College of Business

Jennifer Skidgel-Clarke is the Executive Director of California Leafy Greens Research Board (CLGRB) which oversees the California Leafy Greens Research Program (CLGRP). Previously, Clarke was Vice President of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance with Steinbeck Country Produce. She is a licensed Pest Control Advisor (PCA) and Certified Crop Advisor. Clarke has been active with Monterey County Farm Bureau, the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, and the Salinas Valley Chapter of California Women for Agriculture. Clarke has a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences from Cal Poly.

Alejandra Sanchez is the Sustainability Manager at Taylor Farms. Previously, she worked as the Sustainability Manager for Olam International. She has served on various agricultural advising boards including McDonalds, Sustainable Conservation, California Water Action Collaborative, Fresno Food Systems Alliance, and Young Farmers and Ranchers. She has a Masters of Science at UC Davis in International Agricultural Development with a designated specialization in Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Chad Forrest is the Chief Financial Officer at Concentric Power. At Concentric Power, Chad oversees day-to-day financial operations and also all customer projects. He combines engineering, operations, and finance expertise to remove barriers for large energy consumers in the agriculture and industrial sectors to fully optimize their energy efficiency and cost structure. Chad previously served as CFO for Slingshot Power and VP of Finance for Solar Universe, contributing to energy independence in residential solar. Chad also served as VP of acquisitions and development for Heisman Properties, securing over $50 million in funding and supporting real estate investment ventures. Chad is a licensed California Real Estate Broker as well as a LEED AP and holds a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dennis Donohue leads Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology in Salinas. He is also currently the Chairman of the Grower-Shipper Association Foundation and former Chairman of the Grower-Shipper Association of the Central Coast. Previously, Dennis served as Mayor of Salinas from 2006-2012. Dennis began his business career in the Silicon Valley with Atari, Microsoft and Verbatim before returning to Salinas in the late eighties. In agribusiness since 1988, Dennis worked for River Ranch, Fresh Express and fresh Western before joining European Vegetables Specialties in 1996. He became president of the company two years later.

As founder and CEO of Vinsight, Megan Nunes provides a unique outlook spanning several industries. With over a decade of experience in the aerospace industry, Megan has held various levels of leadership roles such as COO and CEO of small satellite startups. As COO, she oversaw the creation/move of a new startup and was directly responsible for bringing on new hires. The company grew from 6-30 employees in a year and launched two satellites. As CEO of another start up, Megan oversaw hiring, product testing, contracts (both commercial and government) and sales. She also brings a strong agriculture background from studying in the College of Agriculture at California Polytechnic State University, SLO to her family's farming business in the central valley of California. Megan worked at an agriculture engineering firm where she was responsible for direct sales, contracts and ongoing customer meetings. All this allows Megan to lead Vinsight in providing what the agricultural industry really needs while leveraging technology and methods from aerospace and tech as a whole.

Rosie I. Armstrong is a Director of Workforce Development for Agriculture and Sector Partnerships in the Office of Institutional Advancement at Hartnell College in Salinas. She also serves as Executive Director to a Salinas Valley regional five cities board comprised of economic development and city managers of the Valley. The board works collaboratively to drive workforce development in Agriculture, AgTechnology, and Healthcare. She has worked in the Community College system for over 10 years in community and contract education. Rosie served as a Board member for the Association of Community and Continuing Education for over 5 years and as a member for over 10. She holds an AA from Hartnell, a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara in Law and Society, and an MA in Sociology of Law from the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Oñati, Spain. Rosie is also a current class member and soon to be graduate of Class XII of AgKnowledge of the Grower Shipper Association Foundation.

Jackie Vazquez is the Director of Berry Operations for the Northern California district of Sundance Berry Farms, also known as Andrew & Williamson. She has a background in Agriculture for 14 years, working her way up from Assistant to Operations. Jackie is also serves as a member of the board of directors on the Grower Shippers Foundation Board.

Abby Taylor-Silva is the Vice President of Policy and Communication at the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, a 350 member-strong agricultural trade association spanning the coastal region encompassing Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Santa Clara counties. Taylor-Silva is a native of Monterey and San Benito counties. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Salinas, the Past President of the Central Coast Ag Task Force, Past President of California Women for Agriculture's Salinas Valley Chapter, Food Safety Director to statewide California Women for Agriculture, and Executive Board Member to the Salinas Valley Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Alyson Blume is currently the Lead UX Designer at Wexus Technologies where she heads up design, strategy and testing of current and new software features on the Wexus product roadmap. She is a Carnegie Mellon University educated design thinker with a broad array of experiences in many aspects of the tech world from CG graphics (DreamWorks Animation) to mobile gaming (Zynga) and venture capital investing (Trinity Ventures). She has served on the executive boards of San Francisco Ballet ENCORE! and the environmental media company, Mongabay.

As VP Ag Operations of Church Brothers Farms, alongside of his team, he is responsible for all aspects of the farming and harvesting operations in the USA. Josh is constantly thinking about the next generation of harvest, growing, and methods to improve the current operations. While he is passionate about all crops, his most recent focus has been on the automation of Broccoli Harvesting.