IRVINE, CALIF. – Organic cottage cheese maker Good Culture recently added two new executives to its leadership team, as the company aims to expand into new categories in 2023. The cultured foods brand hired Arielle Knutson as senior vice president of marketing, and Wayne Olson as vice president of manufacturing and supply chain.

Per Good Culture, Knutson’s duties include brand marketing, awareness and growth for the company, leading innovation strategy and commercialization with a focus on the brand’s sustainability practices and consumer experience.

The company shared that Olson will handle strategic network manufacturing, capacity planning, logistics network optimization, supply chain planning, continuous improvement and gross margin improvement.

Chief executive officer and co-founder Jesse Merrill said the two new members of the executive team solidify Good Culture’s position as a cultured dairy industry leader.

“Arielle has vast experience scaling a brand and a team, while deepening brand equity and values, and Wayne brings a highly analytical, data-driven approach to strategic and tactical planning,” Merrill said. “Both of their skill sets will help drive our initiatives. We put a lot of emphasis on building a strong team here at Good Culture which contributes to our innovation and leadership role in the food industry.”

Knutson said in the months ahead Good Culture will “really start connecting with consumers on an emotional level, over the changes that we are spearheading for a better food supply chain.”

She added: “We’ll also be expanding into other cultured dairy categories, with ‘true to Good Culture’ gut-healthy options in 2023.”

Olson said the company’s growth, as well as consumer demand, will “accelerate our need to deliver additional capacity with quality-focused food manufacturers.”

He said the company anticipates increasing its market share as more consumers look for clean label products, “and it is our job to support that growth now and in the future,” he added.

Before joining Good Culture, Knutson worked for Nuun Hydration for 10 years, leading brand marketing, digital and e-commerce. Earlier in her career, Knutson worked for creative advertising agencies, leading account services, brand strategy and integrated campaign management.

Previously in his career, Olson worked as Good Culture’s vice president of operations. He returned to the company in October as vice president of manufacturing and supply chain. His career experience also includes time leading baking operations for Franz Bakery and working as senior vice president of operations for Popchips. Early on in his professional life, Olson held a number of operations leadership positions within the dairy industry for companies such as Dean Foods, Baskin Robbins and The Kraft Dairy Group.