Ethan Brown

Founder, President and Chief Executive

Beyond Meat Inc.

THE LATEST: On the heels of a hugely successful IPO in 2019, Brown's El Segundo-based meat substitute company continued to expand. Beyond Meat partnered with Starbucks in April to launch Beyond Beef products at the coffee chain&s stores in China. Beyond Meat products are now available in 75 countries and approximately 94, 000 retail and food service outlets.

BACKGROUND: Brown founded Beyond Meat in 2009, and the plant-based meat producer got backing in 2011 from venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in its first financing round. Other investors have included Bill Gates, Tyson Foods and Obvious Corp., an incubator backed by Twitter Inc. co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams. Brown received the United Nations' highest environmental accolade in 2018, Champion of the Earth. He holds an MBA from Columbia University and a bachelor&s degree in history and government from Connecticut College.

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