Meati Adds Supply Chain Management Staff and Science Advisory Board

Meati Foods, producer of animal-free, whole-food protein made from mushroom root, has hired Elizabeth (Liz) Fikes as chief supply chain officer and Joseph (Joe) Johnston as SVP, Operations and Engineering, effective immediately.

Fikes will manage the performance of Meati’s fully integrated supply chain, leading production volume expansion. Johnston, reporting to Fikes, will provide oversight of capital projects and operations, ensuring exceptional product quality and efficient delivery. 

“Meati has plans to change the way people eat by offering delicious, clean, nutrient-dense, animal-free meat, and the execution toward those ambitions begins well before we hit store shelves,” said Scott Tassani, president and chief operatiing officer of Meati Foods. “Ensuring Meati’s quality remains unparalleled and with reliability levels that make it a supply chain solution, Liz and Joe will be instrumental in delivering excellence for every customer and consumer.”

Fikes joins Meati Foods from Stanley Black & Decker, where she was chief transformation officer and manufacturing strategy & optimization leader for Global Operations. In her role at Meati, Fikes will oversee the company’s integrated supply chain, responsible for the conception, alignment, and execution of capacity and CAPEX plans while supporting productivity, supply security and efficiency parameters. Her previous experience includes three years at PepsiCo as vice president, Global Operations, Transformation. She has a master’s degree in systems and industrial engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Johnston spent nearly the last 10 years at Sabra Dipping Co., finishing his time there as the vice president of Supply Chain. At Meati, he will lead the team exploring and implementing technologies to apply to the manufacturing process delivering value, cost savings, and increased performance. His previous experience includes four and a half years at the Campbell Soup Co., including as a senior product engineer. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University.

Advisory Board

Meati also just announced the creation of the Meati Science Advisory Board (MSAB), comprized of top scientists in the fields of nutrition, food science, and food safety, to research the full spectrum of health benefits offered by mushroom root, a term used to describe the mycelium in all Meati products. The MSAB was created to expand upon research, exploring the full benefits of mycelium.

MSAB board members are: Dr. Carl L. Keen, professor emeritus in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition; Dr. Roberta R. Holt, associate researcher in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition; Dr. Justin Siegel, associate professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the UC Davis Genome Center, who is the faculty director of the Innovation Institute of Food and Health; and Dr. John Munafo, flavor science director at the University of Tennessee Department of Food Science.