Tom Mastrobuoni
Tom is the Chief Investment Officer for Big Idea Ventures (“BIV”), a New York and Singapore-based venture capital firm. BIV currently operates the New Protein Fund making seed stage investments in alternative protein companies and Generation Food Rural Partners which partners with US universities to commercialize intellectual property in the areas of food, protein and agriculture.
Prior to joining BIV, Tom was a Founding Partner and Chief Financial Officer of Tyson Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Tyson Foods. While at Tyson, Tom led investments in Beyond Meat, Clear Labs, FoodLogiQ, Future Meat Technologies, Memphis Meats, MycoTechnology, New Wave Foods, Tovala and BIV’s New Protein Fund.
Prior to Tyson Foods, Tom held senior leadership positions at a number of New York-based private equity funds, including Advance Venture Partners, RedBird Capital Partners and Palladium Equity Partners. Tom has over 20 years of experience in alternative asset management and finance.
Tom began his career in public accounting and received a BS in Accountancy from Villanova University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (NY) and holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation from the AICPA. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and their four children.
Tobias Streich
Raised and educated between Europe and South-America, Tobias has been developing ESG supply chain monitoring programs over the last 8 years for global FMCG brands.
Bridging between the reality of supply chains, the complexity of global manufacturing organizations and modern enterprise IT systems, he has become an export in designing and implementing successful responsible sourcing programs at scale.
Douglas Lynch
Max Von Poelnitz
Maximilian is an entrepreneur, investor, and start up advisor. As an Investment Director at DSM Venturing, the corporate venture capital arm of Royal DSM, he leads the west coast hub and invests in US based start ups in food tech, bio tech, women’s health, and personalized nutrition. Prior to DSM, Maximilian founded a venture capital firm called New Territory Ventures focused on supply chain tech and alternative protein investments. He built his first company in 2011 following a business school degree at INSEAD. His third start up was funded by Alibaba in China and Delivery Hero, a German Publicly traded Institutional investor; the start up was sold to a Chinese conglomerate in 2020.
Maximilian is passionate about food tech and B2B start up innovation and has been featured on CNN, CNBC and Forbes as an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist.
Jesse Stanley
Since 2009, Jesse Stanley has been on a journey, with his seven brothers, to unleash the healing powers of botanical wellness, starting with the then little-known cannabinoid, CBD.
This endeavor led the brothers to search for the optimal genetics, ultimately discovering them in wild hemp that grew across middle America. These genetics would later become the basis of their hemp-based CBD products, named after a brave little girl, Charlotte Figi who struggled with catastrophic Epilepsy.
In 2013, the world was introduced to the Stanley Brothers' mission when CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta featured Charlotte’s life-changing story, which ultimately became the tipping point for thousands of medical refugees to move to Colorado to acquire the Brothers’ tincture. Charlotte’s story challenged public perception, changed laws, ignited research, and accelerated the CBD industry both in the United States and across the world.
As the world took notice, the company rapidly expanded, and in 2018, Charlotte’s Web completed an IPO and with the 2020 acquisition of Abacus Health, Charlotte’s Web has now become the global leader in hemp-based CBD products.
Jesse Stanley continues to advance his brothers’ founding mission with upcoming projects from Stanley Brothers USA, channeling the beneficial uses of the whole cannabis plant with all cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes working together in conjunction with other functional botanicals for targeted wellness outcomes. As CEO, he leads a brand centered on creating an even larger footprint for all cannabis users whose focus is on health, wellness, and balance to drive their daily lives.
Jacques Tortoroli
Jacques Tortoroli is the CEO of Charlotte’s Web, the market-leading pioneer of the CBD industry. He has served on the Charlotte’s Web Board of Directors since November 2019.
Prior to Charlotte’s Web, Mr. Tortoroli served as the President of Bacardi International Limited as well as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer in his six-year tenure at Bacardi Ltd, the world’s largest privately held spirits company, where he was responsible for the company’s finance, strategy, operations, e-commerce, data insights, and global supply chain.
Mr. Tortoroli has provided global executive leadership for some the world’s top brands. He has led global finance, mergers & acquisitions, and strategic partnerships through various senior executive roles at Viacom Inc., Young & Rubicam Inc., PepsiCo Inc., and KPMG.
In October 2019, Mr. Tortoroli was named the Executive in Residence and Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Student Career Services at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Mr. Tortoroli is also Chair of the Board and Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of Gameday Gateway, a certified Women’s Business Enterprise. Mr. Tortoroli holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York.
Rogier Rooswinkel
