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Meal with seed industry executives
DINNER WITH A SEED INDUSTRY EXECUTIVE
April 2017 Cyril Gulassa, Mengyuan Xiao and Xin Li dine with:
- Mark Evans, Economist, The Morning Star Company
 
March 2016 Miguel Macias, Julia Kingsolving and Nestor Kippes dine with:
- Randy Berka, Research Fellow, Novozymes Inc.
July 2015 Chad Jorgensen, Tim Butterfield and Erin Wilkus had dinner with Enza USA executives:
- Marc Clark
- Jit Baral
- Vicki Avina
March 2015 Nicolas Cobo, Gitanshu Munjal and Mara Bjornson dined with Gerard Denny, U.S. IPR Manager Vegetables/Ornamentals, INCOTEC

Gitanshu Munjal writes: "Earlier this month, I had dinner with Gerard Denny from INCOTEC and peers from my graduate group. Going in to our casual dinner, I did not know what to expect. I had never been to such an "event" before and knew very little about seed technology beyond a breeding program. Coming out of our meeting with Gerard, I have a keen interest in and a better appreciation of the field of seed treatments. Gerard was very friendly and we talked about things ranging from being a student (he attended UCD too, Go Ags!) to working and living in Salinas (where he currently resides), India (my home), Chile (Nico's home), and the United States (Marta and Gerard's home) to seed treatments and how breeding work gains value from them to the joy of traveling to "dust" (literally dust, we had an insightful conversation about dust). It was a great setting to meet an industry executive in and I hope I win again soon!"

Marta Bjornson writes: "We talked about a wide variety of topics, including Gerard Denny's personal path, the complexities of the seed coating business, and what sort of career paths are available in industry in general. The conversation was easy and the food was of course delicious. It was very nice for me in particular to have a sort of "captive audience" as an alternative to the more free-flowing networking events before Seed Central talks, because I got a chance at a more in-depth conversation. I am really grateful for the opportunity, and I think it's a great thing for Seed Central to do for UC students."

November 2014

Belle Smith, Brian Chau and Gena Hoffman dined with Syngenta Seeds executives:
- James Brusca, Cucurbits R&D Co Lead/Watermelon Breeder
- Felix Serquen, Tomato Breeder
- Brandon Hurr, Trait Project Lead

March 2014 Thomas Giang, Belle Smith and Brian Chau dined with:
- John Miziko, General Manager, Eurofins STA Labs
October 2013 Mohan Niroula, Randi Jimenez and Rafael Pedroso dined with:
- Marlin Edwards, Global Vegetable Technology Lead, Monsanto Company
- Tim Conner, General Manager and Davis Site Lead, Monsanto Woodland and Davis Chemistry Technology
April 2013 Gena Hoffman, Mohan Niroula and Jorge Berny dined with:
- Roger Muren, Global Head, Cell Biology, Bayer CropSciences Vegetables / Nunhems USA
December 2012 Cuong Tran, Randi Jimenez and Natasha Worden dined with two HM Clause executives:
- Mark Stowers, Vice President and Head, Global Research and Breeding
- Cécile Deixonne, Vice-President of Human Resources

Randi Jimenez writes: "Two other UC Davis students and I met with Mark Stowers and Cecile Deixonne from HM Clause for dinner on December 4, 2012 at, which was set up through Seed Central. The meeting featured dinner at The Mustard Seed in Davis, CA, which was certainly a hit with everyone. We all introduced ourselves one-by-one and explained what we were all interested in, and what I found to be really neat was how people from such different backgrounds are all brought together in the seed industry. Mark and Cecile were definitely a wealth of information, and the casual setting was most certainly conducive to discussion and information exchange. What I took away was that passion and flexibility are two must haves to thrive in this industry."

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