Kultevat is a team of scientists and industry experts who have been working in the Natural Rubber business for decades. By working alongside our partners from around the world, we are able to make an impact on rubber-based products across many industries. Here are some of the leaders who have grown Kultevat into one of the leading Natural Rubber producers in North America.
Dan Swiger, Chief Executive Officer
Dan Swiger is an experienced entrepreneur, business executive, visionary, and inventor. Prior to starting Kultevat, Dan was the Founder and President of Mentor Capitalist, Incorporated, which provided a full range of resources and development strategies needed to increase revenues at startup and turn around companies.
In 1995, Dan founded Yulex Corporation, a venture-backed company to commercialize an alternative rubber crop, guayule. Yulex is a bio-based materials science company, manufacturer, and marketer of hypo-allergenic natural rubber latex for the medical and specialty consumer products market. As COO and Chairman, Dan raised several million dollars in funding directly through equity and indirectly through the raising of capital for Yulex’s university partners. He also oversaw the agricultural development program which tripled guayule’s rubber yields, the development of the first facility for guayule latex production, and the development of new markets for hypo-allergenic latex rubber.
Roger Beachy, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Roger Beachy is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the 2001 Wolf Prize in agriculture for his contributions to the development of plant genetic engineering and plant biology technologies. He was the founding President of the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center and, in 2009, was appointed by President Obama to be Director of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), where he served until 2011.
Kim Martin, Chief Financial Officer
Kim was an Auditor and Regional Manager for Arthur Andersen & Co. for six years and has experience as Controller for Bock Pharmacal for five years, which grew to $100 million in annual revenues during her tenure. Kim holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, University of Illinois.
Tony Nocera, Vice President of Manufacturing
Tony Nocera is a seasoned business executive with 40 years of experience in Chemical Operations and Engineering, beginning at American Cyanamid Corporation. Nocera has served as Vice President of Manufacturing Operations for numerous firms including: Balchem, Capital Vial, Kaneka Nutrients, YULEX Corporation, and Heliae Development. He has extensive experience designing facilities and managing manufacturing operations using agricultural products and biomass with pilot plant development and world commercial scale manufacturing facilities for numerous specialty chemicals, natural rubber, and renewable energy products.
At YULEX, Tony was responsible for building and validating the first commercially viable latex extraction process, which produced high-quality, hypo-allergenic latex formulations for dipped medical goods.