Lisa Dyson

Lisa Dyson is an American scientist, physicist, and entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Air Protein, a food tech company, reinventing how food is produced using elements of the air. As one of the companies recognized by the World Economic Forum, Air Protein aims to help sustainably and nutritiously feed 10 billion people by 2050. ^[1][2]

Dr. Dyson’s background includes a variety of business and scientific accomplishments, which have led to raising over $100M across the two companies she co-founded along with Dr. John Reed. She has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from MIT, has conducted research at the University of California, Berkeley, the Lawrence National Laboratory, Stanford University, University of California San Francisco, and Princeton University. In addition, she has worked as a strategy management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group for Fortune 500 companies, identifying solutions in areas of operations, cost management, market expansion, and post-merger integration. In 2016, her experience gained the attention of a global audience as she took the TED Stage to discuss how A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food, reaching over 1.5 million people.

Lisa has received numerous awards and recognition, including being named as one of the 100 Most Creative People from Fast Company 2017, one of the Top 100 Female Founders by Inc Magazine 2019, and a 2024 Bloomberg’s New Economy Catalyst. Among the recognition the companies she co-founded have received include 2024’s DoD Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program Award, 2024 America’s #1 FoodTech Company from TIME and Statista, and 2020’s World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

Dr. Dyson is also the co-founder of Kiverdi is a biotechnology company with a mission to deliver a true circular economy and transform the future of production by making the raw materials for everyday products (e.g., biodegradable plastics, hydrocarbons, fibers) from CO2. TED | Lisa Dyson.