Derek is passionate about conservation and natural ecosystems – a passion he uses to guide his work as Senior Conservation Agronomist at AgSpire. He has a deep respect for mother nature and the symbiosis organisms have with one another in the environment. In his work, Derek seeks to harness these natural relationships for crop production so that environmental impacts can be mitigated while still producing high quality commodities for the growing world’s population.
Prior to joining AgSpire, Derek spent more than 15 years working with landowners and corporations to design, manage, and validate research trials, maximizing short- and long-term crop outputs. Always eager to learn, he is continuously expanding his knowledge of soil health, chemistry, biology, technical advancements in crop production and integrated pest management (IPM).
Derek holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from South Dakota State University and a master’s degree in Agronomy from Iowa State University. He is a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA), Technical Service Provider (TSP) for the NRCS, and is also a small business owner.
In his spare time, Derek enjoys the outdoors, coaching youth sports, and spending time with his family.
Julia drives AgSpire’s creative strategy with a mission to support farmers and rural America. That mission is rooted in her family’s row crop farm in the Texas Panhandle, where she currently resides.
With a background in advocacy communications and cause marketing, Julia brings a proven record leading multi-channel marketing strategies to drive brand reputation, foster partnerships, and mobilize audiences – having worked to advance education, international health, and agriculture globally.
Julia is pursuing a master’s degree in international agriculture from Oklahoma State University to complement her master’s degree in corporate and non-profit communication from Johns Hopkins University and bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Texas Christian University.
Vivian leads AgSpire’s program operations, with a strong focus on achieving tangible outcomes and delivering meaningful results.
Growing up on a farm in Norway, Vivian knows the intricacies of working with the land and the vast opportunities for producers, the environment, and society at large. This spurred an interest in sustainable development that has guided her education and career since.
Prior to joining AgSpire as our inaugural hire, Vivian worked in sales at two indoor vertical farming startups, before moving into economic development for the State of Wyoming in an entrepreneurial ecosystem development role.
With a bachelor’s degree in Renewable Energy from the University of Life Sciences in Norway, she then moved to Wyoming to pursue her MBA in Energy Management at the University of Wyoming.
With extensive experience utilizing diverse regenerative practices, Jared assists AgSpire’s clients to impact their supply chains through strategy, program design, and on-the-ground implementation.
Jared has 25 years of experience on the land as a part-owner of a diversified livestock and crop farm in Eastern South Dakota that focuses on cow/calf production. Through the lessons learned on his own land, Jared is passionate about equipping fellow farmers and ranchers to enable greater resilience and functionality through positive land management and grazing practices.
Jared’s expertise has been further honed through his background in livestock genetics, seed sales, business development, and as co-host of the Roots + Ruminants Podcast. Jared has a degree in Animal Science from South Dakota State University.
Aline DeLucia leads AgSpire in pursuing cutting-edge ideas to address challenges and advance goals. With a background in livestock nutrition and reproduction, stakeholder engagement, corporate issues management, and agricultural policy and advocacy, Aline offers a comprehensive and pragmatic understanding of the industry.
Aline started her career in livestock, where she worked on beef cattle reproduction, as well as exotic ruminants’ nutrition. She maintains strong ties to her family’s beef cattle ranch in Brazil, bringing a valuable perspective into discussions impacting producers and the food value chain.
She took that practical knowledge and applied it to public policy and business management. Through her roles with Syngenta, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and BASF, Aline gained extensive experience engaging stakeholders throughout the agriculture value chain to advance key industry issues.
She has three master’s degrees spanning the breadth of agricultural sciences and business from Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Florida. She received her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
