Moderator of Panel 1
CHRIS PRESTIGIACOMOPortfolio Manager, Private Markets, State of WI Investment Board
Chris is a CFA Portfolio Manager for SWIB and oversees a combined portfolio valued at over $1.4 billion. He focuses on the origination, monitoring and disposition of direct senior and mezzanine debt investments and venture capital limited partnerships.
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Panel #1
JIM SCHULTZFounder and General Partner
Open Prairie 
AgTech Investing in 2018:
Insights from Experts Jim Schultz founded Open Prairie in 1997 with a focus on private equity investments in agri-businesses and agtech. |
MATTHEW WALKERManaging Director
S2G Ventures 
AgTech Investing in 2018:
Insights from Experts Matthew evaluates potential investment opportunities and focuses on business development efforts of portfolio companies. |
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Moderator of Panel 2
KURT ESTESDirector, Investment Banking
SIKICH Kurt Estes has 20 years of transaction experience that includes investing in or creating businesses around innovative technologies. He has conducted or managed over 50 venture capital transactions covering all stages of a startup’s life, from seed through mezzanine to liquidity events. In addition, Kurt has negotiated a wide variety of deals, including asset buyouts, recapitalizations, spin-outs, strategic partnerships, licensing agreements, and various debt structures. Kurt is also an engineer, author, inventor, and entrepreneur.
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In his current role, Kurt is responsible for leading Sikich Investment Banking’s Technology and Technology Services Practice. Kurt is also responsible for Corporate Development for Sikich as a whole.
Panel #2
TERA JOHNSONFounder and Director
Teraswhey/UW AG 
Success Stories In AgTech
Tera Johnson is a serial entrepreneur who created teraswhey®. She is currently Founder and Director of the Food Finance Institute. |
TOM REHBERGERPresident
Agro Bio / Dwight&Church 
Success Stories In AgTech
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JOHNNY PARK, PHDFounder and CEO
Spensa Technologies 
Success Stories In AgTech
Spensa was named by Forbes as one of the Top 25 Most Innovative Ag-Tech Startups in 2017. Spensa was acquired by DTN in March 2018. Before Spensa, Johnny was a faculty in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University where his research spanned various topics on robotics, machine learning and sensor networks. |
Lunch Speaker
CHRISTOPHER P. SALM, PHDFounder, CEO & Chairman of the Board for Ab E Discovery, LLC
Founder and Board Member of Ab E Manufacturing, LLC Founder and Board Member of Salm Partners, LLC Throughout his career, Chris has focused on building trusted relationships while finding and proving new technologies to better feed the world. He has nearly 40 years of experience at the forefront of innovation in the meat industry and held leadership positions at Oscar Mayer, Johnsonville Sausage, and ConAgra Foods. At age 50, Chris left the security of employment in a structured company setting to apply his passion to changing the world through new technology applications of science and engineering.
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Chris and 3 brothers (Joe, Pete & Mark) founded Salm Partners in 2004 through the purchase of equipment and the construction of a new manufacturing plant to uniquely produce pre-cooked/ready to eat (RTE) smoked sausage. By 2018, Salm Partners has expanded to be the country’s largest co-packer of RTE sausage. Salm Partners is led by a management team that reports to a board of directors. Chris is the majority owner and member of the board of directors.
Currently, Chris applies his gifts & talents and his knowledge & experience in business and leadership to commercializing entrepreneurial science as a co-founder and CEO of Ab E Discovery. In both this position and others, he engages inventors to understand the science, focus, purpose, and potential of their technologies–and then to identify and execute a commercialization path to take their inventions/discoveries to market.
Chris holds a B.S. in meat and animal sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University. Over the past 8 years, Chris has served as chairman of two advisory boards for the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at U-W Madison and is currently on the UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Board of Visitors. Chris is a 2016 University of Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Achievement Award recipient.
Chris has been married for over 42 years to Susan, also a UW-Madison and Purdue graduate. Their family includes three children, their spouses, and five grandsons. Chris and Susan serve in several capacities in their church and other community organizations. In 2017, Chris and Susan partnered with 4 faith-based business couples to establish the Isaiah Mission Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit with a mission to establish sustainable infrastructure for human health and nutrition in the most challenged countries on the planet.
Currently, Chris applies his gifts & talents and his knowledge & experience in business and leadership to commercializing entrepreneurial science as a co-founder and CEO of Ab E Discovery. In both this position and others, he engages inventors to understand the science, focus, purpose, and potential of their technologies–and then to identify and execute a commercialization path to take their inventions/discoveries to market.
Chris holds a B.S. in meat and animal sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University. Over the past 8 years, Chris has served as chairman of two advisory boards for the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at U-W Madison and is currently on the UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Board of Visitors. Chris is a 2016 University of Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Achievement Award recipient.
Chris has been married for over 42 years to Susan, also a UW-Madison and Purdue graduate. Their family includes three children, their spouses, and five grandsons. Chris and Susan serve in several capacities in their church and other community organizations. In 2017, Chris and Susan partnered with 4 faith-based business couples to establish the Isaiah Mission Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit with a mission to establish sustainable infrastructure for human health and nutrition in the most challenged countries on the planet.