Our Team

Our team includes chefs, scientists, and engineers with decades of experience in the food and agriculture industry. All of us are united in our mission to reduce humanity's footprint on the planet by building a more sustainable food system.

Get to know us
A photo of our team

Our Executive Leadership

Our executive team—Joanna Bromley (EVP), Moran Farhi (EVP), Doni Curkendall (EVP), and Paul Shapiro (CEO).

Our Senior Leadership

Hanshu Ding, PhD

Principal Scientist
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  • Former Principal Scientist at Nature's Fynd
  • Former senior scientist at Novozymes for 20+ years, expert in fermentation science
  • PhD in food biochemistry from UC Davis

Jonathan Thurston

Director of Industrialization
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  • Fermentation scientist, process engineer, and industrialization manager at Bayer Crop Science for over 20 years
  • Primary expertise involves scaling up fermentation processes from the benchtop to industrial scale
  • 4 years at BMC

Josh Rogers

Director of Engineering
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  • Has over a decade of experience in fermentation technologies and processes
  • Former process engineer at Bayer Crop Science, Joule Unlimited Technologies, and Millipore, where he used his expertise to facilitate process and mechanical design for scale up efforts
  • 4 years at BMC

Shirley Stone

Director of Food Safety & Quality Assurance
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  • 18 years experience in food/beverage QA
  • BRC, SQF, and PCQI certified
  • Co-authored 17 publications in textbooks & scientific journals

Kirsten Kehlet

Head of Product Development
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  • Deep expertise in mycelial product applications
  • Food science degree from CSU-Chico
  • 3+ years at BMC

Adam Bendell

CEO

Toniic

Estee Chang

Director of Capabilities

Google

Eric Christianson

Former CMO

Perdue Farms

Thomas Griffiths

VP of R&D

Freshly

Yaqi Gao Grover

Structerer

Morgan Stanley

Glenn Hickman

CEO

Hickman’s Family Farms

Kevin Ladwig

President

Johnsonville Holdings

Wayne Morgan, PhD

President of Protein Products & Sustainability

Golden State Foods

Karen McDonald

Faculty Director

UC-Davis ADVANCE Program

Rob Palleschi

CEO

Motel 6

Kathy Kennedy

Vice President

SPI Group

Paul Schwartz

Retired entrepreneur CEO & CPA

Anna Sweet

Co-Founder of Sweet Farm, Gaming Executive, Venture Investor

Our Board of Directors

Paul Shapiro

Paul Shapiro

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- CEO of The Better Meat Co.

- Author of national bestseller Clean Meat

- Host of the Business for Good Podcast

- Four-time TEDx speaker

20+ years of nonprofit executive experience

Beena Goldenberg

Beena Goldenberg

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- Former CEO of Hain Celestial Canada

- Former CEO of Cultivate Ventures

- Chairperson, Food & Consumer Products of Canada

- Chairperson, Plant Based Foods of Canada

- CEO of The Supreme Cannabis Company

Brian Ottens

Brian Ottens

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- Formerly worked in new car design at Ford Motors; now at NASA for over 20 years

- Chief Engineer for the U.S.‘s contribution to Europe’s first Mars rover (2022 launch)

- Early Better Meat Co. investor

Yaqi Gao Grover

Yaqi Gao Grover

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- Former Morgan Stanley VP

- Lever VC Partner

- Alt-Protein Expert

Stu Strumwasser

Stu Strumwasser

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- Managing Partner, Green Circle Capital (focused solely on food & beverage)

- Investment professional since 1990 at Paine Webber (now UBS) & Oppenheimer & Co.

- Former CEO of Snow, a natural soda company

Adam Bendell

CEO

Toniic

Estee Chang

Director of Capabilities

Google

Eric Christianson

Former CMO

Perdue Farms

Thomas Griffiths

VP of R&D

Freshly

Yaqi Gao Grover

Structerer

Morgan Stanley

Glenn Hickman

CEO

Hickman’s Family Farms

Kevin Ladwig

President

Johnsonville Holdings

Wayne Morgan, PhD

President of Protein Products & Sustainability

Golden State Foods

Karen McDonald

Faculty Director

UC-Davis ADVANCE Program

Rob Palleschi

CEO

Motel 6

Kathy Kennedy

Vice President

SPI Group

Paul Schwartz

Retired entrepreneur CEO & CPA

Anna Sweet

Co-Founder of Sweet Farm, Gaming Executive, Venture Investor