NXW Expands Leadership Team to Support Global Growth and Marine Whey™ Manufacturing Scale-Up
March 24, 2025 Lisbon, Portugal
Nutrition from Water (NXW), the innovative New Zealand-born company pioneering affordable nutrition solutions from water, announced the appointment of key new executives and Board Chair. These strategic additions will help the company scale its manufacturing and science capabilities and drive Marine Whey™ growth as the biotechnology venture prepares to meet the demands of global nutrition customers.
NXW has recently secured new leadership talent, including an experienced Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and experienced Board Chairperson, all bringing deep expertise in manufacturing, category building, microalgae science and global expansion.
Federico Duarte (CEO), based in Portugal
Federico joins to lead NXW as our new Chief Executive Officer after having previously worked in global category and innovation leadership roles with IDEO, Starbucks Asia Pacific, and Sigma Alimentos. Federico has built two companies with one successful exit in China, and has 20+ years of experience in food and agriculture working across Asia Pacific, Europe, USA, and Latin America. Originally from Colombia and trained as a Michelin chef in France, Fede is driven by the vision to scale technologies that deliver affordable nutrition for emerging economies. Federico and family live full time in Portugal.
Dr. Payam Mehrshahi (CTO), present in Portugal
Payam joins NXW's Science and Technology unit with over 10 years of experience in algal biotechnology, including four years leading the University of Cambridge’s Algal Innovation Centre. He has an international track record in leading biotech R&D, educational, and outreach projects, particularly those bridging industry and academic collaboration. Payam has also developed and delivered courses on plant and algal biotechnology for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and has enjoyed mentoring researchers at various stages of their careers. He is now based full-time with NXW in Portugal.
Alan Van Der Nagel (Board Chairperson), based in ANZ
Alan joins NXW’s Board as Chair after recently retiring from Fonterra as Director of Manufacturing responsible for over 6,000 staff, and 5+ billion USD of dairy processing and manufacturing operations. Alan has 40 years of senior executive roles with Parmalat in China, Almarai Company in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest fully integrated branded dairy operation, and ten years more recently with Fonterra. Mr van der Nagel, a New Zealander, started his dairy career in New Zealand before taking up his first senior operational role within the Parmalat Group in Australia in 1989.
These new executive hires and Board Chair are poised to guide NXW through the next stage of its exciting journey, as the company prepares to ramp up production and make its groundbreaking affordable nutrition accessible to strategic nutrition customers worldwide.
"We are thrilled to welcome our new leadership team based from Portugal as we enter this exciting phase of growth," said Alex Worker, Founder of NXW. "Their experience and passion for innovation will be instrumental in scaling our Marine Whey™ operations and furthering our mission to revolutionize the way we scale and supply affordable, natural nutrition worldwide. With their help, we are poised to bring our unique protein and fibre solutions to a global audience while maintaining our commitment to safety, quality and sustainability."
NXW in this transition has set up global headquarters in Portugal where it has access to world-class microalgae laboratories along with commercial production capacity of 100 metric tonnes per annum of specialised Marine Whey™ ingredients.
For media inquiries, please contact: media@nutritionfromwater.com
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About Nutrition from Water
Nutrition from Water is a nutrition technology company partnering with global food corporations to deliver affordable, complete, future-proof nutrition. We use unicellular organisms from aquatic environments to make affordable, non-GMO and non-extractive protein-forward B2B ingredients.
Our customers are food and nutrition companies, with a focus on consolidated players in the dairy industry. They buy NXW’s ingredients as a strategic alternative to diversify their sources of proteins, fibers and functional ingredients, in view of building a resilient and future proof supply chain.
Our Market: NXW operates at the intersection of affordable, functional, and active nutrition, targeting a $211B market projected to grow to $354B by 2030. With a scalable Marine Whey platform that delivers dairy-equivalent nutrition at one-third the cost, NXW is positioned to address the $90B+ strategic dairy supply gap, partnering with leading global food and nutrition companies across multiple high-value applications.
Our Product & Technology: NXW harnesses multiple microalgae strains to produce Marine Whey. We leverage proprietary heterotrophic fermentation and DSP processes to biomanufacture protein-rich, fiber-containing alternatives to bovine whey at one-third of the cost. With functionality performance superior to caseinate Marine Whey is versatile enabling adoption across multiple applications, including dairy beverages, fat-filled milk powder, baked goods, sauces, and performance nutrition.
