Agricultural Biotechnology Seminar Series 2025 | Seminar 2: Products of Modern Biotechnology – A Discussion on Development, Plant Variety Protection, and Intellectual Property

Dan Jenkins, J.D.

Vice President of Regulatory & Government Affairs, Pairwise, USA

Dan Jenkins has 30 years of experience working in the food and agriculture industry and serves as the Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs for Pairwise. Prior to this, Dan was the Managing Director and Chief of Staff of the Agricultural Section of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) trade association in Washington, DC. Dan also led Monsanto’s Regulatory team in Washington, DC, overseeing all domestic chemistry and biotech crop approvals across FDA, EPA and USDA, and at the beginning of his career, worked in pesticide commercial sales, as well as R&D, for Dow AgroSciences. Dan is a past member of the American Chemistry Society’s editorial board for the Agricultural Science and Technology journal, and a current member of the advisory board to North Carolina State University’s Plant Sciences Initiative’s Center of Excellence for Regulatory Science in Agriculture, as well as a board member of the American Seed Trade Association. Dan has recently published in Nature Plants, as well as the Society for In Vitro Biology, on the topic of gene editing policy. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a Master of Science degree in Entomology and Applied Ecology from the University of Delaware, and his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School.

Jason Kim, J.D.

Patent Attorney, Lee & Ko, Republic of Korea

Jason Kim specializes in intellectual property (IP) law. He previously worked in the United States as a patent attorney at two different boutique firms, primarily focusing on patent prosecution and IP counseling. In his prior position, Mr. Kim counseled various U.S. and international clients in diverse technical areas, including chemistry, life science, biotechnology, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and industrial engineering. Since joining Lee & Ko, Mr. Kim’s practice focuses on patent & healthcare litigation, trade secrets, unfair competition, IP transactions & licensing, IP enforcement in both KTC and ITC proceedings, pharmaceutical & healthcare regulatory issues, IP strategy consulting, trademarks, and copyrights, in addition to his other expertise for both domestic and international clients, with technical areas further including material science, mechanical engineering, semiconductor, industrial chemistry, software, agricultural science, and biomedical engineering.

John Kim, J.D.

Partner and Senior Foreign Patent Attorney, Lee & Ko, Republic of Korea

John Kim is a trial lawyer specializing in cross-border litigation and international dispute resolution. As a veteran of the “Smartphone Wars” around the world, John has broad experience handling global intellectual property and antitrust disputes. Prior to joining Lee & Ko, he was a partner resident in the Silicon Valley office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and served as Assistant General Counsel of IP for Samsung Electronics in Seoul,Republic of Korea. John has negotiated patent and technology licenses across a broad range of cutting-edge industries, and he has represented clients regarding standard-essential patent licensing issues before tribunals and competition authorities around the world. John combines his corporate background with law firm experience to provide a wide range of clients with legal advice and counseling grounded in the practical realities of global businesses.

Andrew Roberts, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer, Agriculture and Food Systems Institute (AFSI), USA

Dr. Andrew Roberts joined the Agriculture and Food Systems Institute (AFSI) in December 2009 as the Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Risk Assessment (CERA), where he developed tools and materials for use in training and capacity building related to the problem formulation approach to environmental risk assessment and served as the coordinator for CERA’s capacity building projects under the USAID-funded South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP) and the World Bank-funded Partnership for Biosafety Risk Assessment and Regulation, in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam. He also provided technical support for capacity building work in Brazil, India, Japan, Chile, and South Africa. In January 2015, he became the director of CERA, as well as the Center for Safety Assessment of Food and Feed (CSAFF), which worked on food and feed safety assessment for foods derived from genetically engineered plants. The two centers were later consoli­dated under the Research Foundation, for which he became Deputy Executive Director in January 2017. When the organization became the Agriculture and Food Systems Institute in 2020, his title shifted to Vice President – Biotechnology, and he assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer later that year.

Prior to joining AFSI, Dr. Roberts worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in several different capacities, all related to the regulation of agricultural biotechnology. He began his career at USDA as an AAAS Risk Policy Fellow in the Office of Science of Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS), the group responsible for regulating genetically engineered plants at USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service. After spending a year in the New Technologies office of the Foreign Agricultural Service serving as the lead for USDA’s efforts related to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, he returned to BRS to serve in the International Affairs branch where he remained until joining AFSI.

Jennifer Rowland, Ph.D.

Biotechnology Coordinator, Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP), Office of the Chief Economist (OCE), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), USA

Dr. Jen Rowland serves as the Biotechnology Coordinator for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), facilitating cross-departmental and interagency engagement, and serving as a point of contact for stakeholders. Previously, Dr. Rowland was a science advisor in Foreign Agricultural Service New Technologies and Production Methods division, working to maintain and expand global market access for products of agricultural biotechnology. Dr. Rowland earned a Ph.D. in microbiology in 2014 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and pursued postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia. After many years at the lab bench, Dr. Rowland turned to a career in science policy through the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Shiv Tiwari, Ph.D.

CEO and Co-Founder, Nuvogenetics, USA

Shiv B. Tiwari, Ph.D., MBA, is a seasoned biotechnology executive with over 20 years of leadership spanning synthetic biology, agriculture, food innovation, and genomic technologies. He is CEO and Co-Founder of Nuvogenetics, an agriculture intelligence company, and also serves as Chief Science Officer of UpTerra Science. Previously CEO and CTO of GreenVenus, he advanced gene-edited crops such as non-browning avocado and extended-shelf-life lettuce. Dr. Tiwari has held senior roles at Third Security, Intrexon, DuPont Pioneer, and Mendel Biotechnology, and is a recognized scientist with 25+ publications, 12+ patents, and 6,000+ citations. He holds a Ph.D. in Life Sciences and an MBA with high honors from Boston University.

Eric Ward, Ph.D.

Board Chair, Norfolk Healthy Produce, USA

Eric R. Ward has worked in the agricultural biotechnology industry for over 35 years, in large multinational and startup companies. Most recently, he co-founded AgBiome, a microbial discovery and development company that successfully commercialized two live microbial fungicide products.  In addition to his duties as Board Chair of Norfolk Plant Science and its US subsidiary Norfolk Healthy Produce, Eric serves in the not-for-profit sector, as Board Chair of the Two Blades Foundation, dedicated to promoting the development of durable disease resistance in crops, as a Board member of the 2 Frontiers Project, and as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.  Eric received his undergraduate training at Duke University and his Ph.D. in plant biology from Washington University in St. Louis. He has authored more than 65 scientific publications and is an inventor on more than 30 issued US and international patents.