Pieter Vanderpol

Pieter came to Canada from the Netherlands with his family in 1951. In 1953, he joined his father in the family’s delivery business. When the family started grading eggs in 1957, he managed that part of the business. In 1965, Pieter started the egg processing (breaking) division of the business. From 1972 to 1978, he then managed a manufacturing business the family bought. In 1977, Pieter returned to manage the egg processing division when this division of Brookside farms was purchased. He then started Canadian Inovatech Inc. with J. Hugh Wiebe, and co-managed this business until 1998. Currently, Pieter is owner/operator of Vanderpol Enterprises Inc., a company that leases industrial buildings. Pieter was Director of the Canadian Poultry & Egg Processors Council from 1988 to 2003 and Board member of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency from 1998 to 2003.

Pieter is with Vanderpol Enterprises.

David Kaplan

David is a graduate of Columbia University Business School in New York City, an alumnus of Ernst and Young Corporate Finance M&A, and a Senior Executive and Director of multi-national companies.

Mr. Kaplan is an authority on R&D tax credits, company finance, and profitability improvement. Revenue Services Group is a specialist SR&ED tax credit advisory employing the most qualified R&D tax credit experts. Customers include some of BC’s largest food processors.

David is with Revenue Services Group.

Michael Boehm

Mike joined KPMG Enterprise as Manager, Business Development in January 2006. Prior to this, Mike was employed by one of the Big Five Canadian banks for over 20 years and had various postings in Commercial Banking throughout the Lower Mainland. Mike has significant experience within the food processing sector both from his banking background and now with KPMG. He also has extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector with various business, community and sporting groups including past Director of the Burnaby Board of Trade; Past President of Richmond Chamber of Commerce; Past Director and member of the Executive Committee of the BC Chamber of Commerce and current Director and Treasurer of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Surrey Board of Trade Environment Committee.

Mike is with KPMG Enterprise.

Rahim Talib

Rahim Talib is Owner and CEO of Meadowfresh Dairy Corp., a local Port Coquitlam based 16 plus year old full service dairy processor and distributor.  Rahim is a corporate lawyer by profession.  He left his practice and acquired Meadowfresh in 2004.  Rahim is also a member of the Board of Directors of the BC Dairy Council.  Meadowfresh operates out of its high tech 25,000 square foot plant and specializes in processing and distributing a wide variety of dairy products which range from conventional and organic fluid milk, cream, a variety of cultured dairy products (yogurts, sour creams, cream cheeses, mascarpone cheese), ice cream mix, eggs, butter, buttermilk, soy products and cheese.  Meadowfresh’s customers are generally restaurants, hotels, food service distributors, coffee shops, delis, food manufacturers for its wholesale and bulk dairy product offering, convenience stores and retail outlets.  Meadowfresh is one of the few dairies in Canada that provides dairy co-pack and private label dairy processing services and R&D dairy services.

Rahim Talib is Owner and CEO of Meadowfresh Dairy Corp.

Davis Yung

Davis Yung has spent 18 years in the produce industry with a diverse background in logistics, sales and marketing, procurement, global sourcing, corporate development and consulting. He has a strong belief in making positive influences, growth, and persistence. Under his leadership, Fresh Direct Produce has grown quickly into a major player in the produce industry. Davis was announced the winner of 2008 Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Pacific Region, in the Emerging Entrepreneur category.

Davis is President of Fresh Direct Produce Ltd.

Peter Springmann

Born in Germany and moved to Canada with parents and brother in 1991.

Founded Country Prime Meats Ltd. as a family business in 1996 – Country Prime Meats started as a federally inspected slaughterhouse, specializing in exotics as ostriches, emu, bison, wild-boar, fallow deer, etc.  Peter worked every position including setting up HACCP.

In 1998 they transformed the premises to further processing and stopped slaughtering. After trying several different options, at the end of 1998, Peter went for a crash course at Freybe Gourmet Foods for about two months to learn how to make pepperoni sausages. Shortly after, we started co-producing for Freybe Gourmet Foods and have grown very successfully over the years with them. We now exclusively private label for Freybe’s for the Canadian market.

Over the years Peter went for some work experience in the meat industry in Austria, Finland and Australia. Peter went back for some more schooling in 2005 / 2006 at Ashton College, where I received a diploma in International Trade Management, a diploma in FITT and CIFFA.

Peter worked for 1 year in Hong Kong for a meat broker. Parallel to this time hr started developing Country Prime Meats brand and started marketing their own products into Hong Kong. After completion with the work experience of the meat broker, Peter further developed markets in Asia and is now selling to Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. Currently Peter is working on Mainland China, Korea and the Middle East with Halal products.

Peter is with Country Prime Meats.