Christine Schäfer, MSc BA, researcher and speaker, GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
Christine Schäfer is a researcher and speaker at the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, an independent think tank in consumption, economics and society in Switzerland. She analyzes social, economic and technological trends, with a focus on food, consumption and retail.
Schäfer studied business administration at the Universities of Bern and Valencia, with a focus on marketing and consumer behavior. Before joining GDI, she completed a trainee program at US pharmaceutical and consumer goods manufacturer Johnson & Johnson in Zug.
Key topics Schäfer addresses include: ‘Hacking Food: Redefining What We Eat’; ‘Eternity Now: Wellbeing and Beauty Retail Reimagined’; Global consumption protests: rebellion between hope and hype’; and ‘Care’.
When she’s not conducting research,Schäfer plays hockey for Luzerner Sportclub and carries out voluntary work.
Benjamin Calleja, founder and CEO, Livit Design
Benjamin Calleja is founder and CEO at Livit Design. Based in Madrid, Spain, Livit Design is the world’s leading F&B Strategic Brand Consultants and Restaurant Concept Design Company. Calleja is also founder of Livit’s very own test-lab restaurants 1889, Fast-Fine Pizza (Stockholm, Sweden) & V (Los Angeles, CA and Malmö, Sweden), part of the Fast Fine Restaurant Group. Fast Fine Restaurant Group is a disruptive lifestyle hospitality company with a growing portfolio of restaurants, marking the birth of Fast Fine, a new segment in the global F&B industry.
Livit help make brands more relevant, through trends, design, technology and much more, combining the best possible guest experience with operational efficiency and profitability. Livit has developed over 13,000 projects in the last 20 years. A new Livit designed restaurant opens every eight hours somewhere in the world.
Calleja “thrives on innovation, creativity and growth” and is a true entrepreneur with a global experience in managing different roles. Previously, he was founding partner of Passionality Group, a strategic consulting firm that cultivates concepts responsibly and profitably by providing specialized and relevant business expertise through advisory or consulting services and – where applicable – seed investments in exchange for compelling returns on invested capital.
Bruno Parmentier, lecturer, consultant and author of books about agriculture and world hunger
Bruno Parmentier graduated as a civil engineer from Des Mines De Paris in 1972, he also graduated from the EPHE (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes) the same year. He was a special Advisor to the French Ministry of the Environment from 1972 to 1973, where he performed various rural and regional development missions in Mexico until 1977.
Parmentier was sales and mechanical manager in the department of LIP cooperative Besançon from 1978 to 1981. He went on to join Discovery editions, where he was the commercial and financial director until 1985 and CEO from 1996 to 1999. Prior to this Parmentier was business manager of the CNDP (National Center for Educational Documentation 1985-1987, 1994 – 1995) and the CFPJ (Centre for training and development of journalists 1987-1993). From 1999 to 2001, Parmentier was the CEO Editions du Cerf. His most recent book is ZERO HUNGER, End the hunger published in 2014.
Between 2002 and 2011 he headed the (Angers Graduate School of Agriculture) ESA group-oriented agriculture, food and rural development. This diverse course has allowed him to develop a unique perspective on the issues of agriculture and food in France and worldwide.
Currently, Bruno Parmentier devotes himself primarily to lectures and participates in panel discussions on the topics of agriculture and food.
