Aaron Homoya is co-founder of Ash & Elm Cider Co., in Indianapolis, IN. He gets excited about introducing new people to the diverse world of cider, partnering with local orchards, and spreadsheets. But mostly, spending time with his wife, co-founder Andrèa, and their two young kids.

A former professor of Communication Studies, Dr. J Jackson-Beckham dedicated her academic career to the study of American beer. She is an author, speaker, vocal advocate for the craft beverage community, homebrewer, and Certified Cicerone. In 2018, Dr. J was named the Brewers Association’s first-ever Diversity Ambassador. In 2020, she was named Imbibe Magazine’s Beer Person of the Year. Today, she helps craft beverage organizations develop practices that drive success, build communities, and empower individuals as the Brewers Association Director of Member Resources.

Katie Muggli is the Founder and Executive Director of Infinite Ingredient, a nonprofit whose mission is to actively support the mental and physical well-being of individuals working in the craft beverage industry through outreach, education, and access to resources. With 20+ years of experience in the hospitality and craft beverage industry, she is passionate about creating conversations that challenge the status quo and inspire actionable change. She has her M.A. in Liberal Studies from Hamline University and Women in Leadership Certificate from Cornell University.

Aaron Sarnoff-Wood is the VP of sales and co-founder of 2 Towns Ciderhouse. Aaron learned to love cider in his travels across Europe. Upon returning to the US he was unable to find craft ciders similar to those he enjoyed found in France, Spain and England and so he began making his own. Together with friend Lee Larsen, the two decided to found 2 Towns Ciderhouse in 2010 with a goal of crafting ciders influenced by European tradition but styled after the Northwest craft beer movement. Today, 2 Towns has grown from humble beginnings to become the largest independently owned cidery in the United States while still producing cider from exclusively fresh-pressed fruit.

Yann Gilles is a French Oenologue and Cidrologue, founder of cider and apple-spirit making consultancy Malus & Vitis, and has 25 years’ experience working in the cider sector. Born in Normandy where he discovered Cider made by his grand-parents, Yann holds an engineering degree in agriculture and food industry from Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture in Angers and a diploma of Oenologist from Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin Jules Guyot in Burgundy. Yann launched his own consultancy in 2020 where he partners with cider producers to create apple juice, ciders, perries and spirits using a range of methods. Prior to this, Yann was scientific director at the French R&D cider institute www.ifpc.eu for 10 years, and before that he worked for more than a decade in a professional organization for agriculture, consulting to 50 cideries and leading a team of oenologists working on cider.

Matt Tanaka is the founder and CEO of Stout Collective, a brand strategy and design agency for the beverage industry. Matt got his start in the beer business running social media for a Chicago wholesaler. Over the last 10 years he’s since built a career out of connecting beer brands with consumers, believing that building an authentic brand is the best way to create healthy breweries that positively impact their communities. As founder, Matt spends much of his time casting the vision for Stout and thinking about growth, people, and the next big thing. Whether it’s setting the creative direction for a startup brewery or dreaming up new campaigns with national brands, his work means collaborating with some of the best people and creative minds in the industry.

Scott Ramsey is the Executive Director of the New York Cider Association, a role he started in March of 2020. He brings over 30 years of corporate and non-profit marketing, communications, event production, and strategic leadership experience to his work in promoting, advocating, and building markets for New York Cider. Previous leadership roles include work with Fortune 500 premium brands such as MetLife, MasterCard, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Phillips Van Heusen, Samsung and S&P Global. His creative marketing work has been published in such publications as the New York Times, GQ Magazine, and Vanity Fair and he has won numerous Telly, AVA Digital and Hermes awards. Scott also has a musical theatre background and was awarded Best Director in the West Village Musical Theatre Festival and was nominated as “Producer of the Year” by Special Events Magazine. Scott is also the Executive Producer and Owner of Fort Beacon Studios and has recently launched his new social media talk show video series, “That Perfect Day.” He is also recently certified as a Certified Cider Professional and a Dutchess County Certified Tourism Ambassador.

Christian Miller has worked in market research, brand and category management for over two decades. He is the proprietor of Full Glass Research, based in Berkeley California, which provides market research and industry analysis for food and beverage producers and marketers. Recent Full Glass Research projects have included trade and consumer surveys, package tests, analyses of direct consumer sales, new product marketing plans and studies of the interaction between various categories of beverage alcohol. Clients range from small producers to large multi-brand companies to regional and national organizations, and cover the wine, beer, cheese and cider categories. Christian also directs research for the Wine Market Council, a non-profit organization whose research benefits members from all tiers of the industry. Projects range from the largest ongoing tracking survey of beverage alcohol consumers in the U.S. to studies of packaging, labeling, usage and various segments of consumers. He regularly teaches courses in marketing for UC Davis Continuing Education. Mr. Miller holds a BA in Economics from Franklin & Marshall College and an MBA from Cornell University. In prior jobs, Christian marketed brands ranging from a few thousand cases to over a million, as well as working in retail and restaurants.

Jenny Zegler, Director, Mintel Food & Drink and Global Consumer, has 15 years of experience covering the beverage and food industry. She has led the creation of Mintel’s Global Food & Drink Trends since 2015. Jenny regularly shares data-driven insights on what consumers want in food and drink and why with clients, in the media, and at conferences in the US and around the world. Prior to joining Mintel in 2012, she spent six years as a journalist, primarily writing for food and beverage trade magazines.

Mikael Nypelius has experience as sommelier and restaurant manager from numerous Michelin stared restaurants in Scandinavia, awarded ”Sommelier of the Year” by Sweden’s biggest wine magazine Livets Goda in 2015. Mikael, together with Karl Sjöström, founded FRUKTSTEREO in 2016 with the goal of making a new type of cold climate cider and wine based on Swedish fruit. They now have their own fruit yard of 14 ha in southern Sweden where they farm organically with an agroforestry mindset to mix the different fruit, grapes and berries they use to make there wines and ciders. At FRUKTSTEREO they believe in blending different fruits to reach a higher complexity in a cold climate condition, all spontaneously fermented and with out pasteurization or filtration.