Speakers

Keynote Speaker

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CEO of Impossible Foods

Peter McGuinness

Peter McGuinness is the CEO of Impossible Foods, a tech-enabled food company that makes delicious meat from plants, with a fraction of the environmental impact compared to animal meat. Peter joined Impossible in April 2022 to lead its next phase of global growth and help shape the food habits of people around the world.

Peter brings more than 30 years of consumer expertise to the position, most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer of Chobani, where he scaled operations, expanded the business into new categories including oat milk, and helped build the company into an iconic brand. In his nine years at Chobani, he also served as Chief Marketing and Brand Officer and

Chief Commercial Officer, where he created a demand department and led all global

marketing, corporate communication, advertising, innovation and sales efforts for the brand.

Prior to Chobani, Peter served as President and CEO of advertising agencies DDB Chicago and Gotham, where he succeeded in transforming and restoring the agencies following periods of decline. Prior to that, he held various roles at IPG marketing company Momentum Worldwide, including serving as its Regional President of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Global Director of Consumer Activation, with operations in 45 offices spanning 25 countries. Prior to Momentum, he served as an EVP and Worldwide Account Director of McCann Erickson worldwide.

Panel 1: Cutting-Edge Biotechnologies in Cultivated Proteins

Co-Founder of Reel Foods

John Ahrens, PhD

John Ahrens is the co-founder and CEO of Reel Foods, a cultivated fillet company that generates biomass cheaply and at scale, as well as structures whole-cut products without reliance on plant-based scaffolding. Prior to Reel, John obtained his PhD in Jennifer Lewis' lab, developing novel tissue engineering methods for cardiac regeneration.

Co-Founder of Wildtype

Aryé Elfenbein, MD, PhD

Aryé co-founded Wildtype, a company dedicated to creating a clean and accessible seafood future. Wildtype has developed brewery-like systems to grow cuts of seafood directly from cells, without the need for fishing or farming. Aryé earned an MD and PhD at Dartmouth and Kyoto University, and completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at Yale. Prior to co-founding Wildtype, Aryé completed a fellowship in cardiovascular regenerative medicine at The Gladstone Institutes / UCSF. A classically-trained cardiologist and musician, Aryé continues to practice critical care medicine and piano when he’s away from Wildtype.

CSO at Atlantic Fish Company

Trevor Ham, PhD

Trevor Ham, PhD, is the Chief Science Officer at Atlantic Fish Co. In this role, he is focused on developing new cell lines and bioprocesses for cultivated premium white flaky fish. His background includes research in biomaterials, stem cell engineering, and cellular mechanotransduction. He was a postdoc at Duke before transitioning into his current role. He is driven by a passion for mitigating carbon emissions through innovative solutions like cultivated seafood.

Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University

Mike Lynch

Mike is the W. H. Gardner, Jr. Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Chemistry at Duke University. His team's work is focused on standardizing the engineering of biology using the synthetic biology toolkit. Engineered proteins, enzymes and cells have utility in numerous applications from fuels and chemicals production to the manufacture of foods, agricultural products, proteins and enzymes and of course in the development of pharmaceuticals and other therapeutics. Prior to Duke, Mike was at OPX Bio, a company he cofounded out of work from his PhD. He remains in engaged in entrepreneurial activities with three recent new start-ups (DMC Biotechnologies, Inc., Roke Biotechnologies, LLC., and DINYA DNA) as well as teaching key aspects of entrepreneurship including: design, product development, technoeconomic analyses, basic business models and intellectual property fundamentals.

Deep Dive 1: Venture Capital in Alternative Protein Companies

Partner at Lever VC

Yaqi Gao Grover

Yaqi Gao Grover is a Partner at Lever VC, a firm at the forefront of the protein transformation, investing in companies developing alternative meat and dairy products. Lever VC has invested in over two dozen industry leaders globally in plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived alternatives. Yaqi also champions technologies that make animal protein production more sustainable and adhere to higher welfare standards. Prior to joining Lever, Yaqi was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley, where she managed multi-billion-dollar investment portfolios and focused on structured financial transactions. She also worked as a trader and structurer at Citigroup, developing and implementing novel financial solutions.

Co-Founder and Partner at Sustainable Foods

Mariliis Holm

Mariliis Holm is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Sustainable Food Ventures (SVF), an early-stage venture capital firm. Mariliis backs founders building the future of cell-based, plant-based and recombinant food globally. To accelerate the Future of Food even further she founded North Carolina Future of Food Coalition. Before becoming an investor, Mariliis was the Head of Food Science at Finless Foods, a biotech venture company that is creating cell-based seafood and fish. She also co-founded Nonfood, a startup that is creating sustainable foods based on algae.

Deep Dive 2: Human Capital in Alternative Protein Companies

CEO of Wild Earth, serial entrepreneur

Ryan Bethencourt

Ryan Bethencourt is the CEO of Wild Earth, the leading Plant based Pet food company in the US. He’s also a Partner and Co-Founder at Sustainable Foods Ventures, a pre-seed future of food rolling fund and Partner at Babel Ventures, an early stage consumer biotech VC firm . Ryan has years of experience in leading, building and advising high-growth food and biotechnology companies. Ryan was previously co-founder, former Program Director, and Venture Partner at IndieBio and has invested in 180+ early stage biotech, tech and food startups.

Founder of Alternative Protein Careers

Noga Golan

Noga Golan is the Founder and Managing Director of Alt Protein Careers, an organization that provides career resources, coaching, job posts, and recruiting services to job seekers and employers in the alternative protein industry. Noga’s professional experience spans several years in private equity and venture investing to working as a marketing leader in financial technology. Noga holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Additionally, she served three years in the Israeli military as a commanding officer (rank: Lieutenant.)

Head of Product, Strategy, and Brand at Orbillion Bio

Rachel Lichte

Rachel Lichte proudly joined Orbillion, a cultivated meat company, as the first non-technical hire with more than 15 years’ experience focused on building sustainable brands and products. She's had a multidisciplinary career: working on brand strategy, consumer insights, innovation, and marketing planning, she supported companies like CLIF Bar, Counter Culture Coffee, Nowadays, and Target. She co-founded and led a B-corp certified social enterprise, Clarity Project, creating responsibly sourced diamond jewelry; and led a global innovation program at Hewlett Packard Enterprise creating digital tools for social impact. Rachel earned her MBA and Master of Environmental Management degrees from Duke University. She's excited to discuss how non-technical professionals can partner with scientific and technical teams to create positive impact.

Panel 2: Building, Growing, and Operating Companies in the Alternative Protein Space

Founder of Fysh Foods

Zoya Biglary

Zoya Biglary has spent the last 12 years working in social enterprise and start ups. Previously Director of Business Development at LSTN Sound Co., a CPG start up that provided hearing aids to 50,000 people in need worldwide. She then switched to the culinary world and worked as a private chef and content creator, becoming a prominent figure in the food influencer space with 650k followers. In 2021 she dove into vegan meat alternatives by founding Finneato Fysh Foods; a plant-based seafood company based in Los Angeles.

Vice President at Barvecue

Kelsey Joseph

Kelsey Joseph is the vice president of Barvecue, a mission-driven, certified B Corporation, crafting better comfort foods from plants. With a focus on quality and simple ingredients, Barvecue aims to make plant-based eating enjoyable, nutritious, and convenient for all.

Director of Membership at Plant Based Foods Association

Maddie Segal

Maddie Segal serves as the Director of Membership at the Plant Based Foods Association, where she leads the membership program and engages with over 200 of the world's leading and emerging plant-based companies. She facilitates connections and access to resources, helping plant-based food manufacturers navigate the policy and marketplace challenges affecting their business. Her prior experience includes grassroots advocacy and the craft beer industry. Maddie holds a Bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University and is based in Raleigh, NC.

Senior Manager at Bain & Company

Harish Vemuri

Harish Vemuri is a Senior Manager at Bain & Company in the Los Angeles office. He is intensely passionate about the future of agriculture and meat alternatives. Immediately following law school he worked in Business Development at Nature’s Fynd, an early stage alt protein producer located in the Chicago area. He has also worked with alt protein companies while at Bain. Primarily on topics involving growth strategy. 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. 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. 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 almost 10-year-old bagle hound puppy, Smash (yes, 10-year-old dogs can still be puppies 😊).