Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Ethan Brown

CEO and Founder, Beyond Meat

Ethan Brown is the Founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, a company dedicated to building meat directly from plants. Ethan gained an appreciation for agriculture and the natural world from his father, a professor, conservationist, and hobby farmer. This interest shaped the direction of his career, where he sought to make a contribution to climate change through the clean energy sector. His early work centered on electricity restructuring in support of an open grid, where his analysis at the gubernatorial level directly informed federal and state policies on grid management. Subsequently, Ethan joined the world’s leading Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell developer Ballard Power Systems, rising to report directly to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.

Though passionate about clean energy, Ethan returned often to the role of livestock in our economy and became convinced that a change in the origin of the protein—from animals to plants—that we place at the center of our plates could simultaneously address human health, climate, natural resource, and animal welfare challenges in a unique and powerful way. In 2009, Ethan founded Beyond Meat. The Company’s products are now available at approximately 190,000 retail and foodservice outlets in over 80 countries worldwide. The Company’s flagship product, the Beyond Burger, revolutionized the meat aisle by being the first plant-based burger to be sold in the meat case alongside beef at major grocery chains including Kroger, Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods Market. In an effort to further democratize plant-based meat, Beyond Meat has partnered with leading restaurant brands including McDonald’s and Yum! Brands. Beyond Meat is routinely recognized for its leadership and innovative approach including being named among Newsweek’s Most Trusted Brands in 2023, TIME100 Most Influential Companies in 2021, Fast Company’s Brands That Matter 2021, a United Nations 2018 Champion of the Earth, and multiple Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies awards. Ethan holds an MBA from Columbia University and an MPP from the University of Maryland. He is a member of the 2017 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

T.K. Pillan

Founder & Chairman, Veggie Grill; Founding Partner, PowerPlant Partners

T.K. Pillan is the Founder & Chairman of Veggie Grill, the leading 100% plant-based restaurant company in the U.S. Since founding Veggie Grill in 2006, T.K. has been on a mission to help people advance their conscious food journey in an approachable and attainable manner.

T.K. concluded that one of the most impactful ways to create a better future was to change consumer habits around food. Today, under T.K.’s leadership, Veggie Grill has grown to 33 locations across California, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington. Veggie Grill is empowering tens of thousands of people to make the world a better place one plant-based meal at a time by delivering the best of the plant-based world

Growing up with an Indian mother, T.K. learned early on about holistic healing through eating. He saw the health issues in the U.S. around obesity, diabetes, cancer, surging health care costs, dependence on pharma, and wanted to create a business that would help be a part of the solution. Ultimately, T.K. wanted to give people something that he was struggling to find: healthy, delicious, convenient food that also supported the greater good of the planet. T.K. is also the Co-Founder of Powerplant Partners, a private equity firm that supports visionary entrepreneurs with companies that deliver better nutrition in more sustainable and ethical ways. Powerplant investments include Beyond Meat, Ripple Foods, REBBL, Miyoko’s Creamery and Zero Egg. Prior to T.K.’s work as a food entrepreneur, he Co-Founded Guidance Solutions, one of L.A.’s first e-commerce development firms that was consistently named one of the fastest growing technology companies between 1999 and 2001. He earned an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from UCLA. When not helping advance a plant-based future, T.K. enjoys playing beach volleyball and trying to reclaim his glory days of playing collegiate baseball and basketball at MIT.

Panelists: The Path to Mass Consumer Adoption

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Joanna Bromley ’11

Co-founder and EVP of Finance, The Better Meat Co.

Joanna is co-founder of The Better Meat Co., a mycelium alt protein company that she and Paul Shapiro started in 2018. Joanna previously worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and then as a management consultant at Bain & Company. She earned her B.S. in Economics from Duke University (2011) and MBA from Harvard Business School. She is a certified yoga instructor and likes running, health and wellness, and going on long walks with her retired racing greyhound, Olive.

Harish Vemuri

Senior Manager, Bain & Company

Harish Vemuri is a Senior Manager at Bain & Company. He joined the firm in 2013 as an Associate Consultant in the Los Angeles office, stayed until 2017, left for law school, and returned in January 2021. He previously worked in Business Development at Nature’s Fynd, an early stage alt protein producer located in the Chicago area. At Bain, Harish specializes in sustainability work across industries whether through strategy projects on the future of hard-to-abate industries or operational projects with clients directly working in the field (e.g., international growth strategy for a meat alternatives manufacturer). Harish holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School where he was on the board of the Animal Law Society and involved in the Environmental Law Clinic and Food Law Program. He also holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California. In his free time, Harish enjoys playing and watching sports, strategy board games, and playing with his 8-year-old beagle puppy, Smash (yes, 8-year-old dogs can still be puppies 😊).

Thierry Duvanel

Director of Innovation, The Buhler Group

Thierry is Director of Innovation for the Buhler Group, managing the front-end innovation activities and overseeing the scouting and engagement with startups for the group. Before joining Buhler, Thierry led MassChallenge Switzerland, the European branch of the leading global startup accelerator. The program runs today with over 1,500 yearly applications from startups from all around the world and provides support to 100 each year. Prior to MassChallenge, Thierry co-founded two companies active in software development and medical devices respectively, successfully managed and exited them. Originally from Switzerland, he has been working and living in the US, UK and South Korea. Thierry holds a MS and BS on electrical engineering from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Dr. Christel Andreassen

Associate Director, Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture

Dr. Christel Andreassen is the Associate Director of Biomedical Engineering at the Cellular Agriculture Center at Tufts University (TUCCA). She leads high-impact research and provides strategic leadership in the field. Her educational background includes an MS in Molecular Biology and a PhD in Basic Medical Science from the University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Norway. Her previous experience includes cancer research at the Norwegian University Hospital and tissue engineering at the research institute Nofima AS. As the Associate Director, Dr. Andreassen is responsible for planning and executing research projects, managing operations, and collaborating with the Director, faculty, staff, and collaborators to achieve research goals and promote growth in scope and activities. Since 2018, Dr. Andreassen's research has focused on overcoming the main technological barriers to sustainable cell-based production of alternative proteins. Her work involves developing low-cost serum-free media, relevant cell lines, and scaffolding with favorable cell interactions. Dr. Andreassen is passionate about advancing this exciting technology and its potential to revolutionize the food production chain.

Moderator: Alex Shirazi

Co-Founder, Balletic Foods; Host, Cultured Meat & Future Food Show

Alex Shirazi is an author, product designer and startup advisor with a background in retail analytics, brand marketing, and user experience design. Alex is the co-founder of Balletic Foods, a fermentation-based alternative protein startup in California. Alex co-organizes the Cultured Meat Symposium and hosts the Cultured Meat and Future Food Show – a podcast dedicated to spreading the word about cellular agriculture technology. Alex studied brand design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Panelists: Public-Private Partnerships to Fuel Growth in Alternative Proteins

David Kay

Employee #1 & Director of Communications, UPSIDE Foods

David Kay is the first employee and Director of Communications at UPSIDE Foods (formerly Memphis Meats), the world's first company developing a way to produce delicious meat directly from animal cells without raising and slaughtering billions of animals. David leads the company’s external communications and public relations strategies, as well as its state and local policy function. David played a key role in the founding of The Association for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation), the world's first trade coalition for the cultivated meat, poultry and seafood industry. He now sits on the Board of Directors for AMPS Innovation. David has spoken at or been quoted in CNN, Reuters, USA Today, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast and SXSW, and has given the keynote address at the Cultured Meat Symposium, Cell Agri, and the Food Innovation Summit. Most recently, David successfully helped advocate for the passage of a $5 million budget allocation in the state of California to support academic research on cultivated meat – the first time a state in the US had ever provided funding for cultivated meat. David is also on the Board Directors at Animal Place, was appointed by the Mayor of Berkeley to serve on the Animal Care Commission, and is a singer and member of the Leadership Committee in the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. Prior to joining UPSIDE Foods, David studied political science at Stanford University.

Bill Aimutis

Executive Director, North Carolina Food Innovation Lab

Bill Aimutis is Executive Director for the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab managed by North Carolina State University on the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. Bill’s team works with entrepreneurial and multi-national companies on plant-based food product development and scale-up in a pilot plant. Prior to his current position, Aimutis was a Research Fellow and Global Director of External Innovation for Cargill, Inc. Bill retired from Cargill in September 2018. Bill received a Bachelor of Science degree in Food Science at Purdue University and graduate degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the Food Science Department. Bill is a Certified Food Scientist, Fellow of the American Dairy Science Association and the Institute of Food Technologists, and a Distinguished Agricultural Alumnus from both Purdue University and Virginia Tech. Additionally, he was awarded an Outstanding Food Science Award from the Food Science Department at Purdue University, and the Ronald O. Ball Lectureship Award from the University of Alberta. Aimutis has served on several industry advisory committees and corporate scientific advisory and managing boards.

Norbert Wilson

Professor of Food, Economics, and Community at Duke University; Director of the World Food Policy Center at Sanford

Norbert Wilson is the Professor of Food, Economics, and Community at Duke Divinity and the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He is also the Director of the World Food Policy Center at Sanford School of Public Policy. Professor Wilson’s research touches on several food issues, such as access, choice, and food waste. Before joining Duke Divinity School, Wilson was a professor of food policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (2017-2020). He was also a professor of agricultural economics at Auburn University (1999-2016). In addition, he was an economist/policy analyst in the Trade Directorate (2004-2006) and the Agriculture Directorate (2001-2002) of the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) in Paris, France.

Nigel Barrella '07

Attorney at Barrella Law PLLC

Nigel Barrella (Trinity '07) is a regulatory lawyer with a focus on innovative foods, including alternative proteins. Currently in private practice, he previously served as Regulatory Counsel at The Good Food Institute, advocating for sensible regulation and adoption of alternative proteins. He continues this work today, advising innovative food producers as well as nonprofit organizations on the developing legal and regulatory landscape.

Moderator: Lili Pond Miller

Government Affairs Manager, Food Solutions Action

Lili Pond Miller serves as the Government Affairs Manager for Food Solutions Action, a nonprofit (501c4) dedicated to catalyzing public sector support for the alternative protein industries. A graduate of Purdue University, Lili got her political start in the Indiana Statehouse and solidified her love for policy while working for the California State Senate. Lili has always hoped to find herself at the intersection of food and politics, and now has that opportunity everyday lobbying at the federal level. Seeing the urgent need for public investment, Lili is passionate about working to create a synergistic relationship between government and organizations pursuing sustainable and secure protein innovation. Her unique coastal and midwestern background translates to her a nuanced ability to work with stakeholders across the political spectrum, bringing together lawmakers of all different platforms and constituencies to transform our food systems for the better.