Imperfect Foods Hires 3 Amazon Execs to Boost C-Suite

Company brings on COO, CFO and chief merchandising officer

4/12/2022

Imperfect Foods Garners B Corp Certification

Imperfect Foods has rounded out its executive leadership team with three appointments.

Online grocer Imperfect Foods has appointed three ex-Amazon executives to its C-suite. Kelly Nigh will serve as chief merchandising officer, Corey Farrell as COO and Hetu Patel as CFO.

Nigh led merchandising, sourcing and technology teams for 11 years at Amazon, and will be responsible for working with Imperfect Foods' network of suppliers to build an assortment of products that helps reduce food waste, including a private label line.

Farrell spent 15 years at Amazon, most recently running multi-billion dollar consumable and grocery businesses. And Patel managed one of Amazon’s private brand divisions and also served as finance director for Amazon Advertising and Prime membership.

"Hetu, Corey, and Kelly each have exceptional backgrounds in rapidly scaling e-commerce businesses," said Dan Park, CEO of San Francisco-based Imperfect Foods. "Combined, that expertise will allow us to grow the business, while simultaneously improving the customer experience and deepening our commitment to reducing food waste.

“By bringing in new best-in-class talent, we're able to continue on our mission in a meaningful and reinvigorated way, further optimizing our internal operations and optimizing the customer experience,” Park continued.

Park stepped into the CEO role in January and previously served as CEO of BuildDirect Technologies, a Canadian online marketplace for building materials. His three-decade career also includes stints at Amazon and Target.

Imperfect Foods is on a mission to eliminate food waste by building a better food system, working directly with farmers and producers to rescue, redistribute and develop goods across multiple grocery categories.

The company recently partnered with brewing company New Belgium to make the Citrus Rescue IPA beer to not only educate beer drinkers about the state of the broken food system, but also to change the perception of the aesthetics of food and encourage more people to take steps to reduce food waste. The beer is brewed using oranges that may not be “perfect” by society's standards due to little scars and blemishes, but are just as healthy and delicious.

Founded in 2015, Imperfect Foods achieved its Certified B Corp status in November 2021. To date, the company has rescued more than 150 million pounds of food from lesser outcomes.