College of Business

Karen Ross

Secretary of the California Department of Food & Agriculture

Secretary Ross is passionate about improving access for all California citizens to healthy, nutritious California-grown agricultural products, celebrated for their diversity and abundance in serving local, national and global markets. Karen Ross full bio

Dennis Donohue

Director, Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology

Claire Delaunay

COO of Farm-ng

Claire Delaunay is a distinguished technologist in the robotics domain celebrated for her expertise in translating technological advancements into real-world applications. Her journey started with Botiful, a groundbreaking telepresence robot. Subsequently, she spearheaded robotics R&D initiatives at Google. Claire co-founded and led the technology at Otto, a self-driving truck startup that Uber later acquired. As the Vice President of Engineering at NVIDIA, she directed the robotics platform, Isaac. Currently, in her role as COO of Farm-ng, Claire aims to revolutionize ag tech by democratizing automation in agriculture, emphasizing the "right to repair," low cost and open technology access.

Romain Thibaux

Director of Machine Learning at Verdant Robotics

Dr. Thibaux got his Master's and PhD in machine learning from Stanford and U.C. Berkeley and spent his career first at Meta, where he helped design and scale the ranking algorithm behind the Facebook newsfeed, and later at Waymo where he developed neural networks for autonomous driving using images and laser data, and led the employee sustainability group. Outside of work, he volunteers for Climate Fresk, a Climate Change education nonprofit.

Lee Vetsch

Analyst at Ospraie Ag Science

As an analyst at Ospraie Ag Science, Lee focuses on sustainable crop inputs, diagnostics, intelligent automation, and controlled environment agriculture. Lee is also active at the farm gate, remaining involved with his family row-crop farm operation in South Central North Dakota, in addition to co-founding a vertical farming company in Fargo, North Dakota. Lee received his MS in Agribusiness & Applied Economics from North Dakota State University in 2020 and resides in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Marylou Shockley

Interim Dean, College of Business, CSUMB

Juana O. Gomez

Executive Vice President of Human Capital for Frutura

Juana Gomez has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Human Resources from San Jose State University and a Master of Business Administration from California State University, Monterey Bay. She was with Earthbound Farm for 22 years and most recently led the HR team at Monterey Mushrooms. As Executive Vice President of Human Capital for Frutura, she focuses on creating and monitoring policies and procedures and driving collaboration and knowledge sharing to improve business objectives through common core values around people.

Angie Martinez

Early Career and University Recruiter at Driscoll's

In her role as Early Career and University Recruiter at Driscoll's, Angie works with students and early career professionals who are passionate about the fresh berry industry. She has over 13 years of experience at Driscoll's, including 12 years as Executive Assistant to the Chief Accounting Officer, supporting the finance team and led the adoption of change initiatives.

Laura Penera

Human Resources Director at Braga Fresh Family Farms

Laura Penera, HRPA, is a seasoned human resource professional with a passion for cultivating thriving workplace environments. She is a leader in her profession, having served as past president of the Agricultural Personnel Management Association (APMA), and is a regular speaker at human resources workshops and conferences. As the Director of Human Resources at Braga Fresh Family Farms, home of Josie’s Organics, Laura plays a pivotal role in shaping the company's culture and ensuring that it remains a great place to work.

Kevin Piffero

Director of Technology Development at Mantis Ag Technology

At Mantis, Kevin is in charge of research and development, maintaining current machines, and planning out future machine builds. Kevin graduated from CSUMB and was a member of the CSin3 Cohort, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in computer science.

Vanya Quiñones, President, CSUMB

Lorri Koster, President, Grower-Shipper Foundation