Food and drink research company Campden BRI has appointed Chris Smart to lead its Brewing Services department. Chris will be responsible for driving the development of Campden BRI services in operational support for the alcoholic beverages industry.

Dr. Ing. Fritz Jacob has been appointed Honorary Professor at TU München (TUM). He currently is in charge of the Research Center Weihenstephan for Brewing and Food Quality – an important link between research, teaching and practical applications. As Honorary Professor, Jacob will further expand his teaching position at the Department for Brewing and Beverage Technology regarding Quality Management.

Effective as of the beginning of 2014, Tobias Kahmann (39) accepted responsibility as Director of two merged departments at Gea Refrigeration Technologies: Marketing and Market Intelligence. Annette Wille, who was previously head of the Department Marketing, will move to a new assignment at Gea Refrigeration Technologies. Tobias Kahmann is now responsible for all marketing activities: market-data generation, market analysis and market-data resourcing, development of marketing strategy, as well as internal and external communication. He was until now the Director of Market Intelligence, which has now been merged with the Department of Marketing to generate synergies and to provide a one stop shopping approach.

The Beer Academy in London, an educational body that was founded by a small group of beer enthusiasts in 2003 to help people understand, appreciate and enjoy beer, has appointed Alex Barlow as its Director of Training and Chief Examiner to replace George Philliskirk, who retires after nine years with the organisation.

Pentair announced the appointment of Dr. Roland Folz as Director Technology & Innovation for Food & Beverage. Effective, February 1, 2014, Folz will be responsible for innovation, product design, solutions development, and the global R&D function for the company’s food & beverage division. Folz has 17 years of experience in the brewing and beverage industries.

Appearances can be deceiving – never more so than in the case of Graham Mackay. Had there been a competition “Best Dressed Brewer” he would have easily won it year after year. Not for him the dressed down look of an open collared button-down shirt with flashing white undershirt, espoused by some of his competitors. No, Mr Mackay was an ultra-sharp dresser, always wearing shiny silk ties with handkerchiefs just popping out of his breast pocket and pin-striped suits, whose stripes were often so thick and broad he could have been mistaken for a Cockney wide boy made good.

Reiner Gaub has recently been appointed as Business Development Manager, Brewing within Pall Food and Beverage, a leading filtration and separation supplier to the brewing industry. His new role will focus on supporting brewers in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Leading food and drink research company Campden BRI has appointed an experienced brewer to strengthen its brewing and malting team. Ed Wray will join Campden BRI’s brewing division as Project Brewer Maltster. He brings with him a wealth of practical brewing expertise gained while working as Head Brewer for a microbrewery where he produced a range of regular and seasonal beers.

During the recent annual meeting in May in Tucson, Arizona (USA), the renowned American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) has appointed Dr. Roland Folz of the VLB Berlin as its new International Director.

In this position, Dr. Roland Folz, head of the VLB Department for Brewing and Beverage Science & Applications (BBSA) follows Dr. Christina Schönberger, Barth Innovations, who now represents the ASBC as Vice President. The position of the International Director serves as the interface between the ASBC and the international brewing science community. He is supported by a working group, the International Committee, which is looking into international activities and possibilities for the ASBC.

“We are very happy that Roland Folz, an internationally known brewing scientist, has taken the role of International Director for the ASBC Board. As the brewing community becomes evermore globalized it is increasingly important for our organization to expand our international network. The entire Board is confident that Dr. Folz can help us in this endeavor”, says Thomas H. Shellhammer, President Elect of the ASBC.

Roland Folz, "It is my great honor that the ASBC has appointed me for this responsible position and I take this task with joy. I see this as an excellent opportunity to support the development of the international community of brewers actively. In addition, it is a great chance to intensify the cooperation between the VLB and the ASBC even further.“

In addition to cooperation on project level, there were recently several collaborations between the ASBC and VLB at conferences, such as the VLB Brewing Conference in Beijing in 2012, the 4th Ibero-American Symposium of VLB 2013 in Argentina or the Annual Meeting of the ASBC in June 2013, where a jointly conducted hop workshop was very well received.

This week, the Siebel Institute of Technology announced the appointment of John Hannafan as new Director of Education.

On 1 February 2013, Pentair Haffmans installed Dipl.-Ing. Emmanuel Rurema as Commercial Director. Rurema is now responsible for all commercial teams and activities within Pentair Haffmans. He reports to Olaf Müller, Managing Director and Vice President Pentair Food & Beverage.

On 1 April 2013 Peder Holk Nielsen, 56, took office as President & CEO of Novozymes. He takes over from Steen Riisgaard, who stepped down after 12 years in the company’s top post and 33 years in Novozymes and Novo Industri/Novo Nordisk.

Specialist publisher Hans Carl, Nuremberg, Germany, is pleased to announce two new peer reviewers for BrewingScience – Monatsschrift für Brauwissenschaft, Dr. Stefan Hanke, head of the pilot plant of the Bitburg Brewing Group, Bitburg, Germany, and Dr. Martin Zarnkow, Lehrstuhl für Brau-und Getränketechnologie (Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology) at the TU München-Weihenstephan, Germany.

Many of the visitors and exhibitors have probably noticed: drink technology India (dti), which was held in conjunction with the International PackTech India from November 6th to 8th 2012 in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), “has come of age” so to speak. This was the description given by Petra Westphal, Exhibition Group Director for Messe München and MMI India Pvt. Ltd., as she shared her impressions of the trade fair. This may be due, in part, to the 42 percent increase in floor space required for dti, the larger exhibition hall and the greater number of exhibits, some with very elaborate stands. For example, at the Danfoss stand, copious amounts of water were used to illustrate the resistance of the VLT drives to water. The decision to add an additional day for exhibitors to set up their stands and the selection of another construction company for building stands at the exhibition proved to be well-founded. Everything was organized in a timely manner so that on the first day the hall was ready to receive visitors.