CEO MONTHLY | Female CEO of the Year Awards 2024 14 Founded in 2014, Oobli is a venture-backed food biotechnology and consumer products company making waves across the industry for its breakthrough sweet protein platform. On a mission to tackle obesity and diabetes, sweet proteins are a health game-changer as a sweetener with no glycaemic impact or effect on the gut microbiome and very low calories. Produced via precision fermentation, Oobli sweet proteins are both cost-effective as a sweetener and climate-friendly, saving land, water and carbon compared to farmed sugarcane. Oobli is the first and only company in the world regulated to sell sweet proteins as a sweetener. Oobli makes its own protein-sweetened consumer products and partners with multinational CPG companies to rehabilitate their foods and products by replacing sugar and sugar alternatives with sweet proteins. We speak with Ali Wing below, CEO of Oobli, following her recent success in the Female CEO of the Year Awards 2024. about the opportunity of sweet proteins, Ali jumped at the chance to join the team and has never looked back. Prior to joining Oobli, Ali has had a career specializing at the intersection of healthy living and technology. Ali started her career at Nike, progressing through a variety of brand management and corporate development roles. After earning her MBA and a Doctor of Law from Northwestern University in Chicago, Ali moved to the Silicon Valley where she led growth, brands, and products across a variety of technology companies. Most recently, Ali was the Chief Consumer Officer at Neue Health (formerly named “Bright Health”) where she was focused on creating better access and affordability in the US healthcare system. “I’m a customer-centric, digitally savvy transformational C-suite executive with a track record of innovation, brand leadership, and data-driven growth critical for driving enterprise-scale,” says Ali. “Drawn to disruption, I have split my career between building venture and PEbacked growth companies and transforming within larger, public companies. Oobli’s sweet protein platform and our mission to rehabilitate sweet foods to help tackle obesity and diabetes is a perfect culmination of my experiences and interests.” Ali has helped build multiple companies and partnered with teams to deliver exits. She shares, however, that she is most proud of how many employees have followed her across companies and industries. “Building environments for great talent to flourish is absolutely what I’m most proud of in my career. Nothing feels better than knowing that when you call someone to come work for you, they are excited at the chance to do it again,” Ali says. Ali shares that whilst there has been progress in making space for women during her career, the progress has been slow. “In spite of the increasing number of women in middlemanagement positions, there continues to be a lack of representation in leadership roles, particularly CEOs,” says Ali. “It is still more “push than pull” for women. I believe that not only time and network will improve this but that more women need to be given the opportunity to take on revenueproducing roles earlier in their careers, not just cost-center roles. Revenue-producing roles that directly impact a company’s bottom line give employees both valuable experiences but also critical visibility as a future leader.” For women seeking to succeed within this industry, Ali provides some invaluable parting advice. “Take comfort that there is no one “right” way to build your career,” she says. “Have the confidence to make changes when you feel there are better environments for you to succeed. And remember that no one enters a new role having all of the requisite skills; if you do, you’re not stretching yourself enough! Lean into the areas for growth and have the confidence to take on roles knowing that you don’t know everything yet but that you will learn it as you go when you have gaps to fill. Last but certainly not least, remember that your network will have as much to do with your long-term success as your functional skills – figure out throughout your career how to make time for both. In the end, the “how” will matter as much as the ‘what” in your results.” Contact: Ali Wing Web Address: oobli.com Most Innovative Food Technology CEO 2024 (California): Ali Wing In 2021, Jason Ryder, Founder and CTO of Oobli, and his investors approached Ali Wing with the opportunity to form a partnership in commercialising Oobli. Excited
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTY1MjM3