Chicken Marketing Summit

Attend

Join the chicken industry on July 27-29 at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida, for the 2026 edition of Chicken Marketing Summit, the essential networking and educational conference for poultry business leaders.

Registration for the Summit covers: 1-1/2 days of educational presentations, 2 evening cocktail receptions, breakfasts, lunch, multiple networking breaks, and the option to participate in the annual Bill Roenigk Chicken Marketing Summit golf tournament. Registration opens Spring 2026.

Why attend?

• Join poultry business leaders and influencers from companies such as: Albertsons, Aldi, Amick Farms, Applegate, Church’s Texas Chicken, Claxton Poultry, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, Fieldale Farms, George’s, , Mountaire Farms, Perdue, Popeyes, Publix, Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions, Simmons Prepared Foods, Wayne-Sanderson Farms, Zaxby’s and many others
• Engage with key industry execs during multiple panel discussions, including the Supply Chain Partners Panel
• Find out who will be awarded Chicken Marketer of the Year
  
• Be the first to hear results from the annual Consumer Chicken Consumption Survey, which will reveal answers to new questions about the most pressing consumer topics

Chicken Marketing Summit is geared toward the interests of poultry marketing and sales executives; retail supermarket/c-store and foodservice – buyers, brand marketers, and culinary/product development; allied industry sales and marketing executives, distributors and more.

Serving a unique cross section of the chicken supply chain, Chicken Marketing Summit explores issues and trends in food marketing and consumer chicken consumption patterns and purchasing behavior.

Press and media seeking admission into the Chicken Marketing Summit must be approved by the event organizers. Organizers will provide press releases and video footage taken by Chicken Marketing Summit staff upon request. Please contact Chad Forster at cforster@wattglobal.com for more information.

2025 Agenda

Monday, July 28

9-10:30 a.m.
NCC Marketing & Communications Committee meeting
Open to committee members and invited guests

10 a.m.-7 p.m.
Registration

12 p.m.
Golf tournament kick-off, includes boxed lunch
Location: The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa

12-1:30 p.m.
Optional: Savannah Riverboat Cruise
Join us for a 1 1/2 hour riverboat cruise around Savannah. We will walk from the hotel lobby at 12 pm. Food and beverages are available on the boat for purchase.
$40

5:30-6 p.m.
First time attendees’ reception

6-7:30 p.m.
Chicken Marketing Summit 2025 opening reception
Golf tournament awards announced
Location: 1540 Room Restaurant

Tuesday, July 29

7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Registration

7:30-8:30 a.m.
Breakfast

8:30-8:45 a.m.
Introduction and welcome
Greg Watt, president and CEO, WATT Global Media

8:45-9 a.m.
Industry overview: State of the broiler industry
Bill Griffith, COO, Peco Foods

9-10 a.m.
Keynote: Chicken 2030: The tech and trends shaping what’s next
Kevin Ryan, founder/CEO, Malachite Strategy and Research

From AI-driven personalization to next-gen food production, technology is rapidly reshaping how consumers buy, cook and experience chicken. But what advancements matter most for the industry? Kevin Ryan, founder/CEO of Malachite Strategy and Research, highlights the most important innovations emerging across consumer behavior, retail, foodservice and manufacturing — unpacking how they are shaping the future and what industry leaders should be paying attention to now.

10-10:30 a.m.
Morning coffee break

10:30-11:15 a.m.
How digital-first consumers are reshaping chicken consumption
Erkin Peksoz, protein practice principal, Circana

As mobile apps, online platforms, AI assistants, and kiosks become more common in the shopping journey, consumers — especially younger generations — are embracing convenience-driven, tech-enabled experiences. While data limitations prevent a complete picture of what lies ahead, strong signals point to continued growth in digital engagement. Drawing from exclusive research, learn about behaviors and explore today’s trends that offer clues about where consumer expectations are headed.

11:15 a.m.-12 p.m.
Chicken Marketer of the Year
Winners announced and recognized

12-1:30 p.m.
Lunch

1:30-2:15 p.m.
Concurrent session: Winning with chicken foodservice
Katie Belflower, manager, Menu Research and Insights team, Technomic

In 2025, chicken will remain one of the most popular proteins when dining out. Restaurants are experimenting with new flavors, preparations and dishes to add excitement to the classic protein and keep customers coming in for more. And when it comes to innovation, menus aren’t the only thing getting a makeover, as restaurants experiment with automated ordering, AI, robotic servers and fryers and more. This session will explore chicken menu trends, consumer attitudes toward the protein and the use of technology in foodservice, as well as explore opportunities that will help operators win with chicken.

1:30-2:15 p.m.
Concurrent session: Salmonella reduction: A continuous improvement journey
Bill Potter, Ph.D., poultry food safety and processing extension, University of Arkansas

Regulations regarding acceptable Salmonella levels on ready-to-cook chicken meat are at a crossroads with multiple changes being considered in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) testing and control strategies. U.S. broiler producers have engaged in a multi-decade process to continually reduce Salmonella levels on raw chicken. Learn more about the progress to date on reducing Salmonella loads and the technologies that hold promise for continuing the progress in human health outcomes.

2:15-3 p.m.
Concurrent session: Chicken at the center of the plate: Who is eating what and why
Lynn Dornblaser, principal consultant, Mintel

With Mintel research showing that 93% of U.S. consumers have eaten chicken in some form in the last six months, it’s clear that it is an important component in today’s meal choices. This presentation will look at how chicken products can deliver on convenience and flavor innovation at retail. It also will take a look at the push-pull of economical offerings and premium and value-added ones (and what consumers are looking for). In addition, we’ll showcase our consumer insight with product examples, from the U.S. and beyond.

2:15-3 p.m.
Concurrent session: Technologies for evaluating and improving broiler welfare 
Nikki Dutta, scientific program officer, FFAR

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) teamed up with McDonald’s Corporation to fund the SMART Broiler research program to transform the welfare and production of broiler chickens through precision monitoring technologies. Traditional welfare assessments struggle to keep pace with farms housing up to 50,000 birds per house. These Sensors, Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technologies (SMART) solutions augment traditional human observation and subjective scoring with objective real-time monitoring by automating and tracking key welfare indicators — like gait, vocalization and behavior — offering U.S. producers actionable insights for better farm management, profitability and animal welfare. Nikki will share a program overview and the findings from the research program, which have used camera systems and microphones to collect the data and AI and machine learning programs to analyze the data.

3-3:30 p.m.
Afternoon coffee break

3:30-4:15 p.m.
Concurrent session: 2025: A transformational year in US food
Nick Fereday, executive director, Rabobank

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement coupled with the growing adoption of anti-obesity medications such as GLP-1s is having an impact on consumer perceptions of health and nutrition. Nick Fereday, executive director, Rabobank, will discuss how these changes could impact chicken sales and marketing and what changes chicken companies should make in response.

3:30-4:15 p.m.
Concurrent session: A practical path for continuous improvement in environmental sustainability
Sarah Fox, U.S. senior director sustainable food systems, JBS

Striving for continuous improvement and doing more with less is second nature and standard operating procedure for broiler growers and processors. Fox will explain how JBS and its U.S. subsidiary, Pilgrim’s, are using this same approach to implement ideas and solutions that provide economical and practical means of reducing resource usage and lowering environmental impacts.

4:15-5 p.m.
Concurrent session: Sustainability that sells: Building trust with chicken consumers
Nancy Himmelfarb, principal, Himmelfarb Sustainability Consulting

As sustainability continues to shape consumer expectations and industry standards, chicken marketers must go beyond generic sustainability messaging and jargon. Using real-world examples and actionable insights, sustainability consultant Nancy Himmelfarb will empower marketers to leverage sustainability to boost trust while reducing risks.

4:15-5 p.m.
Concurrent session: Current efforts to detect, control and mitigate HPAI in the US
Brian McCluskey, DVM, Ph.D., director, Lonestar Epidemiology Consulting

The current highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak has been ongoing for over three years and has presented unprecedented challenges to North America’s poultry industries. Commercial poultry losses have been staggering, wild bird and mammal populations have been infected and cows in hundreds of dairies have tested positive for the virus. Learn more about the status of the current outbreak and the control measures that are being tested and implemented in the U.S. and vaccination in other countries.

5-6:30 p.m.
Networking reception

Wednesday, July 30

7:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
Registration

7:30-8:30 a.m.
Breakfast

8:30-9:15 a.m.
Balancing innovation with consumer demand for chicken
Brian Earnest, lead economist, animal protein, CoBank

Poultry operations have worked hard to produce broilers more efficiently, resulting in bigger birds that require fewer resources. However, today’s consumer appears to have a preference for smaller chickens in both retail and foodservice. Discover how advances in genetics, further processing technology and other innovations are driving production and the opportunities for the broiler industry to help keep chicken as the protein at the center of the plate.

9:15-10 a.m.
Panel discussion: Avian Influenza in the spotlight
With HPAI remaining a persistent challenge and media coverage fluctuating, the poultry industry has a limited window to take control of the narrative. During this panel discussion, learn about the economic impacts of HPAI, how the industry is leveraging technology to stop its spread and how sales and marketing can proactively address consumer concerns and misinformation to build consumer confidence and mitigate long-term risks associated with public uncertainty.

Confirmed panelists:

• Rob Levine, partner/president, Marriner Marketing,
• Brian Earnest, lead economist, animal protein, CoBank
• Brian McCluskey, DVM, Ph.D., director, Lonestar Epidemiology Consulting

10-10:30 a.m.
Morning coffee break

10:30-11:30 a.m.
Supply chain partners panel
Panelists discuss challenges and opportunities for chicken supply chain companies that connect processors with consumers.

Confirmed panelists:

• Becky Faudree, vice president of procurement, ButcherBox
• Travis Gracey, meat and seafood category manager, HAC, Inc.
• Shawn Lalehzarian, co-founder and CEO, The Red Chickz
• Paul Sinowitz, chief supply chain officer, Qdoba

11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
2035: Your predictions on the industry’s hottest topics
Attendees will be polled on today’s hot topics and opinions on solutions.

Katie Belflower

Katie Belflower is a manager on the Menu Research and Insights team at Technomic. She tracks and analyzes current and predictive menu and concept trends and data for both the U.S. and Canada. In addition to contributing to reports and newsletters, Katie also presents various webinars and at conferences for the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Lynn Dornblaser

Lynn Dornblaser brings almost 40 years of product trend knowledge to her position as client advisor. In this role she provides insight to clients and the industry, leveraging her career’s worth of knowledge and Mintel’s rich data sources. Prior to joining Mintel in 1998, Dornblaser covered new product trends at several trade magazine publishing companies. She has been quoted by major U.S. news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times and CNN. Dornblaser holds a BS in journalism from the University of Illinois.

Elizabeth Doughman

Elizabeth Doughman is the editor of WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future. In this role, she is responsible for managing and creating engaging content about what’s next for the broiler, turkey and layer industries across print, e-newsletters, websites, videos, podcasts and in-person events, including the Chicken Marketing Summit and the Poultry Tech Summit. Prior to joining WATT Global Media in 2019, Doughman worked at a multimedia brand covering the animal research sector for 14 years. Doughman obtained a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Kentucky and a master’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University.

Moderator

Nikki Dutta

Nikki Dutta is a scientific program officer for the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) where she provides program support to the Cultivating Thriving Production Systems Priority Area. Some of her responsibilities include supporting the International Consortium for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Agriculture (ICASA), managing the Veterinary Student Research Fellowship program, and assisting with content development for new and existing programs. Dutta earned a master’s degree in sustainability management from American University and completed her undergraduate studies in international business and management at Dickinson College.

Brian Earnest

Brian Earnest is lead economist for animal protein in CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange division. He provides market and industry research for the poultry, pork and beef sectors. Earnest has more than 10 years of industry and consulting experience. Prior to joining CoBank, he was senior commodity analyst, poultry, with IHS Markit’s Food and Agricultural Commodities Economics group. Earnest provided forecasting and price risk strategies, client service, as well as project consulting in the poultry and egg space. He previously held various procurement and advisory roles with Topco Associates LLC, a retail food industry cooperative. Earnest holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in economics from Eastern Illinois University.

Becky Faudree

Becky Faudree is the vice president of procurement at ButcherBox, bringing years of experience in meat sourcing, strategic planning and growing programs that move the needle. With a strong focus on animal welfare, negotiation, pricing strategy and business expansion, she knows how to spot opportunities and turn them into real, impactful solutions, whether that’s launching a new program or product. Prior to joining ButcherBox, Faudree ran operations for two beef companies and ran procurement as global meat coordinator for Whole Foods Market.

Nick Fereday

Nick Fereday is an executive director within Rabobank’s research department in New York, specializing in food and consumer trends. Fereday has worked in food and agriculture for his entire career starting in the 1990s at the Department of Agriculture in Papua New Guinea, followed by a rewarding period working at the UK’s National Resources Institute on agricultural programs in developing countries in Africa and Asia and then switching to more commercially focused consultancy-based work at LMC International.

Sarah Fox

At JBS, Fox helps to spearhead the design of value chain initiatives aimed at bolstering sustainability efforts of the company’s commodity suppliers. Prior to joining JBS in 2024, she served as vice president for sustainability for Versatron Corporation and as global director sustainable agriculture strategic partnerships and strategy for Nutrien Ag Solutions. Fox earned a B.S in biology and chemistry from Trinity Washington University and and M.S. in Ecology and atmospheric science from the University at Albany.

Travis Gracey

Travis Gracey, a third-generation meat professional, kicked off his career in Oklahoma’s retail meat industry in 1992. He’s held roles as department manager, district supervisor, category manager and director for some of Oklahoma’s best retailers, including Pruett’s Food, Jumbo Foods, Associated Wholesale Grocers and currently works as the meat sand seafood category manager at HAC, which operates 80 grocery stores under several well-known banners, including Food World, Piggly Wiggly and CashSaver.

Bill Griffith

Rob Levine

Rob Levine leads Marriner Marketing’s strategic direction, ensuring teams are well-resourced, motivated and aligned with the agency’s mission of clarity. His strategic guidance has played a key role in brand positioning and marketing efforts for Campbell’s, Apeel Sciences, Kent Corporation, Perdue Farms, Butterball, Dannon, Away From Home, Gehl’s, Rich Products, McCormick, Nestlé Professional and The Sugar Association.

Brian McCluskey

Brian McCluskey is a veterinary epidemiologist with extensive experience with infectious diseases, animal health surveillance and outbreak investigations. He currently is director of Lonestar Epidemiology Consulting. He received a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Washington State University, a Masters in infectious diseases from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Colorado State University.  He held numerous positions in U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Veterinary Services including area epidemiology officer, dairy commodity specialist, director of the National Surveillance Unit, western region director, chief epidemiologist and associate deputy administrator, retiring in 2019 after 29 years of service.

Terrence O’Keefe

Terrence O’Keefe began his association with the poultry industry in graduate school and has been working with and writing about poultry for 36 years. In his role as content director at WATT Global Media, O’Keefe leads a team of 24 reporters, editors and artists who cover the world’s poultry, animal feed and pet food industries. He has written for and edited publications covering the broiler, turkey and egg industries. Prior to joining WATT, he worked for broiler and turkey companies in variety of live production and processing roles including serving as manager for broiler and turkey slaughter and deboning plants. O’Keefe earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the College of William & Mary, a master’s degree in poultry science at the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA at James Madison University.

Moderator

Erkin Peksoz

Erkin Peksoz is a principal at Circana’s  Protein Practice. Prior to joining Circana in 2017, he held various brand management roles across the food and alcoholic beverage CPG industries. In his own words, nothing excites and energizes him more than observing and reacting to the ever-changing consumer trends and decisions. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Bill Potter, Ph.D.

Bill Potter recently joined the University of Arkansas as Food Safety and Processing Extension Specialist and Poultry Federation Chair in poultry science. Prior to that, Potter was a poultry industry leader with stints at ConAgra Poultry, Advance Foods, George’s Inc. and Elanco Animal Health. His initiatives in food safety have made impacts at the local, state, and national level. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science, with an MBA from Texas A&M. He also obtained master’s degree and Ph.D. in poultry science from the University of Arkansas.

Kevin Ryan

Kevin Ryan is founder/CEO of Malachite Strategy and Research, a CPG, retail and foodservice-focused insights and innovation agency. Kevin previously served as the global strategic senior planner at Amazon, overseeing the team responsible for corporate brand and advertising strategies for Global Prime and Non-Prime consumers. Prior to Amazon, Kevin was director of strategy and innovation at General Mills. For 15 years, Kevin led corporate and brand initiatives to discover new opportunities globally. Kevin is an expert in the front end of innovation, specializing in deep ethnography, strategic mapping, consumer jobs-to-be-done development, design thinking, agile methodologies and new product ideation. Kevin holds both a master’s and PhD in food science and a MSc in food anthropology. Kevin writes a food industry newsletter (FoodStuff) and also hosts a food industry podcast called 3 Squares.

Paul Sinowitz

Paul Sinowitz joined Qdoba in June of 2019 and currently serves as the chief supply chain officer. In his role, he oversees all aspects of the supply chain for food and beverage, packaging, finance and indirect categories. Paul has served in executive supply chain roles for the past 35 years from large national restaurants such as Sonic, Yum Brands (KFC) and Advantica Restaurants (Denny’s, El Pollo Loco, Coco’s, Carrow’s and Hardees). Most recently, he spent the last 11 years working with MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment. He received a BS from New Mexico State University.

Tom Super

Tom Super brings more than 20 years of combined experience in strategic communications, public policy, politics and meat and poultry issues management to the National Chicken Council’s senior management team. He is responsible for day-to-day media relations, media outreach, social media management and strategic communications planning to supplement the NCC’s legislative, regulatory and public affairs efforts. Prior to his joining NCC, Super spent three-and-a-half years at the American Meat Institute, most recently as vice president of public affairs. He previously spent six years at Greener and Hook LLC, a Washington-based strategic communications consulting firm where his focus was on planning and executing communications strategies and delivering strategic communications and media relations counsel to corporations, trade associations, ad-hoc organizations, non-profits and political candidates at the local, state and federal levels. Super began his career in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill as a press assistant and legislative correspondent for U.S. Senator John W. Warner (R-Va.). A graduate of Washington & Lee University, in Lexington, Va., Super earned his bachelor’s degree in public policy.

Moderator

Sponsorship

Grow your brand presence at Chicken Marketing Summit 2026

Sponsorship opportunities at the Chicken Marketing Summit take you beyond advertising and go further toward enhancing your company’s brand. Be among the first to sign up for sponsorship to maximize your exposure across multiple opportunities before, during and even after the event.

All Chicken Marketing Summit 2026 sponsorship opportunities are on a first-come, first-served basis. The earlier you become a sponsor, the more value your company will receive from being featured in event promotions. Contact your WATT Agribusiness sales manager today for pricing and details.

View the 2025 Sponsorship Prospectus. The 2026 sponsorship prospectus will be released December 2025. 

Five reasons to be a part of the Chicken Marketing Summit: 

1. Reach key poultry business leaders and influencers
2. Engage with the entire chicken supply chain
3. Build new relationships and share ideas with your poultry industry colleagues
4. Learn tips on connecting with the dynamically changing consumer
5. 1 1/2 days of exclusive networking and learning opportunities at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida