CINDY STEWART

Cindy Stewart, PhD, is an internationally recognized food scientist and creative executive innovation/R&D leader with diverse, global experience in the food industry. An Institute of Food Technologists Fellow & Certified Food Scientist, she served as IFT’s 78th President. With over 30 years of global experience, her work bridges science and business to accelerate growth, optimize portfolios, and unlock scalable solutions. She has built and scaled innovation pipelines, led high-impact cross-functional teams and initiatives across four continents, and delivered measurable results.

Cindy is the Founder & Principal of Innovative Food Science Consulting LLC, where she advises foodtech/biotech startups, venture capital firms, and food & ingredient companies through fractional leadership, technical due diligence, and innovation strategy. Prior to founding IFSC she was the Vice President, Open Innovation, for Corbion where she strategically led their new global open innovation business model and team. Prior to joining Corbion, Cindy was the Global Technology & Innovation Leader for Cultures, Food Protection and Food Enzymes businesses, in the DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences /IFF Health & Biosciences Division. Other previous positions held include Senior Director of Advanced Research, PepsiCo; General Manager, Silliker, Inc. Food Science Center; Director, Scientific Affairs, National Center for Food Safety and Technology & Assistant Professor, IIT; High Pressure Processing Program Manager for CSIRO’s Food Science Australia; Senior Research Microbiologist, Nabisco; and Research Associate II, University of Delaware.

Cindy has published and presented over 175 papers and book chapters on topics including nonthermal processing technologies, predictive microbiological modeling, microbial risk management, and fermentation/biotechnology. She is a recipient of the University of Delaware, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Distinguished Alumni Award. She serves on multiple advisory boards spanning academia, industry, and nonprofit sectors, and holds BS and MS degrees in Food Science from the University of Delaware and a PhD in Food Science from Rutgers University.