Carl Jorgensen has held a variety of leadership roles in the sustainable agri-food industry since 1995.  He is currently Agriculture Consultant to the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) and the nonprofit Plant Based Foods Institute (PBFI). He was a Director at Daymon Worldwide’s Thought Leadership practice, providing global support for retailers’ free-from, organic and natural private brands, and served on the Simple Truth brand development team at Daymon’s Kroger account. He created and led a series of 1-year natural industry training courses attended by Daymon associates from around the world. Carl was President of a USDA-accredited organic certification agency, CEO of an organic specialty food importer and distributor, and a co-founder of a food testing company that offered the world’s first commercial test to detect GMOs in crops and food products. He owned an organic farm in Iowa for many years. Carl is a recognized authority in the natural products industry. He is a regular featured speaker at trade shows and conferences, such as Expo West, the Soil & Climate Alliance, the Organic Produce Summit, FMI Connect, Fair Trade Campaigns National Conference and the Clean Label Conference. He is frequently quoted in the trade press and in national publications such as Progressive Grocer, The New York Times, Supermarket News, Food Navigator USA, Vox, Bloomberg Business, Store Brands, Huffington Post, FoodDIVE, MarketWatch, New Hope 360, Chicago Tribune, Whole Foods Magazine, Food Business News, and Reuters. He has built an extensive network of farmers, agri-food industry policymakers, researchers, traders, manufacturers, brands, journalists and retailers. He is a member of advisory boards and steering committees for numerous companies and organizations, such as Soil Technologies Corporation, Silverwood Partners and Green America’s Center for Sustainability Solutions.  Carl has a BA from Penn State and an MS from Drexel University, and graduated from UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management’s Advanced Retail Strategy certificate program.