Speakers

BadrinathGulur is SAI’s Director of Training & Senior Accreditation Auditor at SAAS. He has worked with SAI since 2003, in a range of training and accreditation programs. He has conducted SA8000 Auditor & Advanced training and technical assistance in over 50 countries across Asia, Africa, USA and Europe. He is a global expert in managements systems, with over 25 years of experience in Quality, Environmental, Health & Safety and Social Accountability training, consulting and auditing.Mr. Gulur holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Environmental Management from the Centre for the Urban Environment, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He is also a registered IRCA Lead Auditor and Trainer for ISO 9000, ISO 14000 & OHSAS 18000. Before being involved in the training and accreditation activities of SAI from October 2003, Mr. Gulur worked as Country Manager, Lead Auditor and Trainer for BVQI on ISO 9000, ISO 14000, SA 8000 and OHSAS 18000. He has conducted over 1,000 audits and training programs worldwide.

GOTS training team – Lori Wyman (GOTS North American representative), Angela Wartes-Kahl (Oregon Tilth Fiber and Textiles Coordinator), Karlin Warner (OneCert)

Lori Wyman has been conducting Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) audits since 2006 and now serves as the Global Organic Textile Standard GOTS Representative for North America. She has conducted organic, sustainable, and social compliance audits on both farms and factories nationally and internationally. She has inspected every step of the organic supply chain from the farm level to finished product for food (USDA NOP) and textiles (TE and GOTS).

AngelaWartes-Kahlhas been an organic farmer for last 13 years, managing, Common Treasury Farm with her husband and business partner. They grow fiber flax and raise sheep for wool, along with blueberries and annual vegetables. Angela is the co-owner of Independent Organic Services, Inc. (consulting and contract inspection work) and the Fiber and Textile Coordinator at Oregon Tilth, managing their GOTS program and promoting organic certification for textiles. In 2017, Angela and Shannon Welsh (of PNW Fibershed) formed Fibrevolution LLC to rebuild the fiber flax industry in Oregon. She has been an organic inspector for crops, processing and textiles since 2011.


Karlin Warner is the Certification Manager for OneCert, Inc. Since 2008, she has been inspecting and reviewing to the Global Organic Textiles Standards (GOTS), certifying to Textile Exchange’s organic and recycled content standards, and the National Organic Program for processing operations. Karlin graduated in 2009 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a MS degree in Textile Science and has since maintained close ties with the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, serving on their Professional Advisory Council and teaching as a visiting lecturer, as well as working to develop a new 4-H Clothing Curriculum. Karlin represents OneCert on the Organic Trade Association’s Fiber Council. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and spending time with her husband and two dogs at their home in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Bob Durst is a food chemist, recently retired from the Linus Pauling Institute of Oregon State University and Director of their Food Composition Lab; Processing and Materials Director of Simple Organic Solutions- a consulting company that assists industry with meeting the USDA organic regulations; organic processing inspector; past IOIA Board Chair; and a frequent speaker on the topic of organic cosmetics. His educational background is in the field of analytical chemistry with extensive experience in the application of this knowledge to the problems of the fruit and juice industry. He has lectured on the application of organic processing principles at the Northwest Food Processors Association, All Things Organic Trade Show, Institute of Food Technologists, and UC Davis Juice Processing workshops. He was co-Chair of the NSF ANSI 305 organic personal care committee. He holds an MS degree in Biochemistry and held a research positions at OSU for over 30 years.

Since 2010, Lars Crail has been a member of the National Organic Program, Accreditation and International Activities Division, within USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. As the Lead Auditor, he is responsible for ensuring that audits and reviews of operations, certifying agents, and foreign governments throughout the world are conducted according to prescribed criteria and regulatory requirements.

The National Organic Program develops and enforces national standards for organically‐produced agricultural products; ensuring consumers that products bearing the “USDA Organic” seal meet consistent, uniform standards.

Over the last five years, the National Organic Program (NOP) has significantly increased organic integrity through pasture requirements for organic ruminant livestock and a strengthened residue testing program. In addition the NOP is implementing ‘Sound and Sensible Certification Principles’ that are reducing the burdensome aspects of organic certification while maintaining high standards, ensuring compliance, and protecting organic integrity.

Crail was involved with organic tree fruit and wine grape production and handling operations in California as well as being a part‐time organic inspector before joining the National Organic Program.

Brian Rakita, Inspection Manager, Quality Certification Services.

Brian has been working with organic farming for the past 30 years in all capacities – from working for an organic nut butter producer in the Ozark Mountains in the early 1990s to running a Community Supported Agriculture program which supplied fresh organic veggies from his farm to local families. In 1998, Brian took over management of an organic catalog and then proceeded to spend years working for the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association where he trained farmers to raise organic seed.

Brian has been with QCS since 2009 and has enjoyed working with organic farmers to ensure organic integrity is maintained in the marketplace.

Al Johnson

Al Johnson farmed & market gardened organically for 12 years and has now been an inspector of organic farms & food processing plants for 29 years. The original organic certification standards for NOFA-NJ New Jersey were written on his kitchen table. He has been on the Standards/Policy Boards for at least one certification agency since 1989 and is currently the VP and Education Committee Chair of the NOFA of NJ.

He is a founding member of IOIA, has been accredited since 1996 and is currently the chair of the Bylaws Committee and the Inspector Peer Field Evaluation Committee. Al teaches organic gardening workshops throughout the northeast.

Stuart McMillan has conducted organic inspections for over a decade across North America. In recent years he has been providing agronomy and organic certification consulting to various mid-sized organic farming operations. He has contributed to the organic community with volunteering on various organic organization boards, including the IOIA board since 2012. He is the Farm Manager of Legend Organic Farms a 5500 acre grain farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. He holds an M. Sc. From the Swedish Agricultural University and a B. Sc.In Agroecology from the University of Manitoba.