Our Team

MANAGING PARTNER & CO-FOUNDER
Ben Belldegrun is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Aliment Capital, a growth stage private equity firm focused on human and planetary health. His responsibilities include investments, portfolio management, firm management and board related activities across investments in health and nutrition, food systems, and the related supply chain. Mr. Belldegrun currently serves on the board of Fruitist, Pairwise, Agryco, Concentric and Tropic Bio. Prior to launching Aliment Capital, Belldegrun was a co-founder and managing partner of Lodestone Natural Resources. Previously, he was a portfolio manager at Brevan Howard Asset Management concentrating on food and agriculture investments within the $300 million Natural Resources Fund. He has more than 20 years of successful food and agriculture investing experience. Belldegrun holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Mr. Bluth leads due diligence on new transactions and supports several portfolio companies. Before, Tim was a Vice President at Shamrock Capital, where he focused on technology, media & communications investing. Previously, he worked as a Senior Associate at The Gores Group, an Associate at Saban Capital Group and an investment banking analyst in J.P. Morgan’s Technology, Media & Telecom. Tim graduated from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mr. Kaplan has over 30 years of investment experience. Steve currently serves as an Advisory Partner at Oaktree having retired from day-to-day activities in 2016. He is currently the Chairman of Nalpak Capital, LLC, the family office he created with his wife Jean. Mr. Kaplan joined Oaktree at its inception in 1995, having previously served as a managing director of Trust Company of the West. Prior to joining TCW in 1993, he was a partner with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Mr. Bradley has over 20 years of investment and legal experience. Josh has worked at Bellco Capital since 2018, where he serves as Chief Investment Officer and oversees Bellco’s investment and strategic activities alongside Dr. Arie Belldegrun (Bellco’s Chairman). Prior to joining Bellco Capital, Mr. Bradley practiced law for nearly a decade at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York, London and Sydney. Prior to his time in private practice, Mr. Bradley clerked for the Honorable Robert R. Beezer on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ms. Routman has 11 years of deal-related experience. She focuses on evaluating new investment opportunities. Prior to joining the firm, Whitney was a Senior Associate at The Chernin Group, where she focused on consumer technology businesses. Previously, she was in the Technology Investment Banking group at Jefferies and was a Senior Consultant in the Transaction Advisory Services group at Ernst & Young. Whitney is a graduate of Colgate University and holds a BA in Economics.

Mr. Berne has 10 years of finance experience and focuses on new investments while providing support across the portfolio. Tristan joined Aliment after receiving an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and started his career as an equity research analyst at Capital Alpha Partners, where he covered the energy and power sectors. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University.

Mr. Ali has 4 years of deal-related experience. He focuses on evaluating new investment opportunities and providing support across the portfolio. Prior to joining the firm, he was an associate at Lazard on the Healthcare Services team. Drew graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Economics.

Mr. Kurdyla has over 10 years of combined accounting and finance experience. Mike started his career as an audit associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers, followed by a senior financial analyst position at General Motors Asset Management. After, he served as an assistant controller for Truvvo Partners. Most recently, he worked as a senior accounting manager at Oaktree Capital Management. Mike graduated from the State University of New York at Oswego with an MBA and holds a CPA license.

Ms. Black has over 13 years of professional administrative experience. Anna has a background in delivering exemplary support to executives and senior professionals at finance services, legal, and marketing organizations. She graduated from California State University with a B.A. in Business Administration and Marketing.

SENIOR ADVISOR & CO-FOUNDER

Dr. Erlanger has more than 25 years of investing and advisory experience, with expertise in AgTech, private equity and corporate finance. Prior to Aliment Capital, Phil was the Managing Partner of PREv2 Holdings, an investment firm focused on food and agriculture technologies. Previously, he was a senior investment banker at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers. Phil has a PhD in Economics and Finance from UPenn and an MBA from the Wharton School.

PRESIDENT AND CEO, GRAPHIC PACKAGING HOLDING COMPANY (NYSE: GPK)

Robbert Rietbroek is President and Chief Executive Officer of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK). Mr. Rietbroek brings a distinguished record of delivering strategic value creation and more than 25 years of global leadership experience across some of the world’s largest consumer products companies. Prior to joining Graphic Packaging, he served as inaugural Chief Executive Officer and Director of Primo Brands Corporation, a publicly traded, leading North American branded bottled water company.

Before serving as CEO of Primo Brands, Mr. Rietbroek was Chief Executive Officer at Primo Water Corporation, a publicly traded provider of sustainable drinking water solutions. He led Primo Water’s transformative merger with BlueTriton Brands, Inc., forming the combined entity Primo Brands in November 2024. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Quaker Foods North America, a division of PepsiCo, where he oversaw end-to-end operations and P&L, directing brand management, operational excellence and strategic growth initiatives. He also served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand.

His extensive global tenure also encompasses leadership positions at Kimberly-Clark, where he led Global Baby and Child Care, and Kimberly-Clark Australia & New Zealand. Mr. Rietbroek started his career at Procter & Gamble, where he worked for 15 years and served in a variety of positions driving strategic initiatives and brand development across Europe, South America and the United States. Mr Rietbroek is a member of the board of directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the American Forest and Paper Association. He is also a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council. He holds 3 packaging design patents. He has a master’s degree from Maastricht University in The Netherlands.

VP TECH ACQUISITION STRATEGY, DOW DUPONT

Dr. Mazur is a strategy leader for trait and technology advancements in agricultural crop businesses. She wrote 4 key US patents and accompanying international patents and authored 44 scientific papers. She developed trait and breeding products used by seed & crop protection businesses. She held the position of VP, Technology Acquisition Strategy, DowDupont. She has a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, The Rockefeller University, and A. B. Bacteriology, UCLA.

CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, GM

Mr. Lynch has deep experience in leading sustainability and transparency strategies and programs in food and agriculture. Jerry led development of General Mills’ industry leading strategies on regenerative agriculture, climate, water. He has served in leadership capacities of numerous stakeholder initiatives. Lynch is a Fellow of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, and has an MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University.

PROFESSOR OF AG HEBREW UNIVERSITY

Dr. Shoseyov is  currently  working  to  find  industrial applications for bio-­‐nanocomposite materials, such  as  the  use  of  biopolymers  from  spider  silk  for  construction and medical applications. Oded is a veteran  in  entrepreneurship  and  has  founded  multiple  ventures based on technologies developed in his lab. He has authored  or  co-­‐authored  over  160  scientific  publications  and has produced more than 40 patents.

CEO, BAYER CROP SCIENCE

Mr. Buckner was President and CEO of Bayer CropScience from 2006-2011. He holds a BS in Agricultural Economics from the Univ. of Missouri-Columbia. Bill currently serves on the boards of the Soil Health Institute, Wilbur-Ellis Company, Trace Genomics, Inc., and Anuvia Plant Nutrients. Bill also serves as a board advisor for MicroGen BioTech. He also led Noble Research Institute, LLC, and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation for 7 years until retiring in 2018.

PRESIDENT, PARAMOUNT FARMING

Mr. MacIlvaine was President of Paramount Farming, the world’s largest grower of almonds and pistachios. Notable achievements included a new rootstock for pistachios, implementation of pheromone mating disruption in almonds and pistachios, and precise yield functions for water and major nutrients. Joe holds a Ph.D. from MIT and an MBA from UCLA.