Former Impossible Foods executive joins Yali Bio

Don DiMasi joins Yali Bio as SVP of Engineering & Biomanufacturing

OCTOBER_30_2023_PRESS_RELEASE

Pictured: Don DiMasi, PhD., new Senior Vice President of Engineering & Biomanufacturing at Yali Bio; photo credit: Yali Bio

SAN FRANCISCO, California — California-based food tech company Yali Bio announces bioeconomy leader Dr. Don DiMasi as its new Senior Vice President of Engineering & Biomanufacturing. DiMasi is the first to fill this new role at Yali Bio, which engineers precision fermented lipids and fats for the growing plant-based industry.

Yali Bio’s mission is to create better fats for use in alt-dairy products like butter, cheese and ice cream. The company ferments yeast to turn carbon-neutral feedstocks into a variety of high-quality, nutritious fats with a far lower environmental impact than traditional animal agriculture can provide. These designer fats can be used by food companies to create innovative products or improve the ones they already have in order to increase nutrition, improve taste and texture, lower costs and reduce carbon footprints.

“Don will lead our engineering and bio-manufacturing efforts as we’re entering an exciting new phase of technology scale up and manufacturing of our designer-fat ingredients.  Don’s significant experiences scaling up fermentation processes economically to commercial volumes are recognized broadly in the industry, and we are very pleased to have him joining Yali Bio,” says Yali Bio CEO and Founder Yulin Lu.

DiMasi’s role will focus on building biomanufacturing capacity and process development so that Yali Bio can meet the growing demand for its products. In the coming months, the company plans to deliver its versatile offerings to a growing list of interested clients and manufacturing partners.

“Biomanufacturing at scale is a key success metric for fermentation-based food ingredients, I’m looking forward to scaling up Yali Bio's fats, and enabling the business into the next phase of growth,” says DiMasi, who started in his role as SVP on Monday, October 16.

DiMasi was recruited to Yali Bio due to his professional accomplishments and role as a key contributor to the bioeconomy sector. His leadership in industrial bioprocessing has shaped transformational companies for over three decades. He was recently recognized as one of the bioeconomy’s most outstanding leaders (source: The Bioeconomy 500 for 2023, The Digest).

“DiMasi joining Yali Bio is a key milestone in the natural progress of our business, and we’re excited to work with him,” says Yali Bio Advisory Council member Jonathan Wolfson who led the recruitment effort.

DiMasi previously served as Senior Vice President of Engineering and Process Development for Impossible Foods from 2015 to 2019, where he designed and built its innovative fermentation, downstream processing, and plant-based food manufacturing facilities.

Impossible Foods changed the way people think about alternative meat and ushered in the alt-meat revolution by creating realistic animal-free meats. During DiMasi’s tenure at Impossible, the company launched its signature product, the Impossible Burger, and rolled out the Impossible Whopper with Burger King.

DiMasi has served in similar roles at C16 Biosciences, Brightseed, Bond Pet Foods, and Solazyme (now Corbion), where he supported the creation of a sustainable alternative to palm oil, biotech A.I., alt-meat pet food, and algae-derived biofuels, ingredients and cosmetics. He has also recently consulted for Synonym Biotechnologies and Hawkwood Biotech Partners.

DiMasi received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate in chemical engineering from M.I.T., Tufts and U.V.A., respectively, and a master’s in executive leadership from the University of San Diego.

DiMasi is the most recent addition to Yali Bio’s growing team of scientists, engineers and business leaders. Together, the entire Yali Bio team is focused on one goal: a delicious, sustainable future.