About

Who We Are

At Grow Further, we engage farmers, scientists, and individuals in participatory innovation for global food security and sustainable agriculture.

Our members come from different backgrounds, but we all come eager to learn from each other, invest in the future of food, support scientists with overlooked ideas, and help small-scale farmers.

Our Management

Core Team
Advisory Committee
Christine - Grow Further

Christine Xu

Communications &
Marketing Consultant

Christine Xu

Communications and Marketing Consultant
Christine advises on and assists with communications and marketing including our newsletter, website, and social media. She previously worked in international communications and policy between Washington, DC and Beijing at the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council. She holds a BA in International Studies and Chinese Studies from UC San Diego and a Masters in Corporate Responsibility from Escuela de Organización Industrial in Madrid.
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Donald Shannon - Grow Further

Donald Summers

Management
Consultant

Donald Summers

Management Consultant
Donald was involved in the development of our business plan and is continuing to provide incidental management consulting services to Grow Further, particularly around acquiring capital and talent. He is the founder of Altruist Partners, a consulting firm for growth-oriented nonprofits and social enterprises, and was formerly Director of Development at the University of Washington. He holds an Ed.M. in Leadership and Policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s in English from Middlebury College.
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Eric - Grow Further

Eric Momanyi

Board
Member

Eric Momanyi

Board Member
Eric is a Senior Program Officer, Global Policy and Advocacy for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he works with donors, governments, and sector stakeholders to support policy development that positions countries to scale the provision of inclusive sanitation services in Africa and South Asia. Before relocating to the US, Eric held policy advisory roles in agribusiness, climate adaptation, and health in several African countries. He holds an MS in development studies in the University of Western Cape and a BA in economics from the University of Nairobi.
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Jordan - Grow Further

Jordan Sheffield

Board
Treasurer

Jordan Sheffield

Board Treasurer
Jordan began his career in finance at Goldman Sachs by managing risk exposure to commodities and foreign exchange transactions and negotiating financial derivative contracts, worldwide. Later, he led strategic finance projects at Amazon to expand innovative consumer technology businesses. He currently leads partnership and strategy initiatives for a startup company in Salt Lake City. He holds an MBA and a BS in Finance from Brigham Young University.
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Ken - Grow Further

Ken Hunt

Board
Secretary

Ken Hunt

Board Secretary

Ken has spent the last 25 years building, growing, and managing businesses, in Board, C-level, and EVP roles in industries including agriculture, biotechnology, nutrition, software, and consumer packaged goods for organizations ranging from 5 to 250 people while overseeing P&L’s with up to $210M in revenue. Ken is currently the Principal and Founder of Fiber, Field, & Fork, a consultancy for companies in natural-fiber textiles, agriculture, and plant-based nutrition with corporate strategy, business development, marketing & sales, capital, and M & A needs. Ken holds a JD, an MBA, and a BA from Wake Forest University.

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Nathanial Gronewold

Lead
Journalist

Nathanial Gronewold

Lead Journalist
Nate writes for and edits submissions for our newsletter. He created several bureaus of Energy and Environment News and his writing has appeared in Scientific American, Science Magazine, Asian Scientist, The Economist, and The New York Times. He has earned a Gold Prize from the UN Correspondents Association (2x), a Newsletter Journalism Award from the National Press Club, and other awards. He’s an assistant professor at Tsukuba Gakuin University in Japan, and holds an MS in Ecosystem Science and Management from Texas A&M University, an MA in Asia-Pacific Policy Studies from the University of British Columbia, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Minnesota. He is working on his PhD in Environmental Science at Hokkaido University.
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Peter - Grow Further

Peter Kelly

President &
CEO

Peter Kelly

President and CEO

Prior to founding Grow Further, Peter was an assistant professor of economics at Renmin University in Beijing, where he taught and published on agriculture, international development, and the environment. He currently serves on the boards of a number of other charitable, policy, and for-profit organizations in addition to his full-time work at Grow Further, including as vice chair of Carbon Washington. He holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Berkeley; holds a BS in International Agricultural Development, with distinctions in agricultural science, from UC Davis; and has completed Global Washington’s Global Leadership Forum.
Learn more about his personal journey and the inspiration that led him to build Grow Further.

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Shannon - Grow Further

Shannon Bellis

Membership
Director

Shannon Bellis

Membership Director
Shannon runs our member-facing programs, including recruitment and engagement. She is a sixth-generation cattleman who grew up working cattle on her family’s beef operation. Her international experience includes beef production consulting with the Ministry of Agriculture in Israel and agricultural development research in West Africa. She holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri.
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Susan M - Grow Further

Susan Mathew

Partnership Development Consultant

Susan Mathew

Partnership Development Consultant
Susan advises on and assists with the sourcing of projects for investment at Grow Further. She has over a decade of work experience on sustainable agriculture, trade negotiation and ag-tech entrepreneurship. She has previously been engaged in policy advocacy, project implementation, grant management, and stakeholder engagement with foreign aid agencies, national and state governments, and research organizations. She holds a BS in Agriculture and an MS in Horticulture from premier agricultural universities in India.
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Suvasini - Grow Further

Suvasini Ramaswamy

Board
Member

Suvasini Ramaswamy

Board Member
Suvasini is a project leader at Boston Consulting Group, where she advises companies across the healthcare landscape solve pressing business problems and implement transformative solutions. Prior to that, she was a translational research scientist who worked in oncology, plant molecular biology, and the development of next-gen therapies (stem cell and gene therapies). Through Grow Further, the effective altruism movement, and her writing, Suvasini bridges academic research, industry, and society. She holds a Ph.D in molecular oncology from the Indian Institute of Science and an MS in plant molecular biology from University of Delhi.
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William - Grow Further

William Cleary

Board
Member

William Cleary

Board Member
Bill is a communications consultant and strategist with more than 25 years of international experience focusing on emerging markets, transition economies, and post-conflict, high-threat, and fragile states. He previously worked as a journalist, corporate public affairs representative, and director of marketing for a consulting firm, and served as a military public affairs officer. He holds an MS in Journalism from Northwestern University and a BS in economics.
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