Indoor agriculture company Local Bounti says that Craig Hurlbert, its co-founder and board chairman, will reprise his role of CEO.
Hurlbert previously served as Local Bounti’s co-CEO from November 2021 to June 2023 and as senior vice president of strategy from June to December 2023, according to a news release.
Hurlbert founded Local Bounti’s predecessor company in August 2018. Before leading Local Bounti, Hurlbert co-founded growth equity and management firm BrightMark Partners LLC and held various leadership roles at TAS Energy, General Electric Co. and North American Energy Services.
Hurlbert succeeds Anna Fabrega, who left the company as part of a broader restructuring to optimize its organizational structure, according to the release. Local Bounti said it expects to save approximately $3.2 million annually with these moves.
“As we continue to scale this business, we are working diligently to achieve break-even cash flow,” Hurlbert said in the release. “Our primary objective is to drive greater efficiency at every level of the business through optimization of our cost structure and further flattening of our organization to enable faster decision making and enhance strategic initiatives.”
Local Bounti said it expanded production capacity in 2023 with the final integration of its stack and flow technology at its Georgia facility. The integration helped double its run-rate production out of the Georgia facility to support its off-take agreement with a large club customer, the company said.
Local Bounti expects seeding to begin in its Washington facility early in January and seeding in its Texas facility will likely to begin in late January, according to the release.
The company said it expects its full-year 2023 sales to be approximately $28 million with about 44% year-over-year growth.
