QUALITY Olive Oil Competition
Fil Bucchino, Toronto - Canada
Toronto-based Fil Bucchino, is an extra virgin olive oil expert, international contest judge and certified taster. Fil is the founder and olive oil producer at Abandoned Grove and the host of the award winning documentary “Obsessed with Olive Oil”. Nationally and internationally Fil collaborates with top culinary personalities and institutions and lends his expertise to various olive oil publications.
Emily Lycopolus, Victoria - Canada
Emily is the author of seven cookbooks, including the Recipes for Olive Oil and Vinegar Lovers series. She is a level 2 olive oil sommelier, and holds an MA in Cultural Anthropology. She is the founder of the The Olive Oil Critic (oliveoilcritic.com) and she co-founded EAT Creative a food focused content creation agency, where her specialties include recipe development and R&D. Her family owns an olive grove in Italy, where her love of olive oil began. She lives in Victoria BC with her husband, daughter and pug.
Karen Rapp, Toronto - Canada
As the first O.N.A.O.O. certified Professional Olive Oil Taster in Canada, Karen is passionate about educating people about olive oil, most importantly, about what to look for when choosing an oil and how to make sure that what you’re buying is a true extra virgin olive oil and not a fake. Certified by the National Association of Olive Oil Tasters (O.N.A.O.O) in Imperia, Italy and having first-hand experience in all areas of the process, from farming to harvesting to milling, she has a deep understanding of what goes into creating a truly excellent extra virgin olive oil. Along with participating as a juror in international olive oil competitions and frequent tasting sessions that include oils from all over the world, she continually works at broadening her knowledge through advanced courses; most recently completing her Masters in Monocultivar Olive Oils from world-renowned expert and author, Gino Celletti.
Claudio Vignoli, Miami - USA
Claudio Vignoli is an internationally recognized Olive Oil Sommelier & Master Miller with 23 years of experience in the olive oil industry. He is partner of “OLEA”, the International School of Sensory Analysis and Food Culture, Italy. 2017 to present – “OLEA” (International School of Sensory Analysis and Food Culture), International Olive Oil Council Accredited: Level 1 Technical Taster. Quarterly blind tastings with OLEA professors for the sensorial development and to maintain his qualifications. He has instructed olive oil tastings, blind comparisons and provides knowledge to trades and consumers. He is Council Member of GLG, Gerson Lehrman Group, for the Olive Oil Industry and Agricultural Olive Market. He is an Advisor for the olive growing and Olive Oil Sector of GUIDEPOINT GLOBAL LLC, a multinational consulting company.
Dr. Ing. Mariem Gharsallaoui, Sfax - Tunisia
She is Researcher at the Institute of the olive tree since 2001. Responsible for two research projects “Extraction systems and exploiting by-products” and “olive oil Quality and voice recovery” In Olive Tree Institute since 2001. She is member of the regional committee: sensitization oil mills operators and responsible in the national innovation research project “New ecological process of olive oil extraction: Qualitative, economic, and environmental impact”. She is member of the National chemistry committee for the revision of the commercial standard for olive oil and pomace olive oil.
Ruba Daghmish, Amman – Jordan
CEO of Jordan olive producers and Exporters Association (JOPEA). Member of Women in Olive Oil. It is international Association just for women all around the world who involved with olive oil. Funder of Jordan Women Industrial Community (JWIC). Member of Pandolea it is an Italian Association for women olive oil producers. International olive oil taster recognized by the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC). Member at the advisory committee at (IOOC). One of the partners who published a book that contains recipes of traditional food cooked with extra virgin olive oil. Member of the Society for Sensory Evaluation of Food.
Birsen Pehlivan, Manisa – Turkey
Birsen holds a MSc degree in Olive Oil Chemistry and Processing Technologies and BSc degree in Food Engineering. She has over 20 years of hands-on experience in olive oil production with a strong focus on processing technologies.
Javier Sànchez Pedròs, Teruel - Spain
Professional master miller and quality advisor with more than 15 years of experience at award-winning olive oil companies. In 2019 I received the “Maestro de Almazara” (master miller) award at Oleomaq International Fair. He is an active olive oil taster since 2006, panelist of the IOC accredited “Panel de Catadores de Aceites de Oliva Virgenes de Aragón” and member of the international jury at TerraOlivo 2018 and EVO-IOOC 2019 & 2020.
Alfredo Marasciulo - Italy
Alfredo Marasciulo, Expert taster and panel leader of tasting committees of the University of Bari and of the Italian Consortium for Organic Products (CIBI), both recognized by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. He collaborates with numerous international competitions and is the Panel Leader of some of the most prestigious competitions held in Italy including the Biol Prize for several years and the Ercole Olivario for the 2021-2022 period. Consultant for the quality improvement of many farms and oil mills.
Ehud Soriano, Kibbutz Magal - Israel
Ehud is an olive oil expert and consultant. Started its journey in the olive oil sector as a producer and oil miller, where he became more and more enthusiastic about olive oil quality and culture. After graduating the “Olive Oil Expert” program in the University of Jaén (Spain), a cooperation program with the IOC, and being accredited as a Panel Leader, he returned to Israel to establish the Israeli olive oil tasting panel and the Ministry of Health tasting panel. Ehud is a part of the revolution of olive oil quality in Israel, leading many courses about tasting, cultivating, producing and marketing olive oil. Not stopping there, he is leading and teaching in numerous olive oil courses around the world (China, Japan, Turkey). He is traveling extensively abroad as a taster in several international olive oil competitions, including Ovibeja, EVO-IOOC, EVOOLEUM, Masters of Olive Oil, TerraOlivo, and he is the professional manager of the Israeli National olive oil competition.
Dimitra Dimitroulia - Greece
Studied Agriculture. As a permanent staff member at the Department of Agricultural Economy in Kalamata, I have more than 20 years of experience in olives production in the fields and in olive oil extaction. I am a member of the Kalamata Olive Oil School and also a member of the tasting panel of the Greek Agricultural Organization “Demeter”
Nicolas Koutsoukos, Kalamata – Greece
Νicolas Koutsoukos is a chemist and founder-president of the Kalamata Olive Oil School. He is an accredited EVOO taster and member of the tasting panel of the Greek Agricultural Organization “Demeter”. He is a consultant to numerous olive oil mills and a quality consultant to a number of companies in the olive-oil sector. Nicolas has more than 30 years of experience in the olive oil industry. Since 1994 he has been an analyst with the “Peter Boufeas” chemical laboratory in Kalamata and, prior to this role, he was in charge of quality control at “Greek Agricultural Products”.
Takis Dimitrakopoulos, Chora - Greece
He is olive oil producer of Messinia Greece, since the 1985, member of agricultural cooperative “Nilea” and member of “Kalamata olive oil school”. He also is an olive oil taster for the last twelve years in the organoleptic laboratory of SEVITEL, which has been recognized from the IOC. He is a judge in international olive oil contest “OVIBEJA” in Portugal and “KOTINOS” in Greece.
Kaouther Ben Hassine - Tunisia
Assistant Professor in Food -Agriculture, Ministry of agriculture and Water Resources. Institution of Agricultural Research and Higher Education.
PACKAGING Olive Oil Competition
Dimitrios Skourogiannis
Multidisciplinary design – Experience enhancement – Learning “journeys”
Dimitris is a multidisciplinary design consultant currently based in London. Among many activities and on a lifelong effort to better illustrate the perspectives of design, he has been publisher of the award-winning magazine “Multidisciplinary NTIZAIN”, founder and for 22 years Head of the Product Design school in ΑΚΤΟ Art & Design College, where he introduced for the first time in Greece the education of Packaging Design. He has founded the first Greek Innovation Lab related to design and has been Director for the Retail Network of the Benaki Museum and also for the MENTIS Center for the preservation of traditional textile techniques. He has curated for a number of years, the young designers’ presence and design research workshops at the TEDx Academy. On September 2015 he was a TEDx Academy speaker on Design Thinking.
Sara Carneholm
Sara Carneholm is a graphic designer with 15 years experience in editorial design and graphic design for exhibitions and branding. Clients range from big institutions such as The Design Museum and The Royal College of Art to individual artists, designers, and makers. She has an interest in using traditional, analog processes and tactile materials. Sara’s work is often type-driven, and she enjoys playing with words and loves the smell of print.
Andrew Capper
Andrew Capper, Creative Director at Echo
Ever since presenting his teacher with an intricate cowboy picture at the age of 4, Andrew’s passion has been to see his 2D creations come to life. It’s what led him to product and brand design. Andrew’s background in designing trains, planes and automobiles injects a sense of momentum into the award winning projects at Echo. Meanwhile his love for craft, be it Italian wine, shows or motorbikes, spills over into his drive to bring beauty to the everyday.
Imene Trabelsi Trigui
Pr. Imene Trabelsi Trigui (PhD from Université d’Auvergne-France) is an Associate Professor in Marketing (Maître de Conférences, HDR) Specialized in Olive Oil and Agrifood Marketing. She is the Director of the Marketing Research Laboratory at the University of Sfax (TUNISIA) and an expert & Consultant at INNOVIC Trading & Consulting Company. She is accompanying and assisting different companies in developing their branding and Marketing design strategies, promoting their international positioning through innovative and Digital Marketing tools thanks to technological advanced tools such as Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, and VR/AR.
Nadine Bennett
Joint course leader, Ba (hons) Product Design, Ravensbourne University London
Nadine Bennett is an experienced Product designer and educator working in both physical and digital creative fields. Her real passion is guiding the next generation of young designers, building their skills, confidence, and ambition to push boundaries and use their talent professionally to create desirable, useful, and intelligent design solutions. She measures her success on the success of the graduates she has mentored, with past alumni heading departments in some of the UK global leading businesses. Born and educated in the UK she has worked for a variety of companies, predominantly as an inhouse designer working on user centred design challenges for personal safety, retail pop ups and interactive toys. During this time, she built expertise in both 3D and 2D CAD.
Focusing on packaging her drive is to ensure that design decisions are made to balance sustainability and business needs, this requires a clear understanding of material selection and waste material management. “I strongly believe that imparting this essential design thinking to young designers’ working process will drive positive change, build exciting, innovative results and help mitigate further negative impact on our environment”. Outside of education Nadine creates interactive digital products and aims to make these engaging and balances activities for young users.
Boris Thuery
CEO / Co-Founder at The Design Laboratory
Boris Thuery graduated from Central Saint Martins with a Master in Industrial Design.
He is a result-oriented professional with over 15 years of experience in Design Innovation, Product & Industrial Design, and Design Strategy Branding and Narrative. Having Co-Founded and established the Design Laboratory as a successful International Design Agency of which he is now the CEO and Creative Director. Boris has a healthy obsession for design excellence and a natural problem solver, his approach to Design Strategy and a one-of-a-kind cross-disciplinary approach to Design Innovation has made The Design Laboratory a recognized and valued partner to help clients translate their vision into creative and innovative solutions. Boris thrives on the integration of the different design disciplines to create meaningful brands, products, and services. His clients include VF Corp, The Fat Duck, Bacardi Group, Glenmorangie, Zinc, Warrior Addict, Universal McCann, LVMH amongst others. Specialties: Design Strategy, Innovation, Creative Thinker, Industrial & Product Design, IP creation, Entrepreneur
Eva Minguella
Director of the Master in Packaging Design
Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering
BA in Graphic Design from Llotja School and Diploma in Business from the University of Barcelona, in 1997 Eva Minguella founded EVA ESTUDI, a company of Corporate Identity and Packaging Design. 25 years specialized in creating personality for international and national brands in the food sector. She actively takes part in events and conferences concerning the packaging sector and from 2005 she is the Director of the unique Master of Packaging Design among all European countries. Nowadays she combines her professional work in the Estudio with teaching in ELISAVA School of Design in Barcelona. Eva is a very active person and she has time for a lot of activities like enjoying a long bike trip in nature, listening to good jazz, painting or travelling to “discover” new countries.
