Founder, President, Chief Executive, Beyond Meat Inc.

Brown founded Beyond Meat in 2009, and three years later the plant-based meat producer got backing 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. The company’s 2022 net revenue added up to $419 million, a decrease of 9.8% year over year. The net loss for the year was $366 million, up from $182 million in 2021.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 4