Featured speakers

A transformative leader in precision fermentation, Mark Warner is dedicated to delivering first-of-kind production capabilities for the alternative protein industry, at scale, driving down costs and increasing yield. Prior to co-founding Liberation Bioindustries, Mark spent 15 years leading design, construction, and scale-up of novel protein manufacturing, and held executive positions at Impossible Food’s as its Chief Engineering Officer; Solazyme as Sr Vice President of Engineering; and Harris Group as its Sr. Vice President of Process, among others. Mark also authored the recent industrial biotechnology commercialization handbook – ‘How to make proteins without animals and fuels and chemicals without crude oil’.

Mark Warner is co-founder and CEO of Liberation Bioindustries, a biomanufacturing platform bringing purpose-built precision fermentation capacity online in multiple geographies including Richmond Indiana where they will have a facility nearing completion and development of additional projects in Saudi Arabia and Australia.

Over the last few decades, industrial biotechnology has utilized a network of legacy fermentation facilities that were built decades ago for other processes and have struggled to bring novel products to market that meet cost and quality requirements. This session will cover the benefits of fit-for-purpose biomanufacturing capacity and how it is critical to allow industrial biotechnology reach its potential. Mark will share lessons learned from Liberation Bioindustries’ current project being constructed in Richmond, Indiana.

Mark Warner
Co-Founder and CEO at Liberation Bioindustries

Read Steve Lewis’ bio on the 2025 Awardees page.

Steve Lewis
POET, LLC