The Livekindly Collective, an investor-backed group of plant-based start-ups, has appointed former Kraft Heinz executive and investment banking man David Knopf as its finance chief.
Knopf will take up the chief financial officer role at US-based Livekindly tomorrow (30 July), joining the newly established business from New York-headquartered private-equity firm 3G Capital, where he had been a partner since 2015. He was previously CFO at US food major Kraft Heinz and has also worked at private equity business Onex Partners and investment bank Goldman Sachs.
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Livekindly was set up earlier this year with private-equity firm Blue Horizon Ventures as its principal shareholder and a number of food industry executives at its helm, including former Unilever man Kees Kruythoff, who is chairman and chief executive.
Located in Delaware, Livekindly has acquired a number of companies in the plant-based sphere, including The Fry Family Food Co. in South Africa and LikeMeat in Germany. It also holds a stake in Puris Holdings in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most recently, the collective purchased the meat-alternative brand Oumph in Sweden, which is owned by Food for Progress.
CEO Kruythoff commented on the new executive appointment: “David brings extensive financial, M&A and strategic experience. This, combined with his deep knowledge of the food industry and scaling high-growth companies, makes him a huge asset to the LiveKindly Collective as we accelerate our mission to transform the global food system and make plant-based eating the new normal.”
Meanwhile, Livekindly has appointed Joanna Liu as the CEO of Greater China effective from 16 August. She is a founder of the McCain Asian Food Service Incubator, and has also worked at Nestlé and Coca-Cola in China.
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By GlobalDataLivekindly’s founders include Roger Lienhard, who sits on the board of directors and is also the founder of Blue Horizon, and Jodi Monelle, the CEO and founder of Canada-based Livekindly Media, which is part of the overall business.
