Meet our Team 

Our team is diverse and talented, and we are all passionate about making a positive impact in the world. By helping reduce pesticides and decrease production costs for greenhouse growers, we believe that we can make a difference. Clean, healthy food should be affordable for consumers, and profitable for the grower. At ecoation, we are making this dream a reality.

Maryam Antikchi

Founder & CTO

Tech Entrepreneur and a Trailblazer, System Architect, Platform Designer, Tomato Lover, and Firm Believer in process and smooth operation and creating tools that enhance human life.Top forty under 40, Clean50 Leader.

Dr. Saber Miresmailli

Founder & CEO

Farmer, Biologist, Entrepreneur, Tomato Enthusiast, Public Speaker, Forty under 40, Award-winning Researcher, Clean 50 leader, Food Activist. PhD in Chemical Ecology and two decades of experience in Agriculture / Horticulture, Representing BC at the United Nations SDG forum.

Sven Riemer

Chief Operating Officer

Motivated and results driven executive with a proven track record delivering on meaningful work that makes a difference. Driven by the desire to reduce the environmental impacts of business while improving the bottom line.
Entrepreneurial and skilled in strategic planning, business planning, business development, project management, financial and management due diligence, business and program analysis, risk management, results/outcomes based management, and quality management.

Michael Liggett

Chief Financial Officer

14+ years as a public company CFO with strategic and operational expertise. Proven success in finance, M&A, strategic partnerships, restructurings and risk management. Broad sector experience including biotech and forestry.

Mauricio Manotas

Chief Revenue Officer

20+ years of experience in protected agriculture. Engineering background with multiple studies in Canada, USA, Mexico, and Colombia. Tripled the size of sales revenue of Ludvig Svensson Inc. in America and led the opening of Mexican subsidiary.

Served on the board of NGMA (National Greenhouse Manufacturers Association) and received the Charlotte City Award for philanthropic efforts with the city's schools. 

Matthew Cox

VP Engineering

16+ years of experience as a Senior Engineering Manager. Formerly managing a team of 100+ engineers at AWS Market Place, Exan and Active Networks. A serious biker with a deep passion for clean food.

Gavin Schneider

VP Agronomy & Customer Success

Agricultural technologist with experience designing, building, and operating controlled environment systems.

Previously managed a large scale plant phenotyping greenhouse and plant tissue culture facility. Passionate about working with growers to adopt new technology. Farmer, mountain biker, and lover of tall prairie grasses.

Dr. Adrian Fuxman

Director, Data Science and Innovation

15+ years of professional experience in advanced control technologies, data analytics, and machine learning. Formerly a Senior Research Engineer at Honeywell. Always looking for practical ways to bring emerging technologies to market.

A member of the Professional Engineering Association of British Columbia. Tennis player and runner

Dr. Patrick Wspanialy

Director, Research and Development

Robotics expert with a focus on plant health and agricultural automation. Versatile engineering and product skill set, always looking for ways to empower people with tech.

Scuba diver, horseback rider.

Bryana Ginther

Product Manager

Environmental scientist, passionate about developing tools to make greenhouse growers job easier and plants more productive. A pioneer at ecoation, and one of the first members of the team, Bryana has designed, executed, validated solutions for multiple years along side customers.

Project manager, amateur gardener, dirt biker, snowboarder and experimental cook.

Shraddha Parikh

Head of Talent

Strategic Talent Partner, helping organizations build and drive people strategy over the last two decades across different geographies.

Shraddha enjoys coaching, mentoring, and developing organization design & talent programs. Passionate about collaborating with people, development initiatives, and creating a culture of belonging, trust and accountability. A life-long learner, community volunteer, well-being and DEI advocate, amateur gardener, and pet lover.

Mike Mastronardi

General Manager, Ontario

16 + years of experience in the greenhouse industry. Deep roots in traditional farming in Ontario and Vice President and grower of Lee and Maria's Garden Center where he grows and promotes farm to table service.

A BBQ, wine and cheese lover

Ecoation Board Members

Dr. Christopher Bissonnette

Investor and Board Member

Managing partner of Pallasite Ventures. investor and advisor in more than 55 companies in MedTech, FinTech and business optimization SaaS.

AI expert and Neuroscientist. Impact investor. 

Mohamed Mansour

Investor and Board Member

Investor, advisor, and board member at portfolios of companies. Managing partner at Baringa Partners, a firm that was recognized by Financial Times as the best place to work in the UK for three consecutive years and was among top-10 mid-size companies for 10 years.

Jonathan Bixby

Investor and Board Member

Serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, board member and speaker. In addition to his investing and entrepreneurial efforts, active with several non-profit organizations. Sought after speaker on the topics of crypto currency, angel capital investing, accelerators/incubators and entrepreneurship.

Jean-Marc Vandoorne

Investor and Board Member

14+ years as a public company CFO with strategic and operational expertise. Proven success in finance, M&A, strategic partnerships, restructurings and risk management. Broad sector experience including biotech and forestry.

Karel Bolckmans

Investor and Board Member

30 years of experience in Crop Protection, COO of Biobest, the most reliable supplier of pollination and biological crop control solutions, reaching out growers as a global player with 24 subsidiaries and more than 120 distributors in almost 70 countries.