2024 Speakers

Paul Breitenbach
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, r4 Technologies, Inc.

Paul Breitenbach
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, r4 Technologies, Inc.
As a member of the founding team and original Chief Marketing Officer of priceline.com, Paul was a pioneer of e-commerce and created one of the world’s most iconic brands. At priceline, Paul and his team perfected the art and science of turning data into profit and created a new business model that disrupted the Travel Sector and generated over $100 billion in shareholder value.
Paul and three of his priceline co-founders created r4 Technologies to bring that same approach to technology, data and mathematics to large enterprises not born in the Internet Era. Built on decades of know-how and priceline DNA, his team has built a leadingedge Artificial Intelligence platform that empowers organizations to leverage their data and systems to create decision dominance and competitive advantage.
In addition to leading r4, Paul is an active philanthropist and Public Health advocate, working with government and healthcare organizations to address complex and deeply rooted problems where AI capabilities and a “consumer” focus can make a difference.
Paul has served on numerous company and advisory boards including the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences.
Paul’s true passion is working with great people who, like him, want to make a better world. In partnership with local high schools and colleges, he has created countless opportunities for students and recent graduates to learn technology and how to apply it to real world problems.
Paul holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and an M.B.A. degree from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

Mark Dinglasan, MBA
Executive Director New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA)

Mark Dinglasan, MBA
Executive Director New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA)
Mark Dinglasan is currently the Executive Director of the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA). Under the leadership of Governor Murphy and Speaker Coughlin, the office is the first of its kind in the nation and will have the duty to coordinate outreach for food security programs, including developing new initiatives and outreach campaigns and identifying best practices, and conducting research and strategies to increase enrollment and outcomes in the State's food security programs and initiatives.
Prior to this role, Mark was the Executive Director of CUMAC, the largest anti-hunger organization in Passaic County. CUMAC is dedicated to fighting hunger at its root causes by using Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research and asset-based community building principles to create more just food access systems and partnerships. Mark was the Executive Director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Cook County before coming to CUMAC. Prior to joining CASA, he led national corporate development and fundraising at JTB – A Pipeline Organization, the foundation started by the Honorable Ann Claire Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
With more than 20 years of experience in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors, Mark has led teams in the areas of organizational development and strategy, fundraising and partnership cultivation, trauma-informed program design, and community engagement. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Monmouth University and received his MBA from the DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. In his spare time, Mark is a marathon coach, youth mentor, and church volunteer.

Chris Erickson
Managing Director, Parsonage Lane Advisors

Chris Erickson
Managing Director, Parsonage Lane Advisors

Rachel Fisher
Senior Advisor and Co-Lead, HHS Food is Medicine Initiative , Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH)United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Rachel Fisher
Senior Advisor and Co-Lead, HHS Food is Medicine Initiative , Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH)United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Sarah Fleisch
Senior Director, Policy Research and Development Instacart

Sarah Fleisch
Senior Director, Policy Research and Development Instacart

Livleen Gill, MBA, RDN, LDN, FAND
President, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Livleen Gill, MBA, RDN, LDN, FAND
President, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Richard H. Hughes IV
Member of the Firm Epstein Becker Green

Richard H. Hughes IV
Member of the Firm Epstein Becker Green
Richard Hughes is a multi-talented health lawyer, strategic advisor, advocate, and teacher.
His thought leadership and problem-solving strategies have broken barriers to access for vaccines and medicines. His advice on legal and policy solutions is sought after by leading biopharmaceutical companies, industry trade associations, investors, patient advocacy organizations, members of Congress and Congressional committees, and federal agencies.
Richard's practice emphasizes vaccines, prevention, and early intervention. Health care and life sciences clients value his guidance and counsel on legal, regulatory, and policy issues, as well as his ability to assemble multidisciplinary consulting teams to offer strategic business advice and build market development strategies.
Richard returned to Epstein Becker Green after serving as Managing Director at a leading Washington health care advisory firm and Vice President at a major vaccine manufacturer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before becoming an attorney, Richard served in several health policy leadership roles. He was a gubernatorial appointee to the Arkansas State Board of Health, where he deliberated regulatory policy, presided over appeals before the state health department, and advocated for vaccine access. Richard has also held roles at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and with another leading biopharmaceutical company.
Outside of his practice, Richard devotes his time to teaching and mentoring students. He is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School and previously served as a Professorial Lecturer in Health Policy & Management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health.
He publishes regularly in health law and policy journals, frequently writes commentary on Health Affairs Forefront, and is often quoted in the news media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR's Marketplace, The Hill, Forbes, Axios, Bloomberg Law, Law360, and Fierce Healthcare.

Nicholas Jury, PhD
Director of Legislative Affairs and Policy, Office of Nutrition Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Nicholas Jury, PhD
Director of Legislative Affairs and Policy, Office of Nutrition Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Dr. Jury serves as the Director of Legislative Affairs and Policy and in this role, he is responsible for planning, analyzing, reporting, and communicating scientific, clinical, and policy issues and information in support of NIH nutrition research programs. He is also charged with coordinating the implementation efforts for the Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research. Additionally, Dr. Jury is responsible for implementing the NIH commitments within the Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.
Dr. Jury joined ONR as a health science policy analyst in April 2021. He spent five years with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) as a science policy analyst focused on strengthening clinical data and biospecimen sharing policies, managing the NIH Regenerative Medicine Innovation Project, and producing reports to Congress before coming to the ONR. Prior to that, Dr. Jury was a senior fellow at the National Center for Health Research in Washington, D.C. where he made significant contributions to the 21st Century Cures Act and public health policies. He holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and a B.S. in cell and molecular biology from Bradley University. He completed a two and a half-year postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) where he conducted research examining the effects of age, genetics, sex as a biological variable, and chronic alcohol exposure on brain morphology and related behavioral outcomes

Rick Leach
Strategic Advisor on Food Security and Public Health; Chairperson, FoodMed Certified Advisory Board; Founder and Former CEO, World Food Program USA

Rick Leach
Strategic Advisor on Food Security and Public Health; Chairperson, FoodMed Certified Advisory Board; Founder and Former CEO, World Food Program USA

Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Congressman, 2nd District of Massachusetts (*Congressman McGovern will provide a pre-recorded video address)

Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Congressman, 2nd District of Massachusetts (*Congressman McGovern will provide a pre-recorded video address)
Congressman Jim McGovern represents the Second District of Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives. He is a champion for the people of his home state of Massachusetts, and a global leader working to end hunger, protect human rights, and promote peace. He believes public service should be about bringing us together and working to make life better for all our families.
Jim has been the top Democrat on the powerful House Rules Committee since 2018, serving as Chairman during the 116th and 117th Congress. Jim has worked hard on the Rules Committee to change business as usual on Capitol Hill and make Congress work in a more open, transparent, bipartisan way. For example, he put in place rules to give all Members of Congress more time to read bills. He required that bills to go through the committee process instead of just being written behind closed doors, and he created a new office to recruit and retain congressional staff that reflect the diversity of the American people.
On the House Agriculture Committee, Jim has been a global leader in the fight to end hunger. He fought for and successfully secured a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health to make ending hunger a national priority. Thanks to Jim's advocacy and tireless work, military families are being screened for hunger for the first time ever, families with children get enhanced food benefits, schools are able to provide more nutritious meals, and America now has a plan to end hunger within the decade.
Jim has spent his career in public service working to strengthen America's global leadership when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting peace. He serves on two commissions which monitor, investigate and advocate on behalf of international human rights, the rule of law, and good governance: the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He has written and successfully passed into law several bills which help America identify and hold accountable corrupt foreign officials and human rights abusers. He has also authored and passed into law several pieces of legislation to hold the government of China accountable for human rights violations, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the Tibet Policy and Support Act, and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
Jim's concern for human rights goes back to his time as a Congressional staffer, when he led an investigation into the murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. Jim uncovered that the murders were committed by Salvadoran soldiers who had been trained by the United States Government–leading to a major shift in public opinion and a change in U.S. policy that made future military aid contingent on improved human rights in El Salvador.
Jim worked his way through college, earning a BA in history and then spending over a decade working in the office of Congressman Joe Moakley, a Democrat from South Boston. His time working for Moakley taught him that you have to stand up for what you believe in and work hard to give back to your community. After Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 1995, Jim saw that Washington was working harder than ever for the rich and powerful while everyday people fell further and further behind. He successfully ran for Congress in 1996, and has won reelection every two years since then.
Jim takes principled stands on tough issues and works with Members of Congress from across the aisle and throughout the country to ensure that every single person in America and around the world is treated with dignity, decency, fairness, and respect.

Robin McKinnon, PhD
Acting Director, Nutrition Center of Excellence, FDA Human Foods Program

Robin McKinnon, PhD
Acting Director, Nutrition Center of Excellence, FDA Human Foods Program

Jeff Moreland
CEO, Chief Patient Officer, Patient Engagement Advisors

Jeff Moreland
CEO, Chief Patient Officer, Patient Engagement Advisors

Anand Parekh, MD
Chief Medical Advisor, Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)

Anand Parekh, MD
Chief Medical Advisor, Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)
Dr. Anand Parekh is Chief Medical Advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) where he provides clinical and public health expertise across the organization. Since 2015, he has led specific efforts tackling a variety of policy issues including the COVID-19 pandemic, future of public health, opioid crisis, obesity epidemic & nutrition, health & housing, domestic and global HIV/AIDS, business & public health collaboration, emergency preparedness, social isolation, rural health, and prescription drug costs. His health care expertise has been recognized by the Washingtonian in its listing of Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People.
Prior to joining BPC, he completed a decade of service at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As an HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the Senior Executive Service from 2008 to 2015, he developed and implemented national initiatives focused on prevention, wellness, and care management. Specifically, he played instrumental roles in the implementation of the Recovery Act’s Prevention and Wellness Fund, the Affordable Care Act’s prevention initiatives, and HHS’ Multiple Chronic Conditions Initiative. He received the Surgeon General’s Outstanding Service Award for his efforts.
Briefly in 2007, he was delegated the authorities of the HHS Assistant Secretary for Health overseeing ten health program offices and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Earlier in his HHS career, he played key roles in public health emergency preparedness efforts related to pandemic influenza and bioterrorism as special assistant to the science advisor to the secretary.
Parekh is a board-certified internal medicine physician, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, an adjunct professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, where he previously completed his residency training in the Osler Medical Program of the Department of Medicine. He provided volunteer clinical services for many years at the Holy Cross Hospital Health Center, a clinic for the uninsured in Silver Spring, MD.
He currently serves on the Board of Population Health and Public Health Practice at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Dean’s Advisory Board of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Board of Directors of the Presidential Scholars Foundation, Board of Directors of WaterAid America, and the Founders Council at the United States of Care.
He has spoken widely and written extensively on a variety of health topics such as chronic care management, population health, value in health care, and the need for health and human services integration. His book Prevention First: Policymaking for a Healthier America was released in December 2019 and argues that prevention must be our nation’s top health policy priority. He is also a Forbes healthcare contributor focused on the coronavirus.
A native of Michigan, Parekh received a B.A. in political science, an M.D., and an M.P.H. in health management and policy from the University of Michigan. He was selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in 1994.

Gina Plata-Nino
Former Senior Policy Advisor, Nutrition and Agriculture, Domestic Policy Council, The White House

Gina Plata-Nino
Former Senior Policy Advisor, Nutrition and Agriculture, Domestic Policy Council, The White House

Jenny Schrum PhD, MSW, MPH
Research & Evaluation Strategy Manager, NJ Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA)

Jenny Schrum PhD, MSW, MPH
Research & Evaluation Strategy Manager, NJ Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA)
Dr. Jenny Schrum works as the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate’s Research and Evaluation Strategy Manager. Her role includes establishing food security theoretical and operational understanding as well as implementing research efforts to recognize multi-sector best practices and gaps in understanding. Prior to this role, Jenny worked as Director of Strategy & Evaluation at City Green, a New Jersey non-profit implementing sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and a statewide Good Food Bucks program. Her work established organization-wide goals, objectives, and evaluation as well as evolved the School Garden program and youth development efforts. Jenny started her career at Horton’s Kids in Washington D.C. where she managed a community garden installed by Michelle Obama and established food security-focused programming such as a food pantry, farmer’s market, and nutrition education.
In addition to these positions, Jenny has served on committees at the Capital Area Food Bank, the DC Diaper Bank, AmeriCorps, and Rutgers School of Social Work’s Doctoral Student Association. These experiences, coupled with her training as a Research Assistant throughout graduate school at the Rutgers Center for Prevention Science has informed Jenny’s passion for strengths-based and community-informed evaluation. Jenny holds a PhD and Master of Social Work degree from Rutgers University and a Master of Public Health degree from George Washington University.

Pamela Schwartz, MPH
Executive Director, Community Health, Office of Community Health, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals

Pamela Schwartz, MPH
Executive Director, Community Health, Office of Community Health, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals

Sakeenah Shabazz
Senior Policy Advisor, Food and Nutrition Services, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Sakeenah Shabazz
Senior Policy Advisor, Food and Nutrition Services, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Anne Utech, PhD, RDN, LD
National Director, Nutrition & Food Services, Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

Anne Utech, PhD, RDN, LD
National Director, Nutrition & Food Services, Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
On January 22, 2019, Dr. Utech was appointed for the Title 38 Senior Executive Service (SES) Equivalent position of National Director, Nutrition and Food Services (NFS), Veterans Health Administration – Central Office (VHA-CO), Washington, DC (virtual Houston, TX). In her appointment, Dr. Utech serves as the Nutrition Field Advisory Committee executive manager and oversee all NFS policies and programs, strategic planning, national external & internal partnerships, and serve as the VA’s primary subject matter expert for nutrition & food services. From April 1, 2019 to March 25, 2020, Dr. Utech served as Acting Chief Officer for Specialty Care Services, Veterans Health Administration – Central Office (VHA-CO), Washington, DC. In this capacity, she led 26 medical specialties, national program directors, and programs in an interim capacity.
She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Her professional interests are environmental sustainability in procurement/waste streams, promoting and conducting nutrition research, expanding strategic partnerships for greater impacts, and data analytics to improve Veteran outcomes. Recent awards include being the 2015 Commencement Speaker and Hallmark Alumni Awardee at Texas Woman’s University. Recent peer-reviewed publications have been on the topics of nutrition support, nutrition education and diabetes.