Management

Nexia Leadership

Jeff
Swartz

Co-Founder, CEO & Board Member

Jeff has 35+ years of experience launching and leading B2B software, data, and analytics companies across sectors including agtech, energy, and food safety. As CEO of Corvium, he led the company through growth and exit via acquisition by Neogen in 2023. He has deep experience raising capital, navigating early-stage markets, and building high-impact data businesses.

Marcel
Herbst

Co-Founder, Executive Chairman & Board Member

Marcel is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor with two decades in alternative investments and ESG. He co-founded and scaled hedge, debt, and private equity funds totaling ~$8B AUM. A longtime ESG pioneer, his firm was an early UN PRI signatory and launched one of the first PRI-compliant hedge fund portfolios in 2006.

David
Godfrey-Thomas

CEO, RIG & Board Member

David is a global leader in regenerative investment and Nature Capital strategy. He has helped design and deploy innovative public–private financing structures across Latin America and globally, connecting ecological outcomes with capital markets. His work bridges food, agriculture, and climate finance.

Andrew Rabinowitz

Board Member

Andrew is Senior Partner at 26North and former Co-CEO of K2 Integrity, an ESG-focused risk advisory firm. He spent two decades in senior leadership at Marathon Asset Management and is co-founder of the R Baby Foundation, which supports over 1,200 children’s hospitals globally.

Jamie Minkove

Board Member

Jamie is COO of The Community Preservation Corporation and previously served as COO of Nuveen’s responsible investing platform. He brings 25+ years of experience in ESG, asset management, consulting, and banking, with a focus on strategic planning and impact finance.

Mark Kissman

Chief Financial Officer 

Mark brings 30+ years of finance, strategy, and investor relations experience across public and private technology companies. Most recently CFO of Pathlock, a PE-backed enterprise software firm, he previously served as CFO of NASDAQ-listed Ulticom and held senior roles in U.S. and European tech businesses.

Regenerate Institute Leadership

Jeff Swartz

Chief Executive Officer

Jeff has 35+ years of experience launching and leading B2B software, data, and analytics companies across sectors including agtech, energy, and food safety. As CEO of Corvium, he led the company through growth and exit via acquisition by Neogen in 2023. He has deep experience raising capital, navigating early-stage markets, and building high-impact data businesses.

Vitalie Buzu​

CEO, Greeno Soil

Vitalie is a veteran AgTech entrepreneur and investor with over 20 years of experience. He founded GreenoSoil AG, a digital platform for regenerative agriculture, and led Intterra JSC, Eastern Europe’s largest independent AgTech firm. He has managed $350M+ in capital and scaled operations across climate tech and agriculture.

Alex Azarau

VP of Product, Greeno Soil 

Alex has a dual role with GreenO, where he leads development of farmland monitoring and analytics tools; former Syngenta agribusiness executive. At GreenO, he has been instrumental in building the company’s farmland monitoring and analytics platform, which leverages satellite data and field-level intelligence to deliver insights for food companies, banks, and insurers. 

Regenerative Intelligence Group Leadership

David Godfrey-Thomas

Chief Executive Officer 

David is an international finance executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in sustainable investment, blended finance, and emerging-market development. As CEO of Afina International and Chairman of the Center of Excellence in Life Science, Agriculture, and Bioingenuity (CE-LAB), he has structured major cross-border financing initiatives across Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. David brings deep relationships across financial institutions, development agencies, and government partners, positioning RIG at the center of the capital flows shaping Ukraine’s reconstruction and the global regenerative transition.

Jeff Swartz

Executive Chairman

Jeff has 35+ years of experience launching and leading B2B software, data, and analytics companies across sectors including agtech, energy, and food safety. As CEO of Corvium, he led the company through growth and exit via acquisition by Neogen in 2023. He has deep experience raising capital, navigating early-stage markets, and building high-impact data businesses.

andy jacobson

Andy Jacobson

President

Andy is an experienced operating executive, investor, and advisor with four decades of leadership across B2B media, information services, SaaS, and data analytics. He has founded and managed multiple companies, invested over $300 million as a deal sponsor, and served on investment committees overseeing more than $400 million in transactions. Earlier in his career, Andy sold his start-up regulatory information company to Pearson PLC and built a new business division for The Washington Post Company. His background spans private equity, structured finance, B2B media, and strategic advisory, with a consistent focus on turning data and information assets into scalable commercial platforms.

Yianni
Papadopoulos

Chief Platform Officer

Yianni oversees RIG’s data architecture, analytics, and technology platform development, ensuring that the firm’s intelligence products are scalable, secure, and user-driven. His career spans digital product design, systems integration, and applied analytics, with experience building technology solutions for finance, media, and policy clients. Yianni brings a deep understanding of how data systems and human insight intersect—a foundation for RIG’s hybrid model that combines AI-enabled analysis with expert interpretation.

Vitaliy Skotsyk

Managing Partner, Ukraine & Central Asia

Vitaliy is a Ukrainian economist and business leader with over 25 years of experience in agricultural development, policy, and education. A former Chairman of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine, he has been a leading national voice on land reform, food security, and sustainable agriculture. Vitaliy serves as President of the Center of Excellence in Life Science, Agriculture, and Bioingenuity (CE-LAB) and lectures in strategic leadership at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from that institution and completed advanced studies at Purdue University in the United States.

James
Hodson

Managing Partner

James is CEO and founder of the AI for Good Foundation, a UN-backed organization advancing the responsible use of artificial intelligence in business and society, and co-founder of Economists for Ukraine. He previously led global AI research initiatives at Bloomberg, where he helped pioneer large-scale machine learning applications for financial data and natural language processing. Since 2022, he has provided policy and economic advisory support to the Ukrainian government and authored technology-driven transformation strategies for multiple national economies.

Richard Alires​

Chief Commercial Officer

Rich leads RIG’s commercial strategy, client partnerships, and business development. He has built and scaled B2B intelligence and data businesses serving corporate and institutional clients across multiple sectors. His experience includes leadership in market insights, sales operations, and digital subscription models, with a strong focus on delivering measurable value and long-term client relationships. At RIG, Rich is responsible for expanding the firm’s subscriber base, managing strategic alliances, and guiding the rollout of new intelligence products and services.

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