Dan has over 30 years of international experience in research, development and regulatory sciences ranging from discovery through commercialization and renewal of products in the areas of crop protection, plant growth regulators, biostimulantsand rhizosphere enhancement. He established and led a natural product discovery platform for DuPont Crop Protection, andled global product development and new technology research for Valent BioSciencesCorporation. Some of Dan’s focus include:

• Technology Assessment
• Strategic Planning
• Systems optimization
• Business development

• Business Essentials for Executives, The Wharton School
• Leading Product Innovation, Harvard Business School
• Financial Analysis for Nonfinancial Managers, Booth School of Business
• Creating and Managing Strategic Alliances, Kellogg School of Management
• Creating and Leading High PerformanceTeams, The Wharton School

Shaun, Is a recent master’s graduate in agricultural economics, during which he gained experience in solving optimization as well as simulation type problems. His final project was an analysis of synergy valuation methods followed by a case study comparing these models. Prior to this, he worked on a variety of analytics projects including but not limited to market basket analyses for a retail chain. Shaun’s specialties are as follows:

• Risk Modelling, particularly risk adjusted return on capital
• Analytics
• Machine learning
• Neural Networks

Catherine brings experience in research, business, and project management to The Context Network team. Catherine joined Context in 2018 as a Business Analyst after working in diverse ag sectors – from ag technology to ag inputs to sustainable agriculture. In 2020, Catherine left Context to pursue a graduate degree and research role, where she led academic research projects across three primary areas – meat processing industry dynamics, labor issues in agriculture, and rural broadband policy. In 2022, she re-joined Context fulltime, with an emphasis on utilizing quantitative analysis methods such as statistical analysis, regression analysis, and quantitative-based market research. Catherine grew up on a row crop farm in Iowa and currently resides in the St. Louis area.

Education:

• BS, Iowa State University – Economics, Agricultural Business
• MS, University of Missouri – Agricultural and Applied Economics

Amanda Bushell has worked at the intersection of business, science and policy in the food system for eight years. She has a passion for technologies and strategies that allow for more efficiency and longevity in natural resource management. She has experience in aquaculture, insect-based protein, fisheries management, international policy and food waste reduction. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband.Herroles and experiences include:

• Consultant at the World Bank on the global fisheries partnership
• MBA Intern at Walmart in Global Food Sourcing
• Co-founder of the North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture and former director of feed
• Program Assistant at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in the office of ocean science

Jacob has nearly a decade of experience in market research and strategy across the agribusiness industry. His background includes grain industry experience in commodity trading and producer merchandising as well as facility-level operations. During his five years at The Context Network, Jacob has successfully provided project support in many different areas, such as market intelligence, go-to-market strategy development, and landscape assessment.​

Stephanie joined context in January 2017. A Spanish/English bilingual profession with 19 years of experience across food and pharmaceutical sectors, she has held a range of leadership positions in quality and food safety, operations, and sales. Stephanie joined The Context Network from Mars Incorporated where she most recently lead the deployment of a global cost-reduction initiative leveraging virtual tools and development of high-level stakeholder engagement. She has experience in multiple international engagements spanning the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Stephanie’s experience and focus include:

—Project management and leadership of highly engaged cross-functional teams

—Thought leadership and development of quality, sustainability, and human safety systems

—Continuous improvement

—Quantitative and Qualitative research including market research and strategic analysis

—Organizational Change Design and Implementation

Formerly, the V.P. US Pork Business at Zoetis and has served in marketing, sales, and leadership roles in Animal Health for 30 years. She is a seasoned executive who has a history of successfully leading dynamic organizations to drive performance and a unique ability to lead teams and develop people. It is her keen understanding of business processes, strength in building teams, and ability to instill dedication to team success that has made her an effective and proven leader.

Gloria has designed and delivered a wide range of business solutions to improve results by enhancing individual and organizational capability through innovation and creativity. She is a strong collaborator, energetic problem-solver and dynamic facilitator, who employs outcomes-based design to improve the performance of teams and workgroups.

She is known for identifying strategic opportunities that have radically changed the market and positively transformed business models.

Dr. Davis is an agricultural entomologist with expertise in global insect and disease pests of field crops.  With 26 years of experience working in both university and in the biotech seed industry, she has taught courses in insect ecology and integrated pest management. Her research interests include economic assessment, sampling theory, and degree-day modeling for field-crop insects.  Leveraging her analytical and communication skills, Paula has provided strategic marketing, technical, regulatory, and training support leading to the global commercialization of over a dozen biotech trait products. Her previous experience includes:  

• Senior Manager, insect and disease resistance traits, DuPont Pioneer
• Market development manager and academic research coordinator, Monsanto Company
• Assistant Professor, Dept. of Entomology, Cornell University

Becky is an experienced senior executive with a track record of utilizing consensus building and creative solutions to solve problems for clients, organizations and agencies. 

• For over 30 years, she has honed her skills in:
  • Organization management
  • Strategic planning
  • Agriculture policy development
  • Project design/delivery/evaluation
  • Market analysis
  • Fundraising