Our expert contributors
Rachel Yarcony, Co-founder & CEO, myAir Through 20+ years of executive management roles at companies including Nestle, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and other leading organizations, Rachel Yarcony experienced first-hand the impact of stress on business executives. She thus set out to create a company to help individuals build stress resilience with a combination of body and mind analytics and adaptogenic, plant-based foods as an alternative to prescription medication. Together with leading behavioral researchers, scientists, and nutrition experts, Yarcony created myAir, a scientific solution to measure, manage, and relieve stress through data-driven, personalized insights and plant-based functional food recommendations.
David J. Foreman, Founder, The Herbal Pharmacist David J. Foreman is a pharmacist, naturopath, author, speaker and media personality known internationally as, “The Herbal Pharmacist®”. His background in pharmacy and natural medicine put Foreman in an elite class of health experts. Foreman is highly sought for his abilities as a science engineer, connecting the science world with sales and marketing. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy, and author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books. Foreman is a member of the editorial advisory board for Nutritional Outlook and on the content advisory board for Vitafoods Europe, Vitafoods Asia and Vitafoods Insights. His mission is to educate as many people as possible about the benefits of natural health and healing using his “4 Pillars of Health: Diet, Exercise, Spirituality and Supplements.”
Joe Welstead, Founder & CEO, Motion Nutrition Joe Welstead is a former Scottish international swimmer turned performance expert. Having experienced the perils of ‘uppers and downers’ in the forms of caffeine and sedatives, Welstead has dedicated his life to helping people find natural, restorative sleep through the night and high energy in the day. Working with world class experts in nutritional therapy and neuroscience, he has developed a range of market-leading natural supplements. As founder and CEO of Motion Nutrition, Welstead believes that with better sleep and less stress, everything in life comes easier.
Jennifer Cooper, President, Alternative Labs Jennifer Cooper is the president of Alternative Labs. She has spent over 25 years in consumer healthcare, including supplement, food and over-the-counter drug companies. Cooper has held senior management roles in the US and Europe. She also owns healthcare consulting company, Lead Point Solutions, that has developed novel products for companies in more than a dozen countries. Cooper has consulted on products and business development projects in North America, Europe, Mexico and Asia and has lectured all over the world at supplement and drug conferences. Her consulting work includes several Fortune 500 and multinational healthcare corporations. Cooper has developed over 300 new products in the areas of OTC, dermo-cosmetics, medical devices, medical foods and dietary supplements with more than a billion dollars in sales.
Eric Meppem, Co-Founder, Pharmako Biotechnologies Eric Meppem is the co-founder and Commercial Director of Pharmako Biotechnologies Pty Ltd. For over 20 years, Meppem has specialized in innovation from product, material and marketing perspectives in the nutraceutical industry. His extensive experience across FMCG, wholesale, retail, manufacturing, supply and customer insights include senior management positions at Pharmacare Laboratories and Swisse Wellness (now H&H Group). Pharmako Biotechnologies is now an international award-winning business, a leading provider of materials created through scientific research and innovative product development. Before the nutrition industry, Meppem worked in health and fitness for eight years whilst competing at a national level in track and field. Now he’s learning to pace himself and balance work/life/family/exercise loads.
Trevor Wagner, Category Health Manager, IFF Health Trevor Wagner is a Category Health Manager in IFF Health’s new Global Commercial Development Organization and responsible for working with cross-functional teams to identify and develop new, and innovative ingredients and products that benefit digestive and brain health. He works with a team that focuses on other health areas that IFF customers and consumers will be interested in either now or in the future such immune, metabolic, mobility, intimate and emerging health areas like oral health. Wagner graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with bachelor’s degrees in Genetics and Bacteriology and received a Ph.D. in Genetics at Michigan State University. He now has years of experience bringing new technologies and products to the market.
Maggie McNamara, Marketing Manager, Gencor Pacific Maggie McNamara is a veteran brand and marketing strategist. Working with multi-million dollar companies to grow their brand value and increase market share, she is an expert in advertising, promotion and PR, and has navigated and mastered both the C2B and B2B markets. After spending over a decade working with companies like BMW, Procter & Gamble, Bavaria Brau, Silicon Graphics, Jacuzzi, and Sundance Spas she ran a successful marketing agency with her husband for over 15 years. Maggie has a degree in Communications & Multimedia, a degree in Marketing Communication and a Master’s in Organizational Communications from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa formerly RAU.
Professor Andrew Scholey, Chief Scientific Officer of Ārepa Nootropics Professor Andrew Scholey is a leading researcher into the neurocognitive effects of various interventions - including recreational drugs, medicines, and nutritional interventions. He has led over 100 clinical trials, published 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and secured over $25 million in research funding. He is placed in the top 1% of researchers worldwide across all science disciplines, with high field impact in Nutrition & Dietetics, Clinical Science and Psychiatry. Andrew was Lead Investigator on a series of first-into-human studies into the human bio-behavioural effects of nutritional interventions, focusing on potential nootropic and anti-stress/anxiolytic properties. More recently his work focuses on cognitive risk reduction and neuroimaging/biomarker techniques to better understand the mechanisms of cognitive change. As CSO of Ārepa Nootropics, and as an expert advisor to numerous global industry bodies, Scholey works closely with industry to translate research into evidence-based, end-user health benefits to brain health.
Dr Dilip Gosh, Director of Nutriconnect Dilip is an international speaker, facilitator and author and is professionally associated with many institutions. He is also currently on the content advisory board for Vitafoods Global. Dilip has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and numerous articles in food and nutrition magazines and books. His two books, "Pharmaceutical to Nutraceutical: A Paradigm shift in disease prevention" & "Natural Medicines-Clinical efficacy, Safety and Quality", were published under CRC Press. His most recent books, "Nutraceutical in Brain Health & Beyond" and "Fenugreek: Traditional & Modern medicinal uses", were published by Elsevier/Academic Press & CRC Press.
Deborah Thoma, Marketing Manager, Nektium Deborah Thoma has many years of experience in the field of international B2B marketing and communications, having held several roles across Europe. She has been immersed in the nutraceutical industry for half a decade. At Nektium she is responsible for all marketing-related activities, including specific market activation where she works on boosting awareness of the health benefits of the company’s botanical ingredients.
David Tomen, Founder of Nootropic Expert The founder of NootropicsExpert, David Tomen has been researching nootropics and brain optimization for over 10 years. Tomen has authored two books, “Secrets of the Optimized Brain” and “Head First – The Complete Guide to Healing and Optimizing Your Brain with Nootropic Supplements“, which provide in-depth information on nootropic supplements including reviews, dosage information, side effects, drug interactions, brain function, and nootropic stacks.