Ethan Brown is the founder of Beyond Meat and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors since our inception in 2009. He also serves as a manager of the Planet Partnership, LLC, our joint venture with PepsiCo, Inc., and served as our Secretary from our inception to September 2018. Mr. Brown began his career with a focus on clean energy and the environment, including serving as an energy analyst for the National Governors’ Center for Best Practices. He then joined Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDP), a hydrogen fuel-cell company, being promoted from an entry-level manager to reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer before leaving to found Beyond Meat.

Mr. Brown also created and opened a center for fuel reformation and has held several industry positions, including Vice Chairman of the Board at The National Hydrogen Association and Secretary of the United States Fuel Cell Council. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, was honored as part of Inc.’s Best Led Companies 2021, The Bloomberg 50 for 2019, Newsweek’s Top Innovators of 2019, and, along with Beyond Meat, is the recipient of the United Nation’s highest environmental accolade, Champion of the Earth (2018). Mr. Brown holds an MBA from Columbia University, an MPP with a focus on Environment from the University of Maryland and a BA in History and Government from Connecticut College. We believe Mr. Brown’s strategic vision for our company and his expertise in technology and business operations make him qualified to serve on our board of directors.