--- title: What's Next Now Functional Foods & Beverages | Event Recap description: Check out our conversation with food & beverage industry leaders about the future of Functional Foods & Beverages and the role of dairy product innovation. image: https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/WNN%20Function%20F%26B-2.png --- # What's Next Now: Functional Foods & Beverages On Tuesday, June 22 we spoke with food and beverage industry leaders about the +$300B Functional Foods & Beverages category. Check out this recording of the event in our series, What's Next Now to learn more about how consumer preferences are evolving, the explosion of functional foods and the opportunity for dairy entrepreneurs to leverage the 'original super food' by tapping into the natural functional benefits of milk. Hear from panelists including: Elizabeth Crawford of Food Navigator-USA, Joel Hastings of DairyBusiness News and Donna Berry from Dairy Communications Inc.  Gain insight from industry leaders Bob Carroll of California Milk Advisory Board, Dr. Michelle Slimko of Dairy Management Inc. and James Crawford of IRI Worldwide.  Agenda:   - Intro (minute 0:04 to 1:29) - Panel I: The Consumer Trends Shaping the Future of Functional Foods in Dairy (minute 1:30 to 29:51) - Panel II: Unlocking Functional Benefits Through Product Innovation (minute 29:54 to 59:08) --- ## Panel I: The Consumer Trends Shaping the Future of Functional Foods ## Elizabeth Crawford ### Deputy Editor, FoodNavigator-USA Elizabeth has more than 10 years of experience as a regulatory and business reporter for trade press. She covers the food and beverage industries, including innovation, start-ups, health, wellness, nutrition, FDA and dietary supplements. ## Joel Hastings ### Editor, DairyBusiness News Joel has spent his career in dairy journalism, earlier as editor, publisher and owner of Holstein World, later adding the regional DairyBusiness magazines. With the conversion to digital, he edits DairyBusiness.com website attracting some 70,000+ unique visits each month.   ## Donna Berry ### Editor, Consultant and Food Guru at Dairy & Food Communications, Inc. Donna Berry is the owner of Dairy and Food Communications, Inc., a company that specializes in business-to-business writing projects. She also is a frequent “trends and new products” speaker at dairy and food industry events. [![FoodNavigator USA](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/FoodNavigator%20USA.png?width=200&height=200&name=FoodNavigator%20USA.png "FoodNavigator USA")](https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/) [![DairyBusiness News Sq](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/DairyBusiness%20News%20Sq.jpeg?width=200&height=200&name=DairyBusiness%20News%20Sq.jpeg "DairyBusiness News Sq")](https://www.dairybusiness.com/) [![Daily Dose of Dairy-1](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/Daily%20Dose%20of%20Dairy-1.png "Daily Dose of Dairy-1")](https://www.berryondairy.com/) ## Panel II: Unlocking Functional Benefits Through Product Innovation ## Dr. Michelle L. Slimko ### SVP, Nutrition & Environmental Research, Dairy Management Inc.  Michelle L. Slimko, DrPH, MPH, RD, is the Senior Vice President of Environmental & Nutrition Research at Dairy Management Inc., where she is responsible for the dairy checkoff’s investment in environmental and nutrition research to help position U.S. Dairy in a global food system. ## Bob Carroll ### Vice President of Business Development at California Milk Advisory Board  Bob has been with the California Milk Advisory Board for six years as the Vice President for Business Development. ## John Crawford ### Vice President, Client Insights - Dairy ### IRI John leads the relationship for a number of IRI’s top dairy clients including dairy industry associations.  He and his team have developed an industry-leading dairy thought leadership program.  [![NDC-Logo-2015_Drop-KO-1](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/NDC-Logo-2015_Drop-KO-1.png?width=300&height=128&name=NDC-Logo-2015_Drop-KO-1.png "NDC-Logo-2015_Drop-KO-1")](https://www.usdairy.com/about-us/national-dairy-council) [![cmab logo-1](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/cmab%20logo-1.svg "cmab logo-1")](https://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/) [![IRI Logo](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/IRI%20Logo.jpg?width=300&height=128&name=IRI%20Logo.jpg "IRI Logo")](https://www.iriworldwide.com/en-us) ## VentureFuel Founded in 2014, *VentureFuel* is an independent innovation consultancy based out of New York City.  We build and accelerate innovation programs for industry leaders by unlocking the power of what we call "external innovation" via startup collaborations.  Our programs focus on changing the behaviors and beliefs necessary to unlock new sources of growth. ## What's Next, Now Launched this year, this event series is focused on the industries and functions that are at the greatest risk of being disrupted.  Each month, we invite a corporate innovator, venture capitalist and startup entrepreneur to come together for a panel discussion about the products, services and technologies shaping tomorrow's change, today.  ## Don't miss our open resources of how-to guides and tips for corporate innovation. [![Content Library](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/9106794/b42118b9-743e-4b73-83ce-6ab88b87d069.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/9106794/b42118b9-743e-4b73-83ce-6ab88b87d069)