April 27-29, 2026

All Speakers

Dog and cat food research experts who will present at Petfood Forum & Petfood Essentials

Susan Gallager
Senior Regulatory Analyst
McCormick / FONA
Susan Gallager offers more than 15 years of regulatory experience across the pesticide and food/flavor industries. She has been with McCormick & Co. for more than four years, providing regulatory support for North American flavor solutions customers, including those in the pet food segment.
Date/TimeTitle
Tue Apr 28
1:30 PM - 2:35 PM
Today’s pet food market: 1:30-2:35 p.m.
KCCC Room 2502
  • From table to bowl: How pet owners’ eating habits influence what they feed their pets

Tiffany Fiore, senior product manager, and Susan Gallager, senior regulatory analyst, McCormick/FONA, share insights about how pet owners currently feed their pets and the links between feeding behavior and personal nutrition choices. Drawing from primary consumer research and McCormick’s consumer segmentation framework, the presentation covers factors influencing pet food and treat purchases; attitudes toward formats like fresh food, raw food, toppers and supplements; and pet owners’ understanding of nutrition labels and claims (balanced against existing regulations).

  • The AI marketing advantage: Measure first, scale fast in pet food

Jolanta Smulski, founder, Pet Pro Media, addresses the significant gap between AI adoption priority and implementation in pet food marketing. She provides a measurement-first framework solving three key barriers: the measurement gap preventing justification of AI expansion beyond experimental use, planning paralysis keeping businesses in evaluation mode and the scaling challenge limiting them to individual or small-team implementation. The framework establishes measurement infrastructure by defining core marketing metrics before adopting AI tools, deploys test-learn-scale cycles through structured deployment identifying high-impact applications and scales to organizational capability by converting measurement data into training curriculum and repeatable processes.

  • What’s next in cat trends? The future of feline food, treats and supplements

Nicole Hill, vice president of strategy and innovation, MarketPlace, explores emerging and sustaining consumer trends influencing the future of cat food, treat and supplement segments through future-facing consumer data and market insights from Nextin Research. Grounded in new surveys of more than 1,000 cat owners, the presentation covers owner psychographics, core motivators and compelling need-states, demand-driving attributes and ingredients, product format opportunities and purchase influences, and retail channel behaviors. From protein sources and premiumization trends to product attributes and preferred formats, Hill spotlights where the category has room to grow and evolve, with insights for innovation and marketing strategies.