Company Board

John Atkin, Chairman

As an international leader and a technology champion for agriculture and horticulture, John has held senior leadership roles in several global companies. John held the role as Syngenta’s Chief Operating Officer for 14 years, before retiring in 2014. During this period the company more than doubled its sales and built a 30,000 strong team in 90 countries. John still sits as a Board member of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.

John is a Board member of Driscoll’s, a US based global fresh produce company as well as AgriMetis, a venture capital funded company innovating in crop protection chemicals.

Since retirement, he has been appointed Chairman of Spearhead International, a UK based company. Managing over 80,000ha of farmland across 5 European countries, Spearhead International is also involved with seed multiplication and supply chain management for food processors.

John and his wife Beverley created a Foundation in 2010 to support underprivileged children in South Africa and Kenya.

John joined the AgBiTech Board of Directors in 2016.

Adriano Vilas-boas, Ceo

Adriano joined AgBiTech in June 2018 to take responsibility for AgBiTech’s activities in Brazil and other Latin American countries. With considerable commercial and business development experience in many crop segments, Adriano also has a passion for leadership. Adriano became AgBiTech's CEO and joined the board in 2020.

Prior to AgBiTech, Adriano has held several senior positions in marketing, product management, strategy and supply chain spanning in Latin America, US, Asia and Europe

Jeff Bidstrup, Company Founder

Jeff has been farming for over 50 years on Australia’s rich Darling Downs region. With his two sons, he is involved in three farming enterprises across a total of about 8,000 hectares growing many crops including cotton, wheat, sorghum and chickpeas.

He has served the cotton industry as a director of the Cotton Research and Development Corporation and Cotton Seed Distributors, was named Australian Cotton Grower of the Year in 1999 and received the Cotton Australia ‘Service to Industry Award’ in 2016.

Jeff is a founder of AgBiTech, having joined the Board as foundation Chairman in 2001.

Anthony Hawes, Company Founder

Anthony is a leader in the development of baculovirus technology for global agriculture. He has hands-on experience across 6 continents, with specific knowledge in technical positioning and regulation of biological products. Anthony led AgBiTech through a major growth phase from 2013 to 2019, including securing investment to fund the company’s ambitions and relocating operations from Australia to Dallas, Texas, USA in 2016.

Prior to co-founding AgBiTech in 2000, Anthony completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Sydney and worked as a contract trial officer for Eurofins (formerly Agrisearch) before holding technical and marketing roles for Bayer Australia. He currently resides with his wife and children in Toowoomba, Qld.

Doug Rathbone, Member

Doug Rathbone is currently Chairman of Rathbone Wine Group, appointed Director of Cotton Seed Distributors and a member of the Rabobank Advisory Board. He is a former Board member of CSIRO. A chemical engineer by training, Doug served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Nufarm Limited from 1999 to 2015 and previously as the Managing Director of Nufarm Australia Limited from 1982.

Doug joined the AgBiTech Board of Directors in 2015.

Alex Corbacho, Member

Alex Corbacho is a Partner at Paine Schwartz Partners.

Mr. Corbacho joined Paine Schwartz Partners in 2012. Prior to Paine Schwartz, Mr. Corbacho worked at UBS Investment Bank in the firm’s leveraged finance origination and financial sponsor coverage groups. While there, he worked to provide debt financing, capital structure solutions, and advisory services for a variety of companies and financial sponsors, including Paine Schwartz Partners.

Mr. Corbacho serves on the boards of AgBiTech, AgroFresh Solutions, Monterey Mushrooms, SNFL Group, Suja, and Verisem. Previously, he served on the board of Verdesian Life Sciences. He is a graduate of Boston University, and was raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts.