Indigo Agriculture announced the appointment of John Frederick as its Chief Financial Officer, and Deborah Winshel to its Board of Directors.
“This is an exciting time at Indigo, as we are poised for acceleration in 2022,” said Indigo CEO Ron Hovsepian. “We have sharpened our focus on sustainability, with two broad product groupings: Biological Products and Science/Digital Tooling to support our Carbon and Market+ initiatives. We have built a leaner business platform with a single, integrated strategy and a unified product marketing and management group to mature our technologies and drive more value to growers and other partners in the ag ecosystem. Both John and Deborah have the skills and experience needed for Indigo to accelerate on this path.”
Frederick joined Indigo last year, initially as an advisor to its Carbon business, and became Head of Carbon Commercial Operations last September. In that brief time, he worked on structuring and closing Indigo’s acquisition of Soil Metrics, an industry-leading technology for comprehensive soil carbon and greenhouse gas assessment in agricultural soils. He and the Carbon team also created innovative partner economic models which have already begun to materially increase enrolled acres on our sustainability platform.
“Over the course of a long career, John has held nearly every role within finance, with a particular focus on publicly traded companies and has been a proven and trusted partner with businesses and investors alike,” said Hovsepian.
“In this acceleration phase, we are focused on bringing in leaders with extensive execution experience to help take us on this journey to break-out performances. Leveraging his considerable financial and operational experience, John has shown great commercial and financial creativity to make a significant difference to the business and in how those outside the business see us as a partner,” Hovsepian added.
Frederick has held senior executive roles in both public and private companies, large and small. Prior to joining Indigo, he was at Skillsoft, where he was Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Executive Officer of its learning management software business. He helped retool the company, resulting in meaningful core platform growth. He was at Skillsoft after serving as Chief Operating Officer of Snag-a-job, a late-stage start-up, which was the largest two-sided marketplace addressing hourly workers. There, he also reinvigorated the company, setting the stage for breakout growth.
“I am excited to work with the Indigo team, and alongside the farmer and our new partners, to make sustainability economically attractive and be a fundamental catalyst to a Planet Positive future,” Frederick said.
Frederick will succeed Jim Young, who is stepping down after serving as CFO since September 2020. “I am very proud of my time at Indigo and grateful to have worked with so many talented people,” said Young. “The company has achieved important milestones and is on a strong footing, and I see this as the right time to move on and pass the baton to John for this next phase of growth. We have made tremendous strides in service of our sustainability mission, and I have high hopes for, and confidence in, the company as it moves toward even bigger milestones in the future.”
“Jim has been an impactful leader during this phase, and I am grateful for Jim’s partnership and commitment to the company,” said Hovsepian. “We wish him all the best.”
Winshel is the former Global Head of Social Impact at BlackRock, where she was responsible for launching the firm’s sustainable investing and ESG platform and establishing BlackRock as a leader in the field. She was responsible for the firm’s cornerstone philanthropic investment in climate technologies driving to net zero.
“Deborah’s experience in helping companies navigate the broad ESG investment environment and corporate governance will be enormously valuable for the next phase of Indigo’s development,” said Robert Berendes, Chairman of Indigo Ag Board of Directors.
As a business and non-profit leader, Winshel’s vision and strategic direction have helped shape organizations as diverse as BlackRock, Robin Hood Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and JP Morgan. She has extensive experience advising organizations on ESG and the balance between social and financial considerations and outcomes. She currently is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School.
