Cormier’s incredible career began at Northside High School in his native Lafayette, Louisiana. During this time, he brought home three state wrestling championships with a combined record of 101-9. After a stint at Kansas’ Colby Community College, where he was a two-time NJCAA wrestling champion, Cormier transferred to Oklahoma State University where he became an all-American in the 184-pound weight class. After his graduation with a degree in sociology, Cormier’s accomplishments in freestyle wrestling are numerous. Among them are senior U.S. Championships every year from 2003 to 2008, gold medals at the 2003 Pan-American Games and the Golden Grand-Prix Ivan Yarygin, a bronze medal at the 2007 World Wrestling Championships, and fourth place at the 2004 Olympics. Cormier made his professional MMA debut in 2009 with Xtreme MMA, winning the heavyweight championship in less than a year. Just two weeks after that feat, he captured the King of the Cage Heavyweight Championship. In 2012, Cormier won the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament with a unanimous decision over Josh Barnett in the finals. Cormier defeated former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir via unanimous decision in his 2013 UFC debut. He lost in his first Light Heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones, but rebounded a few months later and defeated Anthony Johnson for the same belt. Cormier successfully defended the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship for three years before defeating UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic – a win that cemented his legacy in MMA history by making him one of only two fighters to hold UFC Championships in two divisions.

Elyse Lovett has 10+ years’ experience in the food and supplement ingredient space, with past positions at AAK (AarusKarlshamn) and Novartis in marketing and sales positions.  She holds a master of business administration in marketing and a master of science in clinical nutrition from New York Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and nutrition from Rutgers University.

Mr. Cleland joined the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices in 1991.  In 1996, Mr. Cleland was appointed Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection and, in 1998, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Division of Service Industry Practices.  He currently serves as Assistant Director of the Division of Advertising Practices.  His primary area of expertise is the advertising and marketing of health-related products and services.  He also supervises many of the Commission’s health fraud law enforcement initiatives.  Mr. Cleland supervised the FTC’s review of the Endorsement and Testimonial Guides and the revision of the FTC’s guidance on making effective disclosures on the Internet and other digital platforms (.com Disclosures).  Mr. Cleland’s most recent work has focused on supervising the Commission’s efforts to stop sellers of bogus products and services promoted to treat or prevent COVID-19.

Coming Soon

Erin Williams has been with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) for over 14 years.  She has served in a variety of roles, including Dispute Resolution Specialist and Policy and Planning Coordinator for the agency’s Division of Consumer Protection.  She is currently a Senior Policy Analyst in the agency’s Office of Policy, Planning, and Research and serves as the agency’s Regulatory Coordinator.  Ms. Williams has coordinated VDACS’s work to administer the Virginia Industrial Hemp Law since its enactment in 2015.  Additionally, she oversees the agency’s Industrial Hemp Grower, Dealer, and Processor Registration programs.

Stephen Northrup is a founding partner of Rampy Northrup LLC, where he represents some of the nation’s leading healthcare companies, associations and coalitions.

On Capitol Hill, Steve served as the Republican health policy director for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and chief health policy advisor to Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming.

Emily graduated from Alverno College with a B.S. in Chemistry. She has also completed Master’s level courses in Food Science and Food Law. Emily has worked at Chr. Hansen for 10 years; the last 4 of those being in Regulatory Affairs where she is frequently involved in GRAS and NDIN activities for both food cultures and probiotics.

Coming Soon

Dr. Ramanathan is the current Chairman of SSCI. He’s an Adjunct Professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and serves on Advisory Board’s of Global Nutrition and Pharma companies. He’s a globally recognized expert on Product Innovation, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Trials and Manufacturing. He earned his MBA from Duke University and Ph.D. from Tufts University.

Christine Long, M.S. is Senior Manager of Regulatory & Scientific Affairs at Arbonne International. She leads the nutrition team in the six markets Arbonne does business and has degrees in Exercise Science with a minor in Biology and a Master’s degree in Food Science from Chapman University. Chris represents Arbonne on the NPA Board of Directors.

Dr. Sharon Fried Buchalter is the Founder and CEO of the natural eco-friendly and sustainable consumer products company Products On The Go, located in Delray Beach, Florida.

David Thibodeau is Managing Director of Wellvest Capital a contemporary Merchant Bank investing in and providing strategic financial advisory services to  Health & Wellness companies. Over the last 30 years, David has been an advisor on many of the industry‚Äôs leading and transformative M&A and growth capital transactions that have defined the evolution of the emerging wellness industry.

Mark LeDoux founded Natural Alternatives International in 1980 and is a highly regarded leader in the nutritional supplements industry. As Chairman of the Natural Products Association, he represents NAI’s ongoing commitment to industry and government affairs. He was also former Chairman of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, Founding Chairman of CRN-International and NIA-West Board member.