Ethan Walden Brown (born 1971) is an American executive who is the founder, president and CEO of
Beyond Meat.[1] Before founding Beyond Meat, Brown worked on alternative energy and electricity grid restructuring at the
National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices before joining
fuel cell manufacturer
Ballard Power Systems.[2]
Early life and education
Brown grew up in and near
Washington, D.C.,[3] and also spent time during his childhood on his family's farm in
Maryland.[4] He is a graduate of George School (Newtown, PA).
In 2009, Brown visited a research center at the
University of Missouri that was looking for additional uses for soybeans, a major Missouri resource. There, he met researchers Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff,[7] who were working on technology to replicate the texture of meat using plant proteins. Brown acquired the technology license for the process,[8] and founded Beyond Meat in 2009.[9] On May 2, 2019, Brown rang the opening bell at
Nasdaq when Beyond Meat went public under the symbol BYND.[10] Brown is also a director of The PLANeT Partnership, Beyond Meat's joint venture with
PepsiCo.[11][12]
Awards and recognition
In 2014, Brown was listed on
Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business 1000.[13] In 2017, Brown was named an
Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow.[14] In 2018, Brown was selected as one of the
UNEP's Champions of the Earth in the category of science and innovation for his "work towards reducing our dependence on animal-based foods."[15] In 2019, Brown was listed on
Bloomberg Media's
50 Most Influential ranking.[16] Brown was also named that year to Well+Good's "2020 Changemakers" list.[17]
Personal life
Brown is married to Tracy Brown,[18] has two children,[8] and lives in
Southern California.[3] He became a vegetarian in high school[19] and is now
vegan.[20] Brown is also an environmentalist.[21]