About Us
WE DESIGN
AND PRODUCE
MATERIALS FOR
PERFORMANCE
AND IMPACT
Modern Meadow is a dedicated team guided by a specific mission: to transform the material world without compromising nature. Everything we do is rooted in our vision to make tomorrow better than today.
Operating at the forefront of biotechnology, we believe that multidisciplinary collaboration between design, biology, and material science can lead to smarter real-world problem solving. We design materials from the molecular level to deliver design and performance with environmental impact.
Our Team
Executive Leadership
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Andras
ForgacsCo-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Andras Forgacs, Co-Founder and CEO of Modern Meadow, is a serial entrepreneur in deep tech and life sciences. He is leading the company into a new age of biofabrication, working to transform the world of materials by unlocking the power of nature to offer new design possibilities. Andras is also co-Founder of 3D bioprinting company, Organovo. Previously he held positions with an international technology-focused venture fund, McKinsey & Co. and Citigroup. Andras is founding chairman of the international non-profit Resolution Project and was a Kauffman Fellow with the Center for Venture Education. He holds an MBS from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Harvard University. Named as a 2018 Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, Modern Meadow enables new design and performance possibilities and partners with some of the world’s thought-leading brands to transform the material world and design for a healthier planet.
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David
WilliamsonChief Technology Officer
Dave Williamson has an extensive background at technology companies that include a variety of roles at DuPont and Kraton Polymers. Prior to joining Modern Meadow, David spent over a decade at DuPont building and leading a variety of technology organizations that included manufacturing technology, process development, long and short-term chemical and biotechnology research organizations and bioactives strategy in corporate research and development. David was most recently the Chief of Staff for the Office of the Chief Science and Technology Officer at DuPont, spending time at Kraton Polymers as a research scientist prior to that. Since joining Modern Meadow, Dave has been responsible for developing and executing a commercially focused and scale-able technology strategy based on a combination of biotechnology, chemistry, material science and engineering development. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University.
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Susan
SchoferVP, Business Development
Susan is a seasoned product and business development leader with over 15 years experience in the biotechnology, renewable chemicals and materials industries. Prior to joining Modern Meadow, Susan spent ten years in Silicon Valley, where she worked at Amyris to develop and commercialize innovative renewable performance materials products and before that at Symyx Technologies, developing and using automated workflows to accelerate discovery and commercialization of new catalysts and polymers. Earlier, Susan was a management consultant with Mitchell Madison Group. For Modern Meadow, Susan has put in place multiple collaboration agreements with leading luxury and performance brand partners, securing the company as a leading innovator in the advanced materials space. Susan received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Brown University and her Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech, and she was a National Science Foundation International Postdoctoral Fellow at Stockholm and Uppsala Universities.
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Rex
LiuVP, Finance
Rex is a finance and accounting leader with over 15 years of accounting & financial management experience working with and at emerging and high growth manufacturing companies. At Modern Meadow, Rex is leading the company through several successful financial partnerships as it makes its way to a commercial launch. He spent most of his professional career in Silicon Valley most recently at Tesla Motors where he was part of the team that took the company public. While there, Rex built and oversaw the controller ship team as well as implemented the financial systems to support the Model S launch from customer reservations to manufacturing and vehicle delivery. Prior to Tesla, Rex worked at Gilead Sciences, where he supported the financial growth of the company from $870million to $7billion in revenues. A CPA, he began his professional career at Ernst & Young serving life sciences, tech and entrepreneurial clients. Rex received his honors bachelor’s degree in immunology as well as an MBA from the University of Toronto.
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Luck
DookchitraVP, People
Luck is an experienced People and Operations leader with over 15 years of experience in Human Resources and Account Management across the technology, finance, and pharmaceutical advertising industries. She believes strongly in creating enduring and progressive workplace cultures and helping every employee reach their greatest potential through learning, opportunity, and action. As an early employee of Spotify, she built and led the Human Resources function across North America and previously also oversaw People and Culture initiatives at LimeWire, Compass, and Flatiron Health. Luck is an iPEC-trained professional coach and a trusted HR professional, coach, confidante, and advisor. Under Luck’s leadership, Modern Meadow has grown to over 80 dedicated individuals from various backgrounds to build a team guided by the belief that everything we do is rooted in human ingenuities to make tomorrow better than today. Luck received her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Psychology from Princeton University and minored in East Asian Studies.
To learn more about our employment opportunities, email careers@modernmeadow.com.
Board of Directors
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Anna
BakstAnna Bakst is Chief Executive Officer and Brand President, Kate Spade. In this role, she is responsible for leading all aspects of the brand with a focus on driving global expansion and innovation. Ms. Bakst has over 25 years of experience managing and growing global fashion brands. Until January 2017, she served as Michael Kors, Group President of Accessories and Footwear where she led the global design, production and merchandising teams, as well as domestic wholesale distribution. Prior to Michael Kors, Ms. Bakst had a 12-year career at Donna Karan International where she held various positions including President of Accessories and Footwear. Ms. Bakst received an MBA from Stanford University and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. She is also an Associate Professor at Pratt Institute's Design Management program.
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Bart
SwansonBart Swanson is currently an advisor to Horizon Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Hong Kong with a focus on disruptive technologies. Mr. Swanson is on the boards of Zoom Video Communications Inc., Impossible Foods, Sentient Technologies, Benevolent AI, Hola Networks, Leo Labs Inc, and several other technology companies in Europe, Israel, and the US. Bart was previously a director at Onavo, DeepMind, Bitstrips, Crosswise.com, Viv and from 2015-17 a non-executive board member at MTG AB. Bart received an MBA from The Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Fellow at the Lauder Institute and has a BA in History from the University of Southern California.
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David
ShawDavid Evans Shaw is Managing Partner of Black Point Group, with wide-ranging interests in technology companies and public service. His business creation, leadership, investment and board experience includes IDEXX Laboratories, Ikaria Pharmaceuticals, Itaconix, Skinetics, Cyteir, Cytyc, Physion, Venrock Associates, MyTaskIt, New Mountain Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, the film Second Century Stewardship, and others. He has also served as a strategy consultant to consumer products, food and agribusiness companies.
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Dennis M.
FentonDr. Fenton brings more than forty years of experience in biopharmaceutical drug development and commercialization to this position. During a 25-year tenure at Amgen, he served as executive vice president of operations and held numerous additional executive leadership roles in operations, process development, sales, marketing, research, engineering and manufacturing. Since retiring from Amgen in 2008, Dr. Fenton has served as an independent biotechnology consultant and serves on several public and private company boards including Portola Pharmaceuticals, Pfenex, Sienna Biopharmaceuticals, and Omniox. Dr. Fenton previously served on the boards of directors of Kythera, Amira, Hospira, Dendreon Corp., Xenoport and Genzyme Corporation. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute. Dr. Fenton received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Manhattan College and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Rutgers University.
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Gabor
ForgacsGabor is a theoretical physicist turned bioengineer, innovator and entrepreneur. A pioneer in building living structures using bioprinting, Gabor is the scientific founder of Organovo and Modern Meadow. The technologies he has developed have been applied to drug development and testing and tissue engineering of biomaterials. He is the George H. Vineyard Professor Emeritus of Biological Physics at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Scientific Director of the Shipley Centre for Innovation at Clarkson University. He was trained as a physicist at the Roland Eotvos University, Budapest, Hungary. He also has a degree in biology. Gabor has been recognized by numerous awards, in particular, he was named as one of the "100 most innovative people in business in 2010" by FastCompany.
