John has a strong background and reputation in the European e-cigarette industry, having held senior executive positions in some of the US and Europe’s biggest companies. As Managing Director of Dyflin Group Consulting, he advises many leading industry analysts, financial institutions and media organisations looking at the vaping and CBD sectors. John is also Director-General and one of the founders of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the UK’s largest vaping Industry association and has advised the UK governments All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping as well as giving evidence before the UK Science & Technology Committee investigation into the Vaping industry and the Australian Parliaments review on vaping.

John regularly appears on national television, radio as well as national and international print media. John is a popular guest speaker at many of the world’s leading conventions.

Mohammad is an expert in Regulatory and fiscal affairs in the Tobacco and ENDS category, started as a diplomat and was Head of Consular Section in Jordanian embassies in both Cairo and Abu Dhabi before finally landing the role as the Head of External Affairs (JOR & PAA) at Philip Morris International in Jordan, followed by leading the Government affairs Function in JUUL Labs, and today the Group Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at ANDS.

Konstantinos Farsalinos, medical doctor and Master of Public Health is a physician and a research associate at the University of Patras and the School of Public Health-University of West Attica in Greece. His field of expertise is public health. He has been conducting laboratory, clinical and epidemiological research on smoking, tobacco harm reduction and nicotine products as principal investigator since 2011. He authored the first systematic review on e-cigarette safety/risk profile, published in 2014. Additionally, he has performed research and published studies on heated-tobacco products.

His findings have been presented in major international scientific congresses and his studies were used in preparing the regulatory framework on e-cigarettes by the European Union. As of early2023, he has published approximately 100 studies and articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals about smoking, tobacco harm reduction and alternative-to-smoking nicotine products. Farsalinos has presented in more than 80 international conferences. He was the handling editor and author of a book titled "Analytical assessment of e-cigarettes",published by Elsevier in 2017. In November 2020, he was declared a Highly Cited Researcher 2019 by the Web of Science, a list of researchers (6,200 scientists out of 9 million examined) with the highest impact in global science in 21 scientific fields in the past decade. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he published six peer-reviewed studies and several pre-prints about COVID-19, including the association between smoking, nicotine and COVID-19

Derek Yach (MBCHB MPH) has played a central role in tobacco control for decades. First in his home country of South Africa in getting early legislation adopted by the Mandela government. Second by steering development of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and thirdly, by launching and leading the Foundation for a Smoke Free World to accelerate access to better cessation and effective harm reduction products. He has published over 200 peer review articles on global health issues and served on Boards of the NIH, Wellcome Trust, Clinton Global Initiative and World Economic Forum.

Tim Phillips is the Managing Director of Tamarind Intelligence, a global independent market and regulatory intelligence service providing data for businesses operating in a number of fast-moving consumer sectors facing regulatory change, including vape, cannabis and tobacco alternatives. Tamarind Intelligence provides market-leading insights and regulatory tracking for clients ranging from governments and academic institutions to multinational companies and professional service providers.

Phillips is a UK-qualified attorney, having worked at the European Commission, international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, media companies BSkyB and AOL, and Betfair (now Flutter Entertainment), where he ran global public affairs as the company went through its IPO. He was also a partner in a New York venture capital-funded start-up in the diamond sector. Tim holds a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the University of Law, London, and a master's degree in geology from Oxford University. He has run Tamarind Intelligence for the past 9 years

Sairahis a chartered health psychologist and award-winning stop-smoking clinician with 20 years of experience within the smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction sector.

She is currently the managing director of Salim-Sartoni Associates(SSA).

A passionate and effective category leader and expert,Sairah provides successful scientific/clinical engagement/project management/regulatory and external affairs support for the vaping industry in addition to providing category training to healthcare professionals onthe evidence base to decrease misinformation and increase confidence in vaping as a stop smoking tool.

More recently she has supported the onboarding of clients onto the Swap to Stop platform and is excited to be part of a national programme that focuses on giving the most vulnerable smokers in our society a potential exit from tobacco. She is an accomplished advocate and public speaker on tobacco harm reduction with the inspirational goal of leaving nonsmoker behind

Cheryl K. Olson, MPH, Sc.D. is internationally recognized for her work on health risk behaviors (including tobacco harm reduction) and the influence of media on youth. She earned a doctorate in health and social behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health. She spent 15 years on the psychiatry faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where she co-directed the Center for Mental Health and Media. She has authored dozens of academic papers, and writes a monthly column on public health for Tobacco Reporter. Dr. Olson consults on nicotine product behavior research through McKinney Regulatory Science Advisors.

Ming Deng is the head of the NGPs industry study at Yunnan University. As Yunnan is the largest production base of both tobacco leaf and cigarettes in the world, Deng started to conduct research on the tobacco industry in 2004 when he participated in the program China’s Joining the FCTC(Framework Convention on Tobacco Control). He then chaired several research programs on tobacco industry organization. In recent years, Deng has actively been studying next-generation products (NGPs). He has engaged in several studies on NGPs, such as the regulation of vaping in China, the evolution of heated-tobacco products and global flavor regulation trends. His latest research is in the integration of the value chain and industry chain in the transition of the tobacco industry toward NGPs.

Our founder and Chief Regulatory Officer is Damien Bové BSc (Sci. Hons), MSc (Sci. Open), ICR who today leads ADACT’s team of global regulatory compliance experts for the electronic cigarette, vaping, CBD and herbal medicinces industries.

The building blocks of a career

Damien started training and working as a pharmaceutical technician in 1992 before heading to the University of Bradford’s School of Pharmacy, from which he graduated with an honours degree in 2000. After this, Damien immediately went to work in the pharmaceutical industry where he worked for both a large pharmaceutical company and a global contract research organisation where he worked in both R&D and regulatory compliance functions.

Growth through evolution

Taking these learnings, he left in 2004 to build on his knowledge and skills to set up his own independent R&D and regulatory compliance consultancy, ADACT Medical Ltd, while also obtaining his masters degree in scientific communication. Since then, ADACT has evolved in form and function several times with the changing demands of the marketplace, and today offers world class regulatory compliance services to electronic cigarette, vaping, herbal medicines, medical cannabis, CBD and hemp industries.

Today, Damien leads ADACT through his role as Chief Regulatory Officer whilst continuing to nurture his passion for medical sciences by sitting on the Electronic and E-liquids Committee of the British Standards Institute (BSI) and being a registered member of the Institute of Clinical Research and UKVIA.

As Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Angelico leads the development of regulatory submission strategies for our clients across diverse FDA-regulated industries. His unique qualifications stem from a rich background in both the pharmaceutical and nicotine product sectors.

Before joining Accorto, Dr. Angelico built a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, serving as the product development team leader at Merck & Co Pharmaceuticals as well as the Director of Manufacturing Operations at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI). Following his tenure in pharmaceuticals, Dr. Angelico spent seven years in the nicotine products space, where he played a crucial role in shaping the initial regulatory framework for newly regulated electronic cigarette applications, many of which are still currently under FDA review.

Dr. Angelico holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Arizona.

In the dynamic landscape of the vaping industry, Mykola Kuzemko emerges as a seasoned leader, seamlessly blending global experience with unwavering dedication. Originating from Kyiv, Ukraine, armed with a master's degree in history from Taras Shevchenko National University, Mykola's distinguished career transcends continents and industries. His influential roles, from Global Head of Sales at Ritchy Group to Sales Director at Philips Electronics, underscore his exceptional ability to drive innovation and achieve excellence.

Since joining AIRSCREAM UK a year ago as Head of EU Operations, Mykola has been instrumental in fortifying the company's European presence. His strategic vision and alignment with AIRSCREAM's values of integrity and dedication have propelled the company towards unprecedented success. Beyond his professional achievements, Mykola is deeply committed to mentoring and inspiring others, embodying humility, empathy, and courage. In his personal life, he finds joy in the simple pleasures of spending time with his dog and indulging in Formula 1 races, all while continuously paving the way for a more sustainable and innovative future in the vaping industry.

Ciprian is both a serial entrepreneur with over 12 years’ experience in the vaping industry, Chairman of Romanian Vaping Industry Association (AIV) and a founder/ board executive of the only Pan-European vaping organisation, the Independent European Vape Alliance(IEVA). Enthusiastic proponent of nicotine-based alternatives as a way to combat smoking, he is committed to making harm-reduction a reality. As a board executive, Ciprian has been highly involved in IEVA’s governance, communication strategies and led recruitment and membership management during the last 6 years, against the background of an ever more complex EU regulatory landscape. This has given him an unparalleled level of interaction with main sector players from all over the world, and a deep understanding of what makes the industry tick.

Rex Zhang is the senior stratey director at Smoore, a global leading

atomizer maker. Zhang has a finance background and started his

multidisciplinary journey as an analyst at McKinsey and Company. His

unique analytics and entrepreneurial mindset had him moving from

analytic roles to trading. Zhang’s development and successes in complex

interconnected industries caught the eyes of Tencent and later

ByteDance, which recruited him to develop globalization strategies for

them. Zhang is now heading the global strategy at Smoore and the

marketing function at its vaping division, FEELM, where he is

spearheading Smoore’s mission: “Atomization makes life better.”

Derek Yach (MBCHB MPH) has played a central role in tobacco control for decades. First in his home country of South Africa in getting early legislation adopted by the Mandela government. Second by steering development of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and thirdly, by launching and leading the Foundation for a Smoke Free World to accelerate access to better cessation and effective harm reduction products. He has published over 200 peer review articles on global health issues and served on Boards of the NIH, Wellcome Trust, Clinton Global Initiative and World Economic Forum.

Mohammad is an expert in Regulatory and fiscal affairs in the Tobacco and ENDS category, started as a diplomat and was Head of Consular Section in Jordanian embassies in both Cairo and Abu Dhabi before finally landing the role as the Head of External Affairs (JOR & PAA) at Philip Morris International in Jordan, followed by leading the Government affairs Function in JUUL Labs, and today the Group Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at ANDS.

Dr Hajat is the Director of Real World Health, a Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and of the Faculty of Public Health in the UK.

Cother’s work focuses on lifestyle risk factors and prevention of chronic disease. Her work has featured at the UN General Assembly Meeting, TEDx, the World Health Assembly, the World Economic Forum, the Economist Magazine as well as numerous scientific journal articles, books, magazines, newspaper editorials and blogs.

Cheryl K. Olson, MPH, Sc.D. is internationally recognized for her work on health risk behaviors (including tobacco harm reduction) and the influence of media on youth. She earned a doctorate in health and social behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health. She spent 15 years on the psychiatry faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where she co-directed the Center for Mental Health and Media. She has authored dozens of academic papers, and writes a monthly column on public health for Tobacco Reporter. Dr. Olson consults on nicotine product behavior research through McKinney Regulatory Science Advisors.

Pharmaceutical professional with career experience in a variety of responsibilities & territories for managing international business development, licensing, sourcing & supply chain & operations with roles supporting generic development, quality affairs, manufacturing, supply chain, tech transfer & regulatory co-ordination.

Highlights

Key focus since 2002 was into the development of Nicotine & Nicotine products and commercialization, including

API development supervision including extraction from tobacco to Nicotine USP and subsequent conversion to Nicotine Polacrilex USP and ensuring completion of the US Drug Master File from the partner site, executing demand planning and supply chain co-ordination

Managed the development, scale up and commercializing of Nicotine gums & its supply chain, project plan and implementation of API supply chain from the manufacturing site

Handled development of flavors and formulations of the above, and in organoleptic survey for consumer acceptance; developing the marketing & communication strategy for the product, and in managing the marketing agents

Managed the prototype development team for Nicotine Gum, Lozenges and Mini Lozenges for international markets, in managing the initial development of CTD for the EU, including co-ordination of drafting of a BE protocol.

Coordination with Technologists/ external consultant for development of directly compressible chewing gum product, which was then transferred to a manufacturing facility for scale up and commercialization

As head of the manufacturing facility, supervised operations including manufacturing of directly compressible gum products for the medicated range, principally Nicotine and also developed prototypes of several other potential products for clients

Key role in licensing out an own development Nicotine product to a Pharma Major, coordinating 2 successful EDQM regulatory audits. and driving customer approvals for CMO business

Managed to successfully transfer process and development of key intermediates for synthetic Nicotine in India and setting up the supply base for the future

John has a strong background and reputation in the European e-cigarette industry, having held senior executive positions in some of the US and Europe’s biggest companies. As Managing Director of Dyflin Group Consulting, he advises many leading industry analysts, financial institutions and media organisations looking at the vaping and CBD sectors. John is also Director-General and one of the founders of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the UK’s largest vaping Industry association and has advised the UK governments All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping as well as giving evidence before the UK Science & Technology Committee investigation into the Vaping industry and the Australian Parliaments review on vaping.

John regularly appears on national television, radio as well as national and international print media. John is a popular guest speaker at many of the world’s leading conventions.

John has a strong background and reputation in the European e-cigarette industry, having held senior executive positions in some of the US and Europe’s biggest companies. As Managing Director of Dyflin Group Consulting, he advises many leading industry analysts, financial institutions and media organisations looking at the vaping and CBD sectors. John is also Director-General and one of the founders of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the UK’s largest vaping Industry association and has advised the UK governments All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping as well as giving evidence before the UK Science & Technology Committee investigation into the Vaping industry and the Australian Parliaments review on vaping.

John regularly appears on national television, radio as well as national and international print media. John is a popular guest speaker at many of the world’s leading conventions.

Mohammad is an expert in Regulatory and fiscal affairs in the Tobacco and ENDS category, started as a diplomat and was Head of Consular Section in Jordanian embassies in both Cairo and Abu Dhabi before finally landing the role as the Head of External Affairs (JOR & PAA) at Philip Morris International in Jordan, followed by leading the Government affairs Function in JUUL Labs, and today the Group Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at ANDS.

Damilola Fajuyigbe is Head of Scientific Engagement for the Middle East & Africa at Philip Morris International where she leads the company's regional efforts towards a smoke-free future.

Nigerian born and UK-raised, Damilola holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from King's College London and a B.Sc in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Leicester. She has published scientific articles in various high-impact journals.

Prior to her current role, Damilola served as the Head of Scientific and Medical Affairs for Africa at L'Oréal. There, she led scientific projects while constantly liaising between local and international teams in the beauty industry. One of her most impactful campaigns focused on reducing harm caused by skin bleaching practices.

Now, Damilola has taken her passion for harm reduction to Philip Morris International, where she strategizes the scientific engagement of the markets she oversees. She particularly hopes to drive change towards a smoke-free future in places where information may not always be accessible.

Throughout her academic career and many conversations with doctors, Damilola knows that fixing a health problem is a lot harder than preventing one.

Driven by her passion for improving public health outcomes, she has devoted her efforts to bridging the gap between scientific research and the general public.

Mark Oates is the Director of We Vape and the Snus Users Association. Which are both consumer groups standing up for the right for individuals to use safer nicotine products. He advocates for evidence-based harm reduction in a range of areas from tobacco to drug policy, a subject he has written on for the Institute of Economic Affairs & the Adam Smith Institute where he is a Fellow. He also provided consumer evidence in the 2018 ECJ case to overturn the ban of snus across the European Union and worked on the successful 2018 campaign to legalise medical cannabis in the UK. Mark worked for 6 years as a political Researcher in the House of Commons.

Steven Przybyla has been the Company’s Chief legal Officer since September 2023. Steven brings to Ispire 10 years of experience in the regulated cannabis industry, and nearly half a decade of experience in nicotine/tobacco product regulation. Steven was previously General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:XXII) and helped to secure the only Modified Risk Tobacco Product approval for a combustible cigarette ever authorized by FDA. He has previously helped build, scale and take-public regulated consumer product companies such as Jushi, Inc. (CSE: JUSH) where he was among the initial employees and helped oversee Jushi’s growth to 1,500 employees while serving as President of Jushi’s medical division. Steven has also held roles as General Counsel of the Dent Neurologic Institute and the Seneca Development Corporation where he oversaw a variety of both cannabis and corporate legal initiatives. He currently serves as member of the Board of Directors of IKE Tech LLC, a technology joint venture focused on vapor product point-of-use age-gating and authentication. Steven started his career as a corporate and regulatory attorney at Phillips Lytle LLP and received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Washington & Lee University and his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.

Dr. Jessica Zdinak builds trusted partnerships by providing a unique perspective of behavioral science research principles as it relates to complex business dimensions supporting rigorous, scientific objectives.

Eastern Shore Virginia native, Zdinak received her B.S. in Psychology from Christopher Newport University followed by an M.S. & Ph.D. in Quantitative Experimental Psychology from Oklahoma State University. While attending OSU, was awarded the Women's Research Award due to demonstration of exemplary abilities and research contributions.

Jessica served as Social Scientist at the National Institutes of Health followed by Director of Applied Research and Evaluation at a consulting firm. Research Program Evaluation Responsibilities led to the design of a one-of-a-kind U.S. e-learning curriculum that trained 7,000+ healthcare professionals on the Intimate Partner Violence/Domestic Violence Prevention and Response. Dedicated 5-years within the Federal Government sector-leading research evaluation teams with a focus on CDC, NIH, NSF, FDA, and other large-scale grants and projects.

Following public health, Dr. Zdinak spent 6-years at Altria where she was 1:3 researchers in the Perception & Behavior Program. Served as Lead Principal Scientist for first-everPerceptions & Behavioral Intentions Study which led to the development and validation of the Intentions to Use Scale, published in a leading scientific journal.Highly proficient with ITP, PMTA, MRTPA, and SE, as well as, product innovation, and future tobacco harm reduction opportunities.

Award-winning publisher of foundational research and recognized for her unique research contributions, Zdinak travels worldwide as a keynote speaker to various U.S. and international conferences and forums. In 2015, Dr. Zdinak launched Applied Research and Analysis Company as Owner and research officer. Internal team of psychologists, statisticians, and behavioral scientists offer tailored services of unbiased integrity and exceptional client experience for government, education, business, and nicotine and tobacco harm reduction industry

Pete Lomas is the Founder of Capseca Limited – a Product Development Consultancy specialising in Next Generation Products (NGP) within the nicotine industry. He assists his clients with concept generation, prototyping, evaluation, Intellectual Property, Regulatory compliance, and manufacturing of NGP products.

Pete has a background in Electro-Mechanical Engineering, having worked in Product Development for nearly 30 years. He has specialised in NGP Product Development for the last seven years, initially spending four years at Imperial Brands leading the engineering team working on NGP device development (including Blu and Pulze devices). Pete spent a further two years as Managing Consultant at Broughton Life Sciences, before setting up Capseca Limited.

Pete is passionate about Product Development and finding novel and innovative solutions to engineering problems. He believes in questioning and challenging everything, constantly striving for improvement. As a result, he is named as inventor on over 80 published patent applications, the majority of which are in the NGP field.

Shem has extensive global experience across the spectrum of international affairs, communications, government relations, stakeholder engagement, regulation mitigation and public affairs. His international experience was gained at the highest levels of government and a large multinational company. He has developed and implemented successful public affairs and engagement strategies within highly regulated environments and across complex bureaucracies.

As Director-General for the recently established Global Institute for Novel Nicotine (GINN), Shem and the team at GINN advocate for members involved in the manufacture, sale and research of non-combustible nicotine products. GINN seeks to promote these products in harm reduction strategies as it engages with policy-makers, regulators, and scientific/medical professionals. GINN also aims to dispel misconceptions around nicotine and to provide the public, especially adult smokers who wish to continue using nicotine, with clear, evidence based and accurate information on nicotine pouches, heated tobacco, and other emerging nicotine products.

Fred Roeder is a consumer advocate at heart. He has been working in the field of grassroots activism for over ten years. He is a Health Economist from Germany and has worked in healthcare reform in North America and Europe. One of his passions is to analyze how disruptive industries and technologies allow consumers more choice at a lower cost. He also loves researching how innovation makes our lives better.

Fred is very interested in consumer choice and regulatory trends in the following industries: Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Sharing Economy, Airlines.

Among many op-eds and media appearances, he has been published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Wirtschaftswoche, Die Welt, the BBC, BILD, ABC Portland News, Montreal Gazette, Daily Mail, Handelsblatt, Huffington Post Germany, CityAM. L’Agefi, and The Guardian.

Dr Nveed Chaudhary has over 20 years of experience in lung disease with a focus on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma and Pulmonary Fibrosis across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and nicotine industries.

Having had several senior roles in global multinational companies, most recently Nveed was the Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer at a consultancy firm, advising international clients on nicotine and other drug delivery to the lung. At British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Imperial Brands and latterly at Broughton Life sciences, Nveed had significant roles in the development and assessment of reduced risk nicotine products, across Heated Tobacco Products, E-cigarettes and nicotine pouches and he has been involved in the PMTA and UK MAA processes of over 20 individual product lines covering over 100 different SKUs.

Nveed has had an international career, working in Germany, Italy, UK, Singapore, Switzerland and since Jan 2024, has taken a position as Vice President for Technology and Innovation at Medad Technologies based in Abu Dhabi.

Chris co-founded Broughton in 2006, having worked previously within global blue-chip pharmaceutical companies and Contract Research Organisations within the medicinal product and medical device sectors.

• Over 25 years’ experience in Analytical and Regulatory Science focussing on inhaled and solid dose pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and nicotine products
• Extensive experience with global regulatory agencies, including US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
• Oversees the overall direction of the organisation, ensuring that Broughton’s mission is achieved
• Has a passion for developing Broughton’s services and team members to help accelerate life-enhancing products to market

Chris Allen is the Chief Executive Officer at Broughton. Since obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a subsequent Post Graduate Certificate in Analytical Science, he has gained over 25 years of analytical and regulatory experience working in global medical device and pharmaceutical companies and leading CROs. Chris started his career working on both Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical products within Smith+Nephew. Subsequently, Chris moved into inhaled medicines, supporting blue-chip pharmaceutical companies’ drug product registration programs within Melbourn Intertek.

Before co-founding Broughton, Chris moved into a leadership role with Sciantec (Cawood), successfully overseeing its entry into the Veterinary Medicines market, supporting global Marketing Authorizations and site inspections.

Chris co-founded Broughton Laboratories in 2006, with Paul Moran, overseeing its first and successful MHRA Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspection within the first three months. With a focus on supporting Marketing Authorizations and Post Marketing activities within the pharmaceutical sector, Broughton played a pivotal role in obtaining the first UK Medicinal License for an electronic cigarette, a project that started in 2010.

Chris took this combined experience of Pharmaceuticals and Nicotine to expand Broughton’s services to support the development and registration of Reduced-Risk Tobacco Products, including Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). Rapid growth within this area resulted in the expansion to a second site, and a multi-million-pound (GBP) investment into a custom-built facility, leading-edge analytical equipment and expansion of the team and service offerings. Chris has overseen multiple product applications for Medicinal Marketing Authorization Applications (MAA), EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), US Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) and other global markets. Chris has become well established as a recognized subject matter expert in the science and regulation of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and reduced risk nicotine products.

As Chief Executive Officer of Broughton, Chris’ passion lies in developing the Broughton Team and associated services to deliver life-enhancing products to market for their clients.

Dustin Dahlmann from Hamburg, Germany is the president of the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA), the German vaping industry association BfTG (Bündnis für Tabakfreien Genuss e.V.) and owner of the successful e-cigarette wholesale InnoCigs. He fights for an autonomous regulation of vaping products as a means to harm reduction independent from tobacco industries throughout Europe.

Rob Burton is Plxsur’s Group Scientific and Regulatory Director and has 11 years of experience in the vaping industry.

Rob was previously Senior Consultancy & Compliance Officer at Nerudia, sold to Imperial Brands in 2017, where he helped grow the Company into a global, science-led business, in a highly-regulated space. This included development of scientific and regulatory engagement platforms across Vape, Oral Nicotine, Heated Tobacco and CBD. Spending a period of time based in Washington D.C., Rob was responsible for developing the Company’s FDA multi-platform engagement strategy. During his time at Nerudia, Rob developed a close working relationship with Co-Founders David Newns and Chris Lord.

Prior to this, Rob headed up Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at US-based electronic cigarette company White Cloud, which he joined after five years at BAT as Group Head of Public Health and Scientific Affairs. At BAT, Rob led a team of industry-respected scientists focused on delivering the Company’s global external scientific engagement.

Before joining BAT in 2008, Rob spent over 20 years in the pharmaceutical sector working for AstraZeneca and SmithKline Beecham (GSK). During this time, Rob held several senior, international, commercial and scientific roles, including Global Commercial Director for Respiratory Products at AstraZeneca and General Manager and Area Director for Eastern European markets at SmithKline Beecham and AstraZeneca.

He has also held non-executive roles with several biotech start-up companies and regularly consults in both Commercial and Regulatory disciplines in the UK and Europe.

Rob is on the Advisory and Scientific Boards for Cannabis For Children (a US not-for-profit organisation), is an Advisory Board member for Blossom Genetics and is a Director and Board Member of AAN Medical and a member of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society.

An industrial chemist by training, Rob began his career working in the laboratories of Reckitt & Coleman, before moving into sales and marketing functions within Beecham’s UK. Throughout his global career Rob has spent over 13 years living in the USA, Sweden, Czech Republic and Estonia.

Dr Nveed Chaudhary has over 20 years of experience in lung disease with a focus on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma and Pulmonary Fibrosis across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and nicotine industries.

Having had several senior roles in global multinational companies, most recently Nveed was the Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer at a consultancy firm, advising international clients on nicotine and other drug delivery to the lung. At British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Imperial Brands and latterly at Broughton Life sciences, Nveed had significant roles in the development and assessment of reduced risk nicotine products, across Heated Tobacco Products, E-cigarettes and nicotine pouches and he has been involved in the PMTA and UK MAA processes of over 20 individual product lines covering over 100 different SKUs.

Nveed has had an international career, working in Germany, Italy, UK, Singapore, Switzerland and since Jan 2024, has taken a position as Vice President for Technology and Innovation at Medad Technologies based in Abu Dhabi.

Vivien Wenzel is not just an expert in the flavour industry, but also lives her passion with heart and soul for vape flavors.

After qualifying as a chemical technician in Berlin, her professional career led her to Institut Kirchhoff Berlin GmbH, a company of the Mérieux NutriScience Corporation.

Her area of responsibility there was first in food analysis and later also in smoke and enviromental analysis. Further she has also worked for 5N Plus Inc. a pharmaceutical company and later at Hela Gewürzwerk Hermann Laue GmbH, one of the largest and oldest spice houses in Europe.

Since 2017, Vivien has been at Hertz & Selck GmbH & Co. in Hamburg, one of the longest-established aroma houses in Germany.

Among other things, she is responsible for the Vape division, global sales and development.

Barbara Zhavoronkova is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of the INFLAVE company. INFLAVE is one of the leading brands of e-cigarettes in Russia entering international markets. Along with the development of its own portfolio of strong brands and products, INFLAVE provides services of product development to other companies and aims to supply a high-quality alternative to classical tobacco products compliant with government regulations and ethical standards.

Ao, Weinuo, the founder and general secretary of the Electronic Cigarette Professional Committee of China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, devoting himself to China's vaping industry for 8 years, serving as the bridge between the authority and enterprises, and encouraging the whole industry both at home and abroad towards compliance, minor protection and technological innovation.

John has a strong background and reputation in the European e-cigarette industry, having held senior executive positions in some of the US and Europe’s biggest companies. As Managing Director of Dyflin Group Consulting, he advises many leading industry analysts, financial institutions and media organisations looking at the vaping and CBD sectors. John is also Director-General and one of the founders of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the UK’s largest vaping Industry association and has advised the UK governments All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping as well as giving evidence before the UK Science & Technology Committee investigation into the Vaping industry and the Australian Parliaments review on vaping.

John regularly appears on national television, radio as well as national and international print media. John is a popular guest speaker at many of the world’s leading conventions.

Derek Yach (MBCHB MPH) has played a central role in tobacco control for decades. First in his home country of South Africa in getting early legislation adopted by the Mandela government. Second by steering development of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and thirdly, by launching and leading the Foundation for a Smoke Free World to accelerate access to better cessation and effective harm reduction products. He has published over 200 peer review articles on global health issues and served on Boards of the NIH, Wellcome Trust, Clinton Global Initiative and World Economic Forum.

Dustin Dahlmann from Hamburg, Germany is the president of the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA), the German vaping industry association BfTG (Bündnis für Tabakfreien Genuss e.V.) and owner of the successful e-cigarette wholesale InnoCigs. He fights for an autonomous regulation of vaping products as a means to harm reduction independent from tobacco industries throughout Europe.

Mr. Waqas Khan is a senior executive with over 20 years of prolific

experience leading global roll outs for Fortune 500 companies including

BAT, Juul Labs, Etisalat, Telenor and Ooredoo. He has led teams to

launch and grow brands across 3 continents across varied sectors

including consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, mobile device,

broadband, med-tech and fintech sectors. Mr. Khan has also cofounded 3

startups, the most of recent of which, LIX Innovations Inc, was acquired

by ITG brands USA in a multimillion-dollar deal in 2023. He now serves

as the Global CEO of NEVCORE Innovations Inc, the brand owners of the

newly launched USA FDA accepted, revolutionary nicotine pouch, CLEW.

John has a strong background and reputation in the European e-cigarette industry, having held senior executive positions in some of the US and Europe’s biggest companies. As Managing Director of Dyflin Group Consulting, he advises many leading industry analysts, financial institutions and media organisations looking at the vaping and CBD sectors. John is also Director-General and one of the founders of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the UK’s largest vaping Industry association and has advised the UK governments All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping as well as giving evidence before the UK Science & Technology Committee investigation into the Vaping industry and the Australian Parliaments review on vaping.

John regularly appears on national television, radio as well as national and international print media. John is a popular guest speaker at many of the world’s leading conventions.

Mohammad is an expert in Regulatory and fiscal affairs in the Tobacco and ENDS category, started as a diplomat and was Head of Consular Section in Jordanian embassies in both Cairo and Abu Dhabi before finally landing the role as the Head of External Affairs (JOR & PAA) at Philip Morris International in Jordan, followed by leading the Government affairs Function in JUUL Labs, and today the Group Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at ANDS.

Tim Phillips is the Managing Director of Tamarind Intelligence, a global independent market and regulatory intelligence service providing data for businesses operating in a number of fast-moving consumer sectors facing regulatory change, including vape, cannabis and tobacco alternatives. Tamarind Intelligence provides market-leading insights and regulatory tracking for clients ranging from governments and academic institutions to multinational companies and professional service providers.

Phillips is a UK-qualified attorney, having worked at the European Commission, international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, media companies BSkyB and AOL, and Betfair (now Flutter Entertainment), where he ran global public affairs as the company went through its IPO. He was also a partner in a New York venture capital-funded start-up in the diamond sector. Tim holds a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the University of Law, London, and a master's degree in geology from Oxford University. He has run Tamarind Intelligence for the past 9 years

Mohammad is an expert in Regulatory and fiscal affairs in the Tobacco and ENDS category, started as a diplomat and was Head of Consular Section in Jordanian embassies in both Cairo and Abu Dhabi before finally landing the role as the Head of External Affairs (JOR & PAA) at Philip Morris International in Jordan, followed by leading the Government affairs Function in JUUL Labs, and today the Group Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at ANDS.

As Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Angelico leads the development of regulatory submission strategies for our clients across diverse FDA-regulated industries. His unique qualifications stem from a rich background in both the pharmaceutical and nicotine product sectors.

Before joining Accorto, Dr. Angelico built a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, serving as the product development team leader at Merck & Co Pharmaceuticals as well as the Director of Manufacturing Operations at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI). Following his tenure in pharmaceuticals, Dr. Angelico spent seven years in the nicotine products space, where he played a crucial role in shaping the initial regulatory framework for newly regulated electronic cigarette applications, many of which are still currently under FDA review.

Dr. Angelico holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Arizona.

William brings over two decades of expertise across diverse FMCG sectors, working with Fonterra, Zespri, nicotine industry and Kellogg’s. As a seasoned marketeer, William has worked in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, as well as Africa, operating in the end market, regional and global capacity.

William's true passion lies in crafting thought-through, purpose-led brands that deeply resonate with consumers.

Mohammad is an expert in Regulatory and fiscal affairs in the Tobacco and ENDS category, started as a diplomat and was Head of Consular Section in Jordanian embassies in both Cairo and Abu Dhabi before finally landing the role as the Head of External Affairs (JOR & PAA) at Philip Morris International in Jordan, followed by leading the Government affairs Function in JUUL Labs, and today the Group Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at ANDS.

Our founder and Chief Regulatory Officer is Damien Bové BSc (Sci. Hons), MSc (Sci. Open), ICR who today leads ADACT’s team of global regulatory compliance experts for the electronic cigarette, vaping, CBD and herbal medicinces industries.

The building blocks of a career

Damien started training and working as a pharmaceutical technician in 1992 before heading to the University of Bradford’s School of Pharmacy, from which he graduated with an honours degree in 2000. After this, Damien immediately went to work in the pharmaceutical industry where he worked for both a large pharmaceutical company and a global contract research organisation where he worked in both R&D and regulatory compliance functions.

Growth through evolution

Taking these learnings, he left in 2004 to build on his knowledge and skills to set up his own independent R&D and regulatory compliance consultancy, ADACT Medical Ltd, while also obtaining his masters degree in scientific communication. Since then, ADACT has evolved in form and function several times with the changing demands of the marketplace, and today offers world class regulatory compliance services to electronic cigarette, vaping, herbal medicines, medical cannabis, CBD and hemp industries.

Today, Damien leads ADACT through his role as Chief Regulatory Officer whilst continuing to nurture his passion for medical sciences by sitting on the Electronic and E-liquids Committee of the British Standards Institute (BSI) and being a registered member of the Institute of Clinical Research and UKVIA.

Dr Nveed Chaudhary has over 20 years of experience in lung disease with a focus on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma and Pulmonary Fibrosis across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and nicotine industries.

Having had several senior roles in global multinational companies, most recently Nveed was the Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer at a consultancy firm, advising international clients on nicotine and other drug delivery to the lung. At British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Imperial Brands and latterly at Broughton Life sciences, Nveed had significant roles in the development and assessment of reduced risk nicotine products, across Heated Tobacco Products, E-cigarettes and nicotine pouches and he has been involved in the PMTA and UK MAA processes of over 20 individual product lines covering over 100 different SKUs.

Nveed has had an international career, working in Germany, Italy, UK, Singapore, Switzerland and since Jan 2024, has taken a position as Vice President for Technology and Innovation at Medad Technologies based in Abu Dhabi.

Chris co-founded Broughton in 2006, having worked previously within global blue-chip pharmaceutical companies and Contract Research Organisations within the medicinal product and medical device sectors.

• Over 25 years’ experience in Analytical and Regulatory Science focussing on inhaled and solid dose pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and nicotine products
• Extensive experience with global regulatory agencies, including US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
• Oversees the overall direction of the organisation, ensuring that Broughton’s mission is achieved
• Has a passion for developing Broughton’s services and team members to help accelerate life-enhancing products to market

Chris Allen is the Chief Executive Officer at Broughton. Since obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a subsequent Post Graduate Certificate in Analytical Science, he has gained over 25 years of analytical and regulatory experience working in global medical device and pharmaceutical companies and leading CROs. Chris started his career working on both Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical products within Smith+Nephew. Subsequently, Chris moved into inhaled medicines, supporting blue-chip pharmaceutical companies’ drug product registration programs within Melbourn Intertek.

Before co-founding Broughton, Chris moved into a leadership role with Sciantec (Cawood), successfully overseeing its entry into the Veterinary Medicines market, supporting global Marketing Authorizations and site inspections.

Chris co-founded Broughton Laboratories in 2006, with Paul Moran, overseeing its first and successful MHRA Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspection within the first three months. With a focus on supporting Marketing Authorizations and Post Marketing activities within the pharmaceutical sector, Broughton played a pivotal role in obtaining the first UK Medicinal License for an electronic cigarette, a project that started in 2010.

Chris took this combined experience of Pharmaceuticals and Nicotine to expand Broughton’s services to support the development and registration of Reduced-Risk Tobacco Products, including Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). Rapid growth within this area resulted in the expansion to a second site, and a multi-million-pound (GBP) investment into a custom-built facility, leading-edge analytical equipment and expansion of the team and service offerings. Chris has overseen multiple product applications for Medicinal Marketing Authorization Applications (MAA), EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), US Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) and other global markets. Chris has become well established as a recognized subject matter expert in the science and regulation of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and reduced risk nicotine products.

As Chief Executive Officer of Broughton, Chris’ passion lies in developing the Broughton Team and associated services to deliver life-enhancing products to market for their clients.

John has a strong background and reputation in the European e-cigarette industry, having held senior executive positions in some of the US and Europe’s biggest companies. As Managing Director of Dyflin Group Consulting, he advises many leading industry analysts, financial institutions and media organisations looking at the vaping and CBD sectors. John is also Director-General and one of the founders of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the UK’s largest vaping Industry association and has advised the UK governments All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping as well as giving evidence before the UK Science & Technology Committee investigation into the Vaping industry and the Australian Parliaments review on vaping.

John regularly appears on national television, radio as well as national and international print media. John is a popular guest speaker at many of the world’s leading conventions.

Amrik Chohan is the Account Director for Microsoft within the Authentication division of De La Rue International. Prior to this he had spent over 10 years working in Currency and security printing division within De La Rue. He has experience of managing large complex authentication accounts across the UK, US and Europe.

David King is the Partnerships Director of Vaperks, an innovative consumer-facing mobile platform which aims to supercharge compliance, brand loyalty, consumer insights and data acquisition for the Vape industry. Vaperks is built on a loyalty engine which has been proven across multiple industries including banking, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and quick-service restaurants. We are currently on-boarding vape brands and vape retailers in multiple countries following our launch earlier this year.

David has over 30 years of international marketing experience gained from working in developed and emerging markets, including the UK, USA, Russia, Japan and China. David lived in China from 2002 – 2014, starting/leading agencies in Shanghai for Publicis, DDB and Iris. During this time, David headed up the agency relationships with various Multi-National Companies in key markets around the world including British American Tobacco, Red Bull, The Macallan, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). David’s work with IHG was primarily focused on loyalty, refining and relaunching their guest loyalty program in Asia Pacific.

David was awarded his MBA from the University of Warwick and he is a non-executive director for various organisations in the UK and Asia. David divides his time between his homes in London and Shanghai.

An Electronic Engineer by training, Bernard manages the Product Design and Technology department at ANDS, a Dubai-based leading player in the vaping space.

Bernard has played key roles in the vaping industry since 2012. Bernard served as Head of Product Management in Green Smoke (Miami, FL), one of the leading first-generation electronic cigarette providers. Following Green Smoke’s acquisition by Altria in 2014, he served as Director of Future Technologies in Altria (Richmond, VA) for five years, where he led and participated in many innovative developments in the vaping space. After leaving Altria, and prior to joining ANDS, Bernard founded Cannopeia Ltd, where he invented and developed an innovative injection-based vaping technology with an investment by British American Tobacco (BAT).

Bernard is an inventor with over 10 patents in the vaping space and received an inventor’s award in Altria’s Annual Granted Patents event in 2017. Some of his inventions focus on technologies that increase the safety of vaping products via control of temperature and liquid flow using software algorithms.

Having worked with major tobacco companies that sell traditional cigarettes alongside reduced-risk products, as well as companies dedicated exclusively to reduced-risk alternatives, Bernard is a passionate believer in the crucial role of reduced-risk technologies in fostering a better world.

Youssef Chehade is passionate about sustainability, conserving resources, and helping everyone in making recycling habits easier. He co-founded Ecyclex International Recycling with 3 recycling facilities in UAE, as well as ReLoop, a one-stop digital recycling solution that everyone can use to recycle from their companies and homes and contribute to a circular economy.

Sal Younis is an American from an Arab decent and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Sal carries 20 years plus of experience in sales & management and has been in the vape industry since 2017.

Sal witnessed the vape industry mature through the years globally and has attended, interacted and worked with clients in 30 plus different countries. In his personal life, Sal is an athlete that maintains a balanced lifestyle between his career and living a healthy life. This way he stays focused on growing in his career while maintaining a healthy life.

Pete Lomas is the Founder of Capseca Limited – a Product Development Consultancy specialising in Next Generation Products (NGP) within the nicotine industry. He assists his clients with concept generation, prototyping, evaluation, Intellectual Property, Regulatory compliance, and manufacturing of NGP products.

Pete has a background in Electro-Mechanical Engineering, having worked in Product Development for nearly 30 years. He has specialised in NGP Product Development for the last seven years, initially spending four years at Imperial Brands leading the engineering team working on NGP device development (including Blu and Pulze devices). Pete spent a further two years as Managing Consultant at Broughton Life Sciences, before setting up Capseca Limited.

Pete is passionate about Product Development and finding novel and innovative solutions to engineering problems. He believes in questioning and challenging everything, constantly striving for improvement. As a result, he is named as inventor on over 80 published patent applications, the majority of which are in the NGP field.

Rex Zhang is the senior stratey director at Smoore, a global leading

atomizer maker. Zhang has a finance background and started his

multidisciplinary journey as an analyst at McKinsey and Company. His

unique analytics and entrepreneurial mindset had him moving from

analytic roles to trading. Zhang’s development and successes in complex

interconnected industries caught the eyes of Tencent and later

ByteDance, which recruited him to develop globalization strategies for

them. Zhang is now heading the global strategy at Smoore and the

marketing function at its vaping division, FEELM, where he is

spearheading Smoore’s mission: “Atomization makes life better.”

John has a strong background and reputation in the European e-cigarette industry, having held senior executive positions in some of the US and Europe’s biggest companies. As Managing Director of Dyflin Group Consulting, he advises many leading industry analysts, financial institutions and media organisations looking at the vaping and CBD sectors. John is also Director-General and one of the founders of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the UK’s largest vaping Industry association and has advised the UK governments All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping as well as giving evidence before the UK Science & Technology Committee investigation into the Vaping industry and the Australian Parliaments review on vaping.

John regularly appears on national television, radio as well as national and international print media. John is a popular guest speaker at many of the world’s leading conventions.