Mr. Stacey has devoted much of his 45 years in the international agricultural seed business to building entrepreneurial, research-based seed businesses. Before founding Verdant Partners, Rod Stacey was President of R. Matthew Neil & Company LLC, a crop genetics industry consulting firm. From 1992-1996, as President and Chief Operating Officer of Calgene, Inc., a publicly traded agricultural seed and biotechnology company, Mr. Stacey was responsible for all operating business subsidiaries including Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Co., the second largest developer and marketer of cotton planting seed and Calgene Fresh during the introduction of Flavr Savr tomatoes.

Between 1981 and 1989 Rod Stacey was the founding President of United AgriSeeds, Inc., a leading hybrid corn and soybean company, which was acquired by Dow Chemical Co. in 1987.

Rod Stacey holds a BS in Agronomy from Reading University in the UK and a Diploma in Economics. He is a past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Farm Foundation and a past member of the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Management at the University of California at Davis.