Travis Larson is an experienced Research & Development Executive, with over 20 years of experience at Kraft Heinz. Travis is currently the Head of Research & Development for Kraft Heinz’s joint venture with The Not Company. This group is Kraft’s artificial intelligence unit, and is pioneering new ways of development to revolutionize the way plant-based food products are created. He is an Award-winning CPG innovator with longevity and upward career progression at Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) – recognized for pioneering achievements in previously unexplored areas, the benefits of which continue to cascade throughout the organization. Recipient of five granted US patents, and three more that are pending. A vested cross-functional leader with career accomplishments spanning direct accountability across several technical functions, including product development, packaging development, robotics automation, quality systems, and processing development, as an individual contributor or manager of teams with up to 29 people. Additionally, he has worked in 17 different countries as part of his global responsibilities. He also completed an 18 month expatriate assignment in Brazil that ended with a new greenfield manufacturing facility. Another notable achievement was Travis’ co-founding of the evolv start-up incubator, which provided critical pipeline-filling technology and business models to Kraft Heinz. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering in 2003, followed by a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing from Loyola University Chicago in 2011. In his spare time Travis is on the Board of Directors for a non-profit organization comprised of over 1,000 fathers and daughters in the Northshore of Chicago, is a youth soccer coach, and enjoys the outdoors. He lives in Glenview Illinois with his wife and three daughters.
