his leadership and expertise to the IFIC team to accelerate our endeavors of serving the public good.”
“IFIC is a prestigious organization that I’ve admired for more than 20 years,” Stokes comments. “I’m honored to join under new executive leadership, and I look forward to creating food and nutrition programming for health professionals and other stakeholders to promote accurate information about healthful eating.”
Stokes joins IFIC after serving as a consultant to commodity boards, public relations agencies, restaurants, and startups in food, nutrition, and agriculture. Milton has a master’s degree in public health from Hunter College–City University of New York, and his clinical training was conducted at Yale-New Haven Hospital, affiliated with Yale University School of Medicine. His doctoral degree, from the University of Connecticut, is in communication and marketing with a specialization in health communication.
