Our Staff & Board

Carlos Brando is the chair of the Global Coffee Platform, and director of P&A Marketing which has led him to consult with the Sustainable Trade Initiative, the International Coffee Organization, the World Bank and other companies and institutions in Brazil and abroad on topics including sustainability, technology, strategy, marketing and quality. Brando has coordinated coffee projects in over 50 countries on five continents, including all main coffee growing areas of Brazil.

Brando has contributed chapters to several coffee books including Nespresso's The Craft. He is a former member of the Technical Committee of the Brazilian Coffee Research Consortium run by Embrapa, SCAA's Environmental Committee and the boards of UTZ Certified and Ipanema Coffees, and a current member of the Coffee Chamber of [B]³ (formerly BM&F Bovespa), that oversees the world’s third-largest-traded coffee contract. Carlos is currently the vice-chairman of the board of the Santos Coffee Museum, that he helped to found, and the São Paulo Museum of Immigration.

Liz Caselli-Mechael is Head of Content and Digital for the Nestlé master brand globally. Her team works to produce compelling digital content and ensure industry-leading social media communications driven by audience insights on purpose-based stories around climate and responsible sourcing. Previously, she’s led consumer communication and digital strategy as the Director of Issues Management at the International Food Information Council(IFIC) and supported innovative marketing and communications programs for agricultural and nutrition development across sub-Saharan African through the USAID Feed the Future initiative. She is also a Board Member and former Chairman for Miriam’s Kitchen, working to end chronic homelessness in Washington DC.

"I began my career focused on supporting USAID efforts to bring coffee and cocoa farmers into global supply chains for better incomes and resilience. While the focus of my work has changed, it continues to be grounded in the belief that this connectivity can benefit farms, communities, companies, and consumers. I believe that CQI’s work to support high-quality coffee for thriving and sustainable communities is more critical than ever in the face of climate and economic challenges for smallholder farmers."

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Joanna began her career working in youth development, science, and outdoor education at a US nonprofit organization. Always a coffee lover, she became officially involved in the world of coffee through her master’s thesis focused on Climate Change and Coffee Communities in Latin America in collaboration with Counter Culture Coffee. Opportunities in graduate school led her to international work in coffee with agri-entrepreneurs in Latin American and East Africa through the German Foundation Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung. As Director of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, Joanna was head of North American strategic and operational planning and partnership development to support young coffee farmers in implementing creative solutions through local enterprise development. She was a volunteer for the Specialty Coffee Association’s Re:Co Fellowship program for four years in a row.

Joanna earned her B.A. in Biology/Ecology from the University of Montana. After working for several years, she then earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School and a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University. Joanna is currently the Senior Development Officer, Foundation Partnerships at Junior Achievement of Greater Boston.

As director of Global Coffee Quality & Operations at Starbucks, Kim Giroir manages the team responsible for green coffee quality. More specifically, her coffee quality team is responsible for global inventory management, quality metrics and reporting, and recipe management, while her operations team administers green coffee handling facilities. These facilities set the global standards for Starbucks.

Kim also has the added responsibility of overseeing a pilot plant roasting facility in Seattle, where her team supports roast development, research, and testing for Starbucks core roasting plants and roasteries, as well as sensory evaluation of coffee.

Kim has more than 20 years of experience in supply chain, procurement, quality, and operations in support of consumer products, and more than 14 years in the coffee industry. Prior to joining Starbucks, Kim worked at Procter & Gamble, where she managed the Arabica purchases for Folgers, Millstone and Dunkin’ Donuts.

She first joined Starbucks in 2009 and spent three years with the company before taking a role with Atlas Coffee Importers. In 2016, Kim returned to the Starbucks global coffee team.

Through the Starbucks Origin Experience, Kim has traveled to coffee growing communities, where she was immersed in the origin of coffee in Costa Rica, Rwanda and Indonesia. She is passionate about coffee and cups regularly, but with a volume over 16,000 samples annually, she receives help from her coffee quality team.

Originally from Michigan, Kim earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. She also has an MBA and MS in Strategic Management from Indiana University.

Kim and her husband Jason live in Seattle with their two children and family dog. She enjoys outdoor activities, boating and cooking, and is keen to share a recent podcast she listened to or something she made over the weekend, whether it be homemade yogurt, hard cider, deodorant, shrub, lip balm, or something else entirely.

Kim joined CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) as a Board member in 2019.

Felipe Isaza has been involved with coffee since his childhood in his native country of Colombia.

After graduating from University of Texas, with degrees in International Business and Finance, he returned to Colombia to work with a large Japanese trading house where he was responsible for sourcing green coffee for roasters in Japan. In 1988 he joined Exportadora de Café Condor, a recently established specialty coffee exporter of Colombian coffee, where he worked as trader and general manager until 1996.

In 1998 he founded Coffee Resources Inc., a U.S. based company fully dedicated to importing and exporting top quality coffees from diverse origins. With over 30 years of coffee experience, Felipe has managed to secure long term direct relationships between specialty coffee roasters and producers of high quality coffee in various origins. He travels extensively in Colombia and other producing countries sourcing top grade coffee for his customers in USA, Europe and Asia.

Felipe has served on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Coast Coffee Association, and was President in 2012. He is an active member of the CQI Board of Trustees since 2010.

Felipe has participated as International Juror in cupping competitions in Colombia, El Salvador and Dominican Republic, and since 2010 is a certified and active licensed Arabica Q Grader.

Ellen Jordan is President and Founder of America’s Food Technologies, Inc., a privately held blending and packaging operation specializing in product development and manufacturing of custom and private label coffee and tea based beverages for the foodservice and specialty coffee arenas. Prior to founding America’s Food Technologies, Ms. Jordan spent seventeen years with the (then) largest privately-held U.S. coffee roaster, serving in various capacities including Director of Operations overseeing the company’s roasting facilities and quality assurance initiatives as well as President of their specialty coffee division.

During her coffee career spanning over three decades, Ms. Jordan has served on numerous coffee industry boards and committees. She is a past chair of the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) where she has served as a Trustee for the past 20 years. She is a past director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and is a recipient of the SCAA’s Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award. Ellen is a member of the National Coffee Association’s Scientific Advisory Group and also serves on the board of directors of the Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH).

Ms. Jordan is a member of the Chicago Chapter of YPO Gold. She is also a member of The Economic Club of Chicago, and The Executives’ Club of Chicago and serves on the board of directors of The Chicago Network, an organization of Chicago’s leading professional women.

In the field of education, she is a member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the Illinois Institute of Technology and serves on the board of advisors of IIT’s Stuart School of Business and the Knapp Entrepreneurship Center.

Ms. Jordan holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and is an alumna of Harvard Business School.

Cyrille Jannet is Managing Director of Keurig Trading since 2015 where he oversees all green coffee procurement & sourcing activities for Keurig Green Mountain and Keurig Canada.

He began his career in coffee nearly 20 years ago in the highlands of Chiapas as a trader with Amsa, a leading Mexican coffee exporting company, part of Ecom Group. Cyrille's first 10 years were dedicated to learning everything about growing, processing and exporting green coffee from the different regions of Chiapas, Veracruz & Oaxaca. Engaging with coffee farmers through long term partnerships and intense negotiations was truly inspiring for him.

Following this Mr. Jannet joined United Coffee in Geneva Switzerland as a Senior Buyer. After United Coffee was acquired by UCC Holdings in 2012 he served as Group Buying Director. UCC is the leading European private label roasting company with direct presence in 5 countries. (France, CH, UK, Spain, Netherlands).

Mr. Jannet is a licensed Q Arabica & Robusta Grader, and a certified Green Coffee Professional (Coffee Diploma System from SCA Europe). He finds every morning at the Keurig Trading SCAA Campus lab to be a privilege and a learning experience, cupping lovely coffees from all around the world.

Recently Mr. Jannet joined Coffee Quality Institute, as a board member and is a founding member of the new association, SCA Switzerland, promoting specialty coffee in Romandie (the French spoken part of Switzerland). He is also a board member, and serving as Vice President of SCTA (Swiss Coffee Trade Association based in Geneva, Switzerland).

Mr. Jannet has two children and enjoys outdoor activities such as skiing, tennis and triathlons.

Arnoldo Leiva is the CEO of The Coffee Source, Inc. in San José, Costa Rica. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of trading green coffee from Latin-America and for exporting them to Europe, Asia, and the United States. He also manages the import and sales division for the US market.

Arnoldo serves as President of Sintercafe and as a trustee of the Coffee Quality Institute. He received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de C.A. in San José, and a MBA from the National University of San Diego.

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Sunalini Menon has grown up in coffee since her post graduation in Food Technology from the University of Madras, India in 1972. She has spent more than 40 years in coffee in the arena of quality and has worked as a quality evaluator, as a trainer, as a coffee blender, as a developer of green coffee brands, as a judge in coffee competitions, as a writer of coffee articles and even as a coffee guide to new coffee entrepreneurs. Her career commenced in the Coffee Board of India, where she was trained in the art and science of cupping and quality evaluation, not only becoming the first woman coffee taster in Asia, but also ultimately heading the Quality Control for Indian coffee at the Coffee Board of India, as the Director (Quality Control).

In 1996, when the market for Indian coffee was liberalised, Sunalini helped in the setting up of a lab called Coffeelab in Bangalore. This lab is the first of its kind to be established in the private sector in India, providing comprehensive quality related services not only for the Indian coffee industry, but also for coffees from other producing origins and even certifying coffees for consuming countries. The lab undertakes the training of personnel connected with coffee, as also coffee lovers and coffee consumers on the art and science of cupping.

Sunalini undertakes the evaluation and certification of coffee that is exported from India. She has also helped in taking forward the cafe and barista movement in India, besides training and educating the baristii and the consumers in the country on the fine nuances of the espresso cup.

Her skill in quality evaluation is respected and recognized the world over. She is not only considered as one of Asia’s recognized coffee cuppers, but is also invited by coffee origins to conduct cupping workshops, to educate coffee entrepreneurs and enthusiasts on the finer nuances in the coffee cup, beside making presentations on coffee quality at International conferences.

She is a Coffee Corps Volunteer of the CQI (Coffee Quality Institute, USA) and has carried out numerous technical assignments. She has many awards to her credit; to name a few:

• “Eminent Personality Award for Outstanding contribution to Indian Coffee” from the Speciality Coffee Association of India in January 2005.
• The “Life Time Achievement Award” from the International Women’s Coffee Alliance, USA in April 2005.
• The “Hidden Treasure Award” awarded to Coffeelab by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe in May 2006.
• The “Leadership Medal of Merit’ from the Coffee Quality Institute of the Speciality Coffee Association of America (SCAA) in April 2010.
• The “Alfred Peet Passionate Cup Award” from the SCAA in April 2014.
• ‘Jewels of Karnataka – Eminent Woman of Substance 2016’ for being Asia’s First Woman Coffee Taster from the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka on International Women’s Day in March 2016
• “First Lady Achievers Award” – “Asia’s First Professional Woman Coffee Taster” awarded and presented by the President of India in January 2018.

Sunalini is an Independent Director of M/s. Tata Coffee Limited, one of India’s leading producer and exporter of coffee. She is also a Director on the Advisory Committee of the ‘Alliance for Coffee Excellence'. Sunalini is a Licensed Q and R grader of the CQI and at present, is the President of Coffeelab Limited, Bangalore.

Matthew Mills has been Commercial Director of Masteroast Coffee Co ltd since 2019, a private label coffee roasting business which has been a pioneer of specialty coffees in the UK for more than 40 years, he is responsible for sourcing and sales for the business. In addition he is founder and owner of MasterCol Trading SAS a boutique specialty coffee exporter in Colombia, focused on sustainable and ethically sourced specialty coffees.

Prior to moving back to the UK in 2019, Matthew spent 15 years overseas, working and running operations for the multinational trade houses in East Africa, Central America, South and North America. Matthew has built a wealth of experience that has covered almost all areas of the coffee supply chain, from building sustainable producer group supply chains, running milling operations and exporting businesses, through to building coffee importing businesses and running roasting facilities. 

"I wanted to contribute to the development of quality standards within the specialty coffee industry. CQI meets the needs of professional cuppers and graders around the world. From a roaster perspective, I feel I am well placed to use my commercial experience and expertise to contribute to the work of CQI which is assisting producers to improve their skills and, through a common language, their ability to understand the requirements of their buyers"

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In August of 2019 Ms. Moayyad started her own roastery in Switzerland, Sweet Bean Coffee, where she mainly roasts to order.  After being in the coffee trade her whole working life, and learning the trade from the ground up, she is now at Sweet Bean Coffee where she can spend time with her hands in the primary material that developed her love for coffee, the beans.

Prior to Sweet Bean, Shirin was at Nespresso beginning in 2013 as International Coffee Expertise Leverage Manager. In her role there, she served as the guardian of Nespresso coffee expertise content and ensured aligned and consistent messaging on the topic across various target groups- such as consumers, clients, and partners as well as at coffee events. In particular, she translated coffee messaging so that a broader audience could understand Nespresso expertise, articulating it in meaningful demonstrations and through clear content communication.

Ms. Moayyad joined Nespresso from Peet’s Coffee where she spent seven and a half years as Director of Coffee Purchasing managing supply needs and nurturing key relationships with origin countries and farmers. She was instrumental in bringing TechnoServe’s Coffee Initiative to life, helping to germinate the idea that culminated in Peet’s Uzuri African Blend™.

She began her career in the industry living in the coffee-growing highlands of Papua New Guinea where she resided on a 98‐acre coffee estate and managed a coffee roasting and exporting company. From 1998 to 2005, she was the roaster and buyer for a small specialty chain in Singapore and served as president of the Singapore Coffee Association.

Her broad industry experience also includes previous roles as contributing writer for the Asian Tea & Coffee Journal, a cupping workshop trainer for the growing Asian specialty market, and a judge for numerous international cupping competitions.

Ms. Moayyad received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and South Asian religion from Brown University. She speaks English, German, and Melanesian Pidgin fluently and, in her own words, “broken French and Kitchen Persian”.

Juan Esteban Orduz is President of the Colombian Coffee Federation, Inc., which heads the North American subsidiaries of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC).  The FNC is a non-profit association that represents more than 560,000 Colombian coffee growing families both domestically and internationally in trade, promotion, economic development policy, and government relations matters. In 2003, after ending a year as fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University (2002-2003), he started his work at the FNC. Mr. Orduz serves or has served on many boards-of-directors in different countries, such as the Coffee Quality Institute.

Among Mr. Orduz's vast international experience in the public and private sectors, he was Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Colombia to the United States in Washington, D.C. (1998-2002), where he was deeply involved in a leadership role in the design and implementation of Plan Colombia -the most ambitious U.S.-Colombia bilateral program for security and development- and the extension of trade preferences through the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA). An attorney and specialist in finance, he has been Legal Vice President of Cemex, S.A. in Colombia and associate attorney at Consultores Jurídicos y Económicos (legal and economic counselors), working on international trade and investment issues. He was advisor to Mr. Andres Pastrana (President of Colombia, 1998-2002) during his presidential campaign and before that he was Consul General of Colombia in Frankfurt, with jurisdiction in Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland, as well as advisor to the Minister of Economic Development.

Mr. Orduz serves or has served in many boards of directors in different countries, such as the Coffee Quality Institute CQI (California), the Global Coffee Platform (Vice-chairman) (Germany / Netherlands), UTZ Certified (Netherlands), American Friends of Fundación Cardio-Infantil 501(c) 3 (Chairman) (New York), the National Coffee Association of the United States (NCA USA, New York) and the Advisory Board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars – Latin American Program (Co/Vicechair) (Washington D.C.). Mr. Orduz is also the Chairman of the Consultative Forum on Coffee Sector Finance of the International Coffee Organization (ICO, London) and is a member of the International Relations Committee of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).

He earned a law degree (J.D.) from El Rosario University in Bogotá, where he received the highest distinction “Colegial de Número” for his academic excellence; he also earned a postgraduate degree in Finance at Los Andes University in Bogotá and is fluent in Spanish (native), English and German.

In 1998 Gloria Pedroza started her coffee career in Guatemala, her home country, as a professional cupper and quality manager for Neumann Kaffee Gruppe. In 2003 she moved to Veracruz, Mexico and began her work with NKG’s sister company, Exportadora de Café California, as the quality manager. Today Ms. Pedroza resides in Zug, Switzerland where she cups coffee from around the world as the Quality Manager for NKG Quality Service since 2004.

Ms. Pedroza's 18 years of experience in the quality assurance of green coffee. As head of the NKG Quality Service department, she is in charge of training cuppers and quality managers within the NKG coffee companies. The department also offers consultancy services related to quality assurance procedures, product development and green coffee and sensory training for customers and third parties.

In 2006 she won the SCAE World Cuptasting Championship and shortly after that she joined the Swiss SCAE judges team. As a professional cupper and WCE certified sensory judge, she travels around the world visiting coffee farms and judging international barista competitions and their different disciplines.

Today she is a certified SCAE (Specialty Coffee Association of Europe) trainer for green coffee and sensory skills courses and is certified Q-Grader and Q-Instructor.

Ellen Rogers has over 30 years of experience in product development and strategic planning and currently serves as Senior Manager, Commercialization Coffee and Beverages for Dunkin' Brands, parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins.

Her responsibilities include leading the brand’s Tree to Cup team, which executes plans related to coffee quality, supply and costs, and managing the commercialization coffee and beverage products and related equipment. This includes developing comprehensive coffee specifications, requiring Ellen to cup coffee on a regular basis. Ellen's position necessitates travel to Origin annually and as a result, she is involved in every aspect of Dunkin' Donuts' coffee production -- from Tree, to the more than 2 billion Cups of coffee served at Dunkin' Donuts shops each year.

Since joining DBI, Rogers has successfully launched many products, including espresso, dark roast, cold brew, a line of frozen beverages (Coolatta), Dunkaccino, smoothies and teas.

In addition to Ellen’s responsibilities at Dunkin’ Donuts, she has served as a board trustee for the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) since 2005.

As Nestle’s Coffee Partner (NCP)’s Director of Coffee, Matt Swenson works in the technical and product side of the business, helping plan for the next big innovation in the coffee pipeline. Swenson brings his deep coffee expertise to the breadth of Nestlé’s coffee portfolio, which includes brands like Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, Nescafé, and Blue Bottle. From soil to bean to bottle, Matt is passionate about coffee education and bringing the coffee’s sustainability story to life for customers, consumers, and employees alike. While Matt focuses much of his time on the entire NCP portfolio, he also leads sustainability strategy for the division’s coffee and communities programming.

Prior to joining Nestlé Coffee Partners, Swenson was Chameleon Coffee’s Chief Product Officer, where he led Chameleon's Sustainability Program, establishing projects in Peru, Myanmar, Guatemala and Colombia to directly invest in Chameleon’s coffee growing communities. Under Swenson’s leadership, Chameleon launched an impactful partnership with the first of its kind female-led co-op in Myanmar. He was also involved in spearheading initiatives in Peru, Colombia and Guatemala. These community partnerships continue to thrive, and have empowered hundreds of farmers and producers with skills to implement better agricultural practices and in turn, improve their productivity and livelihood. Prior to joining Chameleon in 2016, Swenson co-founded Nobletree Coffee headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. He is a licensed Q grader and Q Arabica Instructor with Coffee Quality Institute.

"I’ve had great interest in CQI over the years, since first becoming a Q grader in 2010. I joined the Coffee Corp Volunteers and then became a Q Arabica Instructor, and was able to serve the organization on a few volunteer trips over the years, deepening my commitment to the mission of the organization. When the opportunity came to serve on the board, it was incredibly exciting for the prospect to help further shape and ensure the future of this great organization that has added so much value to the industry, as well as me personally."

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