Alan Willits
Chairman of the Board

Mr. Willits was elected to the Board in July 2018. From June 2014 to September 2018, he served in various senior management positions at Cargill Asia Pacific, including Chairman, where he lead Cargill’s Agriculture Supply Chain business in the Asia-Pacific region. He was responsible for several businesses within this group, including Cargill’s oil palm plantations, trading and merchandising in the Asia-Pacific region, and Cargill’s grains and oilseeds supply chain businesses in North Asia, South Asia and Australia. From February 2008 to May 2014, Mr. Willits served as President of Cargill Corn Milling America, where he oversaw all aspects of the corn processing business. Between January 2005 and February 2008, Mr. Willits served as President of Cargill Specialty Seed and Oil. Mr. Willits also held various other senior positions with Cargill between 1980 and 2005, during which he managed Cargill’s international wheat trading activities in Geneva, Switzerland, its grain business in Argentina and its specialty canola oils business. Mr. Willits received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, College of Agriculture in Agricultural Economics. Based on his extensive industry experience and agricultural expertise, Mr. Willits brings to the Board significant industry expertise and knowledge of the agricultural industry in the Asia-Pacific and other geographic regions.

Mark Wong
Former Chief Executive Officer, S&W Seed Company

Mr. Wong was elected to the Board in December 2014. In June 2017, he was appointed to serve as our President and Chief Executive Officer until his retirement in June 2023. He has more than 35 years of experience in agribusiness, with particular expertise in technology integration and commercialization. Mr. Wong was a founder and, since 2009, has been a partner of Colorado Financial Holdings (“CFH”), a private venture investment and investment bank that specializes in the agricultural, energy and biotechnology sectors. From January 2012 to March 2018, Mr. Wong served as Chairman of American Dairyco, Ponte Vedra, Florida, the owner and operator of dairies in Florida and Georgia, which is a venture jointly owned by CFH. Between 2008 and December 2015, he served either as Chairman of the Board or chief executive officer of Agrivida, a private company that is developing and commercializing high-performance products that incorporate novel, regulated proteins precisely engineered for specific applications in a variety of markets, including animal nutrition, bio-based fuels and chemicals and industrial enzymes. From January 2016 to February 2016, Mr. Wong served as Acting President and Chief Executive Officer of Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., a publicly-traded agricultural biotechnology trait company for which he also served on the board from May 2006 until February 2016. Mr. Wong was the Chief Executive Officer of Renewable Agricultural Energy Corporation, a private ethanol production company, from 2006 to 2007. Prior to that time, was the founder and, from 1999 to 2005, chief executive officer of Emergent Genetics, an international seed biotech company that was sold to Monsanto Company in 2005. Mr. Wong founded and managed a series of other agricultural and biotechnology companies, including Big Stone Partners, Agracetus Corporation, a plant biotechnology company that was sold to Monsanto and Agrigenetics Corporation, a seed and biotechnology company that was sold to Dow Chemical. Mr. Wong also worked as an engineer for FMC Corporation and Chemical Construction Corporation. Mr. Wong served as a director of BioFuel Energy Corp., a publicly traded corn ethanol company, from January 2008 until October 2014, and Chair from March 2010 to October 2014, when it was renamed Green Brick Partners following an acquisition and recapitalization transaction. Mr. Wong received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Wong provides the Board with a wealth of experience in the agricultural and energy industries, and is able to draw on his many years of executive leadership experience.

Alexander C. Matina
Managing Member, LANECR Consulting LLC

Mr. Matina has served on the Board since May 2015. From 2007 through 2023, Mr. Matina served in various leadership roles at MFP Investors, LLC, the former family office of Michael F. Price, including Portfolio Manager. MFP had a value-investing focus across public and private markets. From October 2005 to August 2007, Mr. Matina served in various roles at Balance Asset Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund, and from June 2004 to September 2005, as a senior associate at Altus Capital Partners, a middle market private equity fund. Prior thereto, he was a principal at 747 Capital, a private equity fund-of-funds, and a financial analyst at Salomon Smith Barney in the financial sponsors group of the investment banking division. Mr. Matina serves on various other public company boards, including Trinity Place Holdings, Inc., Nu Ride Inc. and Range Capital Acquisition Corp. He also is a director of privately held SIXGEN and sits on the board of the St. Francis Hospital Foundation. Mr. Matina also served on the board of Papa Murphy’s and Crowheart Energy until their respective sales. Mr. Matina received a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. Mr. Matina brings a strong finance background to the Board, including experience with private equity, as well as his experience in other public companies.

Jeff Rona
Chief Business Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Ovid Therapeutics

Mr. Rona was appointed to the board of directors in December of 2023.  He is currently the Chief Business Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Ovid Therapeutics (NASDAQ:OVID) listed public company.  He leads Ovid’s corporate finance and business development strategy and the Company’s financial reporting and operations.  During his time with Ovid, he has completed numerous public financings, and business development transactions with Takeda, AstraZeneca, Graviton, Gensaic, Angelini Pharma, Healx and others. He has more than 30 years of experience as a former investment banker and a strategic financial executive with expertise in financial operations, investor relations and raising capital for public and private companies.  He previously held senior leadership positions for Danforth Advisors, GlobeImmune (NASDAQ: GMIB), AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals and Antigenics (NASDAQ: AGEN). Mr. Rona began his career at Coopers & Lybrand and UBS Investment Bank (NYSE: UBS).  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Case Western Reserve University.

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