Dr. Zachary S. Wochok is the President and Founder of The Wochok Group, LLC, a management consulting firm headquartered in Davis, CA. He is the retired CEO (1996-2011) of PGP International, Inc., a food ingredient company located in Woodland, California that is part of Associated British Foods, plc.

Prior to joining PGP Dr. Wochok served for three years as Chairman, CEO, and President of NURTURE, Inc., a specialty ingredients company in Missoula, Montana.  From 1989 to 1991, he was President and COO of Calgene, Inc., where he was responsible for managing the company’s five operating subsidiaries.  From 1983 to its merger with Calgene in 1989, Dr. Wochok was the CEO and President of Plant Genetics, Inc., an Ag-biotech company located in Davis, CA, which he took public prior to merging with Calgene, Inc. in 1989.

Prior to 1983, Dr. Wochok was Business Development Manager in the New Ventures Department at Monsanto Company and a lead scientist for Weyerhaeuser Company, where he led the development of that company’s accelerated maturing Douglas Fir  (“super trees”) using proprietary tissue cloning technology.

Dr. Wochok currently serves as an Independent Board member at Marrone Bio-Innovations (MBII), President and Director of Grazix Animal Health, Inc., and Director for the Board of Live Leaf, Inc. He has served as advisor to the Cibus Global Board of Directors, and Ag industry advisor to Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Prior to this he served on the Board of Directors of Nucelis, Inc., the Advisory Board of Phyllom, LLC, and the Board of Puroast Coffee Company.  He is Chair for the California Institute for Food and Agricultural Research, which is affiliated with UC Davis. He is also a long standing member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and Institute of Management Consultants.

Dr. Wochok began his career as a professor of biology at the University of Alabama, following a NIH funded post-doctoral position at Yale University. He received his Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology at the University of Connecticut as a NIH pre-doctoral fellow. He was awarded an MS in Biology as an NIH scholar from Villanova University and his BA in Biology/Pre-Med from LaSalle University. He is the author of numerous scientific publications, business articles, and holds one patent.

Dr. Ritchie is the President of Canadian Poultry Consultants and S.J. Ritchie Research Farms. He has developed and been participating in the Platinum Brooding® program since its inception. The Platinum Brooding® program is an educational session used by poultry producers to promote poultry health. It is now part of the Masters of Avian Medicine curriculum at the University of Georgia and the Aviagen International Broiler Production School in Alabama. The Platinum Brooding® program is also now part of the New Producer Entrant program of the British Columbia Broiler Chicken Marketing Board. Dr. Ritchie has participated in numerous poultry production and scientific sessions throughout the globe and has recently completed his term as President of the American Association of Avian Pathologists (AAAP).

Stewart was the founder (1990) and now a longstanding member of the Western Meeting of Poultry Clinicians and Pathologists.

Stewart’s degrees include: B.Sc.(Agr) – UBC, M.S. – U of Arkansas, D.V.M. – U of Saskatchewan, and Diplomate American College of Poultry Veterinarians. Over the course of his extensive and renowned research career Stewart has developed numerous technological advances which have been commercialized by some of the world’s largest Vitamin and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing companies. He is also a featured keynote speaker and presenter at research seminars and forums around the world.