Agrivida was founded in 2002 by researchers from MIT. Since our inception we have rapidly grown our team, which now comprises a rare blend of expertise in plant molecular biology, engineering, and agricultural and chemical business development.

Agrivida is backed by leading investors. See also Agrivida's advisory board as well as publications by Agrivida's team and advisors.

Mark Wong

Mark is the Chief Executive Officer of Agrivida. Formerly, he was founder and CEO of Emergent Genetics, Inc. and was a partner of Big Stone Partners, a private venture investment and management advisory firm that specializes in the agricultural and biotechnology sectors. He also has previous founding and management experience in these areas, including Agracetus (CEO), a plant biotechnology company; Agrigenetics (Founder and COO), a seed and biotechnology company; and Renewable Agricultural Energy (Founder and CEO), an ethanol company. Mr. Wong specializes in technology integration and commercialization and has almost 30 years of experience in agribusiness, 20 of them as a general manager. His experience includes operations management, technology assessment, business acquisition and divestiture, and international business. Mark holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Finance.

R. Michael Raab

Michael is a founder and President of Agrivida. He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT. Michael previously worked at the Merck Research Laboratories where he was involved in vaccine development, large scale fermentation and cell culture, and molecular biology research. Michael has a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is originally from the state of Minnesota, which, he is quick to note, is one of the largest ethanol producing states.

Mike Lanahan

Mike manages strategic planning and business development at Agrivida. After completing a Ph.D. in plant molecular biology at Washington University in St. Louis Mike spent several years as a scientist with the Monsanto Company before joining Syngenta (previously Ciba-Geigy and Novartis). Over his career, Mike has served as scientist, project leader, and research director, in areas of disease control, grain quality, and animal feed and industrial enzyme research. At Syngenta, Mike played a key role in business development, new business strategy, investment selection, and product development. With over 15 years of experience, his understanding of seed and agricultural processing businesses is a major asset to Agrivida.

Jeremy Schley Johnson

Jeremy is a co-founder of Agrivida and is an expert in strategic decision making in the design of chemical processes. His graduate work at MIT on this topic included the role of environmental objectives in plant design and the evaluation of biomass as feedstock for fuels and chemicals. Jeremy worked previously at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where his research focused on quantitative analysis of environmental problems, and developing sustainable energy solutions related to biomass. Jeremy was formerly a process engineer in Black and Veatch's Process Division where he specialized in process design and engineering of gas processing plants. Jeremy also has substantial experience in farming and livestock management from his youth in rural Kansas. Jeremy has a Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S. from the University of Kansas, both in Chemical Engineering.