A. Elizabeth Sloan

September 15, 2020
Speaker Biography Feature Image

A. Elizabeth Sloan, PhD., President, Sloan Trends, Inc.

Elizabeth Sloan Head ShotDr. Elizabeth Sloan is President of Sloan Trends (ST), a 26 year San Diego-based consultancy focused on creating sustainable business building ideas and customer-centric solutions for the U.S. and global food, beverage, supplement, foodservice, ingredient and commodity board marketers. ST provides trend interpretation, forecasts and actionable recommendations.

She is the recipient of the Institute of Food Technologist’s Calvert L. Wiley Award for “Outstanding Service to the Food Industry…” – IFT has 26,000 members.

Liz served as Editor-in-Chief of McCall’s magazine and Asst. Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping magazine, each with a readership of more than 30 million women per month. She was also the Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute, managing the laboratories that reviewed consumer products for the Good Housekeeping Seal as well as the editorial pages of the magazine. Institute departments included: beauty/cosmetics; food; over-the-counter drugs; personal and home care; appliances; nutrition, diet and fitness; engineering/home improvement and market research. The 1st Director of Institute was Dr. Harvey Wiley, the Founder of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

She was also Senior Vice President and International Director of Food and Nutrition for Hill and Knowlton Public Relations operating in 21 countries. She received two John W. Hill Awards for excellence in public relations for Kraft’s Fat-Free Communications program and Wendy’s International for Founder’s R.D. Thomas Platform.

She was the first Scientific Director of the Am. Assoc. of Cereal Chemists; Editor-in-Chief of Cereal Foods World and Cereal Chemistry and Manager of Nutrition Communications and Technical Services for General Mills, Inc.

Dr. Sloan has written over 400 articles on consumer trends and food/nutrition marketing; co-authored two college textbooks on nutrition and served as trends/marketing columnist for Food Business, Food Engineering, Processed Prepared Foods and Food Product Development magazine.

Dr. Sloan as appeared on numerous television programs including The Today Show, Good Morning America, and most recently on Brian William’s Rock Center on Gluten-free. She is a frequent speaker keynoting meeting this year including IFT’s Wellness 2012, The Research Chefs of America, etc.

Dr. Sloan is a former National Scientific Lecturer for the Institute of Food Technologists and served as national President of its nutrition division. She was the Keynote Speaker for the National Restaurants 1st Conference on Health & Nutrition. Sloan has served on committees of 34 associations and scientific societies including the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Institute of Food Technologists. She has also served on five government and sixteen university committees.

Dr. Sloan holds a Ph.D. in Food Science/ Nutrition as well as Mass Communications /Journalism from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. degree in food technology from Rutgers University.

 Global Food Forums Presentations by Speaker

2020 Sweetener Systems Conference
“Retooling for the New Sweetener Influencers”

Even as sweet ingredients and product offerings proliferate, so do the number of factors influencing consumer opinions and the choices they make. This presentation will explore consumer research, health conditions data and trends in dietary, food consumption and lifestyle patterns to better understand consumer choices. Updated research from TrendSense®, a trend tracking service that analyzes consumer and medical/nutritional media coverage, will help attendees better understand consumer motivations. These insights will assist in the identification of key elements and synergies in a product’s design that can lead to improved marketplace success for new or reformulated products.

2018 Clean Label Conference
“You Are What You Eat: New and Emerging Consumer Views of What Should Be in Food”

The Clean Label movement is not new in that for decades consumers have taken a growing interest in what should and shouldn’t be in their food. However, consumers themselves have changed as they have become more informed on health, environmental and social issues. Additionally, food companies are better able to provide various consumer segments desirable niche products with specialized attributes. This fast-paced presentation soars over the landscape that’s come to be known as the clean label mega-trend. Insights into changing attitudes toward ingredients, food characteristics and what’s important will be uncovered.

2016 Protein Trends & Technologies Seminar
“Consumers & Protein: Capitalizing on the Next Generation of Protein Opportunities; Sustaining the Rush”

Despite protein falling off the list of the top 10 beverage trends in 2016, and a “been there, done that” attitude on the part of some CPG companies, the opportunities for protein are far from passé. A resurgence in interest in food fortification, naturally functional fortification and a new move to fresh/refrigerated fortification; the mainstreaming of the $31 billion sports nutrition market; the fact that 63% of the growth in the weight loss industry in the last five years came from young men; a new age generation of age 50+ consumers who are now restructuring entire food categories; and skyrocketing interest in kid-specific healthy foods are only a handful of the markets poised for protein’s attention. Moreover, issues of the timing of protein consumption, the optimal level in individual products, necessary companion ingredients for effective claims, and the sources of protein are other important areas for consideration. This presentation will take you on a data-driven fast-paced dive, share insights, identify market voids and make recommendations for future directions and success in the protein-related food, beverage and supplement sector.

Gain New Insights into an “Old” Market
• Deep dive into the real market drivers
• New findings, targets, emerging market needs and wants; what works/what doesn’t
• Up-and-coming health linkages, ingredient companions, consumption/timing issues
• Lucrative market “white spaces” for product development, tying into non-protein hot trends, global learnings.
• Re-prioritizing health priorities, markets, creating new positionings and more