IFS is happy that Luisa Knupper has recently joined our team as Senior Project Manager. Luisa is the new IFS Face for IT. She is a German citizen based in Berlin. In this blog post, Luisa introduces herself.

Passion for food

Imagine being a teenager and seeing the shocking images of "mad cows" on the television. The BSE scandal in the mid-nineties triggered me to look more into the background of food and food production. I decided to study ecotrophology (B.Sc) to learn more about it. After that, I studied International Food Business and Consumer Studies (M.Sc) and supplemented them with an MBA.

From Purchasing to information technology

I started my professional career as a food purchaser for a retail company. Then, I got the chance to dive into category management and supply chain coordination. I learned a lot here and experienced how information technology (IT) can support supply chain management. It was so fascinating to me that I decided to pursue my career in this direction. Four years ago, I entered the IT field as a product manager for retail software. I have deepened my IT knowledge here, but I missed the connection to food.

Contributing to safe food products 

I heard about the vacancy at IFS, and it immediately caught my attention. My passion lies in the food sector, and at IFS, I have the unique chance to combine my knowledge and professional experience in food and information technology. Here, I can help ensure that the food products on retail shelves are safe and of good quality. That makes the circle round for me.

Challenging projects in the pipeline

Also, the timing to start at IFS right now is ideal for me. This year, we have various challenging IT projects in the pipeline. For example, we are developing the new IFS Digital Audit Manager software that will replace the auditXpressX. Additionally, we are working on other IT features. I am sure that they will make working with IFS Certification much more convenient. You can look forward to them.

New professional home at IFS

Although I have only just started at IFS, it already feels like my new professional home. The IFS Team gave me a warm welcome and was very supportive. Also, it is pretty exciting to work in this organisation with colleagues and stakeholders in different countries and continents.