ALISO VIEJO, California. (March 26, 2025) Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) announced four new trustees this week. Terms began in January 2025, but new members joined the CQI fall board meeting adjacent to Sintercafe, the annual conference founded to promote Costa Rican coffee.
“We are so fortunate to have a diversity of representation from our stakeholders,” said CEO of CQI Michael Sheridan. “It is a testament to the value that our community finds in CQI, and the desire for our organization to thrive and increase impact. The new trustees join a panel who provide us with skilled leadership, and we look forward to incorporating their experience into our ongoing activities.”
New trustees are as follows:
· Matt Daks: Volcafe Specialty Coffee Daks has worked in coffee since 2000 and has led Volcafe Specialty's U.S. business since 2019. His foundational experiences in coffee—as a trainer for Peet's in California and as regional quality manager for the TechnoServe Coffee Initiative in East Africa—ground his perspectives in the educational and development work that are at the core of what CQI does. He also has substantial experience in volunteer non-profit leadership: he is the outgoing president of the Pacific Coast Coffee Association and serves on the board of the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity.
· Laura Elphick: Starbucks Japan and Asia-Pacific Elphick began in coffee in 2001 with Starbucks in the Asia-Pacific region where she grew up. Elphick is passionate about coffee and coffee quality, and shares her enthusiasm with colleagues and customers through education. In her current role, she is responsible for coffee education at a regional level for the company's employees, to whom Starbucks refers to as partners. Elphick also serves on the board of the ASEAN Coffee Federation.
· Art Lander, Vice President Supply Chain, Dunkin'/Baskin Robbins at Inspire Brands Lander has led Dunkin' supply chain operation since 2014, becoming vice president in 2019 when his remit expanded to include supply chains for Baskin Robbins. He currently leads a team of procurement professionals sourcing coffee, cocoa, sugar, dairy, and wheat. He has a culinary background and credits the "militaristic" training in culinary arts for the precision and punctuality he brings to his supply chain work; he was first exposed to inventory and logistics on a rotation at culinary school and fell in love with the discipline.
· Isabel van Bemmelen: Rabobank/Acorn van Bemmelen has spent most of her career as an international development professional, beginning in agricultural research in Latin America. Her involvement with coffee started in 2012 at Rabobank Foundation, leading risk assessment and supplier training in financial risk management. After five years at the Progeso Foundation, which focuses on serving coffee and cacao farmers, she returned to Rabobank's Acorn Innovation Center to help lead its work on voluntary carbon removal credits in the agricultural supply chains in which the bank invests.
The new trustees join a board headed by Masteroast Group Commercial Director Matthew Mills.
