Crop One Holdings Inc CEO and leadership

Craig Ratajczyk joined Crop One Holdings in 2020 as the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Ratajczyk joins the company with extensive c-suite experience and global perspective, bringing expertise in strategy, financial-organization management, stakeholder engagement, governance, advocacy and leading complex global organizations. Agriculture is at the core of his proficiencies as Mr. Ratajczyk dedicated over two decades to the global industry. He was previously CEO of the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) where he was responsible for managing the $40 million organization and its 200 employees, representing 43,000 soybean farmer members. During his tenure with ISA, he improved efficiency in business and strategic operations, namely implementing advanced technology solutions and aligning the organization with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to his position at the ISA, Ratajczyk served as Director of Global Issues and Alliances for the U.S. Soybean Export Council Inc., as well as division director, Western Hemisphere, Europe, Africa, Middle East, CIS, for the American Soybean Association. He’s also a Retired U.S. Navy Intelligence Commander, leaving the branch in 2012 after over 28 years of service. Mr. Ratajczyk received his BA from Southern Illinois University, MBA from Thunderbird - American Graduate School of International Management and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program (AMP).

Experienced in domestic, international and cross border corporate finance, M&A, capital raising, banking, consulting, and investment management. Strong modelling and due diligence skills for private equity and debt investments.

Originated, managed and executed mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, turnarounds, and highly structured financings valued at $6 billion for start-up, middle market and large private and public companies in a variety of industries including specialty finance, transportation, consumer and industrial, and energy.

Raised institutional funds to manage publicly traded investments in long/short absolute return macro and company specific strategies.

Specialties: Specialty finance, energy, biotechnology.

Deane Falcone joined Crop One Holdings in 2015 and currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to joining the Crop One team, Deane was Chief Molecular Science Officer and Founder of Naprogenix, Inc, a biotechnology company that developed a genetic and pharmacological screening platform to access the biochemical diversity of plants. He served as Faculty and Principal Investigator at the University of Massachusetts where his laboratory group studied plant environmental stress tolerance and nutritional metabolite production in plants. Dr. Falcone earned his BA and MA from the University of Texas Austin, PhD from Ohio State University, and completed his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University. Over the course of his career he has conducted research on several areas of plant biology beginning with primary metabolism, including photosynthesis and carbon dioxide fixation, then on to the genetics and biochemistry of plant fatty acid and oil metabolism. From there Deane moved into plant secondary metabolism, the study of phytochemicals unique to plants, and the physiology of plant stress responses. This work is reflected in over 30 scientific articles and patents published throughout his career.