Jim is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brightseed, the bioactives company that illuminates nature to restore human health. Jim is a longtime biosciences R&D leader enchanted by the promise of unknown medicines and treatments in nature, and steers Brightseed's mission to deliver innovative, proactive health solutions to consumers worldwide. Prior to founding Brightseed, Jim led transformative scientific and technological breakthroughs into food and consumer health innovations, including the development of novel plant-based protein products for the mainstream marketplace. In previous roles, Jim led R&D at Martek Biosciences as the pioneer of sustainably-produced DHA omega-3 fatty acid for infant brain, eye, and cardiovascular health. Later, Jim was CTO at the pioneering synthetic biology company Synthetic Genomics, leading the development of biological solutions for crop protection and developing advantaged methods for developing DNA-based vaccines. Jim is a chemical and biochemical engineer with a PhD from the University of Wisconsin and degrees from MIT and UC Berkeley.