About Us

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 John has extensive agricultural experience dating back to his Family Farm in Canada. After completing his studies in natural science at the University of Western Ontario and business administration and economics under the tutelage of Professor Ralph Blackmore one of Canada’s leading economists and business visionaries. He began to pursue a Canadian business career in London and Toronto that eventually led him to found an international sports advertising communications agency in New York City (Sportsbug USA Inc.) in the 1980s. He returned to farming and was the first to grow edible beans and race-horse-quality hay in Canada and has grown branded hydroponic strawberries and culinary herbs under the brand names FreshStart and Pure Smart Produce. He also was a co-op grower for Mastronardi Produce and was the first to introduce the Campari tomato (Mastronardi’s first tomato brand) thirty years ago to the A&P stores in Springfield, MA. He also developed a commercial scale hay dryer called the HayDry. Additionally, John has had a background in financial services and specialty manufacturing in the USA and Canada that have led to relationships providing additional sources of investment opportunities. Throughout his career, John has maintained extensive relationships in the "greenhouse" sector. In particular, his 30-year relationship with Mastronardi Produce, has allowed him entre to multiple North American growers that will provide a pipeline of proprietary investment opportunities for Smarter AgTech.

Philip Antupit graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass In 1975 with a B.S./B.A. in business administration. He worked at New London Motors, (Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda) as a salesperson. In 1978 he became a Sales Manager and in 1983 became President of Richardson Chevrolet and Nissan in Old Saybrook, CT. He sold the business

in 1991 and became Vice-President and General Manager of New London Motors in 1991.

He sold the franchises of New London Motors in 2008, converted the real estate to a shopping center, and continues to manage the real estate. He is now a co-founder and

investor and is responsible for all administrative functions.

 Charlie is a business owner with over 12 years of experience in equity research and 15 years of small business management as a Home Improvement Contractor. He has held analyst positions with SoundView Technology Group, Inc.; R. F. Lafferty & Co, Inc.; and

Bannockburn Partners, LLC. He holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of

Connecticut and has completed Levels I and II of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.

George Potoff earned a B.S. and B.A degree in Real Estate Development and Business Entrepreneurship and an M.S. in Marketing from the University of Denver. He has extensive experience in incremental and disruptive innovation, product and service  design and development, branding, marketing and digital marketing,  customer experience management, lean manufacturing, quality control,  finance, construction, sustainability, and alternative health and  healing practices.  In the last five years George gained  experience in cannabis product manufacturing  and sales, including  cultivating boutique strains of medical marijuana.

Truly Clark is a freelance writer, graphic designer, and web designer with fourteen years of printing, publishing, and marketing experience.  She is also experienced in sound design, broadcasting, and webcasting. She earned her BA in Radio & Television from the University of North Carolina, (School of Journalism).

Dr. Kausch received a Ph.D. in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Program (1983) from Iowa State University. During his postdoctoral work at The Rockefeller University he conducted seminal research on the transport of proteins into chloroplasts. That technology today is used in most herbicide resistant crops, such as Round-up Ready. As Senior Research Scientist in the industry sector for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and DeKalb Genetics Corporation he was a key member of a team that generated the first fertile transgenic maize plants. He now holds the position of Full Professor at the University of Rhode Island where he conducts research on advanced breeding technology, molecular biology and gene discovery in crop plants including diverse species including maize, rice, and sorghum, renewable energy crops and various vegetable crops. He is widely recognized as a leader in his field. Dr. Kausch is also a cofounder in a Yale University Spinoff company called Verinomics. Verinomics is an advanced plant breeding company with concentrations on the use of genomics, computational biology and genome editing to make new varieties various crop species.

Dr. Kausch has authored or co-authored numerous research papers, book chapters and review articles and is an inventor on over 47 US and worldwide patents in various stages of issuance in fields of molecular and agricultural biotechnology.

Dr. Stutte received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, and M.S from the University of Georgia, Athens and B.S. from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. He taught horticulture, and specialized in fruit production, at University of Maryland for seven years before being recruited to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Dr. Gary Stutte is founder and president of SyNRGE, LLC, a consulting and research and development Services Company that specializes in space agriculture and controlled

environments. Prior to founding SyNRGE, Dr. Stutte worked at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida for over 20 years as a Principal Investigator and Senior Plant

Scientist where he led research in areas of horticulture, space biology and controlled environments for space application. Dr. Stutte was Principal Investigator on four experiments to the International Space Station. Dr. Stutte was award a Senior Marie Curie

Research Fellowship from the European Union to establish a controlled environment facility at the Limerick Institute of Technology. While in Ireland, he developed and led

Irelands 1st biological experiment to the International Space Station.

Dr. Stutte is actively engaged in developing ground-based applications of space technology for controlled environment agriculture, including of LED lighting systems, production practices for high value crops, and design of plant factories. Dr. Stutte is an advisor to the Foundation for Food and Agriculture’s ‘Urban Food Systems” and “Making My Plate Your Plate” challenge areas, courtesy faculty at Department of Horticultural Sciences, University of Florida. He has served as advisor for indoor

agriculture facilities in North America, Europe, Central America, and Asia. Professor Stutte is a founding member, and Executive Director, for the American Council for Medicinally Active Plants, and has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Plant Growth Regulation Society of America, USDA Committee for Controlled

Environment Technology, Space Biology Working Group, is on ASABE HVAC for Indoor Grower Standard Development Committee, and has courtesy faculty status at the

University of Florida Horticultural Sciences Department.

 Professor & Director CEAC, Department of Biosystems Engineering, the University of Arizona, Controlled Environment Agriculture Center

Dr. Gene Giacomelli, is a Professor in the Biosystems Engineering Department, and an adjunct professor in the School of Plant Sciences, and a member of the Bio5 Institute at

the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. In 2000, he was appointed inaugural Director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) and he served until 2018. CEAC develops inter-disciplinary science and engineering education, research and

outreach/Extension programs at the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS) for the state of Arizona, the USA and the world. Programs develop and enhance food crop production systems for plants, fish and mushroom within controlled environments such

as greenhouse, growth chamber or other indoor systems (Vertical Farm). A primary focus is the collaboration and education for growers and business entrepreneurs who use crop production techniques and engineering technology of hydroponics and CEA to produce food crops that complement traditional field production.

Mr. Wink is an experienced Operations Engineer, Program Manager and strategic leader with 20+ years of experience in high stress environments along with a strong background within a variety of Fortune 50 companies in their respective industries. He is experienced in EPC and designing comprehensive business strategies, developing long-term sourcing

initiatives, identifying cost reduction strategies and supervising cross-functional teams.

He is equipped with a significant level of communication and interpersonal abilities in addition to a strong background in effectively fostering positive relationships with coworkers,

vendors, suppliers, clients and other members of management.

Armando has been involved in the greenhouse and hydroponic world for 20 years. He is a horticulture specialist with extensive industry-wide product knowledge and is considered one of the best U.S. grower/operators in controlled environment agriculture. He has been a professional in the Greenhouse/Hydroponic world for 20 years with extensive experience in Controlled Environment Agriculture, including propagation, harvest, quality control, and irrigation and substrate management.   

He has extensive industry-wide product knowledge, including technical and need-based customer assessment,   direct sales and distribution sales, statistical evaluation of crops, and experiment design.