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New NC Food Innovation Lab Director Named 

Julie Mann, new executive director for NCFIL.

With a personal mission of leveraging food science to bring health and wellness to the masses and innovative options to the market, Julie Mann easily steps into her new role as director of the NC Food Innovation Lab.

Mann’s 30 years in food science and technology will benefit NCFIL as she takes the reins of day-to-day management from NCFIL’s Executive Director Bill Aimutis, who has led the lab since its opening in 2019. 

Launches Plant Protein Program  

With degrees in food science and nutrition, Mann’s professional background is impressive. 

She spent 20 years with Hershey in a myriad of roles, from product and technology development to work in innovation and marketing.

“I worked on teams charged with dreaming up the vision for R&D and the future direction in which the company should go,” says Mann. She ended up building a protein program. 

“I know it sounds strange. Hershey is a candy company—why do they need a protein program?” says Mann. “But they saw the health concerns about sugar and fat coming and sought to diversify. Hershey had a health and wellness platform, and I led the protein side, including animal, dairy and plant-based protein.” 

Mann built a team and an incubator model and started developing and marketing protein products. Ten years ago, Hershey was actually a pioneer in this new space. 

Plant Protein Experience Grows 

After her tenure at Hershey, Mann made her mark at Ingredion, where she started a new protein program. The company was focused on sugars, sweeteners and starches but lacked plant protein knowledge or portfolio. At Ingredion, Mann created a program based on pulses, dried beans and legumes, including fava, chickpea, lentil and yellow peas. 

“Ingredion created a new division, and I was the Global Protein Lead,” says Mann. “I worked in Germany, Singapore, China and Thailand, and I had to determine how to sell this totally new category for Ingredion in a market for which knowledge was limited.” 

Building on her knowledge, she pivoted again, to join PURIS Holdings, a smaller, family-owned company, and became the chief innovation officer for its pea and soy protein business, responsible for applications and product development. 

Exploring the independence of entrepreneurship, Mann launched Appropriately Rogue Consulting in 2023 to work more closely with a variety of clients in the food science and innovation space. Soon thereafter, NCFIL became a client. 

Connection to Aimutis 

Although Mann started working with NCFIL in 2023, she has known Aimutis for most of her career. 

“Our resumes follow a similar pattern,” says Mann. “We both worked for large, global corporations and now have landed in higher education.” 

Mann started working with Aimutis in May 2023 under a consultancy agreement, supporting NCFIL operations as well as its collaborative pursuit of a Bezos Earth Fund grant, which led to the creation of the Bezos Center for Sustainable Proteins at NC State. 

Under Mann’s leadership, NCFIL will be a major contributor to the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein’s future success in plant-based proteins. 

Building the Future of Food  

While consulting was a successful endeavor for Mann, she eventually learned she prefers working in a team and with people and is therefore excited about this new opportunity. 

“NCFIL embodies unique expertise, experienced staff and a well-designed pilot facility to carry out a breadth of new research and development projects for clients,” she says. “It is difficult to find all of these complementing capabilities in one spot.”  

Executive Director Aimutis anticipates continued progress for NCFIL with Mann at the helm. 

“Julie will continue building NCFIL’s reputation as a global leader in product development and pilot plant capability,” says Aimutis. “She possesses the essential credentials to undertake this task, and I am excited to see where she can take NCFIL.”

Mann stands ready to drive innovative growth at NCFIL: “NCFIL is thriving in the space of healthier eating, alternative proteins and eating for the planet. We are building the next generation of novel options for the consumer.”

This post was originally published in NC Food Innovation Lab.