Episode 51: Orange Corn: A Father-Son Start-up

Published: Sept. 9, 2019, 10 a.m.

NutraMaize is a consumer-focused agbioscience company commercializing a more nutritious variety of better tasting, non-GMO orange corn. The company was co-founded by a father-son team, Torbert and Evan Rocheford, who now serve as the company's CTO and CEO respectively.

CTO: “Professor Torbert” Rocheford is internationally recognized as a leading expert in his field and holds the Patterson Endowed Chair for Translational Genomics in Crop Improvement at Purdue University. Professor Torbert has over 25 years of experience working as a research professor in corn breeding and molecular genetics. Professor Torbert and his collaborators have made substantial advancements to their discipline and have published on discoveries in prestigious journals, such as Science and Nature Genetics, that are held up as some of the best examples of basic genomic research on a crop plant that has been applied to benefit the developing world.

CEO: Evan Rocheford is an enthusiastic young entrepreneur with experience managing new ventures and bringing consumer products to market. Evan is the architect of the Professor Torbert’s brand and has successfully authored and served as the PI of two SBIR/STTR grants (USDA and NSF) attracting over $400,000 in non-dilutive funding for NutraMaize.

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