Josh Balk

Josh Balk (born September 24, 1979) is the vice president of farm animal protection for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) farm animal division.[2] In addition, he is a cofounder of JUST, a food technology company.[1] Prior to working with HSUS and founding JUST, he was known for his work at Animal Outlook (formerly Compassion Over Killing). Balk is best known for leading successful legislative campaigns for farm animals, along with his work with food companies in enacting animal welfare policies that include eliminating gestation crates for breeding pigs and battery cages for chickens. He is also known for his work with the food industry to shift its focus onto plant-based foods.[2]

Josh Balk
Josh Balk in 2013
Born (1979-09-24) September 24, 1979
NationalityAmerican
EducationAssociate degree, Keystone College; Bachelor's degree, George Washington University
OccupationVice President of Farm Animal Protection for The Humane Society of the United States
Known forFounding JUST[1]
AwardsValedictorian, Keystone College (2000)

Baseball career

Balk attended Radnor High School, where he was chosen as an Adidas top 100 future Major League baseball prospect, and also became the school's record holder for most wins and strikeouts.[3] Since his graduation, the school honors the team's best pitcher each year with the "Josh Balk Award."[4] He went on to Keystone College where he was awarded the school’s best pitcher and all-league honors in his freshman year. However, Balk was unable to continue pitching after his first collegiate season due to a career-ending shoulder surgery.[5] In 2001, Balk transferred to The George Washington University to pursue a degree in political-science.

Career

Work at Animal Outlook

Following college, Balk worked at Animal Outlook as an undercover investigator in slaughterhouses and factory farms.[6] He also worked with various retailers, showing them different ways to add vegetarian options to their menus, and launched the organization's first national anti-factory farming advertising campaign.[7]

Work at the Humane Society of the United States

Since starting with The HSUS in 2005, Balk has worked with many of the largest corporations in the world to improve animal welfare in their supply chains. Some of these companies include Walmart, General Mills, McDonald's, Kroger, and Perdue. He has worked with food service companies like Compass Group, Aramark, and Sodexo to make plant-based front and center on their menus.[8] He also helped lead successful legislative campaigns to criminalize factory farming abuse in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington.[2] Most notably, Balk led the Proposition 12 campaign in California, which ushered in the strongest farm animal protections in the world.[2]

Founding JUST, Inc.

In 2011, Balk founded JUST with Josh Tetrick.[1][9] Bill Gates named JUST as one of three companies that will forever change the food system.[10] The company was also named as one of CNBC's Disruptor 50 for two consecutive years in a row.[11]

Balk in the media

Balk’s work has been covered by the USA Today, Associated Press, Fortune, CNN, Christian Science Monitor, The New Food Economy, and dozens of other outlets. He has been featured in books such as Kathy Freston’s New York Times best-selling book, Veganist, Melanie Joy’s, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, Caryn Ginsberg's, Animal Impact, Ben Davidow's, Uncaged, Nathan Runkle's Mercy For Animals, Judah Pollack and Olivia Fox Cabane's The Net and the Butterfly and Paul Shapiro's Clean Meat. His work with corporations was featured in Nicholas Kristoff's New York Times column entitled, "Can We See Our Hypocrisy to Animals?" printed on July 28, 2013.[12] Balk was also a co-executive producer for the well-known 2018 documentary Game Changers.[13]

In 2018, Balk was noted in the book, Rescuing Ladybugs by author and animal advocate Jennifer Skiff as being inspired to start food company, JUST after a personal experience with one chicken while working undercover at a chicken slaughter plant owned by Perdue Farms.[14] In the same book, Skiff recognised Balk for his role leading the corporate negotiation efforts for the farm animal department at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) that "convinced hundreds of companies to adopt strict animal welfare policies."[14]

Awards and recognition

Inc. Magazine named Balk as one of the "35 Under 35", in 2014[15] and one of 15 entrepreneurs to watch in 2015.[16]

Balk was also named one of "15 Entrepreneurs Who Will Make 2015 An Unforgettable Year".[17]

At the 2015 Animal Rights National Conference, Balk was elected by fellow presenters to the Animal Rights Hall of Fame, for his innovative contributions to increasing and popularizing vegan alternatives to animal products, as well as his other work on behalf of farmed animals.[18]

References
  1. Feltman, Rachel (July 22, 2013). "One Founder's Quest to Eliminate Eggs from Food Supply Chains". Triplepundit.com. It was, in part, through the inspiration of high school buddy and co-founder Josh Balk (an occasional contributor to TriplePundit)– then working for the Humane Society helping corporations increase their use of cruelty-free eggs.
  2. "Josh Balk". The Humane Society of the United States. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  3. Nordsiek, Lauren (2006-06-08). "Radnor Grad "Balks" When it Comes to Animal Cruelty". Ardmore Main Line Life. "During his time at Radnor, Balk was named one of Adidas's top 100 prospects and held the school record for most wins and strikeouts." Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  4. Radnor High School Baseball website (2009-06-04). 2009 Banquet Award Winners. "Josh Balk Award (Pitching Award)". Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  5. Harrison-Atlas, Dustin (2002-11-04). "Student campaigns for local candidate". The GW Hatchet. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  6. Hawthorne, Mark (2009-01-29). "Josh Balk: Helping Campuses and Companies Reduce Cruelty". Striking at the Roots. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  7. "Josh Balk Vice President, Humane Society of the United States". Progressive Radio Network. 2017-03-30. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  8. "Aramark Becomes First Major Food Service Company to Ask Suppliers to Commit to Humane Conditions for Broiler Chickens by 2024". Aramark. 2016-11-03. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  9. Rinde, Meir (2017). "Ingredients for Success". Distillations. 3 (2): 26–37.
  10. Gates, Bill (2013-03-18). "Future of Food". Gates Notes. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  11. "24. Hampton Creek". CNBC. 2015-05-12. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  12. Kristof, Nicholas (2013-07-27). "Opinion | Can We See Our Hypocrisy to Animals?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  13. Lodge, Guy; Lodge, Guy (2018-03-08). "Film Review: 'The Game Changers'". Variety. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  14. Skiff, Jennifer (2018). Rescuing Ladybugs: Inspirational Encounters with Animals That Changed the World. Novato, California: New World Library. pp. 127–128. ISBN 978-1-60868-502-8.
  15. Fenn, Donna (2014-06-24). "Generation Why Not: Meet the 35 Under 35, Class of 2014". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  16. Albert-Deitch, Cameron (2014-11-20). "15 Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2015". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  17. "15 Entrepreneurs Who Will Make 2015 An Unforgettable Year". Lifehack. 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  18. "AR2015 Breaks All-Time Records!". farmusa.org. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
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