INTRODUCING OUR TEAM
Rich is the Director of Breeding and a co-founder of New West Genetics. His interest is in utilizing technology to develop and bring to market cultivars with traits that benefit both the producer and consumer. Rich was a part of Cargill’s hybrid canola breeding program for more than 18 years, most recently leading the North American breeding and genetics program. He also worked as an agronomist where he gained a practical working knowledge of field crop production. During his Ph.D. work at Colorado State University, Rich utilized genetics and genomics approaches to identify genes underlying drought adaptation in Brassica napus. Rich is a native Coloradoan, and regularly enjoys the beauty of his state through skiing and hiking.
Cris Handel has a broad agriculture and business career, across large corporations as well as technology focused startups. Cris has a degree in agronomy engineering and PhD in plant genetics and marketing. She has worked for McKinsey in Brazil and later as SVP for CoverCress, a successful startup focused on developing a new oilseed cover crop for the Midwest. Cris has worked across multiple business areas; her main focus is in strategy, operations and sustainability.
Daphne Preuss is an entrepreneur focused on bringing genetic and biotechnology innovations to agriculture. She previously founded and built Chromatin Inc. into the leading innovator in sorghum, aggregating genetic technology and global sales channels, and recruiting the industry’s leading team of sorghum experts. She frequently advises start up companies and their investors, and is passionate about transitioning innovation to the commercial sector. Prior to joining Chromatin, Preuss was a Howard Hughes Investigator at the University of Chicago. She previously chaired the NCBI – the NIH’s DNA database division, and has served on BIO’s Food & Agriculture Section.
John McKay is a Professor of Plant Evolutionary Genomics at Colorado State University. In his faculty position, McKay leads a research group on the genetics of adaptation in crops and model systems, with a focus on drought and sustainability. His research examines evolution and gene function at both the phenotypic and molecular levels. His genetic discoveries are in the commercial breeding pipeline for multiple crops. McKay’s publications have been cited over 6,000 times, and he serves on scientific review panel in the US and internationally. Dr. McKay has multiple research projects on investing the genetics of adaptation to climate through competitive grant awards totaling over $20MM grants from the National Science Foundation, USDA, ARPA-E, and the DOE.
Emma loves when plants and people connect and is excited to bring new farmers to this versatile crop. After studying Biological Sciences & Spanish Language and Culture at Iowa State University, the mountains called her home to Colorado. She comes to New West Genetics with experience in hemp research, marketing, and customer engagement, and product development. She is ready to move the hemp industry forward with high quality hemp genetics and new markets for hemp grain. Above all, Emma is excited to share her marketing philosophy and tell NWG’s story. Emma enjoys gardening, traveling, exploring Colorado, and spending time with her beautiful partner and three dogs.
ADVISORS and BOARD MEMBERS
Thad is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Novus International, Inc., an animal feed technology company. His awards and recognitions include International Businessperson of the Year, World Trade Center of St. Louis, 2001; International Visionary Award, Boeing Institute of International Business, 2007; Heroes of the Planet Award, St. Louis Business Journal, 2009; Entrepreneur of the Year, Central Midwest-Bioscience, Ernst & Young, 2010; Entrepreneur of the Year, National Distribution and Manufacturing, Ernst & Young, 2010; and Agribusiness Leader of the Year, National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), 2013.
Beginning in the plant industry as a barley breeder, Frank’s 38 years’ experience in the seed industry has expanded to field research, technical management, product development, seed production, sales and marketing, intellectual property management, executive management, and more. He lives in Fort Collins, CO and brings valuable expertise of seed production and intellectual property management. Now retired, Frank spent the majority of his career with Limagrain, the latter half of which rolling out their wheat breeding program in the US.
Jennifer’s leadership roles in the agricultural, foodservice, and food retail sectors have given her unique insights into decision-making at multiple points of the food and agricultural value chain. She brings in-depth expertise and stakeholder context to solving business problems, especially related to helping her clients be part of the solution for sustainable food systems. Before founding JG Consulting Services, she served in global leadership roles at Monsanto Company, Kellogg Company, and McCain Foods.
Charles brings extensive experience in international business development. Currently he serves as Director of Strategy Alliances & Development for Solynta an innovative hybrid potato breeding company. In his previous roles he managed global teams on 3 continents involved in all aspects of the sorghum seed industry from breeding direction, hybrid testing, seed production and sales. In addition to acting as the Vice President of Global Business Development for Chromatin he was a principal in the sorghum company, MMR Genetics/Richardson Seeds, and after its acquisition by NuFarm, became the Global Development Manager for the sorghum business. Prior to that, he worked for Mars, Inc. for many years where he gained deep experience in trading, logistics, and treasuries. In addition to his role with Chromatin, Miller also has severed on the Board of Directors of the American Seed Trade Association and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the African Seed Trade Association as well as on various committees for the American Seed Trade Assn and the International Seed Federation.
Bill joined NWG mid 2022 to consult for a capital advisor on NWG’s genetic capabilities. His experience across geographies was a key reason the Company offered him an advisory role. With a history at Pioneer Dupont, Origin Ag Tech Limited in China, and High-Fidelity Genetics, Bill Niebur consults for global agricultural institutions as well as innovative seed companies in the areas of seed business strategy, operations and research and development.
Nishad currently serves as the Head of Business Development and Partnerships at Heirloom Carbon Technologies – forging the commercial partnerships Heirloom needs to remove 1 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2035. Nishad spent over two decades leading strategy, business development and partnerships at technology and media companies including Snap, Adobe, Youtube, Google, Amazon, Yahoo and Napster. Prior to that he spent several years at JP Morgan in various banking roles including private asset management, debt capital markets and M&A. He graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.