Key stakeholders for the CucCAP project are: cucurbit growers, shippers and processors; seed companies that develop cucurbit cultivars; and the scientific community that develops new knowledge that will lead to improved cultivars.
We are appreciative of the support and advice provided by the CucCAP Stakeholder Advisory Board which includes industry representatives from each of the four cucurbit commodity groups and breeders and scientists from several seed companies with major cucurbit breeding programs.
Stakeholder Advisory Board
Commodity Group Representatives
- National Watermelon Promotion Board – Mark Arney, Executive Director NWPB
- National Watermelon Association – George Szczepanski, Executive Director NWA
- California Melon Research Board – Steve Smith, Former Chair, California Melon Research Board
- California Melon Research Board – Bart Fisher, Chair, California Melon Research Board; President, Fisher Ranch Corporation
- Michigan Vegetable Council – Greg Bird, Executive Director
- Pickle Packers International – John Cox, Executive Vice President Pickle Packers International
Seed Industry
- BASF Vegetable Seeds – Mona Mazaheri (Integrated Breeding Team – Americas)
- Bayer Crop Science – Nischit Shetty (North American Cucurbit Breeding Lead)
- East-West Seeds – Caleb Orchard, Simon Dehoop, and Marilyn Hindo
- Enza Zaden – Bart Kay (Research Molecular Biology), Walter Verweij (Senior Scientist,) and Tilly Eldridge
- Johnny’s Selected Seeds – Lindsay Wyatt (Squash and pumpkin breeder) and Rob Johnston
- Limagrain Vegetable Seeds, HM Clause, Kishor Bhattarai (Vegetable Seeds Division) and Peter Kraan (Breeding Director EMEA)
- Origene America – Eyal Vardi (Founder and CEO)
- Sakata Seeds – Nihat Guner (Senior watermelon breeder) and Jeff Zischke (Senior advisor R&D)
- Syngenta Seeds Inc. -Padma Sudarshana, Carine Rizzolatti, and Rakesh Kumar
- Takii Seeds – Yasushi Tokairin and Yamamoto Gaku
- United Genetics -Xuemei Zhang and Raquel Salaki
Cucurbit Crop Curators
- Robert Jarret – Citrullus spp.
USDA-ARS, Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit, 1109 Experiment Station, Griffin GA 30223
bob.jarret@ARS.USDA.GOV - Kathy Reitsma – Cucumis (C. melo and C. sativus)
USDA-ARS, North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station
Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011
kathleen.reitsma@ARS.USDA.GOV - Rebecca Povilus – Cucurbita spp.
USDA – ARS, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Geneva, NY 14456
rebecca.povilus@usda.gov
External Evaluators
- Phillip McClean
Director of the Genomics and Bioinformatics Program at North Dakota State University
Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
phillip.mcclean@ndsu.nodak.edu - Antonio Monforte
Research Scientist, Department of Biotechnology and Plant Breeding
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants, Valencia, Spain
amonforte@ibmcp.upv.es - Allen Van Deynze
Director of Research at the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center
Department of Plant Sciences
Plant Reproductive Biology Extension Center Drive, Davis, CA 95616
avandeynze@ucdavis.edu
