GAI News has been tracking recent announcements regarding leadership shifts in the food and ag investment and commercial sectors. Some of the latest movement includes:
CPPIB appoints three new senior executive members
Graeme Eadie, who joined CPPIB in 2005, is now Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Real Assets, a new investment department that brings together the Real Estate Investments department with existing Infrastructure and Agriculture groups. He was previously Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Real Estate Investments.
Ryan Selwood is now Managing Director, Head of Direct Private Equity, and will be responsible for overseeing co-sponsorships and other direct private equity transactions. Mr. Selwood previously led CPPIB’s direct private equity activities in Europe and was a Vice President with Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York before joining CPPIB in 2006.
Shane Feeney has been named senior managing director and global head of private investments. Mr. Feeney will also join CPPIB’s Senior Management Team. In this role, Mr. Feeney will be responsible for CPPIB’s private investment activities and will report to CEO & President Mark Machin. Feeney came on board in 2010 and has 18 years of private equity experience.
“These appointments demonstrate the deep bench strength and investment expertise we have developed at CPPIB. Graeme, Shane and Ryan have been instrumental in a number of our major transactions and will no doubt continue to provide superb leadership in their new roles,” said Mr. Machin.
During this new leadership shift, Machin announced Mark Jenkins, most recently Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Private Investments, will be leaving CPPIB to assume a leadership role at The Carlyle Group.
Special advisor appointment for Inocucor Technologies
Inocucor Technologies, an ag biotech company based in Montreal, has appointed Dr. John B. Elstrott as special advisor in the areas of sustainability and environmental science, announced Inocucor’s President and CEO Donald R. Marvin. Elstrott is a well-known entrepreneur and professor in the natural foods and venture capital worlds. He serves as Chairman of Whole Foods Market, Inc. and has been a long-standing Director. He also co-founded and is Chairman of MicroBiome Therapeutics, LLC, a developer of novel non-prescription therapies that target prediabetes and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes by interacting with the human microbiome. In the academic world, he is a Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship and the founding Director of the Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business.
“Dr. Elstrott’s impressive credentials in natural foods and his expertise in the sustainable agri-food arena align perfectly with Inocucor’s microbial crop inputs, which support sustainable agriculture practices and improve the health of the plant microbiome,” said Marvin. “His perspective will help guide our management team and board of directors as Inocucor grows.”
Inocucor is a leading innovator and producer of bio-based products that improve crop yields, shorten growing periods and create healthier, more resilient soils for organic farmers, greenhouse growers, and mainstream production farmers. The company is completing a Series B equity-financing round on the order of $8 to $10 million whose funds will be used to scale-up commercialization activities in North America.
Cimbria Capital hires new operating partner
Cimbria Capital has named Dr. J. Julian Smith as Operating Partner. He will serve as a direct advisor to Cimbria Capital’s investment team and as a potential board member for certain Cimbria portfolio companies.
Cimbria Capital co-founders, Brian Iversen and Henri Rasmussen, were enthusiastic in welcoming Smith to the team. “Dr. Smith has demonstrated leadership in developing and commercializing innovative agricultural technologies for growers throughout the world. He possesses decades of experience in sophisticated agribusiness markets and understands what portfolio companies need to bring to the agricultural value chain to be successful.”
Dr. Smith is currently president of CZO Agronomics, a global consulting group devoted to technical advisory and end-to-end management services in agribusiness and horticulture. Dr. Smith’s career has been primarily focused on plant nutrition and specialty products, as well as their positioning within the agricultural market-places of North America and Europe. The latter half of Dr. Smith’s work has focused on micro-nutrient application for all crops, to compliment his earlier research and market development on foliar nutrition and integrated crop management.
Arcadia Biosciences hires former Cesca CEO as CFO
Matthew Plavan, former CEO of Rancho Cordova-based Cesca Therapeutics Inc., has been named chief financial officer of Arcadia Biosciences Inc., a Davis-based agricultural technology company.
Plavan had formerly been CEO and CFO of Cesca Therapeutics, a developer of cell storage and regenerative therapy technology. He led the company through several financing rounds and a merger that pivoted the company’s primary business from making cell storage devices and products to developing regenerative therapies.
This will be the third major management change for Arcadia this year. Earlier this year, co-founder and CEO, Eric Rey, stepped down for health reasons. He was replaced in interim by Roger Salameh, head of business development, who is now chief operating officer. In May, Arcadia announced it had hired former Monsanto Co. executive, Raj Ketkar as CEO.
Arcadia was founded in 2002 and went public in spring 2015, raising $68.2 million. It develops biotechnology to increase crop yields, crop quality and other beneficial traits. Arcadia has about 100 employees, mostly in Davis. It also has facilities in Seattle and Phoenix.
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Tiffany Agard