Dr. Justin Whiteley has built a career out of bringing to market nutritional ingredients that provide exceptional human health benefits from organisms found in nature. Prior to founding Kioga and serving as CEO, Whiteley co-founded Meati Foods and served as Chief Science & Technology Officer. At Meati, he successfully scaled novel fermentation and food manufacturing technologies from the lab into two factories launching products under the retail brand EatMeati while growing the company from 2 to 300 employees in 3 years. Before Meati, he developed critical technologies in the fields of energy storage and recyclable plastics. He began his career as a mechanical engineer at a variety of nuclear power plants in the western United States. He has committed his career to developing environmentally sound, bountiful, affordable, and varied energy sources that support humanity in all its endeavors.

Whiteley obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical and nuclear engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He went on to complete master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Whiteley has authored more than 15 peer-reviewed publications and secured over 10 patents.