Dr. Bill Aimutis is Executive Director for the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab (NCFIL) and Co-Director/Chief Operating Officer of the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein. Bill’s teams work with entrepreneurial and multi-national companies in alternative protein, produce, and plant-based research, product development, and scale-up. Bill actively promotes alternative protein policy, marketing, and usage by speaking tonumerous professional forums. Bill received a bachelor’s degree in food science at Purdue University and graduate degrees from Virginia Tech in the Food Science Department. Bill is a Certified Food Scientist, Fellow of the American Dairy Science Association and the Institute of Food Technologists, and a Distinguished Agricultural Alumnus from both Purdue University and Virginia Tech. Additionally, he was awarded an Outstanding Food Science Award from the Food Science Department at Purdue University, and the Ronald O. Ball Lectureship Award from the University of Alberta. Aimutis has served on several industry and university advisory committees and continues to be active on several corporate scientific advisory and managing boards. Bill is listed as an inventor on over 75 US and international patents.