Innovating for Food and Agriculture

Henry Gordon-Smith is a sustainability strategist focused on urban agriculture, water issues, and emerging technologies. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver; did coursework in Food Security and Urban Agriculture at Ryerson University in Toronto; and holds an MSc in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. In 2014, Mr. Gordon-Smith responded to a global need for technology-agnostic guidance on urban agriculture by launching the advisory firm Agritecture Consulting, which has now consulted on over 100 urban agriculture projects in over 20 countries.

Neil Mattson joined Cornell University in 2007, having previously earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, and M.S. at the University of Minnesota. He is currently an associate professor and Director of Cornell’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Group. Professor Mattson’s research focuses on the physiology of plants in controlled environments, especially LED lighting, nutrient management, abiotic stress physiology, and strategies to reduce energy use. He has authored 54 peer review journal articles and given more than 250 outreach presentations to over 10,000 members of the agriculture industry.

Paul Sellew has founded, managed, and grown successful companies in the food and agriculture, lawn and garden, renewable energy, and organics recycling industries.  He is the founder and CEO of Little Leaf Farms, a state-of-the-art greenhouse producer of baby greens that are grown and packaged at its Devens, MA location and sold in over 2,000 grocery stores and fine-dining establishments throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Prior to this, Mr. Sellew founded and was CEO of Harvest Power. He also founded and was CEO of Backyard Farms, a year-round greenhouse producer of tomatoes on the East Coast, where he led the development of its 42-acre tomato greenhouse. A graduate of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), Mr. Sellew has served on Cornell’s University Council, CALS Dean’s Advisory Council, and the Board of the U.S. Composting Council.

Shireen Santosham leads Strategic Initiatives at Plenty, a vertical farming company. In her role, she oversees strategic operations, ESG, government, and community initiatives and programs. Ms. Santosham was previously the Chief Innovation Officer for the Mayor of San Jose, where she was the visionary behind the San Jose Digital Inclusion Fund, which helped expand 5G technology within the city and close the digital divide for 100,000 San Jose residents. Her Smart City Vision initiative also championed autonomous vehicle pilots, a city-wide privacy policy, and user-friendly government.  

Ms. Santosham has launched innovative initiatives across sectors throughout her career, including advocating closing the gender digital divide internationally at GSMA, launching the Center for Government while at McKinsey & Company, securing $50M to combat global overfishing while at Oceana, and setting up the Allen Institute for Brain Science while an investor at Vulcan Capital.

Ms. Santosham has received numerous awards for her work, including a Silver Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year; was twice named to GovTech’s List of 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers; and has been featured in publications like the New York Times, Bloomberg Technology, KQED, and Ars Technica. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School, and a B.S. and B.A. with honors from the University of Pennsylvania.