Alex Worker

Alex Worker is leading the charge in turning Aotearoa into the “eco valley” for the South Pacific, doing for the future of food what Silicon Valley has done for the future of technology.

“New Zealand has a great future ahead utilising food technology to deliver excellent nutrition to more people that doesn’t need to cost our land, seas and biodiversity,” he says. 

Back in 2008, when lab-grown meat still sounded like something out of science fiction, Worker completed a first-class honours year at the University of Auckland Business School. It was a key turning point in his career, and one that helped lay the groundwork for his current successes. “It was a great, intense year of study that got me onto the Fonterra graduate doorstep,” he says, acknowledging the many “memorable professors and friends” he connected with. 

After his studies, Worker joined Fonterra to work in its global trade and ingredients business units, leaving to complete an MBA before re-joining the company again in China. For over a decade he worked across marketing, sales, strategy and management positions, learning from “big food” and testing innovative solutions. While in Asia, Worker also helped to establish the New Zealand Business Roundtable in China and acted as a Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum. 

Eventually, he caught the “technology and ventures bug”, which drove him toward the future-focused portfolio he has today. After taking up a role as a consultant for Impossible Foods, and leading the local launch of their plant-based meats, Worker founded Future Food Aotearoa. The non-profit brings together New Zealand’s leading food technology companies and entrepreneurial founders with the hopes of accelerating the industry in a sustainable direction. 

The main thing Worker has learned from his time in the food business is that you can “design for serendipity” with the right mix of ingredients. “Lots of good energy and executable ideas come together when you put the right people in the right place at the right time,” he says. Collaboration remains at the core of his work – he sits across a portfolio of food tech companies, all of which are focused on creating “a more sustainable, decarbonised and nutritious food system”.

Since returning home from Hong Kong and China, Worker has moved to Queenstown and has taken on another role of which he is immensely proud: husband to his wife Elisa and father to two young multicultural children. Understanding culture and language has always been extremely important to him, shaping his values and ambitions. When asked about the people who have shaped and influenced him, whānau stand at the top of the list. “They have all been influential to me, emphasising education and public good,” he says.

Worker is now focused on enabling fellow food tech entrepreneurs and helping take New Zealand innovations further afield. That includes creating new sources of protein-rich nutrition from microalgae, transforming fruit waste from orchards into novel desserts, and supporting the development of relevant policy for local and central government. Importantly, he’s also learning how to grow seasonal fruits and veggies with the kids in Glenorchy.