Company Bios
Learn more about the team behind AGvisorPRO
Rob Saik
Founder and CEO
ROBERT SAIK has forty years of experience as a Professional Agrologist, entrepreneur and an international consultant who’s worked with a wide variety of agriculturalists from Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture to Bill Gates.
His latest book, “FOOD 5.0 How We Feed the Future” is a pragmatic look at the five iterations of agriculture, culminating in an examination of how technology convergence is reshaping the farm and the consumer.
Robert, an outspoken champion of agriculture, is a Distinguished Agrologist, Professional Agriculture Consultant, a serial entrepreneur and has been hailed as an agriculture futurist with unparalleled insight into where the industry is headed.
He has leveraged these strengths to found over 15 companies in the areas of Farming, Agri-Retail, Distribution, Media and Ag Tech including The Agri-Trend/Agri-Data Group of Companies which was acquired by Trimble. He served as CEO of DOT Technology Corp (Autonomous Farming) through the acquisition of Dot by Raven Industries.
He’s also the founder and CEO of AGvisorPRO, a platform that “uberizes” knowledge and wisdom, enabling farmers to instantaneously connect with agriculture experts worldwide.
Through Saik Management Group Inc he facilitates the PowerFARM peer group for progressive farmers.
His first book, “The Agriculture Manifesto – Ten Key Drivers That Will Shape Agriculture in the Next Decade” was a 2014 Best of Amazon Books and this TEDx Talk “Will Agriculture be Allowed to Feed 9 Billion People?” has been viewed over 150,000 times. Robert is a passionate keynote speaker and is executive producer of the Know Ideas Media a science based multi-media company addressing issues such as GMO’s and their use in food production.
He serves on several Boards, is an advisor to Olds College, is a member of the A100 (Alberta Tech Entrepreneur Network), a student of Strategic Coach and Singularity University and a member of Abundance 360. As a partner in Perigro Venture Partners he participates in early stage technology investments.
He been recognized for agriculture leadership by the Alberta Institute of Agrologists (Provincial Distinguished Agrologist of the Year) and in 2016 was awarded Canadian Agri-Marketer of the Year by the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association.
Brock Moir
CPO
Brock Moir received his M Sc while studying the sub-atomic particle collisions produced within the Large Hadron Collider. Throughout his professional career, he has led the development of data science and machine learning products in the utility, building management, and construction domains. Before joining the AGvisorPRO team, Brock worked alongside some of the top AI researchers in the world at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute building services and leading projects designed to guide businesses in developing their AI programs.
Norm Janssen
Business Development
Norm is driven by a desire to assist companies like AGvisorPRO grow through identifying market needs and opportunities. He assists in the development of strategies and networks that can assist in realizing growth. Norm believes AGvisorPRO technology has the potential to revolutionize many parts of the food value chain.
Joe Middione
Business Development
A graduate of the University of Buffalo, Mr. Middione began his career at the FMC Corporation where he served as a Senior Research Biologist before joining American Cyanamid. Mr. Middione held roles in Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing, and Sales management before accepting a position at United Agri-Products in 1999. He served as General Manager at UAP West before joining the upstart company Agrian, Inc. to serve as their Chief Operation Officer. Mr. Middione brings more than 40 years of experience to his role leading North American business development efforts at AGvisorPRO.
Mareese Keane
Board Member
Mareese Keane has more than 20 years of experience helping enterprises to evaluate and create new opportunities for growth and development. She cofounded Opengate Partners in 2020 to service the intersection of agtech startups and corporations, helping to design and deliver unique corporate innovation services for agriculture and food corporations and drive growth for startups through effective corporate engagement. Previously she developed and ran the award-winning THRIVE acceleration program for AgTech startups.
Mareese’s early career was focused on environmental issues, specifically waste management, and she has degrees from Ireland and the UK in Geology and Environmental Sciences, and certifications in Design Thinking and Business Strategy from IdeoU.
Irish by birth, Canadian by choice, Mareese currently lives in San Jose, California with her husband and two teenagers. She loves the great outdoors and never met a hill or mountain she didn’t want to climb!
Greg Andrukow
Board Member
Greg Andrukow is President / CEO of SDMC Ag Inc. and Point Forward Solutions Inc., which specialize in cutting-edge precision agriculture and sustainable solutions. Greg is one of the general partners of Ag Capital Canada. Ag Capital Canada’s approach is to make a lasting impact on the Canadian Ag Industry by helping build healthy and profitable companies.
Previously, Greg was CEO and major shareholder of Andrukow Group Solutions Inc. (AGSI), a leader in the ag retail community for 37 years. Prior to its sale in 2016, AGSI was one of the largest independent ag retailers in North America. AGSI was instrumental in leading the industry through its various innovations, including developing one of the first high clearance sprayers, implementing variable rate seed and fertilizer application technology, and creating an app making it possible for customers to load product 24/7.
Greg is known as an innovator and forward-thinker. He’s also a business coach and investor, and serves as a board member and shareholder of several private companies.
Greg and his wife Esther live in Camrose Alberta. They have three adult children and five grandchildren. Greg enjoys water sports, boats, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Wilson Schultz
Product Manager
Wilson Schultz has been working in the agriculture industry for the last 4 years as a custom applicator, and holds an Ag Management Diploma from Olds College. Wilson is very passionate about the agricultural industry and is pursuing a future in Ag Tech.
Fun Fact: Wilson is an avid downhill mountain biker and has ridden his bike all over the world.
Vanessa Trentin
Product Designer
Vanessa is a graphic designer who has been working with web interaction since 2010. Vanessa has been a tech entrepreneur in Brazil for 10 years. She loves solving problems with creative solutions and building user-friendly interfaces. She is fascinated by science, technology and psychology.
Bryan To
Product Designer
Bryan is a Vancouver-based product designer. He uses his work at AGvisorPRO to explore the intersection between design, technology and people. With the user at the forefront of his work, he makes data-driven design decisions to improve usability and user experience.
In his free time, you can find Bryan biking around the city or just reading a book on the beach.
Mitchell Ludwig
Senior App Developer
Mitchell Ludwig was born to use computers, while he may yet have undiscovered alternate uses, so far they have not presented themselves. He was born in Calgary, and lives with his girlfriend Emily and his dog Daisy. Mitchell helps to keep our servers and applications running smoothly and efficiently.
Reza Rabbani
Product Developer
Reza is an accomplished programmer with extensive experience in JavaScript and PHP along with various frameworks for those languages. He is obsessed with all things related to tech. He was born in Bangladesh and came to Canada as a graduate student, where he completed his MSc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary with a specialization in Data Visualization and GPU programming.
Brian West
Product Developer
Brian is a mobile developer from Ottawa who specializes in bringing mere thoughts and ideas to life – technically speaking. He co-founded RideBuddie and led its technical team in the creation of its product. Brian has accumulated over 5 years of experience as a developer and graduated from Carleton University.
Yun Hao
Product Developer
Yun is a frontend web/mobile developer who specializes in React and React Native. Yun holds a bachelor’s degree in Software Engineer and has over 5+ years of frontend experience such as co-founding Ottoair and Idoneous, as CTO/Director. Yun is looking to further strengthen his expertise in the front-end development industry.
Emily Stener
Product Developer
Emily is a frontend developer with nearly 10 years of experience both writing and fixing bugs. She thinks spaces are better than tabs and Vim is better than eMacs. As a self-professed CSS Queen, Emily enjoys spending her evenings brainstorming new ways to vertically centre ui elements. In her free time, she can be found reading, cooking, and avoiding the sun at all costs.
Hector Chauran
Product Developer
Based in Latin America, Hector has been crafting software for over 7 years. At AGvisorPRO, he uses his skills to help keep our systems on top of new requirements as the company evolves. In his spare time, he is passionate about expanding his knowledge, as well as working on side projects that spark his interest.
Yunfan Yang
Software Development Intern
Yunfan is pursuing a Computer Science Bachelor at the University of Calgary, with a concentration in Software Engineering and a minor in Data Science. He likes to be practical and innovative, so he always works on a handful of side projects in his free time, and his favourite is everything related to web development. He wishes to explore and develop more in the field of Software Engineering in his career.
Miranda Carr
Project Lead
Miranda Carr is the fourth generation on a mixed farm Northeast of Olds, Alberta. Her formal education includes a BSc. in Physiology and a degree in Turfgrass management. She also hand makes and sells jewelry at local farmer’s markets. Her skills include data analysis, basic graphic design, and making spreadsheets fun! Miranda is the Project Lead at AGvisorPRO and has helped to develop the platform since November of 2018.
Fun Fact: Miranda’s Great Aunt and Uncle, Anita and Vernon Puzey, were one of Rob Saik’s first customers at AgriTrend.
Shelley Myers
EA to Rob Saik
Shelley Myers is the executive assistant to Robert Saik, CEO-Founder of AGvisorPRO Inc.
In this position, Shelley provides support in a wide range of roles within Saik Management Group (SMGI) and AGvisorPro. In both companies, she serves as the primary contact for accounts payable and receivables. Within SMGI, Shelley leads event coordination, marketing initiatives and data management in addition to providing technical and logistical support for multiple projects, meetings, workshops and travel.
Shelley was first hired in February of 2008 by Rob within his company, Agri-Trend Inc, in the accounting department of Accounts Receivables. In 2010, she then moved into the role of Event Coordinator where she took on the main Agri-Trend annual event (The Farm Forum) as Event Manager. Her expertise in data management, project coordination and key focus to tighten company standard operating procedures within this annual event, proved to be a great addition to the Farm Forum’s continued success for an additional 4 years under her leadership. With the acquisition of Agri-Trend by Trimble, her employment with Agri-Trend ceased and moved over to Saik Management Group under Rob’s direction to the present.
A resident of Alberta, she is one of a few that would rather see it snow than rain. She is married with 2 adult children, with whom she shares a love of travel, Disney and Orlando, FL (in the coolest months).
Taylor Veilleux
Marketing Specialist
Taylor resides west of Longview, Alberta where her family runs a cow/calf operation in the heart of the foothills. She is passionate about preserving the western lifestyle which led her to Lakeland College to complete her Agribusiness Marketing & Communications Associate Degree. Taylor is a hardworking Marketing and Communications Specialist with demonstrated knowledge of graphic design, digital marketing strategy, and project management. She possesses strong follow-through and unwavering commitment to company goals. With 5+ years of experience, Taylor has a proven background in creating and implementing effective marketing strategies.
Dhruv Gupta
Growth Marketer
Dhruv is a computer engineer with extensive experience in solving business problems for SMB/Startups in eCommerce and SAAS by leveraging technology to define, create and implement business processes and improve results via market plan and strategy.
