2026 Agenda
Cold Chain Summit
April 16, 2026
Wilmington, N.C.
| Time | Event/Description | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks | Hans Bean, North Carolina Ports |
| 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. | The Port of Partnership | Brian E. Clark, North Carolina Ports |
| 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. | Building Bridges for Trade Opportunity | Lorena Patterson, NC Hispanic Chamber Jake Cashion, NC Chamber |
| 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. | Networking Break | |
| 11:00 – 11:45 a.m. | Building Trust in Cold Chain Partnerships | Le Harlin, Maersk, Aaron Brott, North Carolina Ports Staci Burke, Oppy |
| 11:45 a.m. | Pioneer Award | |
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch | |
| 12:50 – 1:40 p.m. | The Intelligent Cold Chain | Dr. Erez Agmoni, Interwoven Ventures |
| 1:40 – 2:00 p.m. | Latin America Market Access: Trade Policy, Borders, and Supply Chain Opportunity | John Hyatt, Southward Advisors |
| 2:00 – 2:45 p.m. | Navigating Cold Complexity Across Borders | Jeff Thomas, NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Tony Fernandez, 721 Logistics / J&K Fresh Nino Yepez, DHL Global Forwarding Scott Bland, Foster USA |
| 2:45 – 3:15 p.m. | Networking Break | |
| 3:15 – 4:00 p.m. | Partnering to Leverage Technology and Innovation | Dana Magliola, NC Chamber Foundation Leandro Moreira, Frontier Scientific Solutions James Malone, Grifols Michael Rentz, Gnosis Freight |
| 4:00 p.m. | Closing Remarks | Hans Bean, North Carolina Ports |
| 4:30 p.m. | Evening Reception |
| Time | Event/Description | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. | Registration | |
| 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks | Hans Bean, Chief Commercial Officer, NC Ports |
| 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. | Advancing North Carolina Ports | Brian E. Clark, Executive Director, NC Ports |
| 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. | Economist Update: What do we know about the current state of the economy? | Dr. Mouchine Guettabi, Associate Professor of Economics, UNCW Cameron School of Business |
| 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. | Networking Break | |
| 11:00 – 11:45 a.m. | Cool Choices: Aligning Cold Practices with Consumer Expectations | Bill Duggan, North American Advisor-Eskesen Advisory, Matthew Greer, SVP, Food and Agribusiness Industry Manager-Truist, Nino Yepez, Head of Temperature Controlled Business, Americas Region-DHL Global Forwarding, Mario Hernandez, President of Sourcing and Supply Chain-One Banana |
| 11:45 – 12:30 p.m. | Carrier Solutions for Refrigerated Cargo | Anat Ayal, Head of Global Reefers and Special Cargo Unit-ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, Donald Davis, SVP Commercial-ZIM Integrated Shipping Services |
| 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. | Lunch | |
| 1:30 – 2:15 p.m. | Cool Connections: Building Strong Partnerships in Fresh Produce Sourcing | Marta Sesmero, International Trade Specialist, PROMPERÚ |
| 2:15 – 2:45 p.m. | Pioneer Award | Miguel Garza Jr, Area Port Director-U.S. Customs and Border Protection |
| 2:45 – 3:15 p.m. | Networking Break | |
| 3:15 – 4:15 p.m. | Advancing North Carolina’s Economy: Development and Infrastructure Update | Dana Magliola, Sr. Director of Infrastructure Competitiveness- NC Chamber Foundation, Austin Rouse, Director, Business Recruitment- Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, Joe Melvin, Vice President-North Carolina’s Southeast, Jason Semple, Director, Business Development- Brunswick Business & Industry Development, Cliff Pyron, Director, Business Development-Wilmington Business Development |
| 4:15 p.m. | Closing Remarks | Hans Bean, Chief Commercial Officer, NC Ports |
| 5:00 p.m. | Evening Reception |
