Kriese was most recently chief marketing officer at Thalmic Labs, a Canadian wearable technology start-up. Before joining Thalmic, she was senior director and head of marketing for Samsung Electronics America. From 2005-2012, she held a variety of marketing positions with increasing responsibility at Microsoft, including brand architecture, strategy and product positioning.
“Tara is a marketing strategist who isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves,” said David Lee, COO of Impossible Foods. “She has a wide range of professional experiences, from launching guerilla campaigns to developing sophisticated go-to-market strategies – at both start-ups and major multinationals. I’m confident she’ll accelerate our growth and be an invaluable asset to our leadership team.”
Kriese will be in charge of brand marketing and the evolution of the company’s go-to-market strategy as Impossible Foods “ramps up,” the company said.
Impossible Foods began production in September at its first large-scale manufacturing plant in Oakland, California. With the increased production in Oakland, the company said, Impossible Foods will expand distribution to more restaurants in the United States and overseas. The company is also developing additional plant-based meat and dairy products.
Kriese is the latest to join the leadership team at Impossible Foods. The company earlier this year added a chief people officer, a chief science officer and a new senior vice-president of supply chain and manufacturing. In August, the Redwood City-based company announced the closing of a $75 million investment led by Singapore-based investment firm Temasek. Other investors included Open Philanthropy Project, Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures and Horizon Ventures.
The company’s Impossible Burger is made with plant-based ingredients, including soy leghemoglobin, a protein that carries the iron-containing molecule heme, which occurs naturally in animals and plants and delivers a beefy flavor without cholesterol, hormones or antibiotics. Other key ingredients in the Impossible Burger are water, wheat protein, coconut oil and potato protein plus natural flavors and micronutrients. The Impossible Burger uses about 75 percent less water and 95 percent less land than conventional ground beef from cows and generates about 87 percent fewer greenhouse gases.
