Vegan Named Top Professional by LinkedIn

Professional resource website LinkedIn named Impossible Foods’ Chief Strategy Officer Nick Halla as one of 120 Next Wave Professionals 35 & Under—one of only ten professionals named in the food category. LinkedIn compiles this list based on data it collects from the activity of more than 450 million individual profiles and determines which professionals have the highest engagement rates, the most media appearances, and the strongest social media presence. “In profile after profile, you’ll find professionals who are leading their companies, business units, peers and employees toward a future that they see more clearly than most,” LinkedIn says. “These risk-takers have a sense of where the world is going—and are happy to guide the rest of us there.” Halla was chosen for his work with Bill Gates-backed Impossible Foods to create their “bleeding” burger—which relies on plant-based heme. “My upbringing on a dairy farm makes me super passionate about the work we’re doing at Impossible Foods,” Halla says. “Whether I’m a farmer, an engineer or a business leader, making the world more sustainable has been a longtime aspiration.” Silicon Valley-based Impossible Foods recently debuted its burger at select restaurants including New York-based Momofuku Nishi owned by famed chef David Chang, who—upon sampling the burger in July—exclaimed, “I tasted the future, and it was vegan.”