A Look Back at a Year of Moving Forward

Watch the “2015 IFT Year in Review” video to see some of the highlights of the past year for IFT and its members.

The past year has been a productive one for the IFT Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers. As your president, it has been a rewarding experience to help guide our organization and our profession forward. I’m very proud of our work with volunteers and staff to improve programs for members, advance and promote the science of food, and form effective partnerships with other organizations.

IFT’s 75th anniversary has served as an opportunity for IFT to celebrate the past success of the profession and look forward to strategically assessing the future. This summer we celebrated the 75th year of IFT’s annual event with a new name, IFT15: Where Science Feeds Innovation. As part of our FutureFood 2050 initiative, we completed 75 interviews with innovators throughout the world to find out how we will feed nine billion people by the year 2050. A related effort is Food Evolution, a documentary commissioned by IFT for the anniversary that explores food challenges ahead; it will be released early next year. FutureFood 2050 complements our Anticipatory Foresight initiative, a collaborative effort with our board of directors, volunteers, and staff to envision the future of food science and technology. This initiative explored the weak signals that help us gain a better vision of the future in order to identify the trends impacting how food scientists and technologists will do their jobs in coming decades.

We launched a new online community, IFT Connect, to help members network and share information. To provide members with valuable online learning opportunities, we introduced a learning management system that includes online courses and live and on-demand content. This complemented the dozens of short courses taught by academic and industry leaders.

I was honored to chair a Task Force on Leadership Development, aided by Marianne Gillette, Robert Brackett, Craig Sherwin, and Luis Fernandez, that evolved into a meaningful discussion of volunteer opportunities and experiences within IFT. This led to an investment in resources and technology to enhance volunteer leadership development and to build a robust pipeline of volunteers to lead the strategic direction of IFT. The planned information technology upgrades will allow our staff to add more tools and options for members. In addition, Executive Vice President Christie Tarantino acted swiftly upon our recommendations and hired Kate Dockins to focus on volunteer leaders. Volunteer Central premiered on the IFT website in June.

The IFT Student Association (IFTSA) has a demonstrated track record of identifying and nurturing the next generation of IFT leaders. IFTSA now has 63 chapters, including one in Turkey, our first in the Middle East. IFTSA promoted food science and product development with student competitions that attracted teams from universities around the world. IFTSA President-elect Amy DeJong and her University of Wisconsin–Madison lab mate, Maya Warren, won the television show The Amazing Race in 2014. The doctoral students displayed creativity, bravery, problem-solving skills, and some amazing memory tricks to win this competition. They are terrific ambassadors for food science.

Our Lead 360 program, which offers leadership training and global networking for young food science professionals nominated by their national organizations, is now in its third year. Lead 360 participants met at IFT15, and they continue networking after the event ends. The skills they develop help their national organizations and also increase awareness of IFT’s ability to establish productive networks.

In July, we honored a class of new IFT Fellows and celebrated the success of our members in advancing the profession through our Achievement Awards. Top companies received IFT Food Expo Innovation Awards for creating outstanding new products and services in food science and technology. The IFT leadership and staff are proud of, and humbled by, our members’ contributions to the profession.

We renewed our commitment to our members, our volunteers, and the broader community. Our next president, Colin Dennis, led the formation of our strategy, which is centered on four important promises to our members focusing on individual development, productive networks, scientific innovation, and issues advocacy. These promises are further supported by five core values designed to increase member value, drive organizational accountability, and achieve IFT’s mission and vision.

Throughout this past year, I have enjoyed meeting our members at section meetings, conferences, and universities, and I have a new appreciation for the many global and local food challenges ahead. I am also heartened to know that our many dedicated IFT members around the world are ready to generate new solutions to meet these challenges with innovative food science and technology. Thank you for a great year!




Mary Ellen Camire, PhD, CFS,
IFT President, 2014–2015
Professor, Univ. of Maine,
Orono, Maine
[email protected]