Impossible Foods, based in Redwood City, California, has made two additions to its leadership team as it prepares for rapid growth.
Veteran HR executive Leilani Gayles is joining Impossible Foods as chief people officer and will oversee people operations, including talent acquisition, compensation and rewards, talent and leadership development. She also will be responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion and strategic people initiatives to support the company’s commitment to creating the best work experience for all.
Impossible Foods’ finance leader and interim CFO, David Borecky, has been promoted to the position of CFO. Borecky, who originally joined the company as chief accounting officer, has led the accounting, tax and financial operations of the organization for more than two years, during which time Impossible Foods secured a total of $700 million in new funding.
“Leilani and David are extraordinary leaders who share our vision of turning back the clock on climate change by transforming the global food system,” said Dr. Patrick O. Brown, Impossible Foods’ CEO and founder.
Impossible Foods’ business has scaled dramatically since early 2020, including an expansion into Canada, a more than 150-fold growth of its retail footprint and the launch of Impossible Sausage Made From Plants in restaurants, including 15,000 Starbucks locations. In total, the company has increased production of Impossible Burger more than 10-fold since early 2019, with plans to introduce Impossible Chicken Nuggets Made From Plants and other new SKUs in restaurants and grocery stores this fall.
Gayles joins Impossible Foods after a decade at the San Francisco Giants, where she served as SVP and chief people officer and was responsible for leading talent management, staffing, employee relations, compensation and performance management for the entire organization.
Prior to her role with the Giants, Gayles worked in the human resources field in various environments, ranging from hyper-growth start-ups to large technology companies. She has focused her career on helping organizations achieve scale while creating a highly engaging and productive workplace where employees can do the best work of their careers.
“This is an organization that’s united around a shared mission and isn’t afraid to take big risks in the name of innovation,” Gayles said. “Because of that, I look forward to continuing the innovation in how our people work, live and develop in their careers.”
Gayles holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in organizational behavior from the University of San Francisco. She is a senior fellow serving the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Leadership Forum, a network of regional leaders committed to serving the common good.
Borecky has been leading Impossible Foods’ accounting, tax and financial operations since 2019, when he joined as chief accounting officer. Before that, he served as the controller at Stripe and held senior management positions in finance and corporate development at Square, where he played a key role in Square’s successful IPO, among his many other responsibilities.
“Meeting the unprecedented demand for Impossible products while continuing to invest in R&D and technology is what fuels our long-term growth,” Borecky said. “As CFO, my goal is to build an efficient, data-driven and scalable finance operation that delivers on the promise of our mission for consumers, investors and the planet.”
Borecky holds an honors degree in business from Wilfrid Laurier University, where he still serves on the Dean’s Advisory Committee, and a master’s degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University. He is a Canadian Chartered Accountant and a U.S. Certified Public Accountant. He also serves as an audit chair and board member at agriculture biotechnology startup MustGrow Biologics.
