Expert Advisory Panel

ConfectioneryNews has enlisted an Expert Advisory Board, which will enable the site to maintain its position at the coalface of industry-related news, regulations, new product development and technological development.

The Panel

Antonie Fountain​

Managing Director, The Voice Network​

Antonie Fountain is managing director of the VOICE Network. He acts as one of the key spokespersons for civil society in cocoa and has been actively advocating a sustainable cocoa sector for more than a decade.

Raymond Major​

Cocoa Consultant​

Raymond Major has 43 years’ experience working in the chocolate and confectionery industry.  For six years he ran Hershey’s manufacturing operations in Brazil and for 10 years he oversaw sourcing fine cocoa for Hershey’s Artisan Brands. In 2010 he was made a Hershey Fellow in recognition of his long service to the cocoa industry. Today he runs a consulting business focused on cocoa production, processing and marketing.  

Tom Daly​

Founder, relevantventures.com​

Experienced in the ‘boiler rooms and bridges of some of the world’s best-known brands’ (UPS, ING, and Coca-Cola), Tom Daly’s creativity, insight, and leadership have combined to produce a track record of turning big ships in small spaces toward a digital future. He also serves as an advisor to The Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology, and Society at The University of South Carolina as well as the marketing department at the University of North Georgia.

Dr Kristy Leissle ​

Scholar of cocoa and chocolate​

Dr Kristy Leissle is co-founder of the Cocoapreneurship Institute of Ghana. Since 2004, her work has investigated the politics, economics, and cultures of these industries, focusing on West African political economy and agriculture, specialty cocoa trade relationships, and the complex meanings produced and consumed through chocolate marketing and advertising. Her recent book, Cocoa (Cambridge: Polity, 2018), explores cocoa geopolitics and personal politics, and was #3 on Food Tank’s Fall Reading List: 19 Books to Take the Food System Back.