Our dynamic team of co-founders and advisors brings together decades of experience with startups, habitat restoration, forest management, and more.
Chief Executive Officer
Over his 12 year tech startup career, Jed Wheeler has led product development and go-to-market efforts at multiple companies, playing key roles in three successful exits, and gaining extensive experience scaling startups and bringing new products to market.
Outside of work, Jed has been involved in anti-war, environmental, and social justice activism since childhood; and is a master gardener who has devoted countless hours to habitat restoration work for native plants.
Jed first had the idea for Manzanita when drought made the well on his property in rural Mendocino run dry and his garden died without irrigation – except for the native crops which continued to thrive. He co-founded Manzanita with the goal of disrupting agriculture and making farms habitat. He has a decade of experience working with Californian native plants and deep expertise around edible natives in particular.
Chief Science Officer
Dr. Christopher Hendrickson received his Ph.D. in Horticulture from Washington State University. He is an expert on crop physiology and stress resilience through physiological, metabolic and genomics contexts. His training and industry R&D experience in plant biology has spanned from whole-plant physiology, energy and mass-balanced lenses to intricate biochemical assays, genomics and molecular biology-based approaches to answering impactful questions in plant systems.
Dr. Hendrickson’s prior work on pear cultivars to identify putative regulatory genes in fruits’ variable cold-induced ripening competency resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications. The work was awarded USPTO patents and enabled gene-informed rapid breeding toward improved pear postharvest ripening control.
Chief Science Officer
Leslie Nuccio has spent her marketing career at a cross section of tech, finance, and mission. As someone who grew up as the 4th generation in an Italian restaurant family, she has a lifetime appreciation of food – and an understanding of the systems that bring it to our tables. Leslie is passionate about intersectional nature-based solutions to our universal climate resiliency challenges, and believes that being in tune with and appreciative of the land is critical to conservation and true sustainability. She joined Manzanita Cooperative out of a desire to socialize environment-forward, socially equitable solutions for climate-driven food insecurity.
Harvest Operations Lead
Rich Bolton has more than 30 years of experience in forestry work and a lifetime of experience gathering Acorn. A member of the Chukchansi Tribe located in Coarsegold, Ca, some of his earliest memories include gathering acorn at Bolton Ranch where his great grandmother and other ancestors ground acorns into the granite rocks near the creek.
Rich is a 4th generation logger and has worked for Bolton Logging doing sustainable forestry since he was old enough to hold tools, learning all aspects of the trade before taking the company over from his father.
Since then, he has diversified the company to also do contract work for CalFire and other agencies, and regularly managed crews of 35 or more in challenging woodland conditions.
A self-educated entrepreneur and born leader, Rich is uniquely qualified to train and manage crews wild harvesting acorn and other native tree nuts across Northern California. He is excited to help lead Manzanita Cooperative’s efforts to bring native drought resistant foods to market for the masses. Rich is fully invested in our mission to build food security for our North Coast community, prove that deforestation is not necessary to feed people, and conserve our native lands while protecting and utilizing what nature gives us. His lifelong experience with native foods and at managing teams working in the forest will be invaluable in ensuring our success.
Manufacturing Lead
Mauro has more than 20 years of experience in food manufacturing, with 15 of those in supervisory and management roles. He has deep experience in the organic and natural food production spaces, as well as pharmaceutical manufacturing, and led buildout of production for new products at Urban Remedies and Biozone Laboratories.
As someone who worked his way up over the course of years, Mauro has done practically every role, from forklift operator to Plant Manager, and brings unparalleled experience transforming raw ingredients into exciting new products. An avid bicyclist and hiker, he lives an active lifestyle and wants to create foods that support human health. He is excited at the possibilities of transforming the way people eat to be more in tune with our natural environment and give better health outcomes.
Bioinformatics Specialist
Micki Palmersheim has almost a decade of experience in researching bees and pollinating insects, and is proficient in statistical analysis, predictive modeling, and using empirical evidence to support pollinator conservation and enhance local insect biodiversity. She is passionate about innovating ways to support the growing demand for agricultural production that are sustainable and able to support native bee populations.
Micki holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from North Dakota State University and a Master’s degree in Entomology from Virginia Tech. While working as a research assistant at the USDA-ARS in Fargo, ND, she investigated the sub-lethal effects of neonicotinoid exposure on nesting behavior in the Alfalfa Leafcutting bee, a managed solitary bee that is crucial for its contributions to Alfalfa crop production. Later, she dedicated her thesis to focusing on quantifying attractiveness of ornamental landscape plants to native pollinators for supporting biodiversity in urban areas.
Content Marketing Specialist
Hassan Tyler has worked in influencer and content marketing for almost a decade and played a pivotal role in multiple exits. His unique approach to marketing is based on creative risk taking to achieve business needs, and blends data driven metrics and psychology to reach broad audiences – while making a point to also connect with those left out by algorithms.
Away from the desk, Hassan enjoys skydiving, and hosts deep forest meditation groups. He takes pride in continually challenging the status quo and is excited to help Manzanita drive lasting change towards sustainability.
Educational Outreach Specialist
Dr. Maia Steward is a leading Science Educator with a lifelong passion for social justice.
After two decades of teaching in rural, suburban, and urban school districts, including years in rural North Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area; Maia has moved into a second career teaching teachers how to better communicate science concepts. In addition to running the Mendocino County Science Fair for the Mendocino County Office of Education, Maia created and runs an annual retreat that empowers and supports science teachers from across Northern California.
Maia joins us as a consultant to help break down the complex science around crop development, habitat, and biodiversity and make it more accessible to everyone.