Leadership Team
Andrew Diprose
Andrew is CEO and leads the RootWave team. He joined from Alpha Financial Markets Consulting which he helped grow from a start-up to the world’s largest dedicated investment management consultancy.
James Holdgate
Joined RootWave from Vax where he held the role of Head of New Product Development. He brings over 20 years of experience in consumer products and medical devices and expertise in product development, project management, team leadership and lean systems.
Tom Archer
Tom is Head of Sales and Marketing for RootWave. He joined from UPL where he was European portfolio marketing manager. He has expertise in crop protection markets with over 20 years’ experience in portfolio marketing and new product development.
Board of Directors
Andrew Diprose
Andrew is CEO and leads the RootWave team. He joins from Alpha Financial Markets Consulting which he helped grow from a start-up to the world’s largest dedicated investment management consultancy.
Jorge Heraud
Jorge Heraud is passionate about bringing practical, high technology to agriculture. Jorge was CEO of Blue River Technology which uses computer vision and AI to detect each plant individually and reduce chemical use by a factor of 3. Jorge successfully raised three rounds of financing prior to being acquired by John Deere in 2017. Jorge was then the Vice President of Automation and Autonomy for John Deere leading 600 people working in robotics, autonomy, machine leaning and computer vision. At John Deere he lead the release of See & Spray and the Autonomous 8R tractor. Prior to this, Jorge worked at Trimble Navigation as Business Unit Director for Precision Agriculture and Director of Engineering.
Willem Broekaert
Willem Broekaert is currently Managing Partner of V-BIO VENTURES, a life sciences venture fund which he co-founded in 2015. V-BIO VENTURES supports innovative companies in the sectors of therapeutics, diagnostics and agricultural improvements.
Thomas Gatacre
Thomas is currently the active chairman of Jellycat, a soft toy company which he started 32 years ago. Jellycat now has sales of £70m, 80% of which is sold outside the UK. Previously Thomas worked in insurance and farming. He is a board member of the body that looks after the family estate, property, monuments and garden of de Wiersse in the Netherlands.
Lars McBride
Lars has over 40 years’ experience in business, including as an Executive Director for a diversified global industrial group and Finance Director of FTSE 250 company when it sold for £630m. Lars is an experienced Chairman and Non-Executive Director and currently holes numerous board roles at small businesses.
Technical Advisory Board
Johan Driesen
Johan Driesen received the MSc degree in 1996 as Electrical Engineer. He received the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering at KU Leuven in 2000. In 2000-2001 he was a visiting researcher in the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. Currently, he is a full professor at the KU Leuven and teaches power electronics, renewables, drives and electromobility.
Paul Mitcheson
Paul Mitcheson received the MEng degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2001 and the PhD degree in 2005, both from Imperial College London. He is currently Professor of Electrical Energy Conversion in the Control and Power Research Group in the Electrical Engineering Department at Imperial and has research interests wireless power transfer and power electronics.
Farmer Advisory Board
Stephen Briggs
Consultant for 20 years & Soil and Water manager at Innovation for Agriculture, part of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE). Farms 270 acres of land in Cambridgeshire & in Rutland growing cereals, root crops, vegetable and fruit crops and is pioneering agroforestry.
Stephen has an MSc in Soil Science.
Henry Chinn
A partner in Cobrey Farms who are the largest asparagus grower and packer in the UK, with production in Herefordshire and East Anglia. Has over 20 years experience as a farmer, producing a range a hand-harvested vegetables and soft fruit as well as potatoes, beetroot, cereals and poultry. Has a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Nottingham and worked as a farm business consultant.
Hugh Forsyth
Farm Director of Tubbs End Farms which is a family run farm and contracting business based near Kineton, Warwickshire. Company provides a range of agricultural services to farmers and landowners, from whole farm contracting to individual operations and agronomy. Hugh is BASIS and FACTS qualified and has 25 years experience in arable farming and contracting operations.
Charlie Hart
Graduate of the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester with a degree in Rural Land Management. With 20 years in farming, he has a broad knowledge of agricultural systems with particular expertise in UK government agri-environment policy and schemes. An arable, beef and pig farmer from his home in Cornwall.
Neil Walker
Neil Walker farms about 4,500 acres (2,500 owned) in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, with more than 40 years’ experience in the industry and a degree in Agriculture from the University of Reading.