Our story

Juan Estupinan assumed the role of CEO and President at Vestaron AgTech in January 2024, following his appointment as Chief Financial Officer in May 2022. He brings more than 18 years of diverse business leadership experience. During his tenure at Vestaron, he has been a driving force behind the company’s progress, notably closing the successful Series C fundraise, establishing the infrastructure for the commercial organization, and strategically contributing to business expansion into new markets.

Prior to his position at Vestaron, Juan served as the Vice President of Finance and Accounting, and Controller at Aptinyx. In this capacity, he gained extensive M&A experience taking an integral role in the company’s 2018 IPO while leading the Finance function. Additionally, Juan held leadership positions at Durata Therapeutics, Abbott Laboratories, and Deloitte.

Mr. Estupinan is a graduate of Indiana University, Fort Wayne, holding a B.A. with a concentration in finance and accounting. He earned his M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and is a certified public accountant (CPA) in Indiana.

Bob has led Vestaron’s R&D activities since 2009. Bob also sits on the IRAC mode of action committee. He has over 25 years of research management experience and has held management positions at Parke-Davis and Pfizer with academic appointments at Columbia University, University of Michigan and Western Michigan Medical School. Bob holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Virginia Tech, followed by an NIH Postdoctoral fellowship at MIT.

Dawn joined Vestaron in May 2022 as the VP, People with extensive HR experience in both large, public companies and small/midsize private companies. Her career began with Thermo Fisher Scientific in the Biosciences Division, where she led the implementation of HR Functional Excellence initiatives across multiple business units. Dawn received her Bachelor of Science from Northern Illinois University and Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management and is committed to creating diverse work environments where everyone feels they belong and are inspired by the company’s mission and purpose.

Ben became a senior VP with Vestaron in 2018 bringing 18 years experience in crop protection sales, marketing and leadership. Ben’s education, including a MBA from the University of North Carolina and BS in Agricultural Business from The Ohio State University, coupled with his previous management positions at Dow, Bayer, Agrium and NutriAg have prepared him for the charge of growing and developing a diverse and effective sales and marketing team.

Jason joined Vestaron in September 2019 as the Fermentation subject matter expert for the Operations group and was elevated to Vice President of Operations in October 2020. He brings over eight years of industrial biomanufacturing experience working as a staff engineer with Novozymes. Jason’s education includes a BS in Chemical Engineering from VCU, a PhD in Chemical Engineering from UF, and a Postdoctoral fellowship at UF studying waterborne pathogens.

Ben joined Vestaron in June 2022 as the Director of Financial Planning & Analysis with over 20 years of extensive finance experience. Prior to Vestaron, Ben was Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at BioDelivery Sciences where he led all financial processes for the company and played a key role in company’s acquisition in 2022. Before joining BioDelivery Sciences, Ben held increasing roles of responsibility at Dova Pharmaceuticals, Marken (a UPS company), and GlaxoSmithKline. Ben received his Master of Business Administration and BS in Economics both from East Carolina University.

Steve joined Vestaron in 2023 to lead corporate communications. He is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in brand communications, marketing strategy, and corporate leadership within the agriculture and biotechnology sectors. In his previous role as the Head of Global Corporate Brand, Advertising, and Narrative at Corteva Agriscience, he played a key role in establishing and growing the Corteva brand, overseeing a successful brand launch across 100+ countries. Other notable accomplishments include orchestrating award-winning global branded content campaigns, developing emotionally engaging creative executions, and driving brand favorability and reputational impact in areas such as science, biotechnology, sustainability, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Steve’s background includes an MBA from Drake University and BA degrees in biology and French from Luther College.

Dawn joined Vestaron as VP, Field Development in July of 2023. She has over 20 years of experience in product development, marketing, and new business development in the fields of agriculture, pest control, public health, forestry, professional turf and ornamentals and home and garden. Dawn is responsible for defining global strategy for field development, people resourcing, research partnerships, and budgets to support the registration of active ingredients globally.

Prior to joining Vestaron, Dawn was the Global Pre-Commercial Development Manager at Gowan Company, where she designed and executed strategic field development plans for insecticide/miticide, herbicide, fungicide, and biorational active ingredient and end-use formulation registration projects in a wide variety of crops around the world. Earlier at Gowan, she was a Global Marketing Manager, responsible for the life cycle management of a portfolio of active ingredients. Dawn’s experience also includes positions at BASF including Global Strategic Marketing Manager- Insecticides and Biology Project Leader – Commercial Insecticide Development. Dawn began her career as an Entomologist/Technical Specialist with Home Paramount Pest Control.

Dawn earned her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Urban Entomology from the University of Florida, a Master of Science degree in Medical and Veterinary Entomology from North Carolina State University and Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Florida.

As VP, Regulatory Affairs, Matt Orr is responsible for strategy and execution of the company’s regulatory strategy, all domestic and international regulatory filings for current and new products, the building and management of the GLP Regulatory Science lab, and managing the company’s relationships with relevant professional organizations. Prior to joining Vestaron he was the Global Product Registration Manager at BASF Corporation, where he managed global regulatory activities with cross-functional and international teams, while successfully achieving and defending global registrations of new and existing crop protection products. Prior to BASF, Matt was Co-founder and Principal Scientist at Discovery Innovations where he provided scientific advising, technical writing and consulting services. He began his professional career in pharmaceuticals as a Research Scientist at Scynexis, Inc. where he worked on developing novel anti-infective and antineoplastic drug candidates. Matt earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Organic Chemistry from Duke University and his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry/Molecular & Cell Biology from Pennsylvania State University.

James C. Collins, Jr. currently serves as a Director on the Board of Archers Daniels Midland (ADM) and recently retired as Chief Executive Officer of Corteva AgriscienceTM. He was previously Chief Operating Officer for the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. Prior to the DowDuPont merger, he was an Executive Vice President for DuPont responsible for the agriculture segments, which included DuPont Crop Protection and Pioneer Seed.

Starting with the announcement of the DowDuPont merger, Mr. Collins led the integration of legacy DuPont and Dow agricultural businesses to drive readiness for the ultimate spin of Corteva – a new leading pure-play agriculture company – which successfully separated from DowDuPont on June 1, 2019. During this time- period, Mr. Collins drove execution actions that lead to the realization of aggressive mid-term net sales and operating EBITDA growth targets for the business. This includes launching 14 new products from the innovation pipeline, implementing a multi-channel, multi-brand growth strategy, and making significant progress toward a best-in-class cost structure more than doubling the value of the company in three years.

Mr. Collins joined DuPont in 1984 and has since served in key leadership roles across several DuPont businesses. His work in the food and agriculture segment began over 35 years ago, as a sales representative and product manager, and he subsequently held roles supporting seed and crop protection businesses for DuPont around the world. Prior to leading the agriculture segment, he led three other large DuPont business segments, BioBased Materials, Performance Materials and Electronics & Communications.

In addition to ADM, he also serves on the Longwood Gardens Board of Trustees and the University of Tennessee Lone Oaks Farm Advisory Council. Mr. Collins previously served on the board of directors for CropLife International and was a Champion of the Crop Trust’s Food Forever Initiative. A supporter of youth education and leadership development, he served on the National 4-H Council Board and awarded an honorary American FFA Degree for his efforts to promote agriculture education with youth in the United States.

Mr. Collins was a member of the Business Round Table, serving in the Special Committee on Equity and Racial Justice, Climate Policy and Trade Committees.

Mr. Collins has a bachelor’s degree of science in Chemical Engineering from Christian Brothers College and an MBA focused on international business from the University of Delaware.

Juan Estupinan assumed the role of CEO and President at Vestaron AgTech in January 2024, following his appointment as Chief Financial Officer in May 2022. He brings more than 18 years of diverse business leadership experience. During his tenure at Vestaron, he has been a driving force behind the company’s progress, notably closing the successful Series C fundraise, establishing the infrastructure for the commercial organization, and strategically contributing to business expansion into new markets.

Prior to his position at Vestaron, Juan served as the Vice President of Finance and Accounting, and Controller at Aptinyx. In this capacity, he gained extensive M&A experience taking an integral role in the company’s 2018 IPO while leading the Finance function. Additionally, Juan held leadership positions at Durata Therapeutics, Abbott Laboratories, and Deloitte.

Mr. Estupinan is a graduate of Indiana University, Fort Wayne, holding a B.A. with a concentration in finance and accounting. He earned his M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and is a certified public accountant (CPA) in Indiana.

Former President and Chief Executive Officer Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Randy C. Papadellis is Chairperson of the Vestaron Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Suja Life.

Mr. Papadellis’ career in the food and beverage industry spans 40 years with some of the top brands in the business, including Welch’s Foods and Cadbury Schweppes. In his 18 years as CEO of Ocean Spray, he transformed the cranberry grower cooperative’s operations and business model and built it into a globally recognized consumer brand with $2.3 billion in revenues, 2,400 employees, and products sold in over 80 countries.

Mr. Papadellis is currently Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Emeriti for Colby College; a Board member of the Old Colony YMCA in Brockton, MA and Real Green Foods (a plant protein startup); and consultant for several private equity firms in the United States. Previously, he was on the board of Deoleo UK (the world’s largest branded olive oil company), the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives in Washington, DC (Chairperson); and the Graduate Institute of Cooperative Learning at the University of Missouri (Chairperson).

Kartik is a Partner with Novo Holdings, a global life sciences investor and holding company. Kartik joined Novo Holdings in 2020 in its Growth Equity area focusing on investments across food, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, and bio-manufacturing. Prior to joining Novo Holdings, Kartik served as Associate Partner at McKinsey & Co. working with clients across healthcare, agriculture, chemicals and consumer products on biotechnology strategy and operational topics. Previous to that, Kartik worked at Novozymes in a variety of business building and corporate development roles in both Denmark and the U.S. Kartik holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Northwestern University.

Lily Li is a Director at Northpond Ventures where she focuses on life science tools and diagnostics. Lily is a board director at 1859, Ansa Biotechnologies, SpeeDx, and Vestaron, and holds board observer roles at ChromaCode, Delfi Diagnostics, Emulate, and Encodia. She was a board director at Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGDx) which was acquired by LabCorp. Previously, Lily was an Associate Director of corporate and business development at Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN), where she structured and led strategic partnerships to support company growth across clinical markets. Prior to Illumina, Lily led strategic marketing and business development at NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSTG). Lily was also a management consultant in the life sciences practice at L.E.K. Consulting, where she served as a strategic advisor to a broad range of corporate clients and life science investors. Lily received her Ph.D. in molecular and systems pharmacology from Emory University. She also holds a B.S. in biology from Tsinghua University.

Ariel Barack is a seasoned investor with noteworthy entrepreneurial experience. He is a graduate of IMD’s Executive MBA program and holds a BSc in Computer Science from Webster University.

Ariel serves as a Senior Partner and COO of Ordway Selections, a private Swiss firm dedicated to investing in the Food & Agriculture sector. Ordway Selections invests into process and technology innovation, private equity growth, buyouts, and operating businesses that grow high quality crops in a sustainable manner.

Susan Altschuller, Ph.D., MBA is a member of the Vestaron Board of Directors and serves as chair of the Audit Committee.

Dr. Altschuller has two decades of financial management, investor relations, and business planning experience with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. She has served as Cerevel’s Chief Financial Officer since May 2023. Most recently, she served as the Chief Financial Officer of ImmunoGen, a biotechnology company developing the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates for cancer patients. Before ImmunoGen, Dr. Altschuller worked at Alexion, where she was Head of Investor Relations and later, Head of Enterprise Finance. Prior to joining Alexion, Dr. Altschuller was Head of Investor Relations at Bioverativ, where she served as the primary interface with Wall Street and led all investor-related activities for the launch of the Biogen hemophilia spin-off. Early in her career, Dr. Altschuller held positions at Biogen in various functions of increasing responsibility, including investor relations, corporate finance, and commercial finance. She serves as Audit Chair on the Board of Directors of Mural Oncology and is a founding Board member of the HNRNP Family Foundation.

Dr. Altschuller received a BSE in Biomedical Engineering with Honors from Tulane University, a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.