John Ruff - President-Elect
John Ruff retired from Kraft as Senior Vice President after 36 years service in 6 countries. His experience included product development across a broad range of food categories, basic research, quality assurance and regulatory affairs. He led R&D for both the Kraft International and North American organizations before setting up and leading the Worldwide Health & Wellness program at Kraft.
John was elected to the IFT Foundation Board in 1988 and chaired the organization for two terms. He re-energised corporate fundraising which helped establishment of new initiatives such as the Expert Reports and the Discovery Education program. John was re-elected to the Foundation Board in 2009 and raised sufficient money to announce the launch of the IFT Summer Scholars program at the 2010 Annual Meeting. John initiated the Senior Food Officials annual forum and chaired the first meeting. In 2007 he was elected to the IFT Board of Directors and served on the Global Task Force.
John served on the Board of the NFPA from 1989, became Chairman in 2004 and was instrumental in the merger with the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA). He served on the Board of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) from 1998-2009, chaired the Organizational Effectiveness committee and was President from 2007-2009. He recently served on the National Academy of Sciences IOM committee which recommended strategies to reduce sodium consumption in the US. He has conducted numerous media interviews on this and related subjects.
John received his BA in Natural Sciences and MA in Biochemistry from Cambridge. He is a Fellow of IFST in the UK.