Dennis McKnight

Dennis had a passion for building the Canadian prairies into a leading global source of plant-based proteins and ingredients. With the goal of creating an agrifood industry alliance for the prairies based in Alberta, he became a strategic advisor for and former CEO of the Plant Protein Alliance of Alberta.

Dennis worked to raise awareness for the plant protein opportunity for Canada and gathered interested industry folks to connect. His work was also instrumental in bringing Bridge2Food's Protein Summit to Alberta in 2019.

Because of his efforts, Protein Industries Canada came to fruition. He mentored CEO Bill Greuel and introduced him to key industry players in Alberta, which structured an innovation supercluster.

Dennis was also a political operative in both Canada and the U.S. He was a key intellect for election campaign polling, which kickstarted a market research company for clients such as McDonald’s, Bayer Crop Science, Canadian National Railways and General Motors.

At Protein Industries Canada's 2023 Annual General Meeting, Dennis was posthumously awarded an Honorary Lifetime Membership for his contribution to Protein Industries Canada and Canada’s agrifood sector.