Board of Directors
IowaBio Board Officers
Anders Thomsen
Business Unit Manager for Eurofins Nutrition Analysis Center in Des Moines, IA
Dr. Martin Gross
Dr. Martin Gross is the President and a founder at Gross-Wen Technologies (GWT). GWT is a next generation wastewater treatment company that is commercializing the revolving algal biofilm treatment technology (RAB). The RAB system sustainably recovers nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. The byproducts from the process are clean water, clean air, and algae biomass, which can be used to create products ranging from fertilizers to nutraceuticals. During his role as President at GWT, he has raised over $5M in equity investments, served as Principal Investigator on over $1M in non-diluting SBIR grant funding, applied for and been granted numerous patents, and helped orchestrate the first commercial sale of GWT’s core RAB technology.
Prior to founding GWT, Gross attained dual doctoral degrees from Iowa State University in the fields of Bioprocess Engineering and Food Science and Technology. Gross also serves as a professor of entrepreneurship at ISU.
Nathan Brewer
Nathan currently serves as Director, Marketing - Enterprise Innovation at Kent Corporation. Prior to Kent, Nathan was a Sr. Director with Kynetec where he led a market team in the seed market, providing market research and strategy work for a varied client base.
Before Kynetec, Nathan was with Pioneer Hi-Bred for about 12 years moving from Research Associate into the marketing group responsible for market research and strategy, including Competitive Intelligence Manager.
Nathan has a BS Degree in Biology and Chemistry from Truman State University, a Masters in Biology from University of Missouri and an MBA from the University of Iowa.
Emily Fuerst
Mrs. Fuerst is the Director of Research and Development at Kemin Crop Technologies, a division of Kemin Industries, and is responsible for developing new and innovative solutions to protect specialty crops from pests while improving plant nutrient utilization. Her earlier scientific work included bark beetle pheromone identification, insect trapping and rearing, and collaboration with a team to identify the first pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide receptor in the moth Helicoverpa zea. In addition to her expertise in entomology, Mrs. Fuerst has a robust and diverse scientific background, including experience in the areas of microorganism engineering, enzyme development, encapsulation technologies, and formulation chemistry. She also has international and cross functional experiences in business serving as interim Director of Research and Development for Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health in Brazil (2012-2014) and separately served as interim Sales Director and Technical Services Manager for Kemin Crop Technologies (2019-2020). Mrs. Fuerst is passionate about science, biotechnology, and seeing more STEM business growth and opportunities in Iowa. Mrs. Fuerst is also currently a member of the Iowa Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Advisory Board (2017-present).
IowaBio Board of Directors
Caroline Belmont
Head of US Global Innovation and US Regulatory Affairs at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, Inc.
Dr. Rachel Binning
Global Regulatory Portfolio lead – Soybeans, Corteva Agriscience. Binning holds an undergraduate degree in biology, and a master’s and Ph.D. in entomology from Iowa State University.
Irma Fisher
Irma received her Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Iowa State University in May 2011. She began her career at legacy Monsanto/Bayer within Plant Biotechnology in October 2011. She currently serves as Workflow Lead within Bayer U.S. – Crop Science.
Irma holds an exceptional understanding of high-throughput lab processes and a passion for efficiency, accuracy, and quality across a 24-hour operation.
Mohan Dasari
Mohan Dasari is the senior director of product and process development at the Feed Energy Company.
Nate Green
Nate Green serves as Executive Director, Global Sourcing – Origination for Chevron Renewable Energy Group (CREG). With 11 biorefineries in the U.S. and Europe, CREG is leading the energy and transportation industries’ transition to a lower carbon intensity future by converting renewable waste feedstocks and vegetable oils into high-quality biofuels.
At CREG, Mr. Green’s team is focused on strategic, long-term supply partnerships, feedstock offtakes, investments, and international supply chains. Prior roles at CREG included serving as Director, Corporate Business Development, and as Senior Counsel on the legal team. He is also an inventor on 4 CREG patents for producing renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.
Prior to CREG, Mr. Green served as Vice President of Transactions at a Washington DC firm, with a practice focused on renewable energy project finance (biofuels, solar, wind, EVs, etc.) and also worked at two Iowa law firms, which included wind and biofuels projects. Mr. Green serves on the boards of America’s Cultivation Corridor and the Iowa Biotechnology Association (Board Chair ’22). He is a member of the Iowa Bar Association and holds a JD, highest honors, from the University of Iowa College of Law. As a Fulbright Fellow to The Netherlands, Mr. Green earned an MA in Political Science from Leiden University, conducting research at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He holds a BA, highest distinction, from the University of Iowa, where he served as Student Body President and received the Hancher-Finkbine Medallion, the university’s top academic honor.
Mr. Green is an Iowa native, originally from Fort Dodge, where his family still owns a century farm. He now resides in Ankeny, Iowa with his wife and 2 kids.
Jason Guernsey
Jason Guernsey is Director of Business Development representing the Midwest Region for CRB, a leading provider of sustainable engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting solutions to the global life sciences and advanced technology industries.
Prior to CRB, Jason served under Governor Pete Rickets as the Director of Business Attraction with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. In addition to his leadership responsibilities, his primary focus was attracting companies operating within the Bioscience industry, assisting with Site Selection, Incentives, and connections to key stakeholders to drive project success.
Joel Harris
Joel Harris is co-founder and CEO of Genvax Technologies. Harris also serves as Executive Director for the Ag Startup Engine, a seed program in Ames, IA. He was Business Development Manager for Vitalize Venture Group, a venture capital investment firm in Chicago. He previously held COO, CIO, and Vice President roles at Harrisvaccines, an international animal health vaccines company that he and his father Dr. Hank Harris sold to Merck Animal Health in 2015. Harris has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Iowa and a Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Narrative Communications from Northwestern University.
Josh Johnson
Josh Johnson is Director of Biologics Operations (US) for Huvepharma Inc, a global company with a focus on animal health and nutrition products. Huvepharma holds product registrations in 90 countries.
Mr. Johnson oversees operations for the development and manufacturing of animal health biological products, with locations in Lincoln, NE and Laurinburg, NC, producing upwards of 5 billion vaccine doses annually. Prior to this role, he served as the General Manager of Benchmark Biolabs where he began his career in 2004, which was acquired by Huvepharma in 2018.
Mr. Johnson has overseen numerous strategic expansions, both internally and for clients, from early facility design and engineering until products are licensed and placed for manufacturing.
Mr. Johnson received a B.S. in Administration from the University of Wyoming and served 8 years in the 153rd Airlift Wing Civil Engineering Squadron, deploying to the middle east in support of Operation Southern Watch.
Cody Kenkel
Cody comes to us from Agilent Technologies, where he is responsible for business operations of the former Advanced Analytical Technologies business (AATI), which Agilent acquired in 2018. In this role he is responsible for a team that focuses on driving automation and efficiency improvements, as well as insourcing key reagent production to Ankeny.
With 15 years in the life-sciences industry, Cody has held a myriad of different roles involving managing the divestiture of the Dharmacon business from GE Healthcare to Horizon Discovery and managing oligo and plasmid manufacturing operations at Dharmacon.
Cody is from Southwest Iowa and attended The University of Iowa where he received a BS in Chemistry, and later earned his MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus. In his free time, you might find him hiking, hunting, skiing, or playing cards with friends and family.
Dr. Marie Kerbeshian
Dr. Kerbeshian is Assistant Vice President and Executive Director of the UIRF where she oversees UI’s commercialization efforts for technology developed at the university. She is a Certified Licensing Professional™ and a registered patent agent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She has over two decades of experience in commercializing university innovations. Prior to joining the UIRF in 2017, Marie led the offices for the Indiana University system and at the University of Virginia. Marie is widely sought as a trainer and consultant for technology transfer best practices both in the United States and internationally
Marie graduated from Wellesley College with highest honors in biological sciences and earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining University of Virginia’s commercialization office, she was a postdoctoral fellow at that university’s Center for Research in Reproduction in the Health Sciences Center and at the National Science Foundation’s Center for Biological Timing in the Department of Biology.
Mark Laurenzo
Business Development Manager, Project Management, Iowa Economic Development Authority
Dr. Nolan Mente
Nolan is a native Iowan who was raised on a farm in Eastern Iowa, currently serving as Lead Scientist, Engineering & Data Sciences at Cargill. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Northern Iowa in 2004 prior to earning a Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry at the University of Iowa in 2008. Following five years as a bench chemist and research manager at a Contract Research Organization, he joined Cargill in 2013 where he has been a key contributor in both the Biotechnology R&D and Engineering & Data Sciences groups. Nolan’s focus is the development of processes to generate new commercial bioproducts and refinement of existing bioproduction processes.
Dr. James Reecy
Dr. James Reecy currently serves as an Associate Vice President for Research at Iowa State University, where he oversees the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration and internal funding programs and fosters the development of interdisciplinary teams. He joined the faculty of Iowa State University in February of 1999 and is currently a Professor in the Department of Animal Science. He received a B.S. degree from South Dakota State University; an M.S. degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia; and a Ph.D. degree from Purdue University. He served as the Director of the Office of Biotechnology, which administered 10 fee-for-service core facilities for 10 years. Dr. Reecy currently is the NRSP-8 database coordinator, where he leads national efforts to improve the computational resources available for genomics research on livestock species. In addition, he is currently serving as a 2018 Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) Council on Research Fellow. During his career, Dr. Reecy has worked on problems in ruminant nutrition, skeletal muscle growth and development, embryonic heart development, beef and mouse molecular and quantitative genetics, and livestock bioinformatics. His lab has worked on beef cattle molecular genetics with a focus on improving the nutrient content of beef and the health of cattle, as well as, the development of database resourced to facilitate genomics research.
Tom Swegle
Tom Swegle is a serial entrepreneur who chases opportunities that focus on investing, developing and launching business entities that build value within the prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) biopharmaceutical and life sciences sectors. Example sectors include clinical pharmaceutical organizations, e-commerce pet medications, and medical marijuana companies.
Tom has been a partner and CEO for biopharmaceutical institutions such as RegenaCorp and MedCara Pharmaceuticals, working throughout his career to push the envelopes of science, technology and commercial strategy from products developed from the bench of compounding pharmacies. Tom has invested in and/or worked for entrepreneurial companies such as VetCara, NuCara Management Group, Paragon Manufacturing, John Deere Health and The Meyocks Group.
He has successfully developed and implemented a compounding prescription model to dispense products such as Med101 under the brand name WartPEEL®, a topical prescription treatment for resistant warts that can be prescribed in all 50 U.S. states. The development of WartPEEL® has resulted in the creation of marketing and pharmacy operations, distribution, reimbursement strategies and supporting infrastructures for the Med101 therapy, thus gaining valuable anecdotal patient feedback and impressive revenue streams.
Tom has over 10 years of pharmaceutical executive experience that has involved the direction, preparation and implementation of out-licensing and partner materials including investor briefing documents, financial and valuation models, market scaling, intellectual property, clinical and regulatory data. Tom has successfully negotiated with the FDA to approve pre-clinical data and received approval to begin Phase I human studies and filing for Med101. He has directed the consultant services in preparing, filing, and otherwise advising in the preparation and filing of INDs, Supplemental NDAs, NDAs, investigational brochures, labeling, orphan applications and Investigator INDs. He has negotiated with the FDA on pre-IND, end of phase I-II, pre-NDA meetings and resolution of clinical hold and general issues.
A Fortune 150 Executive and Marketing Leader, Tom received a “Gold” acknowledgement for healthcare branding by the National Healthcare Marketing Report. He has enjoyed a diverse marketing and management career that has included key positions with well-known firms and brands including John Deere.
Dr. Michael Walter
Dr. Michael Walter currently serves as Associate Professor, Biology, at the University of Northern Iowa.
Education:
Ph.D. 1991 Plant Pathology, Washington State University
M.S. 1986 Plant Pathology, Oregon State University
Teaching Interests:
My greatest successes come with a hands on - connect this concept to something you already know - approach. Microbiology 840-151 Virology 840-144 Bioinformatics Applications for Biologists 840-127g Life-The Natural World: Lecture 840-012 Cell Structure & Function 840-052 Professional Science Masters Seminar 820-289 Undergraduate Research Seminar 840-189
Dr. Mary Pat Wohlford
Dr. Mary Pat Wohlford has 35 years of experience as an academic leader, researcher and consultant. She has served as a tenured professor, associate dean, provost, vice president for research and executive vice president. She has held leadership positions in a community college, a health science university, a medical school and at three comprehensive institutions. She directed graduate programs in Health Care Administration and Public health. She has served as a hospital and practice management consultant over the course of her career.
She has leadership experience in private and public organizations. She has extensive experience in health care policy, research and research compliance, extramural funding and development, new program development, institutional research, and academic affairs.