TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE WITH POWERFUL IDEAS
Our Story
Pivot Bio was born out of an ambition to replace synthetic nitrogen fertilizer with a more sustainable and safer tool for farmers. Co-founders Karsten Temme and Alvin Tamsir began their work as lab partners during graduate school and focused on creating a dependable and safer way to fertilize cereal crops. Driven by a relentless commitment to help make farming more productive and sustainable, Karsten and Alvin built a scalable proprietary tech platform that enables microbes to reliably produce nitrogen for cereal crops - a discovery that has been chased by scientists for decades, and never available commercially until now. Pivot Bio microbes take nitrogen from the air and make it available for plants, replacing the need for synthetic nitrogen.
After years of laboratory, greenhouse, and on-farm trials, Pivot Bio released its first commercial product for corn, Pivot Bio PROVEN®, to U.S. farmers in 2019. The product sold out within six weeks, demonstrating a strong demand from farmers for a new technology to improve their operations while minimizing their environmental footprint. Demand continues to grow, and the company expanded its product portfolio in 2020 with Pivot Bio RETURN® for wheat and introduced sorghum in 2021.


Karsten Temme, Ph.D.
CEO and Co-Founder
Karsten Temme, Ph.D.
CEO and Co-Founder
For years, Karsten has been fascinated with the limitless potential of the unseen microbes that inhabit our world. Seeking to produce “more than scientific journal articles” and driven by the desire to create meaningful change in the world, Karsten partnered with his friend and colleague, Alvin Tamsir, to create Pivot Bio.

Alvin Tamsir, Ph.D.
CSO and Co-Founder
Alvin Tamsir, Ph.D.
CSO and Co-Founder
As co-founder and leader of Pivot Bio’s scientific team, Alvin Tamsir, Ph.D., grew Pivot Bio’s research team from two scientists to a group of 50+. Based in Berkeley, CA, Alvin continues to lead the organization’s interdisciplinary research teams.

Lisa Nunez Safarian
COO and President
Lisa Nunez Safarian
COO and President
Lisa Nunez Safarian leads commercial, manufacturing, and product development at Pivot Bio. Dedicating her career to advancing agriculture and helping farmers achieve better outcomes, Lisa oversees the day-to-day operations to ensure we are meeting the nitrogen needs of our customers.
Prior to joining Pivot Bio, Lisa held several leadership positions at Bayer and Monsanto. Most recently, she served as President, Crop Science North America for Bayer where she launched innovative technologies and go-to-market strategies that grew the business.

Doug Jeffries
Chief Financial Officer
Doug Jeffries
Chief Financial Officer
Doug Jeffries leads the business operations teams to ensure the company has the talent, information and capital to efficiently become the premier provider of sustainable nitrogen products to the world’s farmers.

Mark Reisinger
Vice President - Commercial Operations
Mark Reisinger
Vice President - Commercial Operations
Mark is responsible for the commercial strategy for Pivot Bio’s cutting-edge technology and novel fertilizer solutions. A farmer himself, Mark brings a deep knowledge of grower needs as well as extensive experience in commercial strategy, brand development, marketing and advocacy.

Ernie Sanders
Senior Vice President - Product Innovation
Ernie Sanders
Senior Vice President - Product Innovation
Ernie directs the design, development and launch strategy of new Pivot Bio products. With a deep understanding of the range of farming practices, Ernie oversees field trials and analyzes performance data to understand how products interact with the environment and their efficacy in different conditions.

John Walls
Chief Information Officer
John Walls
Chief Information Officer
John Walls leads the company’s information and data strategy at Pivot Bio. An agriculture industry leader, John is responsible for optimizing and scaling Pivot Bio’s data and information technologies to accelerate the company’s business growth.
Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer with ADM Investor Services where he led the Global IT function and the FX Clearing and Execution group. John has held several Global IT leadership roles at Archer Daniels Midland Company.

Jim Wiley
Vice President - Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Jim Wiley
Vice President, Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Jim Wiley joined Pivot Bio in October 2021 and leads the Manufacturing and Supply Chain teams.

Tracy Willits
Vice President - Communications and Government Affairs
Tracy Willits
Vice President - Communications and Government Affairs
Tracy brings a wide breadth of expertise to Pivot Bio, where she oversees all corporate communications efforts for the company and develops high-impact public relations programs that drive business results and stakeholder engagement.

Evan Wittenberg
Chief People Officer
Evan Wittenberg
Chief People Officer
Evan leads talent acquisition, employee experience, people operations, talent development, and total rewards at Pivot Bio.
Partners Who Share Our Vision
Powerful breakthroughs come from strong partnerships. At Pivot Bio, our Board of Directors bring a wealth of experience and insight — as well as a shared vision for how Pivot Bio’s technology can improve agriculture and our world. In addition, our team collaborates and innovates alongside some of the world’s leading academic minds through active engagement with our Scientific Advisory Board.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHRIS ABBOTT
Continental Grain Company
SUSAN KIM
PacBio
MONICA MCGURK
Tropicana and Mainstream Brands
MATT OCKO
DCVC (Data Collective)
RYAN RAKESTRAW
Temasek
COOPER RINZLER, Ph.D.
Breakthrough Energy
LISA NUNEZ SAFARIAN
Pivot Bio
KARSTEN TEMME, Ph.D.
Pivot Bio
ROGER UNDERWOOD
Entrepreneur and Ag Tech Investor
Pivot Bio Board of Directors Chairperson
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
JEAN-MICHEL ANE, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin Professor of Bacteriology and Agronomy
GLORIA CORUZZI, Ph.D.
Carroll & Milton Petrie Professor
New York University
RAY DIXON, Ph.D.
John Innes Centre Professor of Molecular Microbiology
RICHARD FERRIERI, Ph.D.
University of Missouri Research Professor
DAVID KANTER, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor of Environmental Studies
New York University
Vice Chair of the International Nitrogen Initiative
LUIS RUBIO, Ph.D.
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Professor of Plant Biotech and Genomics
GARY STACEY, Ph.D.
Curators’ Distinguished Professor
University of Missouri
ERIC TRIPLETT, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair – Microbiology & Cell Science
University of Florida
CHRIS VAN KESSEL, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor, Department of Plant Sciences
University of California – Davis
CHRIS VOIGT, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Professor of Biological Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology