Stay up to speed with the latest people moves in agrifood and tech with AgFunderNews‘ monthly column of the industry’s biggest leadership changes. This month, Apeel Sciences and EVERY make notable new hires and the FDA brings on an EPA vet for a new role.
Are you in a new role or company? Know someone who has left? Drop me a line to share the details: [email protected].
Apeel doubles down on tropicals
Food-preservation tech company Apeel Sciences is expanding its tropicals business in the Americas, boosting availability of its shelf-life-extension tech that keeps food fresh longer. To aid in the process, it has added Denise Junqueiro as vice president of commercial, tropicals.
Junqueiro will head up the company’s go-to-market strategy around Apeel’s tech for tropical produce such as avocados, limes, lemons and mangos.
She’s no stranger to the produce business, having spent more than half a decade at Mission Produce, a company best known for its avocados. Prior to that she held roles at commodity board organizations California Fig Advisory Board, California Tree Fruit Agreement and California Olive Committee.
EVERY to ‘turbo-charge’ fermentation
Fermentation startup EVERY has hired Dr. Konrad Mueller-Auffermann, a veteran of both fermentation and alternative protein products, as its new VP R&D and technology scale-up.
His background includes half a decade as head of breweries product development at Krones AG, where he led development of novel technologies including those dealing with fermentation.
More recently, Mueller-Auffermann served as VP of technology and manufacturing science at cultivated meat company UPSIDE Foods.
EVERY CEO Arturo Elizondo said Mueller-Auffermann would help “turbo-charge” the company’s goal of increasing capacity for large-scale manufacturing of its animal-free egg products made via fermentation.
More people moves
😷 The Institute of Food Technologists has named Cargill exec Sean Leighton as its new board president. Leighton has been with Cargill since 2007 and currently serves as the global vice president of food safety, quality and regulatory.
🍗 Speaking of Cargill, one of its former execs, Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, has joined alt-meat company Meati‘s board of directors. Johnson-Hoffman most recently served as CEO of Believer Meats.
🌽 EPA veteran James Jones is the new deputy commissioner for human foods at the FDA, where he’ll work on new priorities for food safety and innovative food products. The new role is part of FDA’s massive reorganization.
Layoffs tracker
- 🇹🇷 Leading eGrocery company Getir cut 11% of its workers amidst a general restructuring for the company and amid a broader fallout for the quick-commerce industry.
- 🇰🇪 Food e-commerce startup Twiga let go of one third of its staff, 283 employees, and shuttered its in-house delivery arm in response to macroeconomic trends.
- 🇮🇳 Food delivery giant Zomato shuttered its Czech subsidiary Lunchtime, which it acquired in 2018, but which made “zero contributions” to Zomato’s net worth.
Sponsored
International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator