Dennis Woodside ’91

As the president of Impossible Foods, Dennis Woodside ’91 helps the CEO and founder, Pat Brown, make plant-based meat that is popular with consumers.

Before joining Impossible Foods, Woodside was involved in growth companies that have challenged the status quo. He was chief operating officer at Dropbox and helped take it public. He was also a senior vice president at Google with roles in hardware and advertising sales.

Woodside lives with his wife and two children in Atherton, California. In his spare time, the former Big Red lightweight rower bikes, runs and swims, sometimes with one of his kids (who sometimes keeps up).

How did ILR change you?

ILR helped me develop a more rigorous way of problem solving, and deepened my ability to think critically. The school also sparked an interest in law, which eventually led to Stanford Law School and a clerkship on the Second Circuit. I apply the communications and critical thinking skills every day in business.

How are you making an impact through your experiences at ILR?

I have been fortunate to be a leader at two of the most innovative American employers, Google and, now, Impossible Foods. Both companies take their commitment to an empowered, transparent workplace very seriously, and have changed, or are changing, perceptions about the obligations of employers.

How might the mission of ILR help shape the next 75 years of work, labor and employment?

Work is a reflection of society, its values and its problems, too. As our view of work changes due to societal and technology developments, the ILR School has an opportunity to help redefine what work really means to people, and how to make the workplace more productive, open and fair.