We believe that creating the future the world wants requires changing how the world grows. That’s why Enko® discovers and develops novel products for farmers to protect their crops from pests and disease. Our discovery platform, ENKOMPASS™, uses DNA-encoded libraries, AI, Structure-Based Design, and Machine Learning to find and select the right treatments for the right targets faster and more effectively than traditional R&D methods. By providing farmers with new tools to grow their crops successfully and sustainably, we hope to open the door for increased adoption of other data-driven and emerging technologies in agriculture.
Led by a team of proven scientists, entrepreneurs, and industry veterans, Enko’s innovative science, agile design, and discovery of new modes of action is producing next-generation crop protection solutions that will overcome critical challenges facing the industry.
The need for urgent action in global agriculture has never been more compelling. Not only can we do better, but the time has come when we simply must.
Rapid global population growth and increasing consumption places huge demands on farmers and the planet.
We must grow more safely and sustainably, adapting to the effects of climate change while also mitigating them. This is key to providing safe, healthy and affordable food to a growing population.
Balancing the competing pressures and demands of the global food and fiber system is a major task that demands meaningful action.
The lack of innovation in agriculture over the last 30 years has left growers across the world to tackle today’s challenges with yesterday’s solutions.
Their tools to grow their crops effectively and sustainably have failed to keep up with their needs.
Until now.
For the first time in a long time, real change is on the horizon.
Enko sits at the forefront of an exciting new movement in the agricultural space. We are here to provide new tools that help farmers grow successfully and sustainably.
On a mission to change how the world grows, Enko sought inspiration from outside our comfort zone.
The idea was simple: apply proven drug discovery and development approaches from the pharmaceutical industry to agriculture. The results have been exceptional.
Our discovery platform, ENKOMPASS™, uses DNA-encoded libraries, AI and Machine Learning, and Structure-Based Design to find and select the right treatments for the right targets, faster and more effectively.
These superior discovery capabilities have removed guesswork from the process, drastically reducing development cycles and taking novel products from conception to reality in record time.
From the rice fields of Asia to the greenhouses of Canada, Enko’s groundbreaking plant health technology brings new tools to help farmers grow successfully and sustainably.
Rigorous field testing and regulatory trials have shown how, compared to all available options, Enko’s products are more effective at securing a higher quality and quantity of crops across a more diverse range of habitats.
When farmers have a more effective product, they can use less of it. That means easier application and benefits for both people and the planet.
Armed with new tools to grow their crops more successfully and sustainably, individual farmers can become part of a collective solution that shapes the future of global agriculture.
Enko’s pioneering approach aims to bring earth-friendly crop protection to farmers everywhere.
We intend to set new industry standards in safety, sustainability and environmental impact.
By providing farmers with new tools to grow their crops successfully and sustainably, we hope to open the door for increased adoption of other data-driven and emerging technologies in agriculture.
Our goal is not just to create something better, but to play a part in something bigger.
Enko discovers and develops novel products for farmers to protect their crops from pests and disease. All that we do is inspired by the belief that we can improve the agricultural industry and contribute to a healthier, more sustainable system that can increase crop yields and improve access to food around the world.
We believe that in order to create the future the world wants, we need to change the way the world grows. Our goal is not just to create something better, but to play a part in something bigger.
Please meet our talented team and board members below:
Jacqueline Heard, Ph.D., MBA founded Enko Chem, Inc. with the support of Anterra Capital when she was a venture partner in 2017. Her career in agriculture has centered around bringing innovation to the agriculture sector by identifying and commercializing new technology, both as an entrepreneur, a leader of global R&D and as a venture investor at Monsanto and Anterra Capital.
Jacqueline has prioritized listening to farmers and translating their experiences into practical innovations throughout her career. As Monsanto’s global R&D lead, she gathered direct input from farmers to develop products for drought-tolerant crops. As a venture capitalist investing in agtech startups, she observed a common disconnect between the solutions founders pitched and farmers’ actual needs. Jacqueline currently leads Enko in its work to design safe and sustainable solutions to agricultural problems, from pest resistance to new diseases, by applying the latest drug discovery and development approaches from Pharma to agriculture.
She has authored 64 peer reviewed publications and patents/patent applications, which includes 41 issued U.S. patents. She received a Ph.D. in Biology from Boston College and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Stephanie M. Liva, Ph.D., JD, joined Enko Chem, Inc. as general counsel in August 2022. She has been advising biotechnology companies of all sizes for over 15 years including Monsanto (now Bayer) from 2005-2013. Since then, she has held roles at start-ups and small biotechnology companies in agriculture and human therapeutics.
Stephanie received her BS and Ph.D. from UCLA and her JD from Boston University.
Tom Meade, Ph.D. joined Enko Chem, Inc. as Chief Science Officer soon after its founding in 2017. He has over 30 years of experience working in the agriculture industry with a focus on the discovery of novel crop protection chemistries and traits. Tom began his career at Mycogen discovering insect resistance traits and broadened his scientific and leadership responsibilities to include insecticide discovery when Mycogen was acquired by Dow.
Through leadership positions in both crop protection chemistry and traits Tom has broad experience in the discovery and development process. Prior to Enko he was the global leader for Traits Discovery at Dow AgroSciences.
Tom is an author on 14 peer reviewed papers and 1 book chapter. He is an inventor on 27 granted, U.S. patents. He received a B.S. in Entomology from U.C. Davis and an MS and Ph.D. in Entomology from U.C. Riverside.
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Peter Stchur, Ph.D., is Vice President of Operations at Enko Chem, Inc. Peter joined Enko in 2019. Previously he was director of chemistry for a leading contract research organization for over two years. From 2003-2016, Peter served in several R&D leadership roles with the DuPont Company's Crop Protection and Specialty Chemicals businesses.
He received his BS degree from Wilkes University and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut.
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David M. Wurzer, CPA has served as CFO of Enko Chem, Inc. since July 2022. From 2009-2022, David was employed by Connecticut Innovations, the State of Connecticut’s strategic venture capital arm, where he served in various positions including chief investment officer and senior managing director. From 1997-2008, he was executive vice president and CFO at CuraGen Corporation in New Haven, Connecticut.
He received his BBA from the University of Notre Dame, and started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Phil Austin is a Founder and Managing Partner at Anterra Capital where he currently leads the U.S. office and Life Sciences investment team.
Originally trained as a pharmaceutical chemist and chemical engineer his career has focused around applying life science technology to problems outside of the human therapeutics domain. Phil was initially in industrial biotech with McKinsey & Company and Atlas Venture, then more recently at Anterra Capital where his investment portfolio focuses on the application of life sciences technologies across agriculture, animal health, and nutritional wellness. Phil is a major believer in the potential for leveraging the rich Pharma ecosystem to build leading edge biotech companies for ‘orphan’ industrial sectors.
Phil and Anterra Capital are Enko Co-founders. Their support set Enko in motion.
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Marijn Dekkers is Chairman of Novalis Capitol Partners which he founded in 2017. He is a board member of several Novalis LifeSciences portfolio companies. Marijn is the former CEO of Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany (2010-2016), and the former CEO of ThermoFisher Scientific (2002-2009) in Waltham, MA, USA. He was also Chairman of Unilever (2016-2020) in London, UK.
Dekkers started his career as a scientist at General Electric Corporate Research in Niskayuna, NY, USA. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and a BS in Chemistry, both in the Netherlands.
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Shahram Ebadollahi is a distinguished technologist and innovator, specializing in the applications of data science and AI in healthcare. Currently an operating partner at a private equity firm, he previously led data and AI initiatives as the chief data science and AI officer at Novartis. Before Novartis, he pioneered the healthcare research domain at IBM and later became the technical founder of IBM Watson Health. During his tenure at IBM, he also led industry-first initiatives applying blockchain technology to healthcare data resulting in the formation of new companies in this area. Shahram holds both a Ph.D. and an MBA from Columbia University.
Jacqueline Heard, Ph.D., MBA founded Enko Chem, Inc. with the support of Anterra Capital when she was a venture partner in 2017. Her career in agriculture has centered around bringing innovation to the agriculture sector by identifying and commercializing new technology, both as an entrepreneur, a leader of global R&D and as a venture investor at Monsanto and Anterra Capital.
Jacqueline has prioritized listening to farmers and translating their experiences into practical innovations throughout her career. As Monsanto’s global R&D lead, she gathered direct input from farmers to develop products for drought-tolerant crops. As a venture capitalist investing in agtech startups, she observed a common disconnect between the solutions founders pitched and farmers’ actual needs. Jacqueline currently leads Enko in its work to design safe and sustainable solutions to agricultural problems, from pest resistance to new diseases, by applying the latest drug discovery and development approaches from Pharma to agriculture.
She has authored 64 peer reviewed publications and patents/patent applications, which includes 41 issued U.S. patents. She received a Ph.D. in Biology from Boston College and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Spencer Maughan is Managing Partner and Founder of the Silicon Valley based Finistere Ventures, a fund that has been focused on re-engineering the food value chain. Spencer was previously part of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers’s $1B GreenGrowth Fund. He was also an investor at Venrock, an early-stage venture capital firm.
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Noor Shaker is a biotech entrepreneur and recognized healthcare innovator who is currently Senior VP and General Manager of X-Chem. Noor was an assistant professor at Aalborg University prior to forming Glamorous AI, which was acquired by X-Chem in October 2021.
Noor is passionate about data and artificial intelligence (AI) and is on a mission to cure disease by pushing the boundaries for what is possible with AI. She has a record of achievements in AI, including numerous papers published in the field and its application to drug discovery, as well as holding a number of AI patents. Noor sits on AI and diversity advisory boards for prestigious organizations and universities and is a recognized healthcare leader — she was one of the 2018 winners of Innovators Under 35 Europe from MIT Technology Review and named one of BBC’s 100 Women of 2019.
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A graduate of M.I.T., Pat obtained a Ph.D. at Harvard with Nobel laureate Prof. R.B. Woodward. After a post-doctoral stint, also with Prof. R.B. Woodward, directed toward the total synthesis of Vitamin B12,. Moving to DuPont, his bioorganic chemistry group developed the fluorescent dye-labeled reagents that were used in thehuman genome project. With DuPont’s Pharmaceutical Division, his medicinal chemistry department discovered Cozaar™, a major anti-hypertensiveand developed Sustiva™ a therapeutic for AIDS.
As Vice President, Global R&D, DuPont Crop Protection, he led 300 scientists to build a world class pipeline of novel products, including Rynaxypyr™ and Cyazypyr™ with world-wide sales over a billion dollars a year, and the new mode of action fungicide Zorvec™. In AnimalHealth, his team discovered the chewable flea and tick product NexGard™ with 2019 sales of $ 900M.
He has presented >110 plenary lectures worldwide, published >140 papers, obtained >50 U.S. Patents, and received numerous awards, including the Harvard Graduate Society Prize, the Alpha Chi SigmaAward, the Robert A. Welch Lectureship, and the Philadelphia Organic ChemistryAward. He was nominated to the Harvard Society of Fellows, is an electedFellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an ACSFellow, and served as Chairman of the Board of the American Chemical Society. He is the recipient of the 2021 ACS National Award for Leadership in ChemicalResearch Management and the 2021 Gassman Award for Distinguished Service inChemistry. Currently, Pat is an independent consultant to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and agrichemical industries.
Tim Pastoor obtained his Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Michigan, is certified by the American Board of Toxicology (DABT) and is a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS). Tim retired in 2015 from Syngenta as Principal Scientist and founded the company Pastoor Science Communications, LLC that is centered around his passion for sound science communicated well, and continues to provide regulatory and toxicological guidance in product development. He is also past president of the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) and is a board member of several small biotechnology start-up companies as well as the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).
Tim has over 40 years of international experience in fundamental toxicity testing, mode of action research, and human health risk assessment. For most of his career, including positions with DuPont, ICI, Zeneca, Novartis, and Syngenta, he led toxicology and risk assessment experts in the conduct of safety, health, and environmental studies to assess risk to humans and the environment. In those roles, he was involved in toxicological research projects and product development and was frequently asked to interact with media, community groups, legislators, and regulatory agencies. He is a frequent lecturer on toxicology and risk assessment subjects.
Stephen Powles is a globally recognized crop science, herbicide and herbicide resistance expert. His career in Australia, USA and Europe has been focused on technologies impacting crop science and production. Powles is ProfessorEmeritus at the University of Western Australia and founder of two research organizations. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed research publications and edited two books on herbicide resistance in crops and weeds. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a Fellow of theAustralian Academy of Technology and Engineering. Powles has received many distinguished national and international awards for his contributions to research. to crop production and to weed control. As well as his science and technology interests in agriculture he remains "grounded" through ownership of an 840-acre farm devoted to crop production.
Terence Walsh, Ph.D. has over 35 years of experience in agricultural biotechnology and agrochemical discovery research, first at The Dow Chemical Company, transitioning into Dow AgroSciences and Corteva Agrisciences. His core interest is translating detailed molecular information about agriculturally important target sites into new crop chemistries and traits. Among his career achievements, Terry led teams that biochemically characterized the enzymes that are the basis of Corteva’s successful Enlist® herbicide resistance trait, and discovered the target site receptor for a major class of auxinic herbicides that includes several new Corteva products. Terry retired from DowDuPont as aResearch Fellow in 2018 and is now an independent consultant. He received a B.Sc. from King’s College, London, UK, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from theUniversity of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has been an associate editor of Weed Science and has over 30 scientific publications and 24 issued U.S. patents.
Pat Walters is the Chief Data Officer at Relay Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA. Before joining Relay, he spent more than 20 years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he was Global Head of Modeling & Informatics. Pat is the 2023 recipient of the Herman Skolnik Award for Chemical Information Science from the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the editorial advisory boards for the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling and Artificial Intelligence in the LifeSciences. He previously held a similar role with the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Pat is co-author of the book “Deep Learning for the Life Sciences,” published in 2019 by O’Reilly and Associates. He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Arizona, where he studied the application of artificial intelligence in conformational analysis.
