Grew up in it.
I grew up on a 2,500-acre row crop operation in Southeast Missouri — corn, soybeans, rice, wheat, cotton. Real decisions about crop rotations, input purchases, and the economics of a working farm were dinner-table conversation. That foundation shapes everything I do professionally.
After college, I spent 24 years inside the world's largest agricultural technology companies — Monsanto, then Bayer, then Valent. I wasn't in labs. I was in the rooms where launch strategies got built, where grower economics met regulatory timelines, and where new technology had to translate into purchasing decisions on farms like the one I grew up on.
Over that time I led or contributed to more than twenty-five product launches, including several first-of-kind biotech traits. I led the commercialization of HarvXtra Alfalfa — a launch that grew into a $210 million strategic divestiture. I launched ThryvOn Technology in cotton, a trait first imagined in 1999 that took two decades to reach the field. I doubled Valent's revenue in Canada across thirty brands in two years.
In 2023, I went independent. Riley Consulting is the result: a practice built to help AgTech companies, input companies, and investors bridge the gap between breakthrough science and farmer adoption — the gap where most promising technology stalls.
Alongside the corporate work, I spent several years as a contract innovation scout for BioSTL, running the ReACH Regenerative Agriculture program — identifying and evaluating early-stage ag and food technology ventures across the St. Louis region. That work gave me a sharper view of where early-stage companies struggle commercially, and deepened my relationships across the 39 North ecosystem.