Board of Directors
Matthew O’Hayer
Founder, Executive Chairman and Director
Matthew O’Hayer is our founder and has served as a member of our board of directors since inception and as our executive chairman since April 2019. From September 2007 to April 2019, Mr. O’Hayer served as our chief executive officer. Mr. O’Hayer is also the founder and has served as the president of the Organic Egg Farmers of America, an industry association that hosts agricultural conventions on topics related to organic egg production.
Russell Diez-Canseco
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Russell Diez-Canseco has served as our president and chief executive officer since May 2019 and as a member of our board of directors since December 2019. Prior to this, Mr. Diez-Canseco served as our president and chief operating officer from November 2015 to April 2019, as our chief operating officer from October 2014 to October 2015 and as our vice president of operations from January 2014 to September 2014. Prior to joining us, Mr. Diez-Canseco spent several years with McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm, H-E-B, a supermarket chain, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Diez-Canseco received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and earned his A.B. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Kofi Amoo-Gottfried
Director
Kofi Amoo-Gottfried has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2021. Mr. Amoo-Gottfried is the Vice President of Marketing at DoorDash, the nation’s leading last-mile logistics platform. Prior to joining DoorDash, he held marketing leadership roles at Facebook, including Vice President of Brand and Consumer Marketing and Head of Consumer Marketing for Internet.org, a division that focused on increasing internet access in global regions where service is inaccessible. Before Facebook, Mr. Amoo-Gottfried served as Chief Strategy Officer at FCB New York and as Global Communications Director for the rum category of Bacardi Global Brands. Mr. Amoo-Gottfried was also Founder and Managing Director of Publicis West Africa and a Senior Strategic Planner at Wieden + Kennedy, a global creative company, where he led Strategy for the Nike business across all categories. He began his career at Leo Burnett, a global advertising agency. Mr. Amoo-Gottfried is also a member of the board of directors of Population Service International (PSI), a global health and human services non-profit organization. He holds a B.A. in Economics and International Studies from Macalester College.
Brent Drever
Director
Brent Drever has served as a member of our board of directors since March 2019. Mr. Drever has served as co-founder and chief operating officer of Manna Tree Partners, an asset management firm focused on food supply chain transparency, since 2018. Prior to that, Mr. Drever co-founded Acuity Institute in May 2005, a provider of leadership training, coaching and consulting, where he served as chief executive officer from April 2012 to October 2018 and has served as advisor since October 2018. Since September 2017, Mr. Drever has served as co-founder and board president of Zealous Schools, a micro school. Mr. Drever holds a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Glenda Flanagan
Director
Glenda Flanagan has served as a member of our board of directors since July 2020. Ms. Flanagan served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Whole Foods Market, Inc., the natural and organic food supermarket chain acquired by Amazon, Inc. in 2017, from 1988 through May 2017. Since then she has served as the Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor at Whole Foods. Ms. Flanagan currently serves on the boards of directors of Whole Planet Foundation, Whole Cities Foundation, and Whole Kids Foundation, as well as the public companies Fitbit, Inc. and Credit Acceptance Corporation. Ms. Flanagan holds a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.
Kelly Kennedy
Director
Kelly Kennedy has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2019. Ms. Kennedy has served as the chief financial officer of Bartell Drugs, a family-owned pharmacy chain, since September 2018. Ms. Kennedy has also served on the board of directors of Sur La Table, Inc. since September 2018. Prior to that, Ms. Kennedy served as the chief financial officer of Sur La Table from June 2015 to September 2018, as the chief financial officer of See’s Candies from January 2014 to June 2015 and as the chief financial officer and treasurer of Annie’s Inc. from August 2011 to November 2013. Ms. Kennedy has also served in various roles at Revolution Foods, Inc., Established Brands, Inc., Serena & Lily Inc., Forklift Brands, Inc., Elephant Pharm, Inc., Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc. Ms. Kennedy received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College.
Karl Khoury
Director
Karl Khoury has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2015. Mr. Khoury co-founded and has served as a partner at Arborview Capital Partners LP, a venture capital firm focused on resource efficiency and sustainability, since the firm’s inception in March 2008. Prior to co-founding Arborview Capital, he served as a partner with Columbia Capital, a sector-focused venture capital firm with over $2 billion under management. In addition to Vital Farms, Mr. Khoury is or has been a member of the board of directors of multiple Arborview Capital portfolio companies. Mr. Khoury is on the board of directors of Impact Capital Managers, a network of private capital fund managers in the U.S. and Canada, and he is on the Board of Trustees of the Levine School of Music. Mr. Khoury received his B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University.
Denny Marie Post
Director
Denny Marie Post has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2019. Ms. Post has served on the boards of directors of Wyndham Destinations, Inc. (NYSE:WYND) since May 2018. Prior to that Ms. Post served on the board of directors of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. (Nasdaq: RRGB), a casual dining restaurant chain, from August 2016 to April 2019 and served in a variety of senior management roles from August 2011 to April 2019, including president, chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief marketing officer. Ms. Post has previously held management positions at Starbucks Corporation, Burger King Worldwide Inc., and KFC USA, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell Canada while at YUM! Brands, Inc. Ms. Post received her certificate in Finance from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and her B.A. in Journalism and Social Sciences from Trinity University.
Gisel Ruiz
Director
Gisel Ruiz has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2020. Most recently, Ms. Ruiz served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Sam’s West, Inc., a national chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs, from February 2017 to June 2019. She is currently on the board of advisors at Santa Clara University serving the Retail Management Institute. Ms. Ruiz served on the board of directors of Walmart de Mexico S.A.B. de CV, a multinational retail chain, from October 2016 to May 2019. Ms. Ruiz also held multiple positions at Walmart, Inc., both in the U.S. and international business segments, from 1992 through February 2017, including executive roles from 2010 to February 2017. Ms. Ruiz received her B.S. in Marketing, Retail Management from Santa Clara University.