Barbara Wells, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer
Wells joined ArborGen as chief executive officer in 2002. Prior to her current role, she was vice president in charge of Latin American growth initiatives and investments for Emergent Genetics, an agricultural investment firm. Wells also spent 18 years at Monsanto where her roles included co-managing director of Monsanto Brazil and leader of the Roundup Ready soybean team. Throughout her 26 year career, she has developed international commercial and technical experience in agriculture, biotechnology and forestry.

Wells is a board member and vice chair of the Biotechnology Industry Association’s (BIO) Food and Agriculture Governing body and a member of the executive committee of the BIO board. She also serves as a board member of the Institute of Forest Biotechnology and is a member of the industry advisory committee of the Joint BioEnergy Institute.

Wells received her Ph.D in agronomy from Oregon State University. She earned her M.S. Degree in plant pathology and B.S. degree with honors in horticulture from the University of Arizona. Although a native of the United States, Wells was raised in Bolivia. She is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.