Andrew Duff has joined Groundwork BioAg as general manager-North America. Duff has more than 20 years of experience in biostimulants, seed technology and crop production.
In this newly created role, he will lead the company’s existing operations established in 2016, and will help the company accelerate the adoption of its Rootella mycorrhizal inoculants and meet demand for biological solutions in mainstream crops, such as corn, soybean and cotton.
Previously, Duff led global strategy for biostimulants at Verdesian Life Sciences. In addition, he served in leadership roles at Pinnacle Agriculture and Monsanto. He attended business school at the University of Mississippi and earned a law degree and MBA from Mississippi College. ●
Ben Holt has been appointed vice president for innovation with AgBiome. He will be responsible for developing partnership opportunities that leverage AgBiome’s technical platform, as well as working with partners to develop synergistic relationships that generate shared value.
Holt joined AgBiome in 2019 as an R&D leader, where he led the core program (microbiology, data science and data management) and worked with a group of leaders to develop AgBiome's research leadership team. He has over 20 years of experience in plant biology, microbiology and R&D.
Prior to joining AgBiome, Holt was a professor of plant biology at the University of Oklahoma and a program officer at the National Science Foundation, where he led the plant, fungal and microbial development program. He holds an M.S. in plant biology from Ohio University and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ●
Jord BioScience has appointed Dr. Keri Carstens as its new chief executive officer, taking over from Kip Pendleton, who served in the position since 2019.
Carstens joined the company as COO in June 2022 and, in that role, oversaw the development of Jord BioScience's commercial strategy.
Prior to Jord, Carstens led global regulatory strategy for Corteva Agriscience, where she also served in key roles in regulatory science, program management and on the global leadership team to build and launch Corteva's seed applied technologies and biologicals businesses.
She has also served as chair of the American Seed Trade Association's seed treatment and environment committee, as well as service for the Honey Bee Health Coalition and Entomological Society of America.●
The supervisory board of Bayer AG has appointed Bill Anderson to become CEO of Bayer, effective June 1, 2023. He will join Bayer as a member of the Board of Management on April 1, 2023.
Anderson succeeds Werner Baumann, current CEO of Bayer, who is retiring from Bayer after 35 years of service.
A chemical engineer by education, Anderson has served in various leadership positions in the life science industry over the past 25 years. Most recently, he served as CEO of Roche’s Pharmaceuticals Division. Before this role, he was CEO of Genentech, one of the pioneering companies in thebiotech field.
Previously, Anderson held several senior leadership positions in general management, product development, and finance at Biogen, another innovation leader in the biotech sphere, and Raychem, an American technology and electronics company. In addition to his native country, the United States, Anderson has lived and worked in several European countries with postings in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. In his new role, he will be based in Leverkusen, Germany.
Anderson holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas, and Master of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ●
Jonathan Plehn has been appointed new president of Bio Huma Netics, Inc. (BHN), a miner and manufacturer of raw humates (humic and fulvic acids) as well as creator of soil amendments and crop nutrients based on humic technologies. He succeeds Lyndon Smith, who will continue to serve as chief executive officer. Plehn joined BHN in 2020 as the chief financial officer with more than 20 years of experience as a leader in the global finance sector.
In other movement at BHN, Steve Lunt has been promoted to chief financial officer, succeeding Plehn. Lunt joined BHN in 202 as VP of accounting/corporate controller, responsible for overseeing all accounting functions for four subsidiaries (two in the U.S., and one each in Mexico and Brazil).
Fred Nichols came on board as the chief marketing officer of BHN in October 2022. He brings more than 30 years of agricultural marketing experience, and has built and supported brands across multiple ag sectors, including crop inputs, equipment and financing.
The BHN Research and Development Center has also welcomed two new members from Brazil. The newly promoted and appointed individuals steppedinto their new roles effectiveJanuary 2023.
Mirella Santos has joined BHN as senior plant cell and molecular biologist. She did a postdoctoral at Arizona State University (2011) and has extensive experience in stress physiology and molecular biology. Santos works as a full professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She was also a post doc at The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) Genetic Resources for five years at the Plant Transgenic Lab.
Daniel Zandonadi is also from Brazil and is married to Mirella. He has joined BHN as senior plant physiologist/agronomist. Zandonadi has worked extensively with humic substances since he started studying agronomy at Rio de Janeiro State University (UENF). Zandonadi spent six years at Embrapa working with organic fertilizers and went to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). ●
Lindsay Corporation has appointed Brian Magnusson as senior vice president, strategy and business development. He is responsible for accelerating Lindsay's strategic growth plan and value creation through enterprise-wide corporate strategies, including strategic partnerships and mergers and acquisitions.
Magnusson joined Lindsay in 2015 as vice president of technology and had responsibility for innovation and development of FieldNET and other digital products. Most recently he served as vice president for North and South America irrigation.
Prior to Lindsay, Magnusson served as global director, tractor portfolio management at CNH Industrial and as Case team leader withBain & Company. ●
Flagship Pioneering and Invaio Sciences announced that Jonathan Schwartz will join Flagship Pioneering as CEO-partner, and will be chief executive officer and member of the boardat Invaio.
Prior to joining Invaio, Schwartz was president and CEO of CareZone, Inc.; previously served as CEO and board member of Sun Microsystems, Inc. prior to its acquisition by Oracle Corp.; and was also the founder, president and CEO of Lighthouse Design, Ltd. He began his career with McKinsey & Co.
Schwartz has degrees in Pure Mathematics and Economics from Wesleyan University. ●
Recently rebranded HGS BioScience has appointed chief executive officer Michael Steffeck. With decades of leadership experience across the agriculture sector, he has both founded and led major agricultural companies across the U.S.
Steffeck also has deep experience in both research and development and the retail distribution of proprietary products. "With new resources afforded by the recent acquisition, we will grow our innovation pipeline.
The way forward is through bringing newer, better, more targeted products to customers." ●
Richard Jones has been named DunhamTrimmer's new vice presidentof content and client engagement
An established professional in the biocontrol and biostimulant space, Jones brings 25 years of experience in strategic leadership, communications, marketing, project management and conference programming with an eye toward the commercial grower.
Jones began his career as a writer and editor for Meister Media Worldwide in 1998, ultimately ascending to the position of corporate content director where he led the company’s content strategy and execution for print, digital and event properties in the U.S. and around the world. For more than 10 years, Jones led the company’s biologicals content strategy, focusing on developments in biopesticides, macroorganisms and biostimulants. He is also a key contributor on the communications committee of the U.S.-based Biological Products IndustryAlliance (BPIA). ●
