HEALTH TOPICS TAKE CENTER STAGE

PORTLAND, Ore. - With health-related concerns on the minds of an aging population, health will be a primary topic of discussion at the 12th annual Executive Forum sponsored by the Food Industry Leadership Center at Portland State University here.

nsored by SN, featuring Matt Kistler, director of private brands for Sam's Clubs, Bentonville, Ark.; Dennis Belcastro, vice president, customer development, for Kraft Foods, Northfield, Ill.; Todd Hale, vice president, ACNielsen, Chicago; and Bob Vosburgh, editor of SN Whole Health, New York.

SN will also present its Whole Health and Retail Excellence awards during the conference.

A panel on trends in health will feature Laurie Demeritt, president and chief operating officer of The Hartman Group, Belle-vue, Wash., and Schuyler Lininger, chief executive officer of Healthnotes here.

Other conference speakers will include John Haugen, vice president, Health & Wellness Center of Excellence for General Mills, Minneapolis; Art Turock, president of Art Turock & Associates, Seattle, on health-conscious tipping points; Bill Shaner, president and CEO of Save-A-Lot, Supervalu's St. Louis-based limited-assortment format; and Rachel Kenyon, vice president, marketing, for the container-board, packing and recycling division of Weyerhaeuser, Federal Way, Wash.

Immediately preceding the Executive Forum will be the fourth annual Wo-men's Leadership Forum.

Keynoting that session will be Jan Hill, president of Hill Enterprises, Santa Barbara, Calif., on how middle-aged women can revitalize and reinvent themselves, followed by a panel on the risk of career moves for women that will feature Cynthia Malen, food regional supervisor for Fred Meyer Stores here; Genie Roeglin, senior vice president, e-commerce and publishing, Costco Wholesale Corp., Issaquah, Wash.; Jennifer Davis, associate director of Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati; and Caroline Nakken, president and CEO, Mass Connections, Cerritos, Calif.