Meet the Team: The CMMC Staff
Chris Clark
CMMC Co-Founder and Director
For the last ten years Chris has worked to build humane and forward-thinking organizations aligned with purpose. As a co-founding member of the CMMC, he is responsible for stewarding the ongoing operations of the CMMC as it’s evolved from novel idea to creative force within the field of cultivated meat. His speciality is bringing diverse people from across disciplines to imagine and create together, practically, for impact. He lives in Seattle with his partner Mary, where he performs locally on screen and stage.
Simon Kahan
CMMC Co-Founder
Simon is a computer scientist whose relationship to the cultivated meat field began in 2017 with the question, "How might computational modeling help get quality products to market faster?" Pursuing an answer led him to propose and co-found the CMMC where he continues to volunteer, providing administrative and technical leadership. When he is not staring into the soul of his laptop, he can be found exercising his spirit with Dg Blu, his Pyrenees-sheepdog mutt, cycling between “complementary protein” conferences, or experimenting with a new cooking recipe.
Eileen McNamara
Project Manager
Eileen is a neuroscientist by training but was drawn to the cellular agriculture space by a desire to fight food insecurity with science and a dedication to nurturing a collaborative scientific community along the way. Her previous roles include fellowships with the Cellular Agriculture Society and Good Food Institute, technical program manager at Mission Barns, and project manager at Ohayo Valley. As the CMMC project manager, Eileen is spearheading the Bioreactor Evaluation Toolkit project, managing interdisciplinary workflows, creating strategic action plans, and increasing CMMC engagement. She is based in the Bay Area and enjoys hiking with her dogs on the weekends.
Sruthi Sadanand
Partnerships Development Manager
Sruthi is an active strategic thinker with a vision to educate, network and connect with resonating minds keen to build a sustainable future. She is experienced in new product development, setting up go-to-market strategy, connecting with the right strategic partners in the Alternative Protein space. Her key role at CMMC is to connect with resonating partners and to build strategic synergies with CMMC to help in solving challenges faced by cultivated meat companies in an economic and sustainable manner. Being a people's person, she loves to go on coffee-meets as conversations excite her. In her free time, she loves to sing with her ukelele.
Nzuki Waita
Grants and Development Advisor
Nzuki (Principal) has over 25 years of nonprofit management experience covering the US, Africa, and Asia in areas related to program design & management; resource mobilization, and grants management. He holds a B.Ed in Economics from Kenyatta University in Kenya and an MBA in Management from the Edinburgh Business School in Scotland, United Kingdom. He has a distinguished track record as a nonprofit leader with the Human Needs Project, International Trade Centre of the United Nations, Millennium Promise Alliance, Touch Foundation, Development Alternatives Inc.(DAI), and diverse globally active business organizations working on USAID, DFID UN, Red Cross and other projects. He has forged productive collaborations with a broad range of US, African, Asian, and EU business, government, foundation, and nonprofit partners, and continues to support our resource mobilization efforts at the CMMC. Nzuki enjoys cycling and hiking when not working tirelessly on grant proposals!