Team
Mr. Boyd is a Qualified Financial Expert with over 21 years of combined experience as the CFO at five different public companies
President & CEO, Co-Founder, Board Member
James B. Boyd
Mr. Boyd is a Qualified Financial Expert with over 21 years of combined experience as the CFO at five different public companies, running the financial function, investor relations and overseeing the audit committee’s operations. As a close confidant and partner of the CEO and Board, he is known for his business acumen and critical decision-making abilities. Mr. Boyd is considered an internal controls and SEC reporting expert having led 404 controls implementations at several companies and the investigations of two restatements which included testifying before the SEC and NASDAQ.
Mr. Boyd is also expert at budgeting, planning, M&A and financing, leading several restructurings and recapitalizations. Finally, Mr. Boyd has broad international experience having set up and managed international tax structures at four companies with significant operations in Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Mr. Boyd has a B.S. in economics and an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a J.D. in Law from the Golden Gate University School of Law.
Dr. Marrone spent her 30+ year career focused on biological products for pest management and plant health
Co-Founder & Executive Chairperson
Dr. Pamela Marrone
Dr. Marrone spent her 30+ year career focused on biological products for pest management and plant health, having started and led three bioag companies (Entotech, AgraQuest and Marrone Bio Innovations (now called Profarm Group), all of which were sold to larger companies.
With co-founder Jim Boyd, the former CFO of Marrone Bio, Pam is currently in the process of launching a fourth company, the Invasive Species Corporation and its corresponding Invasive Species Research Institute, to bring effective, environmentally friendly biological solutions to control destructive invasive species, in water, forestry and agriculture.
She is on the board of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research, is a Senior Fellow of the Arizona State University Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems and is a past alumni-Trustee of Cornell University. She is Chair of the Board of Elicit Plant and serves on the boards of 180 Life Sciences (NASDAQ:ATNF), Stem Express and Pheronym and advises several agtech/agbio startups, many founded or led by women. Among her many awards, in 2022 she received the American Chemical Society “Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success.”
She has a B.S. in entomology with Honors and Distinction from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in entomology from North Carolina State University. She is a Fellow of the AAAS and has over 400 patents.
Dr. Vasavada joins Invasive Species Corporation as the Chief Scientific Advisor. He received his doctorate degree in Applied Microbiology
Chief Science Advisor
Dr. Amit Vasavada
Dr. Vasavada joins Invasive Species Corporation as the Chief Scientific Advisor. He received his doctorate degree in Applied Microbiology from University of California, Davis. He has been involved in Translational R&D, Process and Product Development and Manufacturing of Bio-based products for sustainable Agriculture, Food and Animal Health and Biopharmaceutical sectors for over 35 years. Most recently, he was the SVP of R&D and CTO at Marrone Bio Innovations/Profarm Group since 2014. He led Marrone Bio Innovations’ R&D efforts to discover, develop and deliver smart, natural and sustainable biological pesticides and plant health products in addition to supporting Technology Scouting, Manufacturing and supply chain operations. Previously, he served in various capacities ranging from R&D to Manufacturing operations at Monsanto, Diversa, Chiron and Life Technologies developing solutions for human and animal nutrition, improved grain and food processing and bio-based green chemicals using Genomics, Synthetic Biology and Advanced Bioprocessing.
Mr. Gollub MPL, MSG, an experienced professional specializing in innovation-driven economic strategy for nations, regions, industries...
Business Development
James Gollub
Mr. Gollub MPL, MSG, an experienced professional specializing in innovation-driven economic strategy for nations, regions, industries and major institutions (universities, institutes, tech centers) globally. As part of the ISC team he will help accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of solutions to invasive species challenges through ‘convening the marketplace’ of both demand and supply-side stakeholders. In other words, his business development mission is to help markets work to solve sustainability issues. He began his career at SRI International where he spent 16 years as co-founder of the Center for Economic Competitiveness. He subsequently served for nine years as vice president for global economic development at ICF International after which he founded James Gollub Associates, his action-focused think tank. His prior initiatives to address sustainability issues by helping markets work include assisting agricultural growers to collaborate in discovering and extracting high-value added ingredients from commodities, defining the innovation roadmap for the accelerating progress of stem cells to clinical application, organizing a collaborative to overcome barriers to growth of offshore wind energy, planning multiple collaboratives on hydrogen and fuel cell technology and industry development, planning biotech institutes designed to generate commercial solutions to needs of regional economies, and many more initiatives in fuel cells and hydrogen, mobile digital telephony.
Dr. Merrigan is an expert in food and agriculture, celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World
Board of Directors
Dr. Kathleen A. Merrigan
Dr. Merrigan is an expert in food and agriculture, celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Currently, she serves as the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor in the School of Sustainability and Executive Director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. From 2009 to 2013, Merrigan was Deputy Secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture, where she led efforts to support local food systems. She is known for authoring the law establishing national standards for organic food and the federal definition of sustainable agriculture. Merrigan is a board member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and a Trustee of CIFOR and ICRAF. She is a partner in Astanor Ventures and an advisor to S2G Ventures, two firms investing in ag-tech innovation.
Before joining the USDA, Merrigan held a variety of agriculture policy positions, including at George Washington University, where she led the GW Sustainability Collaborative and served as Professor of Public Policy, faculty member at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and senior staff on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where she wrote the law establishing national standards for organic food.
Peter is a veteran technology and impact investor with experience in both private and public companies across Asia, US and Europe
Board of Directors
Peter Kennedy
Dr. Steve Duke spent 21 years in weed management-oriented research at Stoneville, Mississippi with the...
Science Advisor
Dr. Steve Duke
James B. Boyd
Mr. Boyd is a Qualified Financial Expert with over 21 years of combined experience as the CFO at five different public companies, running the financial function, investor relations and overseeing the audit committee’s operations. As a close confidant and partner of the CEO and Board, he is known for his business acumen and critical decision-making abilities. Mr. Boyd is considered an internal controls and SEC reporting expert having led 404 controls implementations at several companies and the investigations of two restatements which included testifying before the SEC and NASDAQ.
Mr. Boyd is also expert at budgeting, planning, M&A and financing, leading several restructurings and recapitalizations. Finally, Mr. Boyd has broad international experience having set up and managed international tax structures at four companies with significant operations in Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Mr. Boyd has a B.S. in economics and an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a J.D. in Law from the Golden Gate University School of Law.
Dr. Pamela Marrone
Dr. Marrone spent her 30+ year career focused on biological products for pest management and plant health, having started and led three bioag companies (Entotech, AgraQuest and Marrone Bio Innovations (now called Profarm Group), all of which were sold to larger companies.
With co-founder Jim Boyd, the former CFO of Marrone Bio, Pam is currently in the process of launching a fourth company, the Invasive Species Corporation and its corresponding Invasive Species Research Institute, to bring effective, environmentally friendly biological solutions to control destructive invasive species, in water, forestry and agriculture.
She is on the board of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research, is a Senior Fellow of the Arizona State University Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems and is a past alumni-Trustee of Cornell University. She is Chair of the Board of Elicit Plant and serves on the boards of 180 Life Sciences (NASDAQ:ATNF), Stem Express and Pheronym and advises several agtech/agbio startups, many founded or led by women. Among her many awards, in 2022 she received the American Chemical Society “Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success.”
She has a B.S. in entomology with Honors and Distinction from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in entomology from North Carolina State University. She is a Fellow of the AAAS and has over 400 patents.
Dr. Kathleen A. Merrigan
Kathleen A. Merrigan is an expert in food and agriculture, celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Currently she is the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor in the College of Global Futures and executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University.
From 2009 to 2013, Merrigan was deputy secretary and COO of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she led efforts to support local food systems through the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative, and managed USDA’s $150 billion budget. She is known for authoring the law that established national standards for organic food and the federal definition of sustainable agriculture. Merrigan is a board member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a Trustee of CIFOR-ICRAF and an advisor to Astanor Ventures, Heartland Health Research Alliance, and the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
Merrigan holds a PhD in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Master in Public Affairs from University of Texas at Austin, and BA from Williams College.
Dr. Amit Vasavada
Dr. Vasavada joins Invasive Species Corporation as the Chief Scientific Advisor. He received his doctorate degree in Applied Microbiology from University of California, Davis. He has been involved in Translational R&D, Process and Product Development and Manufacturing of Bio-based products for sustainable Agriculture, Food and Animal Health and Biopharmaceutical sectors for over 35 years. Most recently, he was the SVP of R&D and CTO at Marrone Bio Innovations/Profarm Group since 2014. He led Marrone Bio Innovations’ R&D efforts to discover, develop and deliver smart, natural and sustainable biological pesticides and plant health products in addition to supporting Technology Scouting, Manufacturing and supply chain operations. Previously, he served in various capacities ranging from R&D to Manufacturing operations at Monsanto, Diversa, Chiron and Life Technologies developing solutions for human and animal nutrition, improved grain and food processing and bio-based green chemicals using Genomics, Synthetic Biology and Advanced Bioprocessing.
James Gollub
Mr. Gollub MPL, MSG, an experienced professional specializing in innovation-driven economic strategy for nations, regions, industries and major institutions (universities, institutes, tech centers) globally. As part of the ISC team he will help accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of solutions to invasive species challenges through ‘convening the marketplace’ of both demand and supply-side stakeholders. In other words, his business development mission is to help markets work to solve sustainability issues. He began his career at SRI International where he spent 16 years as co-founder of the Center for Economic Competitiveness. He subsequently served for nine years as vice president for global economic development at ICF International after which he founded James Gollub Associates, his action-focused think tank. His prior initiatives to address sustainability issues by helping markets work include assisting agricultural growers to collaborate in discovering and extracting high-value added ingredients from commodities, defining the innovation roadmap for the accelerating progress of stem cells to clinical application, organizing a collaborative to overcome barriers to growth of offshore wind energy, planning multiple collaboratives on hydrogen and fuel cell technology and industry development, planning biotech institutes designed to generate commercial solutions to needs of regional economies, and many more initiatives in fuel cells and hydrogen, mobile digital telephony.
Peter Kennedy
Dr. Steve Duke
Dr. Steve Duke spent 21 years in weed management-oriented research at Stoneville, Mississippi with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of USDA, where he served as Director of the Southern Weed Science Laboratory. He then spent 24 years as Research Leader of the ARS Natural Product Utilization Research Unit located at the National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Mississippi. He is now a Principal Investigator at NCNPR. While his earlier research focused on weed physiology and herbicides, his recent activities have expanded to include all chemicals associated with pest management, with an emphasis on naturally occurring compounds. His research group discovered the molecular target sites of several natural and synthetic phytotoxins. His research is documented in more than 500 peer-reviewed publications and eleven co-written or edited books. He was President of the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), the International Weed Science Society, and the International Allelopathy Society (IAS), as well as Chair of the Agrochemical Division (AGRO) of the American Chemical Society (ACS). His awards include fellow of AAAS, AGRO, WSSA, and ACS, as well as winner of the Molisch Award (IAS), inductee into the ARS Science Hall of Fame, and recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of the Basque Country (Bilbao, Spain). He is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Pest Management Science. Dr. Duke received his Ph.D. from Duke University in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry.