Filipe Masetti is a world-renowned Long Rider, award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author.
The Brazilian-Canadian cowboy is the youngest person in the world to cross the Americas on horseback. An 8-year journey of 27,000 kms, across 12 nations from Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina.
Two statues have been erected in Brazil to celebrate his feat.
An accomplished and dynamic leader, with extensive experience in retail operations, merchandising, procurement, and sourcing, with a significant tenure at Loblaw Companies Limited since 2008.
Simon’s career at Loblaw has been marked by rapid advancement and diverse leadership roles including senior roles within Meat, Seafood & Natural Value Merchandising and Procurement, as well as senior role within Zehrs operations as Group Director, and most recently, VP Sourcing for Meat, Seafood, and Produce.
Prior to Loblaw, he spent just over 5 five years at Gay Lea Foods, excelling as a Key Account Manager for independent retail & foodservice accounts, and later as a Demand Manager overseeing production scheduling, materials inventories, and labor forecasting. Simon’s foundational experience began in various part-time roles within retail supermarkets, which helped fund his education.
Simon also contributes to the industry as a board member for the Canadian Produce Marketing Association. Academically, he holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Diploma in Computer Programming & Mathematics of Finance, and is MSCE & A+ Certified.
Fun Fact: Loves to wrench and tinker with anything automotive and enjoys working on the construction projects. Due to this he has passion for tools.
Executive Vice President – Dennis Laycraft
Leading the staff of the Canadian Cattle Association and its various divisions since 1990, Dennis serves as a spokesperson for the beef cattle industry on trade, product safety, sustainability, and animal disease issues.
A senior policy analyst and lobbyist for the CCA, Dennis addresses issues at the national and international levels which impact Canada’s beef cattle industry. He manages any legal actions that the CCA undertakes to defend Canada's beef cattle sector from trade actions or unfair trade practices and represents the beef cattle industry in trade negotiations.
Participating on several government and industry task forces and committees, Dennis has chaired or sat in an advisory capacity on many initiatives including the Regulations and Standards working group on the Agri-Food Competitiveness task force; Chairman of the external advisory panel of the 1992 regulatory review conducted by Agriculture Canada, advisor to Canada’s Auditor General’s department on a number of food inspection and research matters; Past President of the Global Round Table for Sustainable Beef,
Chair of the Beef Value Chain Roundtable which brought together industry leaders throughout the value chain to provide strategic direction. Dennis is a founding member of the Canadian Beef Grading Agency and the Canadian Round Table for Sustainable Beef.
Dr. Jessica Sperber was raised on her family’s 4th generation cow-calf and grain operation located in Alberta, CAN.
Sperber attained her MS specialized in meat science and beef carcass quality from West Texas A&M University and Ph.D. in feedlot nutrition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Sperber joined the Department of Animal Science at UNL in November of
2022 as an Assistant Professor and Feedlot Extension Specialist. Her research areas of interest include feedyard nutritional management strategies, technologies that improve cattle production efficiency, and carcass quality and yield outcomes.
Nevil Speer works as an industry consultant based in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
He has experience in both academia and private industry. His career includes working with several start-ups along with various service and consultation projects spanning a wide variety of topics. In addition, he currently serves as a regular contributor for Feedstuffs and BEEF Magazine.
Dr. Speer holds a PhD in Animal Sciences from Colorado State University and an MBA from Western Kentucky University.