Benson Hill has named Jason Bull as Chief Technology Officer to oversee all platform and product development. Bull is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of industry experience unlocking synergies between biology and data science for multiple industries.
Bull will lead the company’s combined R&D and Data Science capabilities across predictive breeding, genomics, product discovery, big data engineering and software development. Bull will be responsible for technology strategy and execution of the product pipeline, leveraging Benson Hill’s CropOS platform and a seed-to-shelf perspective to deliver new market opportunities. Benson Hill’s CropOS platform combines machine learning and big data with genomics and plant biology to accelerate and simplify the product development process.
“Insight underpins everything we do, and crop innovation is ultimately about solving biological and information problems,” says Jason Bull. “Benson Hill’s CropOS machine learning capability integrates massive amounts of data into the product development process. That ability, coupled with the focus on consumer insights and empowering closed-loop supply chains, creates really exciting untapped innovation opportunities in food improvement.”
Bull joins Benson Hill from Object Computing, Inc. (OCI) where he served as VP, Strategy & Machine Learning, and founded a machine learning strategic impact business leveraged by multiple Fortune 500 companies spanning a diverse set of industries. Prior to OCI, Bull spent twenty years with Bayer (Monsanto) and then Climate Corporation, most recently as its Global VP R&D of Digital Seed Science, where he delivered a digital advisory platform. Prior, Bull served as Global VP Trait & Field Solutions, leading trait introgression into the global product lineup, and led Global R&D IT, where he spearheaded the seminal introduction of predictive technologies and their application to the R&D pipeline.
“Jason is both a visionary architect and a disciplined scientist who has a long track record of inventing and delivering transformational products that have industry-wide impact,” said Matt Crisp, CEO of Benson Hill. “His passion at the intersection of plant science and data science fits squarely with our vision, and his bold thinking to see around the corner and innovate fits squarely with our culture. We’re thrilled to have him on our team.”
Bull has been granted 30 patents in digital agriculture, molecular breeding and robotic seed chipping. He has also authored 15 publications on the optimization of breeding and production systems. He earned his PhD in Quantitative Genetics and Biometrics and a BA in AgSci (Honors) in Quantitative Genetics and Analytics from the University of Queensland in Australia.
