Pivot Bio Announces Additions to Senior Management

New Team Members Bring Experience and Strategic Vision

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec.15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Pivot Bio, one of the world's leading innovative agtech companies, today announced six seasoned professionals have joined its senior management team. They are:

• Shekar Govindaswamy as principal scientist
• Peter Jensen as senior director of regulatory and quality affairs
• Katie Liberatore as senior director of product operations and execution
• Theresa Myers as director of corporate communications – thought leadership and global impact
• Deepak Pillai as head of digital
• Rick Williamson as director of corporate communications – external communications and media

"As Pivot Bio begins a new chapter of its growth story, we are pleased to welcome this amazing group of people to our team," said Chris Abbott, CEO of Pivot Bio. "Each of these individuals shares our belief in the importance of putting farmers first, and brings impressive skills and experience to help us continue to lead innovation in crop nutrition."

About Shekar Govindaswamy

Shekar Govindaswamy has joined Pivot Bio as a principal scientist, bringing more than 25 years of global experience in fermentation development and optimization across industrial biotechnology, including biofuels, enzymes, probiotics, vaccines and personal care innovation.

Govindaswamy, who completed his Ph.D. in fermentation technology, is widely recognized for his strengths in yield optimization, cost reduction and inventive, nonconventional approaches to solving complex challenges during optimization and scale-up. His deep expertise in the biotechnology industry will be called into play as Pivot Bio continues advancing its science and delivering for farmers.

Prior to joining Pivot Bio, Govindaswamy served as senior manager of bioprocess at Curie Company, which focuses on replacing petrochemical-based ingredients with biobased alternatives. His career also includes leadership and technical roles at BiomEdit, Lesaffre Advanced Fermentations (Leaf), Joule Unlimited Technologies, Novozymes North America and Lakeshore TolTest. In addition, Govindaswamy had a postdoctoral research role with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from Bharathiar University in India, a postgraduate degree from Madurai Kamaraj University in India, a Master of Science degree in biology from Devi Ahilya University in India and a Ph.D. in biotechnology from the University of Mysore. Govindaswamy completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

About Peter Jensen

As senior director of regulatory and quality affairs, Peter Jensen is now leading the regulatory and quality strategy for the registration of Pivot Bio products globally, ensuring the company's customers receive the highest-quality products.

Jensen spent the last 15 years at Bayer, where he contributed to multiple insect-control biotechnology products in North and South America, including Trecepta, SmartStaxPro, Intacta, BollGard and ThryvOn for corn, soy and cotton, respectively. He held several leadership roles across R&D in regulatory as well as biotechnology product development organizations. 

Prior to Bayer, Jensen worked for five years in environmental risk assessment with Integral Consulting in Maryland.

Jensen holds a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California, Riverside, where his research focused on environmental risk assessment of metal mixtures. He also performed research on native bee behavior to earn a Master of Science degree in entomology from Montana State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and a bachelor's degree in education from Queen's University, also in Ontario. His postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland, College Park, focused on environmental risk assessment for biotechnology-based insect control traits in agriculture.

About Katie Liberatore

As senior director of product operations and execution, Katie Liberatore will drive cross-functional alignment, operational excellence and strategic execution across Pivot Bio's R&D portfolio. At the same time, she will play a critical role in ensuring the company brings forward high-impact innovations efficiently, effectively and with clear connection to farmer needs. She brings a unique blend of scientific depth, operational rigor and leadership experience, with background in plant science, and a proven ability to scale and align complex R&D programs.

Liberatore comes to Pivot Bio from Cibus, where she led operations and helped guide integration efforts following the merger with Calyxt in 2023. During her time at Calyxt, she held several leadership roles across R&D operations and research, and she contributed to the launch of the first gene-edited food product on the market — Calyno high-oleic soybean oil. Earlier in her career, Liberatore completed postdoctoral work at the USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory (University of Minnesota campus), focused on improving agronomic traits in wheat.

She earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where her research centered on tomato genetics and development to improve fruit yield. Liberatore completed her Bachelor of Science degree in biology at the University of New Mexico, where she studied DNA damage response and RNA splicing. She also conducted field research at the Lizard Island Research Station in the Great Barrier Reef through the UNM honors and NIH Post-baccalaureate Research Scholar programs.

About Theresa Myers

Theresa Myers is filling the new role of director of corporate communications – thought leadership and global impact, a position that will allow her to draw on more than 20 years of leadership experience spanning operations, communications and marketing. Passionate about farmers, sustainability and purpose-driven storytelling, she will head up the company's thought leadership platform and global impact efforts, elevating its mission and scientific leadership.

Myers grew up on a mixed-crop and livestock farm in southeastern Minnesota, where her family farmed for generations. Although her early career took her into health care, she found her way back to agriculture a decade ago and has spent the past 10 years reconnecting with her farming roots through her work at Hormel Foods.

Myers served most recently as the global impact communications leader for Hormel Foods, helping to shape its sustainability and thought leadership impact globally. Prior to leading global impact, she was manager of corporate communications – digital, helping to define the company's digital communications strategy, including the social media strategy for several of its 50-plus brands. She also stood up and led the company's first brand public relations team.

Myers also was in health care communications, serving as director of communications, and staff development and engagement for St. Croix Hospice, one of the largest hospice corporations in the Midwest. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University – St. Paul and an MBA from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.

About Deepak Pillai

Deepak Pillai is the new head of digital for Pivot Bio, bringing deep agricultural knowledge as well as an advanced technical acumen. In addition, he is adept at connecting technology with farmer outcomes, a critical skill at Pivot Bio.

Pillai brings more than 25 years of experience leading global engineering, data and product organizations across agriculture and technology. He has a proven ability to build and scale digital platforms that join product development with commercial operations, delivering real value for farmers in fast-scaling as well as established companies.

Prior to joining Pivot Bio, he worked across the ag value chain with experiences at DTN, Nutrien and John Deere. While at Nutrien, he served as head of global digital, launching digital platforms across North America, and bridging product development and commercial agronomy. He also served as senior director of digital engineering while there. Prior to Nutrien, Pillai was with John Deere, where he led global engineering teams responsible for precision agriculture platforms and in-cab display systems that became central to farming operations worldwide. He also held technology and engineering roles at GeoLearning and Infosys.

Pillai earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering in India.

About Rick Williamson

Rick Williamson, director of corporate communications – external communications and media, grew up in a military household. At the same time, he stayed closely connected to his father's family farm in Cedarville, Ohio, a background that has given him a deep respect for growers throughout the United States and internationally. With more than 20 years in journalism, sales, marketing and corporate communications leadership roles, Williamson will lead external communications and media relations strategy for Pivot Bio, helping to increase the company's visibility among major stakeholders and the industry, and elevating the voices of farmers, scientists, partners and leaders.

Before joining Pivot Bio, Williamson had a successful 15-year career with Hormel Foods as global communications and corporate reputation leader. Throughout his tenure there, he led the corporate reputation efforts for the company, including media and crisis management, Hormel Foods H-Films, and consumer response and engagement. He also worked closely with family farms and hog suppliers, which grounded him in the reality of modern farming and the people who make it possible.

Prior to joining Hormel Foods, Williamson was senior marketing manager for bd's Mongolian Grill and regional marketing manager for Buffalo Wild Wings. He also was a broadcaster in Iowa, Tennessee and Idaho. Williamson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mass communications from Miami University in Ohio, and he received his MBA from Augsburg University.

About Pivot Bio

Pivot Bio, one of the world's leading agtech companies, delivers patented crop nutrition technologies that harness the power of nature to help farmers reliably and productively grow the food the world needs in the face of increasing volatility.

Currently available in North America and soon in Brazil, the company's products represent a breakthrough innovation and one of the agriculture industry's most promising solutions. Pivot Bio has been recognized three times by TIME magazine on its annual list of best inventions, by Fast Company on its World Changing Ideas and World's 50 Most Innovative Companies lists, by CNBC on its Disruptor 50 list of private companies, by Fortune on its Impact 20 list and by MIT Tech Review as one of 15 climate tech companies to watch. For more information, visit PivotBio.com.

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SOURCE Pivot Bio, Inc