About Us

Maria Venetoulis has been practising law for over 18 years, with most of those spent in-house across the media, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Since October 2019, Maria has been the General Counsel for Danone. As the head of Regulatory and Industry Affairs, Legal, Compliance and Company Secretarial functions for this company, and former Senior Legal Counsel at Aspen Pharmaceuticals when it marketed, sold and distributed the S26 formula brand, Maria strongly believes in the INC’s purpose of championing the rights of infants to receive the best nutrition, backed by scientific research and development. Maria has a deep interest and understanding of the challenges faced by this industry and wants to contribute to shaping its future.

Jithesh is the Head of Quality and CSR for Bellamy’s Organic Pty Ltd. He has about 20 years’ experience in food industry in Asia, Oceania and Europe predominantly in infant nutrition.

Liz is the Senior Corporate Counsel at Nestlè, with more than 15 years experience across a variety of commercial legal roles and a demonstrated history of working in the food & beverages industry, on sustainability projects and for healthcare clients.

Jonathan Chew was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the Infant Nutrition Council, Australia and New Zealand, as of 1 November 2023. The Infant Nutrition Council is the trusted voice of the Australian and New Zealand infant formula and toddler milk industry. The Council represents the major manufacturers, marketers and ingredient suppliers of infant formula and toddler milk in Australia and New Zealand as well as local manufacturers who are producing product for export. All members abide by the local interpretations of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes 1981 and the Council’s own Code of Conduct to ensure industry best practice.

Prior to this role, Jonathan worked in the alcohol beverages industry for more than ten years, including seven years with French corporation Pernod Ricard, working in public affairs and government relations in Sydney and later in its Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong, covering markets across North Asia, South East Asia and India. He was also a policy and regulatory consultant to Alcohol Beverages Australia and Spirits and Cocktails Australia.

Jonathan started his career at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, serving in overseas missions in Wellington and as Deputy Head of Mission in Tel Aviv, and working in the Legal Branch at headquarters, specialising in international humanitarian and human rights law. During this time, he was also seconded to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, International Division. Additionally, he has served in government relations and public affairs roles at AUSTRAC and Clubs Australia.

Jonathan holds a B.Comm/L.L.B. (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, and an M.B.A. from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

Julie was appointed as Science and Regulatory Advisor with INC in October 2024. She is director of Foodcom, a specialist food and health communications consultancy in New Zealand.

Julie is a trained dietitian with a career largely in industry and government sectors. She entered food industry as a new graduate nutrition advisor with the NZ Dairy Board (now Fonterra) and was the Nutrition Manager for Heinz Wattie’s for over 12 years, including some years as nutrition manager across Australasia. She was a lead nutritionist for the Heinz Infant team, working with colleagues in Italy and the U.K on infant formula development. Julie also spent two years with Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) as a Nutrition Advisor.

Julie is a current board member of the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council and chairs their Health and Regulatory committees (food and non-food). She is a committee member of Food Writers New Zealand and a member of the registration panel for NZ Registered Nutritionists.

Julie holds a BSc (Honours) in human nutrition and a post-graduate diploma in dietetics from Otago University, and currently is a part time student of ACU (Australian Catholic University) undertaking post-graduate study in culinary nutrition.

Simon is an experienced executive with an extensive public and private sector background in international business development and government relations.

Prior to joining the Infant Nutrition Council as Trade and Market Access Manager, Simon was Head of Government Relations for Swisse Wellness (part of the H&H Group), with responsibilities for Australia and New Zealand.

Simon has had an extensive career working in the government sector, at federal, state and territory levels, with business development roles in Australia and offshore.

He was Special Investment Advisor at Austrade for four years, helping to facilitate significant inward investment projects from markets such as China, Japan Western Europe and the US.

Previously, as Executive Director of Invest Victoria, Simon was responsible for leading a range of international development initiatives for the Victorian Government. These included attracting foreign direct investment to the State and facilitating export initiatives such as Super Trade Missions to India and China.

Simon has also held various positions in Canberra, for both the Federal and ACT Governments.