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• Lu Ann Williams

Lu Ann Williams

Lu Ann Williams is Head of Research at Innova Market Insights. Originally from Augusta, Georgia, she started her career in The Netherlands twenty three years ago with Wolters Kluwer before moving to leading science publisher Elsevier.

Lu Ann has been active in the food industry globally for more than twenty years and is an expert in trends driving the food and beverage industry. She is an active global technology scout and frequent speaker at industry events.

She is an active volunteer with IFT and is a member of the Member Value Proposition Advisory Panel, the Wellness Advisory Panel, AMSPAP and also chaired the Sustainability track for Annual Meeting in 2011 and 2012. She also oversees the content for Innova's very popular Taste the Trend Pavilion at IFT Food Expo.

What do you feel you can contribute to the growth and advancement of IFT?
As an American living in Europe, I have global perspective which will be very important to IFT in the coming period. I also have a huge network across the world. I have important insight into the industry from having attended all the major food events for many years (e.g., every Anuga, SIAL, ISM since 1991), every FiE and IFT since 1995) and have experienced how the industry has become truly globalized over the past two decades. I also have the benefit of having seen it from the perspective of the food ingredients companies that I have worked very closely with as well as from the manufacturer side. My job also gives me the benefit of working with people from all disciplines from academia to the technical supply side through to marketing and R&D at food manufacturers. I also live in one of the most innovative and connected food environments in the Netherlands.

Formal Education 
Thunderbird School of Global Management: MBA
Georgia Institute of Technology: BSc

Career History

Leadership Experience

Professional and Community Recognition

• The best recommendation of Lu Ann's expertise is the frequent speaking and interview requests she has from industry groups, newspapers and trade journals around the world. She has co-authored two cover stories for Food Technology magazine.