In this episode, Bill Cornelius, Senior Commercial Banker at M&T Bank speaks with Alex Baloga, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association. They talk about what food industry issues the PFMA is prioritizing this year and the cautious optimism of their fall legislative conference.

In this episode, you will hear about

• PFMA's three pillars of advocacy, education, and communications.
• How they connect members with PA laws and legislators, similar to NJFC in NJ.
• How changes in consumer behavior have affected the food industry.

Speaker Bio

Alex Baloga became PFMA President and CEO on July 1, 2017. After joining PFMA in 2013 as director of government relations, he was promoted to director of government and public relations in 2014 and to vice president of external relations in 2015. Baloga leads PFMA's day-to-day operations and helps implement its strategic vision, working with the board of directors, of which he is a member. He leads PFMA’s government relations efforts at the local, state and federal levels. He also manages PFMA’s federal, state and Philadelphia Food PACs along with PFMA’s Legislative, Pharmacy and WIC Stakeholder’s committees. Read Alex's full bio


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Welcome to Season 3 of the NJFPA Stradley Ronan Food Forum! NJFPA member Whitepenny is a brand strategy and digital communications powerhouse. At our 2021 virtual conference Travis Coley, Managing Director at Whitepenny, and co-founder, Jon Cofsky talked about how their relationship with the Severino Pasta Company has grown and developed. Today they sit down with Alyssa Davis from Advanced Food Products and Pete Severino from Severino Pasta Company to see how the landscape has changed.

Alissa Davis, MBA, Head of Marketing & Business Development at AFP
Alissa‘s love for the food industry started at St. Joseph's University with her undergrad in food marketing, as well as my MBA with a focus in food. From St. Joe's she has worked at a number of leading NJ and Philly area food processors including J&J Snack Foods as vice president of Marketig. In her current role as Head of Marketing & Business Development at Advanced Food Products. 

Welcome to the eighth episode of Season 2 of the NJFPA Stradley Ronon Food Forum Podcast. In this episode, Bill Cornelius, Senior Commercial Banker at M&T Bank speaks with Coryanne Mansell, Client Services Strategist at the Center for EcoTechnology (CET). They talk about their services matching businesses with solutions, NJ laws to be aware of, and how easy it is to get started making changes today.

Guest Bio:

Coryanne Mansell is the Client Services Strategist at the Center for EcoTechnology (CET). Cory supports CET’s Wasted Food Solutions efforts by leading stakeholder engagement processes and providing on-site technical assistance to businesses and institutions. She currently serves as Chair for the Outreach Committee for the Young Professionals of the US Composting Committee, and the Chair for the Education and Outreach Committee for the NJ Composting Council chapter. 

Coryanne has a B.S in Environmental Policy and a B.A in Planning and Public Policy from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and a Certificate in Sustainable Business from McIntire Business Institute.

Listeners will hear: 

• CETs 40 year history as a non-profit helping organizations save time, energy, and money. 2:29
  
• The public goals and grants that help them offer consulting services for little to no cost to businesses. 4:12
  
• NJ’s current food waste laws may not apply to you now, but planning ahead can put you ahead of the game. 5:21
• Success stories of how organizations are seeing changes and savings in their business. 10:25
• The matchmaking they do between businesses and service providers. If your business provides services that support ESG goals (recycling, solar, waste, etc) make sure CET knows about you. 16:24

Download the Edited Interview Transcript (with links to resources)