General Session Speakers

Ms. Arwen Kimmell has a background in linguistics and cultural anthropology, and extensive retail experience in the natural foods industry.  She has taught college level courses in Linguistics and International Studies focusing on the language of politics, rituals and beliefs.  Her previous research has focused on gender, language and identity in West Africa and consumers of sustainable coffee and chocolate in the Pacific Northwest. Arwen's current research interests include the ways that language is being used to express a variety of beliefs about health and wellness, and the roles that language can play in the ways that consumers participate in the World of Health & Wellness. Kimmell holds an M.A. in Anthropology and an M.A. in Linguistics from from Indiana University.

Dr. Helmut Frieden is a member of the Supervisory Board and representative of the Executive Staff at Symrise AG. He studied chemistry at Saarland University in Saarbrücken and received his Ph.D. in 1990. Dr. Frieden was, during his Ph.D. studies, a research assistant at the Max-Planck Institute for Carbon Research in Mülheiman derRuhr. He has been working at Symrise GmbH & Co. KG and its forerunning company Haarmann & Reimer GmbH since 1990. He held managerial positions in Quality, Product, Safety, Health and Environmental Compliance and since November 2009 has been Corporate Vice President Corporate Compliance at Symrise AG.

Since June 2008, Ms. Jorgette Mariñez has been leading the PepsiCo Supplier Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Assurance program globally, as part of our Global Procurement Responsible and Sustainable Sourcing function, which includes initiatives that span the globe and across hundreds of procurement categories to ensure our suppliers align to our Performance with Purpose planks.

Prior to joining PepsiCo, Jorgette was a management consultant focusing on procurement and related supply chain solutions for nearly ten years. She previously held positions with Unisys and Arthur Andersen Business Consulting in New York and Washington, DC, and supported clients globally, including multiple Fortune 100/500 companies and governmental agencies.

Jorgette holds a dual degree in Economics and Policy from Syracuse University, where she also minored in Business Management & Marketing.

Mr. John Whalen has over 25 years’ experience working with senior leaders across a variety of industries in the areas of business strategy, operations, and organizational development. John specializes in bringing together various stakeholders along the value chain - including business, academics, and NGOs - to develop innovative sustainability strategies. John’s skill is to work with these groups to help them agree on how sustainability principles can be applied in a particular business context to create innovation that creates value for the company, the local community and larger society.

Prior to joining Blu Skye John was a Partner at Sustainable Value Partners, a Washington-DC consulting firm focused on integrating sustainability into core business strategy. John began his career in information systems and specialized in the human and organizational aspects of technological change and the application of information technology to business innovation. At Blu Skye John has worked extensively with Wal-Mart on their sustainability efforts, with Dairy Management, Inc. on their effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the US Dairy value chain, and with the University of Arkansas in launching the Applied Sustainability Center. Previous clients have included Verizon, American Express, Intel, NASA, Pfizer, Cable & Wireless, Key Bank, M&T Bank, Nextel, AT&T, NCR, Target Stores, New York Life, Capital Holding Insurance, and Mass Mutual.

John has an M.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame.