Miyoko’s Creamery also alleges that Schinner illegally removed vats of cheese cultures and unreleased product prototypes from the company’s warehouse with the help of a former employee. Stills from surveillance camera footage dated Aug. 20, 2022, which were included in the lawsuit, show two individuals inside the facility. In one image, a person is shown transporting a utility cart with unidentified containers. The next still shows the pair moving the cart into a large mover truck.
FILE — Former CEO and founder Miyoko Schinner seen in the cheese aging room in Fairfax on Dec. 30, 2014. Miyoko’s Creamery is suing former CEO and founder Miyoko Schinner for allegedly stealing trade secrets and company property.“Instead of facilitating an orderly transition, following her termination as CEO, Schinner hatched a plot to steal the Company’s property, trade secrets, and confidential information so that she could create a competing company,” Miyoko’s Creamery wrote in the lawsuit.
The fallout between Schinner and the board members may have begun in 2018 while she was still CEO of Miyoko’s Creamery. Schinner’s “poor performance” was under review and addressed that year through coaching and feedback, according to the lawsuit. Miyoko’s Creamery said that it wanted Schinner to remain as CEO since she founded the company back in 2014.
Things took a turn when Schinner failed to meet performance and financial targets set forth by the board in 2020 and 2021. The lawsuit asserts that upon learning of her shortcomings in 2021, Schinner “shirked responsibility” and failed to “propose a plan to meet performance objectives in the future.” She was effectively removed as CEO last June. According to the
, Schinner was subsequently fired from a day-to-day role in August 2022 but remains chair of the board.