Speakers
Renowned speakers from research and practice will provide orientation and are prepared to become involved in a critical discussion. Participants will gain a deep insight into the current status of science, technology and application – as well as on current market trends.
- RA Harald Dittmar
Managing Director, BDIH
Harald Dittmar has run his own law practice in Mannheim, focusing on food and cosmetics law as well as competition law, since 2008. Between 1990 and 2007 he was a senior partner at GHP, Gesper, Hermes & Partner, Lawyers, Auditors, Tax consultants. Dittmar has been Managing Director of the Federal Association of German Industrial and Commercial Companies for pharmaceuticals, health food, food supplements and toiletries (BDIH) since 1992.
- Tilo Plöger
Managing Director, LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH
Tilo Plöger studied chemistry at the Technical University in Munich. After working for Plus Warenhandelsgesellschaft (Head of Division) and as Managing Director for Demedis GmbH and Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG/Premium Cosmetics GmbH, his career path took him to LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH in 2007. As Managing Director and COO, he is responsible for the entire product division, from product development and production to marketing.
- Devon Powell
Executive Director, International Aloe Vera Science Council
Devon Powell has been Executive Director of the International Aloe Science Council (IASC), headquartered in Silver Springs, Maryland, USA, since May 2008. Since 2006, Powell has also been the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), a US American interests group of the herb-processing industry.
He has recently co-authored the chapter on Aloe vera that has been accepted for publication in the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements (NIH-ODS) Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements, as well as authored an electronically published book in 2009 with general information on aloe vera cultivation and the aloe vera market.
- Dr. Lars Lobbedey
Division Manager Health Food, SGS Institut Fresenius GmbH
Dr Lars Lobbedey has worked for SGS Institut Fresenius GmbH since 2001. Lobbedey studied food chemistry and then held a variety of positions in analytics and in the health food sector. Lobbedey has been Division Manager and responsible for strategy, consulting and sales in the health food and functional food sector since 2005.
- Verena Kramer
Marketing Director, LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH
Verena Kramer is the Marketing Director at LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH. She studied business administration, majoring in marketing & controlling, in Düsseldorf, Augsburg and London. Verena Kramer began her career at Schwarzkopf & Henkel before moving to Henkel KGaA as an International Brand Manager. After a spell at Dr. Scheller Cosmetics where she held the position of Brand Director, she then joined LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH in 2007.
- Bill Pine
Vice President, Improve Inc.
More than 20 years of experience in the cultivation, harvesting and processing of aloe vera, make Bill Pine one of the leading experts in aloe vera. Pine worked for the major international market leaders in the processing of aloe vera: as the Director of Sales for Aloecorp, as the Vice President of Sales for Caraloe, Inc., a division of Carrington Labs and since 2000 as the Vice President Sales and Technical Support for Improve USA, Inc. Bill Pine is a member of the IASC Board of Directors.
- Dr. Christian Rätsch
Ethnopharmacologist
Dr Christian Rätsch was a student of Indigenous American Studies, Ethnology and Folklore in Hamburg. For twenty years, Rätsch has been researching shamanic cultures all over the world and their ethnopharmacological, ethnomedicinal and ritual use of plants.
Rätsch was the President of the Working Group on Ethnomedicine (ARGEM), works as a scientific leader of expeditions to research indigenous medicinal traditions (e.g. for GEO and ‘Bild der Wissenschaften’) and is the publisher of the ‘Jahrbuch der Ethnomedizin’ (‘Yearbook of Ethnomedicine’).
- Prof. Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Rauwald
University of Leipzig
Professor Hans-Wilhelm Rauwald studied pharmacy in Frankfurt/Main and gained a doctorate in pharmaceutical biology. He subsequently headed the pharmacy in the Federal Ministry of Defence in Bonn-Hardthöhe and, in 1983, received his habilitation from the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin in the field of medicinal plants of the species aloe, rhamnus and ruscus. This was followed by various professorships for pharmaceutical biology in Heidelberg and Frankfurt/Main where he also worked as a dean/vice-dean in the faculty of Biosciences, Pharmacy and Food Chemistry. Rauwald has taught at the University of Leipzig since 1994.
- Michael Peuser
uthor of the Aloe Vera bestseller ‘Capillaries determine our fate’
For 42 years, Michael Peuser has worked in Brazil, where he was sent to by Schering AG, Berlin. In 1980, he became an independent entrepreneur in the chemical-pharmaceutical sector.
He gained an international reputation as an aloe researcher, in particular as the author of the books ‘Krebs, wo ist dein Sieg?’ (‘Cancer, where is thy victory?’) and the bestseller ‘Aloe, Kaiserin der Heilpflanze’ (‘Aloe, Empress of medicinal plants’). Through his numerous television appearances, particularly in the TV talk show ‘Fliege’, where he was introduced by the presenter Jürgen Fliege in 2002 as the ‘Aloe-Papst’ (‘Aloe Pope’), he triggered an aloe trend in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
- Dr. Wilfried Petersen
Managing Director, Dr. Straetmans GmbH
Dr Petersen graduated in 1994 with a doctorate from the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the University of Hamburg. After completing a subsequent additional qualification in business administration and marketing, he joined Dr. Straetmans GmbH in 1995 where he was responsible for expanding the marketing of raw materials for cosmetics. In 2002, Dr Petersen was appointed a member of the Board of Management of Dr. Straetmans GmbH, alongside Dr Straetmans and Dr Jänichen. Since 2005, the company has been managed under the sole responsibility of Dr Petersen and Dr Jänichen. In this position, Dr Petersen is responsible for marketing and sales.
- Sabine Larsen-Vefring
Director QA / R&D, LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH
Sabine Larsen-Vefring is responsible for the Quality Assurance, Legal Affairs, Research and Development Nutrition divisions at LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH. She studied food chemistry at the Technical University in Berlin. Her career after graduation started at O. Reichelt/Edeka and took her to the BIFAU laboratories as a food chemistry expert in 2003, and then finally to LR Health & Beauty Systems GmbH. She has been a member of the IASC Board of Directors since 2007.