Boston-based Motif FoodWorks announced Thursday morning that CEO Jonathan McIntyre was stepping down from his position and transitioning to an advisory role with the company.
Michael Leonard, who has served as the alternative meat company’s chief technology officer since 2019, will take over as Motif’s new CEO, effective immediately.
A spokesperson for the food technology company said McIntyre “decided to step aside after 3.5 successful years with Motif, and it was a great opportunity for Mike to step into the role, based on his success at Motif and strong background with companies like Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo.”
Leonard previously served as vice president for White Space Innovation and Springboard R&D at Kraft Heinz. Before that, he was the vice president of process technology for global snacks R&D at PepsiCo. Leonard earned a Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Roanoke College.
“Motif has developed unique approaches to analyzing, discovering, and designing both plant-based ingredients and foods to better address unmet customer needs and tastes,” Leonard said in a statement. “I look forward to leading this business as we strengthen our position in the market and deepen our organizational focus on commercialization, technology development, and growth.”
Motif’s year in review
Earlier this year, Motif found itself facing off against plant-based food giant Impossible Foods, Inc. The California-based company sued the startup, claiming that Motif’s fake meat was too similar to its own patented version. Both companies use a heme-based product to create their fake meat. In response, Motif filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, arguing that Impossible's patent should be invalidated. The legal battles are still ongoing.
As economic conditions worsened in the first half of this year, Motif was one of the Greater Boston companies to make layoffs, FoodNavigator-USA first reported. A company spokesperson declined to share the number of employees impacted, per FoodNavigator, but cited the “current economic conditions” as a factor in their decision.
The food technology company also launched its first products and brought on new funding in May. The company now sells plant-based beef, pork and chicken burger patties to foodservice providers, distributors, and retailers with private labels.
The company’s new investment came from FootPrint Coalition Ventures, a firm co-founded by actor Robert Downey Jr., Steve Levin and Jonathan Schulhof. At the time, McIntyre declined to share the funding amount with BostInno. The company said its funding from previous Series A and B rounds totaled $345 million.
Motif launched as a spinout from Ginkgo Bioworks in early 2019 and operates out of a lab-office facility in Boston’s Innovation and Design Building. The company is building a 65,000-square-foot research and development center in Northborough and plans to open some of this space by the end of 2022.
