Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery is pleased to announce that it has added two new individuals to its panel of Contributing Industry Experts.

Laurie Demeritt is now the new sustainability expert for SF&WB, contributing columns and providing insight on issues related to sustainability vital to the snack and bakery industries. She is chief executive officer of The Hartman Group, Bellevue, WA, where she drives the strategic and operational direction for the research and consulting teams. She is recognized for her ability to use trends research to develop successful marketing strategies by understanding subtle complexities of how consumers interact with products. A nationally recognized authority on consumer behavior, she received her MBA in Marketing and Environmental Management from the University of Washington and her BA in Political Science from Cornell University.

Steven Taylor, Ph.D., is now the gluten-free expert for SF&WB, contributing columns and—along with his colleagues at the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP)—will provide insight on gluten-free issues, and food allergens in general, to aid with overall creation of related SF&WB content. He is the co-founder and co-director of FARRP, and is a professor with the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His research interests center on food allergies, including the determination of threshold doses for allergenic foods and the effect of food processing on food allergens. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California–Davis, and his BS and MS in Food Science and Technology from Oregon State University.

The SF&WB panel of Contributing Industry Experts comprises top leaders from across the food industry who specialize in key areas like health and wellness, food safety, sustainability, gluten-free and regulatory. Demeritt and Taylor join the following experts currently working with SF&WB:

• Lance Reeve, director, food safety services innovation, AIB International
• Gale Prince, founder and president, SAGE Food Safety Consultants
• Christine Cochran, executive director, Grain Foods Foundation
• Robb MacKie, president/CEO, American Bakers Association