Chipotle Mexican Grill, the Denver-based burrito restaurant, has appointed Neil W. Flanzraich to its board of directors.

Flanzraich served as vice chairman and president of IVAX Corp., an international pharmaceutical company, from 1998 through its sale to TEVA Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd., in January 2006. And before that served as chairman of the Life Sciences Legal Practice Group of Heller Ehrman, LLP. He has worked as a private investor since February 2006.

“Neil has tremendous experience as a public company director and is very knowledgeable about Chipotle and our vision,” says Steve Ells, founder, chairman, and CEO of Chipotle. “His experience and his belief in our goal to change the way Americans think about and eat fast food make him a great addition to our board.”

Chipotle is moving toward its vision largely through an initiative it calls Food With Integrity that has the company looking at each ingredient it buys, and constantly working to source better food. Its progress in this area has been greatest in its purchase of naturally raised meat–meat that comes from animals that are fed a pure vegetarian diet, never given antibiotics or added hormones, and raised in a humane way. Today, all of the pork Chipotle serves is naturally raised, as is nearly 60 percent of its chicken, and more than 40 percent of its beef. In all, the company is buying more naturally raised meat than any restaurant in the world.

In addition to his seat on Chipotle’s board, Flanzraich is a director of Continucare Corp., Equity One, Inc., Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Neurochem, Inc., and RAE Systems, Inc. He holds a B.A. degree from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.