Roger Wyse, Ph.D.
Chairman
Dr. Wyse is a Managing Partner of Spruce Capital Partners and BAR Capital Management. Previously he was a Managing Director at Burrill & Company. He joined Burrill in 1998 and led the development of the agriculture, food, nutraceuticals, and industrial biotech venture activities. He left Burrill in November 2013 to cofound Spruce Capital Partners which currently serves as the co-manager of Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund (MLSCF) and MLS Capital Fund II.
Prior to joining Burrill, Dr. Wyse served for five years as Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is widely known for research excellence across its programs in biological, food, and agricultural sciences. Before that, Dr. Wyse served as Dean of Research at Cook College, Rutgers University, and Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station from 1986 to 1992.
Dr. Wyse is Co-Chairman of MLSCF and is a member of the International Advisory Panel for Biotechnology (BioIAP) and the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC) for the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is a member of the EU-based Knowledge Economy Network Advisory Board. He was founder and Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for Animal Genome Research, a non-profit organization promoting increased public funding for animal genomics research and served on the Advisory Board of the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Wyse spent 16 years as a scientist in the USDA-ARS earning international recognition for his basic research on the physiological factors that determine yield potential in crop plants. He has published more than 150 scientific papers. In recognition of his research accomplishments, he received the prestigious Arthur Flemming Award in 1982 as the Outstanding Young Scientist in the Federal Service. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Crop Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy. He has also served as a consultant to numerous Fortune 500 companies.
Relevant to the biogreentech space, Dr. Wyse served as Co-CEO of Third Wave Agbio Inc. and was founding President and CEO of Pyxis Genomics, a fully integrated animal genomics company. He was the founder of Efficas, a science based bioactives discovery company. He served as Chairman of the Board of Chromatin, CreAgri, Natural Dentist, and Cerca. He served on the Boards of Abunda (Co-founder), Attune Foods, Corazonas Foods, Lightful, Cibus Genetics, The Brand Accelerator, Virdia (observer), Segetis, Lanzatech, Crop Design, Emerald Bio, and Galapagos
Dr. Wyse received a BS degree in Agronomy from Ohio State University and a PhD in Plant Physiology from Michigan State University, where he also did post-doctoral work in the Department of Biochemistry.