Local Bounti names former Amazon executive as new CEO

Local Bounti is shaking up its executive team, naming former Freshly CEO and Amazon executive Anna Fabrega as its next CEO.

Fabrega will begin the new role June 5, and Local Bounti's current co-CEOs and co-founders, Craig Hurlbert and Travis Joyner, will shift to leadership roles as senior vice president of strategy and chief technology officer, respectively, while maintaining seats on the company's board of directors, according to a news release.

"We started Local Bounti with a vision to help solve global food shortages through a thoughtful and capital efficient approach that maximizes our unit-level economics through efficiencies driven by our Stack & Flow Technology," Hurlbert said in the release. "With Anna as our new CEO, we are poised to expand our reach as we execute on our growth strategy."

Fabrega brings more than two decades of operations, consumer goods and food production experience — and a track record of leading and scaling businesses — to Local Bounti, according to the release.

"I grew up in agriculture — my dad still runs a farm in Panama where he grows teak and coffee — and I believe food should be as local and sustainable as possible," Fabrega said in the release. "Local Bounti represents the most innovative and promising approach to getting customers fresh, high-quality, flavorful food from our farms to store shelves."

Related news: Local Bounti shares ambitious expansion and sustainability goals

Fabrega said she sees a “huge opportunity” for Local Bounti to expand its customer base and grow the business by offering more products in more locations.

"We are thrilled for Anna to join Local Bounti as our new CEO. Her depth in the retail sector and direct experience scaling up operations is a perfect fit for our business," Joyner said in the release. "Anna has a keen understanding of how to execute in this operation's intensive and technologically complex environment, and we look forward to taking Local Bounti's product offering to the next level."

At Freshly, a direct-to-consumer fresh-prepared food subscription service, Fabrega succeeded the company's founder as CEO and led the rollout of new product lines to meet customer demand, the release said. Prior to Freshly, Fabrega spent nearly a decade at Amazon, most recently leading and scaling Amazon Go — the company's "just walk out" convenience stores — and the Amazon Kitchen private-label fresh-prepared foods operation to dozens of locations across the U.S.

Before joining Amazon Go's founding team, Fabrega held leadership roles within Amazon, including overseeing the company's sports and outdoors e-commerce business. She has also led large-scale initiatives at Microsoft and Stripes Convenience Stores. 

Fabrega serves on the board of APEI, a for-profit higher education provider, and is on the board of trustees for the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta.