Board & Operations

Richard Reed was the co-Founder of Innocent Drinks, Europe’s largest and most environmentally sustainable juice company, successfully exited to CocaCola in 2013 for $600m. Now co-founder of Jam Jar Investments, a consumer goods VC, with early-stage investments in category-defining companies such as Deliveroo, Blue Bottle Coffee, Graze.com and Tails.com.

Jim Mellon, based in the Isle of Man, is an author, entrepreneur and an investor with interests in a number of sectors. He has substantial real estate holdings in Germany and the Isle of Man, as well as holdings in private and public companies through his private investment company Burnbrae Group.

After leaving Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, he worked in Asia and the United States in two fund management companies, GT Management and Thornton Management (Asia) Limited, before founding Regent Pacific Group Limited in 1991, subsequently quoted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Mr. Mellon is the co-author of five books, all written with a view to identifying emerging thematic trends leading to investment opportunities. Notably, in his book Wake Up!, he forecast the global financial crisis of ’08-’09. His latest book played a small role in bringing ageing research into the mainstream and led to the formation of the company which is Co-Founder and Chairman, Juvenescence which is a leader in the field. Mr Mellon is a Non-Executive Director of Condor Gold plc, the Executive Chairman of the board of Manx Financial Group plc, and the Non-Executive Chairman of the board of SalvaRx Group Plc, all of which are listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. He is also Co-Founder and Chairman of Regent Pacific Group Limited, (which is listed in Hong Kong), and a Non-Executive Director of Portage Biotech Inc (which is dually listed on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board of NASDAQ of the United States and the Canadian Securities Exchange.

In 2019, Mr. Mellon co-founded Agronomics and now sits on the board of three of Agronomics’ portfolio companies including Liberation Labs, Meatly and Clean Food Group.

Denham Eke is the Managing Director of Burnbrae Group Limited, a private international asset management company. He began his career in stockbroking with Sheppards & Chase before moving into corporate planning for Hogg Robinson plc, a major multinational insurance broker. He is a director of many years’ standing of both public and private companies involved in the financial services, property, mining, and manufacturing sectors.

He is Chairman of Webis Holdings PLC, Co-Chairman of Billing Services Group Limited, and Chief Executive Officer of Manx Financial Group PLC – all quoted on the London AIM market.

David Giampaolo is the founder and Chief Executive of Pi Capital. David previously founded, built up and sold several businesses and health club chains in the US and Europe. He has financial interests in several other businesses and industries and has been involved as an investor, advisor and board member of some of the largest and most successful health & fitness companies in the world including Fitness First, 24 Hour Fitness, Zumba Fitness and SARVA (India’s largest chain of yoga, mindfulness and beyond).

He is on the board of Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, Chairman of Gousto and is a senior advisor to AMG (Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.) and BC Partners. David is a member of YPO and CEO global business organisations and a trustee of Speakers4Schools.org and Pro BonoEconomics.

Marisa Drew is the inaugural Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) of Standard Chartered Bank Plc. She assumed this role in July 2022 and is responsible for setting the bank’s sustainability strategy and the delivery of the firm’s commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as well as overseeing the sustainable finance client-facing activities of the bank. At Standard Chartered, Ms Drew is a member of the Corporate, Commercial Investment Banking (CCIB) Management Team and the Global Reputational Risk Committee. She also serves as Chair of the Sustainability Forum and Co-Chair of the CCIB Diversity and Inclusion Council.

She previously held the CSO role for Credit Suisse and also held the role of CEO of the Sustainability Strategy, Advisory & Finance Group (SSAF) since 2020. Ms Drew Co-Chaired the Sustainability Leaders Committee and served on the ESG Steering Committee, the Climate Risk Strategy Steering Committee and the UK Reputational Risk Committee of the bank.

Before this, Ms Drew ran several businesses for Credit Suisse over her 19 years at the bank, including EMEA Investment Banking and Capital Markets. Ms Drew also worked for Merrill Lynch for eleven years and relocated to London in 1999 where she was instrumental in the formation of their European Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Ms Drew worked for a private equity firm and the investment bank, Kidder Peabody.

Ms Drew serves as a Non-executive Director (NED) of Liberty Global Plc, the publicly listed telecoms and broadband operator, and was a NED for the Swiss publicly-listed telecoms company, Sunrise AG.

She further serves on the advisory boards of numerous leadership, sustainability, humanitarian, environmental and civil society organisations. She sits on the Advisory Board of the City of London Corporation, the Aspen Institute UK and the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy. She is also a member of the FCA’s Markets Practitioner Panel and served on several High Level Working Groups (HLGs) sponsored by the World Economic Forum and the UN, including as co-chair of the HLG for Humanitarian Aid and the Oceans Panel. Ms Drew’s external activities also include the EMEA Advisory Board for the UK charity, Room-to-Read.

Ms Drew received a BA in Finance and Marketing with distinction from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce in 1986 and an MBA with distinction from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1992.

Philip has managed capital for sovereign wealth funds, family offices and investment companies with combined AUM in excess of hundreds of billion of dollars. He has global experience and a successful track record of executing venture capital, private equity, real estate and fund investments. Philip has a diverse skill set ranging from private markets and alternative assets to innovation, ecosystem building and company turn-arounds. As Interim CEO of Shellbay, advisor to Agronomics, Philip oversees and provides portfolio management and investment services to the Company.

Janaya has international regulatory and executive experience in government and wealth agencies across Australia, UK, UAE.

Joined Agronomics as an Analyst in 2023 and holds a degree from the University of Durham.

Laura Turner joined the team in July 2019. She holds a M.Chem Chemistry degree from the University of Oxford, and spent time during her fourth year masters project working in the Chemical Biology department at UC Berkeley, California, focused on the genetic modification of aldolase enzymes. This technology is identical to the precision fermentation tools utilised by companies within the field of cellular agriculture to produce valuable animal proteins via the genetic engineering of microbes. Laura conducts sector research, assists in due diligence of prospective companies and monitors deal flow amongst many other things.