People

William B. Rosenzweig  is faculty director of The Sustainable Food Initiative at UC Berkeley and Managing Director of Ideagarden. 

Will has spent his career as an entrepreneur, educator and venture investor. Will was founding CEO of The Republic of Tea, the company that started a tea revolution and created the premium tea category in the United States. The Republic of Tea celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2020. Will co-authored The Republic of Tea: How an Idea Becomes a Business (Doubleday 1992, 1994), which has been named one of the 100 Best Business Books of all time.

In 2010, Will was honored with the Oslo Business for Peace Award. The award was presented by three Nobel Laureates and is considered the highest international prize for ethical business leadership. In 2014, he chaired a US national commission on health promotion and the prevention of chronic disease. In 2016, Will was recognized as one of the 7 shapers of the future of food by Bon Appetit magazine.

In other entrepreneurial endeavors, Will served as Vice President of Nakamichi, Sr. Vice President at Odwalla, CEO of Hambrecht Vineyards and Wineries, Co-Founder and Chairman of Winetasting.com, and CEO of Brand New Brands, a healthy food incubator established in 2004. 

Will co-founded and continues to serve as Managing Partner of Physic Ventures, the first venture capital firm focused on investing in keeping people healthy by supporting early-stage companies in consumer-driven health and sustainable living. Physic Ventures has been a lead investor in GoodGuide, Revolution Foods, Novomer, EnergyHub, T2 Biosystems, Gazelle, Pharmaca and Yummly. 

A long-time faculty member at the Haas School of Business, Will developed the country’s first MBA courses in Social Entrepreneurship and Social Venture Development. Will was a member of the first impact investment fund in the country, ProVenEx, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, where he co-authored some of the seminal papers on Social Impact Assessment. 

Will is also a Social Impact Fellow at the Institute for Business and Social Impact (IBSI) at UC Berkeley. Will currently leads the Plant Futures, Systems Change for a Small Planet and Edible Education 101 courses (with Alice Waters) at BerkeleyHaas and is the faculty steward for the Plant Futures Symposium and Challenge Lab. He teaches an intensive course in entrepreneurship for organic farmers in collaboration with Stone Barns Center and leads The Business of Food Workshop in collaboration with Seth Godin. Will also served as the founder and Dean of The Food Business School of The Culinary Institute of America.  Will serves on the boards of Civil Eats, The Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, Up-Start Co-Lab and DiasporaCo.

Will serves on the boards of Civil Eats, The Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, Enso Village and Wholesome Crave.