Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award winning chef and a dedicated advocate for building a healthier, more sustainable food system. He founded Wholesome Crave to create responsibly sourced, plant-based food that tastes amazing and does amazing things. A portion of sales from Wholesome Crave products go to support Wholesome Wave, the non-profit he founded with the late actor Paul Newman, with the goal of making healthy food available to all.
With over 40 years of food industry experience, Mike has helped change the industry through his support of businesses big and small, and his dedication to charitable causes. He has served as CEO of both Weight Watchers Gourmet Food Company and Country Gourmet Foods, and was the co-founder of Wolfgang Puck Soups. He was a CEO of Newman’s Own, Inc., founded by Paul Newman in 1982, and was a personal friend. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of his SeriousFun Children’s Network.
Named one of Bon Appetit Magazine’s Shapers of the Future of Food, Will has dedicated his career to help drive sustainable food and agriculture as well as social entrepreneurship. In 2010, he received the Oslo Business for Peace Award. He serves on advisory boards for the NVCA Corporate Venturing Group, a Gates Foundation funded project for on-site sanitation, FairTrade USA, the Culinary Institute of America, and is an Executive Committee member for the Berkeley Food Institute.