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2011 Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Greg Lucier
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Life Technologies Corporation
Breakfast Keynote
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Dr. Jason Pyle
Chief Executive Officer
Sapphire Energy
Afternoon Keynote
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Dr. Paulo Rabello de Castro
President
SR Rating
Closing Lunch Keynote
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Mark Rosegrant
Director, Environment & Production Technology
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Ag Economic Forum Keynote
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Jennifer Shaw
Head of Sustainability
Syngenta
Networking Reception Keynote
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Panels
Ag Economic Forum
Monday, May 23 at 10:00 AM
Moderator
Alex McCalla
Professor of Agricultural Economics, Emeritus
University of California, Davis
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Joyce Cacho
Chief Sustainability Officer
Novus International
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Elisio Contini
Deputy, Strategic Studies & Training Center
EMBRAPA (Brazil Enterprise for Ag Research)
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Scott Rozelle
Helen F. Farnsworth Senior Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International
Studies
Stanford University
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Alumni Company Panel
Monday, May 23 at 11:15 AM
What is the climate like for entrepreneurs in the agribusiness community in 2011? This panel will
examine this question through a discussion with three CEOs of companies that have presented in
previous years of the Ag Innovation Showcase. Are there lessons and issues specific to the Ag sector
that differentiates their experiences from those of other tech entrepreneurs? Panelists will share their
invaluable insights on key lessons encountered while navigating their companies through the entrepreneurial
landscape and its many bumpy roads.
Topics to be covered during will focus on experiences, events, and outcomes that have happened since and because
of their participation in the Ag Innovation Showcase, including:
- Specific commercialization roadblocks encountered and tactics used to overcome them
- Strategies implemented to gain access to capital in a challenging economy with mixed growth signals
- Insights into ways they’ve built their team of advisors, managers, and investors.
Moderator
Arama Kukutai Managing Director
Finistere Ventures
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Kirk Haney
President and Chief Executive Officer
SG Biofuels, Inc.
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Heidi Kuehnle
Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer
Kuehnle AgroSystems
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Derek Rapp
Chief Executive Officer
Divergence, acquired by Monsanto
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Strategic Partnerships: From Investment
to Acquisition
Monday, May 23 at 1:00 PM
Executives from the large Ag/Food companies that focus on Biotech and M&A strategy who could discuss the current pain
points in their business to help identify which technologies are missing. Specific points could be when patents expire;
where new markets will be; which products need new tools; which tools would be most valuable. This would be informative
in directing early stage investment dollars to help create future acquisition targets.
Moderator
Dan Broderick
President and Founder
GAIN
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Spencer Maughan
Vice President
Venrock
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Derek Rapp
Chief Executive Officer
Divergence, acquired by Monsanto
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Dan Tomso
Manager, BioScience Technology and Licensing, North America
Bayer CropScience LP
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Sharon Berberich
Business Development/Licensing Leader, Technology Licensing and Commercialization
Dow AgroSciences
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New Frontiers in Ag Research: Tools
to Drive Discovery
Tuesday, May 24 at 10:20 AM
Research in the life sciences is rapidly requiring application of the tools provided by physical
scientists and engineers to understand the quantity and quality of the datasets generated by our
experimental approaches. New discoveries in the agricultural sciences will require our students
and investigators to understand and facilitate advances in fields such as bioinformatics,
computational and mega genomics, modeling building and testing, imaging and sensor technologies,
and high-throughput capabilities, from molecules to phenotypes. This panel will explore some of
these technologies and their applications to complex agricultural challenges at many different
levels.
Moderator
Ralph Quatrano
Dean of Engineering and Applied Science
Washington University in St. Louis
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James Carrington
President
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
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Mat Muller
Ag Biotech Business Development
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.
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Eric Ward
President, Director
2 Blades Foundation
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Nathan Wood
Vice President
Genomics for Life Technologies
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Importance of Innovation Clusters:
From Concept to Commercialization
Tuesday, May 24 at 11:20 AM
Innovation, whether in ag or other sectors, is increasingly global, and as such not always
(or even often) geographically clustered. Indeed, recent research emerging from around the
world suggests that global awareness and relevance to trends that operate at various levels
trump geographical “clustering”, and may be leading toward solution-based clustering across
boundaries of geography. Business and technology solutions are being derived from multiple
disciplines, thus emphasizing increasing cross-disciplinary R&D. The advent of “open
innovation” is now more than a slogan, it describes an active, evolving effort by producers
and buyers to tap into the rich vein of discovery coursing across the globe. Given these
emerging realities, how do we rally the various players – innovators, incumbents, investors -
around key issues, concerns and needs facing agriculture so as to increase the opportunities,
minimize isolation and support the creation and adoption of innovative complementary products
and services? If “clusters” in the old sense are no longer relevant, what new models promoting
collaboration exist or may be developed? How can the Ag Innovation Showcase facilitate the
creation or support the growth of synergistic ag innovation clusters?
Moderator
Rohit Shukla
Chief Executive Officer
Larta Institute
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Charles Dilks
President
DilksConsulting, Inc.
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Mark van Haaren
Vice President Business Development
KeyGene, Inc.
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Robert Henry
Director
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
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Sam Fiorello
Chief Operating Officer
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
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Greg Lucier: Breakfast Keynote
Tuesday, May 24 at 8:30 AM
Greg Lucier
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Life Technologies Corporation
Breakfast Keynote
Gregory T. Lucier serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Life Technologies
Corporation. Mr. Lucier is a Limited Partner at Lakeshore Capital Partners, LLC.
Mr. Lucier has served as Chief Executive Officer at Invitrogen and a member of the
board of directors since May 2003. From June 2000 to May 2003, Mr. Lucier was the
President and Chief Executive Officer at GE Medical Systems Information Technologies.
From August 1999 to June 2000, Mr. Lucier served ... as Vice President of Global
Services of GE Medical Systems. From May 1995 to August 1999, Mr. Lucier served
as the President of GE-Harris Railway Electronics. He serves as the Chairman of
Invitrogen Corp. since April 2004. He serves as the Chairman of the Board at The
Burnham Institute. He serves as Chairman of BIOCOM, Inc. Mr. Lucier serves as Director
of Biocom and Biotechnology Industry Organization. He is actively involved at San
Diego State as a distinguished lecturer. Mr. Lucier holds a B.S. degree in Engineering
from Pennsylvania State University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Dr. Jason Pyle: Opening Lunch Keynote
Monday, May 23 at 12:10 AM
Dr. Jason Pyle
Chief Executive Officer
Sapphire Energy
Opening Lunch Keynote
Dr. Pyle was formerly Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of Epoc, Inc., a privately
held medical engineering company. Dr. Pyle holds an appointment as adjunct professor
of bioengineering at Vanderbilt University where he has worked to develop cross-disciplinary
programs of biological and engineering research. As the co-founder and Chief Technical
Officer of Pria Diagnostics, Dr. Pyle was named Innovator of the Year (2006) by
Frost and Sullivan. Dr. Pyle holds numerous pending and issued patents in the engineering
and biological sciences and has worked in diverse cross-discipline areas such as
nanofabrication, optical engineering, and structural biology.
In addition to his broad technical abilities, Dr. Pyle has established numerous
corporate partnerships between small technical companies and some of the world’s
largest corporations. He has directly supervised and coordinated both business development
and operational activities within large co-development partnerships. Dr. Pyle has
worked in finance, technical and manufacturing transactions in Singapore, Japan,
and China. His post-doctoral research focused on the large-scale expression and
control of neural proteins. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Physiology
and an M.D. from Stanford University. He received degrees in optical engineering
and physics from the University of Arizona.
Dr. Paulo Rabello de Castro: Closing Lunch
Keynote
Tuesday, May 24 at 1:10 PM
Dr. Paulo Rabello de Castro
President
SR Rating
Paulo Rabello de Castro is C.O.B. and principal partner of SR Rating/Duff and Phelps,
the first credit rating agency to operate in Brazil. He is also the managing partner
of RC Consultores, an economic consulting and research firm based in Rio de Janeiro,
as well as the executive vice president of Instituto Atlântico, a public affairs
and development policy research center. From 1979 to 1994, he was editor-in-chief
of Conjuntura Economica, one of Brazil's most influential economic and financial
magazines. The author of several books on profit, risk, capitalism, land reform,
and an economic recovery plan for Brazil, he received his Ph.D. in economics from
the University of Chicago and his graduate degree in law from the State University
of Rio de Janeiro.
Mark Rosegrant: Ag Economic Forum
Keynote
Monday, May 23 at 10:00 AM
Mark Rosegrant
Director, Environment & Production Technology
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Ag Economic Forum Keynote
Mark W. Rosegrant is the Director of the Environment and Production Technology Division
at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. With
a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, he has 30 years of experience
in research and policy analysis in agriculture and economic development, with an
emphasis on water resources and other critical natural resource and agricultural
policy issues as they impact food security, rural livelihoods, and environmental
sustainability.
Dr. Rosegrant developed IFPRI's International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural
Commodities and Trade (IMPACT), which has become a standard for projections and
scenarios for global and regional food demand, supply, trade, and prices; and IMPACT-WATER,
which integrates a detailed water supply and demand model with the food model. He
currently directs research on climate change, water resources, sustainable land
management, genetic resources and biotechnology, and agriculture and energy. He
is the author or editor of seven books and over 100 refereed papers in agricultural
economics, water resources, and food policy analysis. Dr. Rosegrant has won numerous
awards, is a Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, and
in 2007 was elected Distinguished Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics
Association.
Jennifer L. Shaw: Networking Reception Keynote
Monday, May 23, 2011 5:45 PM-7:00 PM
Jennifer Shaw
Head of Sustainability
Syngenta
Dr. Jennifer Shaw is Head of Sustainability in North America for Syngenta where she leads
initiatives to align Syngenta businesses with emerging trends in sustainability. Prior to
this role, Jennifer held several leadership positions in Regulatory Policy, Issues Management,
Stewardship, Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Risk Analyses. Jennifer led strategic
initiatives to address major environmental challenges for U.S. agriculture and has had several
leadership and expert roles in industry and government multi-stakeholder initiatives. She began
her career with ICI Plant Protection in the U.K. as an ecologist, then went on to manage
agro-ecosystem field programs in the U.S. and established an Aquatic Ecosystem research facility
for collaborative research between industry and academia. Jennifer was educated in Scotland and
has a B.Sc. with 1st Class Honors in Agricultural Zoology from the University of Glasgow. She
also has a Ph.D. in Ecology and Epidemiology from the University of Aberdeen and the Institute
of Terrestrial Ecology.
Alex McCalla
Professor of Agricultural Economics, Emeritus
University of California, Davis
Alex McCalla is best known for his research on international trade, an area in which
he has published extensively. His work has been honored by the American Agricultural
Economics Association, which presented him with its Quality of Communication Award
in 1979 and Quality of Research Discovery Award in 1982, and elected him a fellow
in 1988. Throughout his academic career McCalla was associated with the University
of California, Davis, where he served as dean of the College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences, associate director of the California Agricultural Experiment
Station, and founding dean of the Graduate School of Management. He also directed
the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department at the World Bank, chaired the
Technical Advisory Committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research, and was a founding member and of the International Agricultural Trade
Research Consortium.
Elisio Contini
Deputy, Strategic Studies & Training Center
EMBRAPA (Brazil Enterprise for Ag Research)
Elisio Contini, Dr. Rer. Pol., is an agricultural economist. Since 1976, he has
worked as a researcher in the socioeconomic area at the Brazilian Agricultural Research
Corporation (Embrapa), where he has held different positions, including the leadership
of the Central Unit of Budget and Planning. Dr. Contini worked in the preparation
and evaluation of international organizations' projects in Latin American countries
(IADB and World Bank), and has been Adviser to the President of Embrapa since 1995.
He was also an Economics and Business Administration Guest Professor at several
Brazilian Universities. Since 1998, he has been a member of the Board of Trustees
of the CIAT and Executive Director of the Brazilian Rural Economist Association.
Dr. Contini has so far published 4 books, 30 scientific and technical publica-tions
and more than 40 technical reports.
Dr. Scott Rozelle
Helen F. Farnsworth Senior Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International
Studies
Stanford University
Scott Rozelle is the Helen F. Farnsworth Senior Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute
for International Studies. Dr. Rozelle received his BS from the University of California,
Berkeley; and his MS and PhD from Cornell University. Before arriving at Stanford,
Rozelle was a professor at the University of California, Davis (1998-2000) and an
assistant professor in the Food Research Institute and Department of Economics at
Stanford University (1990-98). Currently, he is a member of the American Economics
Association, the American Agricultural Economics Association, the International
Association for Agricultural Economists, the Asian Studies Association, and the
Association of Comparative Economics. He also serves on the editorial board of Economic
Development and Cultural Change, Agricultural Economics, Contemporary Economic Policy,
China Journal, and the China Economic Review.
Dr. Rozelle's research focuses almost exclusively on China and is concerned with
three general themes: a) agricultural policy, including the supply, demand, and
trade in agricultural projects; b) the emergence and evolution of markets and other
economic institutions in the transition process and their implications for equity
and efficiency; and c) the economics of poverty and inequality.
In the past several years, Dr. Rozelle's papers have been published in top academic
journals, including Science, Nature, American Economic Review, and the Journal of
Economic Literature. He is fluent in Chinese and has established a research program
in which he has close working ties with several Chinese collaborators and policymakers.
He is the chair of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Chinese Agricultural
Policy; a co-director of the Agricultural Issues Center (University of California);
and a member of Stanford's new Food, Security, and the Environment Program.
Professor Rozelle has received numerous honors and awards in recognition of his
outstanding achievements. He was the 2000 Chancellor Fellow at the University of
California, Davis, an award given each year to the university's outstanding faculty
members.
Joyce Cacho
Chief Sustainability Officer
Novus International
Joyce Cacho joined Novus International, Inc. in January 2009 as the Chief Sustainability
Officer. In this multifaceted role, Dr. Cacho is responsible for managing the planning
and implementation of Novus’s global Corporate Social Responsibility Program and
initiatives. She works closely with Novus’s Business Managers to align corporate
strategies and business unit actions with Novus’s Sustainability Programs.
Prior to joining Novus International, Dr. Cacho directed the Agribusiness Initiatives
Program of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA). In this role, Dr. Cacho led a
new strategic area promoting U.S. private agribusiness investment in Africa, expanding
CCA’s membership and diversifying CCA’s revenue sources. From 2004-2007, Dr. Cacho
consulted for Land O’Lakes, Rabobank International, the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Over the 1997-2003 period, Joyce launched and expanded the role of the Food & Agribusiness
Research and Advisory Department, Rabobank International – North America.
Dr. Cacho holds a Doctorate in Agribusiness Finance Policy and Investment Decisions
from the University of Missouri – Columbia, for which she conducted field research
in Brazil; a Master’s in Agricultural Marketing Policy and International Trade from
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), and a Bachelor’s
in Economics from the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada
Arama Kukutai
Managing Director
Finistere Ventures
Arama Kukutai joined Finistere in March 2005 as a Managing Director, from a successful
career in agribusiness, investing and international trade. Prior to joining Finistere,
he served as Regional Director - North America for the New Zealand government's
Trade Development agency in North America establishing multiple pathways for New
Zealand businesses to access this key market. Mr. Kukutai has had an active career
in investment, both in commercial banking at Westpac Banking Corporation, and as
a Director of PKW Incorporation, a successful $300M agribusiness and diversified
investment entity involved in agriculture, aquaculture and property development
with activities in New Zealand, Asia and Australia. He served as Chairman of PKW
Farms, a large pastoral Dairy agribusiness in New Zealand. Mr. Kukutai serves on
the boards of Hawaii BioEnergy, LLC., Somark Innovations, Inc., and Dairy Solutions
USA LLC. He is also Chairman of the Larta Institute’s advisory board for the USDA
Commercialization program for SBIR grantee companies. Mr. Kukutai is Chair of the
Industry Advisory Committee for the Ag Innovation Showcase, the industry's leading
event for technology companies and thought leaders in the agricultural technology
sector. He has lived and worked internationally for much of his career and brings
a strong agricultural business focus to Finistere Venture's activities. Mr. Kukutai
is responsible for agricultural technology and green energy portfolio investments
and is a member of Finistere’s Investment Committee.
Dan Tomso
Manager, BioScience Technology and Licensing, North America
Bayer CropScience LP
Dan Tomso is a business development manager and technology scout currently living in Durham, North Carolina.
He was trained as a molecular biologist and received his Ph.D. from Duke University. He has worked for the
National Institutes of Health, where he developed computational biology methods to investigate the link between
environmental exposure and human disease. In 2005 he joined Athenix Corporation as an early employee. While at
Athenix, Dan lead the MiDAS genomics program and helped discover over 200 new genes with applications in
agricultural biotech. He also helped establish and manage major partnerships with leading industry collaborators,
including Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta. He is an inventor on over 20 granted and pending patents in the fields
of agricultural biotechnology and computational biology. In 2009, Athenix was acquired by Bayer CropScience. At
Bayer, Dan has served as a Senior Principal Scientist and Group Leader, and is currently working as the Manager of
Technology and Licensing, North America, for the BioScience group. Dan is responsible for scouting and evaluating
new technology leads, negotiating licensing deals to support BioScience research, and managing strategic partnerships
for Bayer CropScience.
Ralph Quatrano
Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology and Dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science
Washington University in St. Louis
Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., is the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology and Dean of the School
of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis. He is internationally
known for his plant science work on patterns of gene expression during seed development and
in understanding the hormonal regulatory network responsible for desiccation tolerance in
developing embryos. He has also contributed to our understanding of how the cytoskeletal
elements and cell wall components regulate morphogenesis. He has developed and utilized model
organisms, such as the alga Fucus and moss Physcomitrella, in these studies and related them to
processes in Arabidopsis. More recently he has entered the areas of genomics and systems
biology, where he was the corresponding author on the completion of the Physcomitrella genome
sequence and senior author in publications on mechanisms responsible for tolerance to abiotic
stresses such as desiccation and high light. His expertise has resulted in a distinguished
career at several outstanding universities and in industry, visiting appointments at world-renowned
institutions, authorship of more than 160 scholarly articles, editorial positions with outstanding
journals and worldwide renown in his field. His prominence in the plant biology field led him to
his previous leadership roles in one of the nation’s most highly regarded university programs, i.e.,
Chair of the Department of Biology (1998-2008) and Director of the Division of Biology and Biomedical
Sciences (2005-07) at Washington University. He recently served as immediate past Dean of Arts &
Sciences before being appointed Dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science in 2010. He
maintains an active research program and contributes to the local entrepreneurship community in his
role at Nidus and in MOgene, LC, a local start-up that he co-founded.
Dan Broderick
President and Founder
GAIN
Mr. Broderick, Sr. Fellow of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at BioGenerator, is responsible for managing company
formation and investment analysis. In this capacity, Mr. Broderick is responsible for creating and initiating
investment opportunities, structuring and negotiating transactions, serving on the board of directors of the portfolio
companies, working with portfolio company management teams to help create value, and arranging for follow on financings.
Mr. Broderick is also a Venture Partner at Prolog Ventures and is the Founder and President of the Global Agtech Investors
Network, a not for profit corporation dedicated to supporting capital formation and innovation in agtech companies.
Mr. Broderick has over 24 years of experience in the life sciences and venture capital industry. Prior to joining BioGenerator
in 2009 he was a Managing Director at Prolog Ventures in St. Louis. Prior to that Mr. Broderick spent 7 years with Mason Wells
Biomedical Fund as a Managing Director where he was responsible for all aspects of investment activities. While at Mason Wells,
Mr. Broderick served as a member of the Board of Directors of several portfolio companies including Gala Biotech, Mezzia, OpGen,
Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals and ZyStor Therapeutics.
Mr. Broderick is actively involved in the venture capital community on a regional and national level. He served on the Board of
Directors of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). He has testified before the U.S. Congress on behalf of the NVCA;
works on a number of NVCA committees, and chaired the Research Committee. Mr. Broderick received a Bachelors Degree in Biology from
Iowa State University in 1982. He has completed some graduate course work in Finance, Accounting and Marketing at Winona State University.
Kirk Haney
President and Chief Executive Officer
SG Biofuels, Inc.
Kirk Haney is the CEO of SG Biofuels, Inc., a sustainable plant oil company with
operations in San Diego, CA and Latin America. SG Biofuels specializes in the development
of Jatropha as a low cost, sustainably produced oil that can be used for a variety
of bio-based materials including biodiesel and feedstock substitutes for the petrochemical
and jet fuel industries. Kirk has a successful track record developing sustainable,
for profit projects, and extensive experience in both established and start-up companies.
As President of Green Millennium, Kirk raised over $100M in private equity and successfully
built and scaled a sustainable forestry company from start-up to over 100 employees.
Kirk’s role consisted of managing all aspects of the business including strategy,
operations and finance. Green Millennium’s mission is to initiate and manage precious
wood reforestation programs in Central America. Thousands of hectares of land that
were devastated by years of deforestation have been reclaimed by Green Millennium
and returned to their original forested state.
Kirk has held senior and executive management positions for 3Com Corporation, ArrowPoint
Communications (acquired by Cisco Systems), Cisco Systems and Green Millennium,
Ltd. At ArrowPoint, he held general management responsibility for the Western area.
In this role, Kirk built and led an organization that grew revenue from $0 to an
$80 million run-rate. This was critical for ArrowPoint’s ability to go public in
March of 2000 and Cisco’s $5.9 billion acquisition. In addition to leading several
of Cisco’s enterprise and advanced technology organizations, Kirk was instrumental
in creating Cisco’s global security sales strategy, which resulted in Cisco surpassing
$1 billion in security sales. Kirk was also an advisor to Cisco’s Corporate Business
Development team on various investment and acquisition candidates.
Kirk holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and is fluent in Spanish and German.
Kirk serves on the board of SG Biofuels, is Chairman of the Board of Cloud Break
Advisors, Inc., a Latin American investment firm and he is Chairman of the Board
of Green Millennium, Ltd., a sustainable forestry company. He also is a member of
the board of advisors for the Inter-American Dialogue.
Heidi Kuehnle
Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer
Kuehnle AgroSystems
A founder of the company and inventor on many KAS technologies, Dr. Kuehnle combines
entrepreneurial talent with over two dozen years of experience in plant breeding
and bioengineering at Cornell University and at the University of Hawaii. Numerous
globally traded anthurium and orchid varieties were bred and commercialized under
Dr. Kuehnle's 21-year tenure as a Professor in Tropical Plant Sciences at the University
of Hawaii. She has served as Principal Investigator on numerous energy projects.
Recently, Dr. Kuehnle was named the 2009 Inventor of the Year by the Hawaii Venture
Capital Association, the 2008 Scientist of the Year at the University of Hawaii,
and she was a finalist as 2008 Pacific Business News Business Woman of the Year,
and she was a winner of the 2008 Hawaii Technology Industry award. Dr. Kuehnle has
a BA degree from Middlebury College (1982) and a PhD degree from Cornell University
in Plant Breeding. Kuehnle has authored six books and book chapters and more than
80 scientific and outreach papers. She is an inventor of 14 patents and applications.
Derek K. Rapp
Chief Executive Officer
Divergence, Inc.
Mr. Rapp joined Divergence in January 2001 after more than twelve years with the
Monsanto Company in St. Louis. At Divergence, he has responsibility for strategic
planning, financing, business operations, and the formation of alliances. At Monsanto,
Mr. Rapp served as Director of Mergers & Acquisitions; Director of Investor Relations;
Director of Commercial Partnership & Alliances for the Ceregen business unit; and
Director of Strategic Planning within the agricultural group. He led several major
acquisitions and licensing transactions in the plant biotechnology area and the
completion of a $2 billion divestiture program. He has an M.B.A. from The Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in Finance and Corporate
Management, and he has a B.A. from Brown University with concentrations in Economics
and German. He also has investment banking experience, having worked for two years
for Lazard Frères & Co. in New York. Mr. Rapp is the founder of the non-profit organization
St. Louis Cares, Chairman of the Board of the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation,
and a board member of the Missouri Biotechnology Industry Association, the St. Louis
Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA), and John Burroughs School. He is
a member of the Board of Directors, the Lay Review Committee, and the Research Development
Committee (which he chairs) of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.
Spencer Maughan
Vice President
Venrock
Spencer joined Venrock in 2009 and is focused on cleantech and life science investing.
Prior to his study at Stanford, Spencer spent over a decade performing and managing
genetic research around the globe. In collaboration with Aventis CropScience (acquired
by Bayer), Spencer investigated new genes connecting environmental signals to plant
growth. As a Marie Curie Fellow, at the Institute of Biotechnology (University of
Cambridge), he described new components of stem cell division. Spencer's research
has received numerous awards including honors at the UK Houses of Parliament for
work that has led to the identification of a new set of compounds for treatment
of malaria
He received his B.Sc. (Hons) at the University of Melbourne. He later obtained his
Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne. Afterwards, he earned his M.B.A. from Stanford
University, Graduate School of Business.
Sharon Berberich
Business Development/Licensing Leader, Technology Licensing and Commercialization
Dow AgroSciences
Sharon graduated with a B.S. in Agriculture and Biochemistry from the University of Missouri,
Columbia. After working a few years in academia, Sharon joined Monsanto Company where she held
positions in R&D (both pharmaceutical and plant biotechnology), Regulatory Science/Affairs,
Licensing/Mergers & Acquisitions, Specialty/New Crops, Field Operations and other crop-focused
businesses. After leaving Monsanto, Sharon established a consulting business, then joined a
start-up company, Chlorogen Inc., as the VP of Business Development. Subsequently she served as
the Director of International Programs and Assistant Director of Technology Management at The
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Sharon joined Dow AgroSciences in June 2008 to jump start
an Agronomic Traits pipeline (as Early Stage Commercial Assessment Leader) and to lead out-licensing
efforts related to Dow AgroSciences proprietary technologies - among those technologies is the
EXZACT™ Precision Technology (zinc fingers in plants) www.exzactprecisiontechnology.com.
Her current role at Dow AgroSciences is to lead technology transactions across the business,
including biotechnology traits & enabling technologies, devices/algorithms,
James Carrington
President
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Dr. James C. Carrington, will become the next President of the Danforth Plant Science Center.
Carrington was the Director of the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing (CGRB), the
Stewart Professor for Gene Research, and Distinguished Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology
at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.
Carrington is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and internationally recognized for
his research on gene silencing, the functions of small RNA, and virus-host interactions. He is
a world leader in the study of “small RNA,” which was cited by the journal Science in 2002 as
the scientific “Breakthrough of the Year.” This work has played a major role in unraveling some
of the mechanisms by which plants and other organisms use small snippets of RNA to control growth,
development and defense against viruses. He regularly gives talks and presentations about his
research to audiences around the globe.
As Director of the CGRB, Carrington was responsible for coordinating and developing campus-wide
efforts in computational and genomic biology research and education. He was at OSU since 2001 and
was recently named a Distinguished Professor, the institution’s highest academic honor. Prior to
joining the faculty of OSU he served as a professor at the Institute of Biological Chemistry at
Washington State University, and spent nine years as a professor in the Department of Biology,
Texas A&M University.
Carrington received his Bachelor of Science in plant science from the University of California,
Riverside in 1982 and his Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of California, Berkeley in
1986. He did his postdoctoral work at Oregon State University.
Carrington has received many awards for his work, including the Presidential Young Investigator
Award from the National Science Foundation, the Ruth Allen Award from the American Society for
Phytopathology, the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the
Stewart Professor for Gene Research. He has also been elected as Fellow of the American Academy of
Microbiology, the American Phytopathological Society, and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
Mat Muller
Mat Müller is Director of Ag Biotech Business Development at Pioneer Hi-Bred, a
DuPont business. The focus of the Ag Biotech BD group is on acquisition and
integration of technology into DuPont's Ag biotech portfolio, the enablement and
support of research scale, and on the leveraging of technology developed by DuPont
scientists into adjacent spaces.
Mat has previously occupied a variety of functions within Pioneer, including as a
research scientist, principal investigator and operations manager, before taking on
strategic and development responsibilities in the business development group and the
Global Product Strategy team. Mat has also served in various capacities for Verdia,
Inc., Maxygen, Inc., the University of California, and the Swiss National Foundation
for Scientific research. Mat's education background includes a Ph.D. in Biology from
the University of Lausanne, and an MBA from California State University at Hayward.
He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles and several patents.
Eric Ward
President, Director
2 Blades Foundation
Eric Ward served most recently CEO of Cropsolution, Inc., a crop protection chemical
discovery company. Prior to that, he was Co-President of Novartis (now Syngenta)
Agribusiness Biotechnology Research, where he was responsible for a staff of 270,
including researchers and all administrative functions, including finance, patents,
business development, public affairs, human resources, and facilities. Simultaneously,
he was head of target discovery for Novartis Crop Protection AG, where he implemented
a fully integrated agricultural chemical lead discovery program based on proprietary
molecular targets. This program relied on extensive interactions with biotech firms
and academic labs. Prior to that, he was a Research Director for the Novartis herbicide
business unit, during which time his team invented Acuron™ herbicide tolerance technology,
developed corn and sugar beet varieties engineered with the Acuron™ gene, and built
the patent strategy to protect the technology. In 1994-5, he worked in Basel, Switzerland
as a project leader for Ciba Crop Protection in the Weed Control business unit.
Dr. Ward began his career in 1988 with Ciba-Geigy as a postdoctoral associate, during
which time he pioneered methods for cloning of large DNA fragments from plants.
He received his Ph.D. in plant biology from Washington University in St. Louis in
1988, where he was a graduate fellow of the National Science Foundation. He received
his B.S in biology magna cum laude from Duke University in 1982. Dr. Ward has authored
more than 65 scientific publications and is inventor on more than 20 issued patents.
Dr. Ward joined 2Blades in 2007.
Nathan Wood
Vice President
Genomics for Life Technologies
Nathan Wood is the Vice President and General Manager of Synthetic Biology at Life Technologies.
Mr. Wood has served as Vice President at Life Technologies since August of 2005. Mr. Wood has
more than 22 years of leadership experience in marketing, product development and sales from his
work at Life Technologies and QIAGEN. Prior to joining Life Technologies, he was Director of Sales
for QIAGEN, where he led commercial Operation in North America for life science research and
molecular diagnostics business. Mr. Wood holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State
University and has a number of scientific publications in the scientific area of molecular biology.
Mr. Wood has served on the board of visiting advisor for Oregon State University’s College of Science,
and is presently serving on the board of directors for SG Biofuels and is a member of the supervisory
board for GENEART.
Rohit Shukla
Chief Executive Officer
Larta Institute
Mr. Shukla founded and is the CEO of Larta Institute. Apart from being an entrepreneur
in his own right (he founded and ran two small technology-based companies early
in his career), he also has been a guide and advisor to hundreds of businesses worldwide.
Under his leadership, Larta Institute, which he founded in1993, currently manages
one of the nation's largest innovation pipelines of companies emerging from federally-funded
research (NIH, USDA, NIST, DARPA), 18 top research universities and from a network
of global partner nations. He has designed and led dozens of well-regarded innovation
programs, including the Venture Forum, (http://www.theventureforum.com), commercialization
programs for federal agencies (most notably NIH) and foreign allies of the U.S.
(including Australia, Sweden, Finland, Japan, Canada, Israel, Korea, Taiwan and
New Zealand, http://www.larta.org/ClientsAndPrograms/GlobalPrograms.aspx), operating
under the trademark Global Bridge, technology transfer programs, and education and
training programs (including the well-regarded Larta University, which he started
in 1997).
He has been an advisor to the OECD, the State of California (he co-created California’s
innovation program, CalTIP in the mid 1990’s) and federal agencies on issues around
innovation, commercialization, federally-funded research and entrepreneurship. He
has written scores of articles on venture capital, wireless and telecom industry,
the life sciences industry, entrepreneurship (most recently for Nature Biotech in
March 2008), global innovation and technology transfer.
He has a Master's in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge,
England, and a Master’s in Communications from Loyola Marymount University, Los
Angeles. He speaks to audiences around the world on subjects ranging from commercialization,
innovation to globalization and entrepreneurship.
Charles Dilks
President
DilksConsulting, Inc.
For over 35 years, Charles Dilks in various senior officer positions (most recently
Executive VP) managed the development and operation of the nation's first urban
Research Park. He has negotiated the financing, legal and development structures
for twenty buildings totaling nearly two million square feet of space, organized
and managed the real estate marketing program for the Science Center, and created
the property management company, Research Park, Inc., for the Science Center's facilities.
He pioneered the concept of a business "incubator" by providing comprehensive package
of space, equipment, and services for over 250 startup organizations. Mr. Dilks
was responsible for maintaining corporate records and coordinating Science Center
legal affairs, which involved nearly twenty partnerships, joint ventures, and subsidiaries.
Together these ventures generated over $30 million in annual revenues and employ
a staff of 75 people.
Mr. Dilks recently retired from Science Center and is pursuing consulting opportunities
as President of Dilks Consulting, Inc. Mr. Dilks has been actively involved with
the AURP, serving on its Board, various officer positions and eventually as its
President from 1998-2000. In 2001, he received the Association's "Career Achievement
Award" for an outstanding career in technology based economic development.
Mr. Dilks has consulted widely with institutions and local governments wishing to
establish research parks, incubators, and stimulate economic development through
science and technology, and speaks on these topics at numerous professional meetings.
He received his BA from Yale University in 1963 and his MBA from Drexel University
in 1973.
Robert Henry
Director
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
Robert Henry is Professor of Innovation in Agriculture and Director of the Queensland
Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, a new Institute at the University
of Queensland developed in partnership with the Queensland government. Professor
Henry was Director of the Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics at Southern Cross
University and Research Director in the Grain Foods Cooperative Research Centre.
His research focuses on the application of genomics to the development of novel
plant genotypes for food and energy. He was previously Research Program Leader in
the Queensland Agricultural Biotechnology Centre. He has been involved in establishing
several Cooperative Research Centres in Australia and has contributed to the management
of research funding by Rural Research and Development Corporations and is a member
of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. He is a graduate of the University
of Queensland (B Sc (Hons)), Macquarie University (M Sc (Hons)) and La Trobe University
(Ph D). He was awarded a higher doctorate (D Sc) by the University of Queensland
for his work on variation in plants, is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical
Institute and a recipient of the Guthrie Medal for his contributions to cereal chemistry.
Sam Fiorello
Chief Operating Officer
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Sam Fiorello is Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President for Administration
and Finance at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. He is also President of
Bio-Research & Development Growth Park (BRDG Park) on the Danforth Center campus.
Fiorello has extensive experience in managing financial, intellectual property and
other administrative functions. Prior to joining the Danforth Center in 1999, he
was Chief of Staff at Monsanto Company’s Office of the President, where he helped
develop the business plan and initial pool of funding for the Danforth Plant Science
Center.
Earlier in his career, Fiorello was a Senior Trade and Investment Policy Analyst
with Walker/Free Associates in Washington, DC. His career also includes having worked
at Cargill Investor Services and for Confindustria, an Italian industrial policy
research center.
Fiorello earned a BA in Business from the University of Wisconsin and an MA in Public
Administration from the University of Texas.
Mark van Haaren
Vice President Business Development
KeyGene, Inc.
Mark JJ van Haaren completed his PhD at the Leiden University in the field of Molecular
Biology (1987). After a two-year post-doc period at Calgene Inc. USA, he worked
as an assistant professor (UD) at the Free University of Amsterdam on the molecular
analysis of the tomato genome (1990-1998). In 1998 he accepted a position at Keygene
as program manager of genomics research. In 2000 he switched position within the
company to become the manager Business Development of Keygene N.V. In 2010 he switched
his position to the US subsidiary to become the VP business development for South
& North America.
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