Dr.-Ing. Bernhard van Lengerich is founder and CEO of Seeding The Future, a private foundation focusing on equitable and sustainable global food systems enabling safe and nutritious food supply. 

He is the former first Chief Science Officer and VP Strategic Technology Development at General Mills. After apprenticeships as artisan baker and pastry chef he studied Food/Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany and completed his Doctoral Thesis with summa cum laude on Systems Analysis. Following his Dissertation, he held positions with increasing responsibility at companies in the US and Europe along the food value chain including Coperion, RJR Nabisco, NJ and Buhler, Switzerland. In 1994 Bernhard joined General Mills, Inc. in Minneapolis. As Chief Science Officer and VP Technology Strategy he was responsible for Science and Technology Development across the company and all product categories. He led General Mill’s Game-Changer Innovation Program and created a novel Technology Venturing initiative, enabling faster and higher impact innovations. Bernhard retired from General Mills in 2015. He is the inventor or co-inventor of over 150 patents, holds a Honorarium Professorship at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany teaching Food Science and Technology, and he is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists in Chicago. Bernhard has been an invited participant in discussions at the White House Office for Science and Technology Policy on global protein security under the Obama administration. In 2016 he joined Beyond Meat as interim CTO and Head of R&D where he led the development of the first Beyond Burger in 2016, and subsequently served on the Board of Beyond Meat until May 2021. Bernhard is the founder and CEO of Seeding The Future, a van Lengerich family Foundation. Its main focus is on incentivizing and supporting impactful innovations to improve food systems to be more climate friendly and equitable leading to food solutions that are safe, nutritious and trusted, with the annual Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge as one of its main initiatives. In addition, Bernhard serves as board member of the German Institute of Food Technology (DIL), as well as in board advisory roles for S2G Ventures, Brightseed Bio, Petri accelerator, and other organizations in North America and Europe.