Apr 30, 2019

Vestaron adds Daniel Peck as field development biologist

Daniel Peck, Ph.D., is the most recent team member to join Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Vestaron Corp. As a field development biologist, Peck began orientation by meeting the R&D team in Kalamazoo the week of April 15.

Peck earned his bachelor’s degree in zoology and entomology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and his doctorate in entomology from Cornell University. He is a board certified entomologist with the Entomological Society of America and a certified senior ecologist with the Ecological Society of America.

Peck brings to Vestaron 25 years of prior experience in insect pest management. This most recently includes 3½ years working as a product development manager and then biological program manager at BioWorks Inc. based in Victor, New York. His research and development efforts there were aimed at developing, coalescing and promoting the scientific validation behind biologically based products for their role in insect management, disease suppression and plant nutrition.

“Daniel’s extensive insect pest management experience will be put to immediate use serving our customers in the eastern U.S.,” said Ben Cicora, senior vice president of sales and marketing. “However, we are looking forward to having his expertise as a resource for the entire organization as we continue to grow and expand our footprint.”

Peck also has prior experience as an independent consultant in the area of turfgrass entomology; as an assistant professor at Cornell University in the area of soil insect ecology; and as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (Cali, Colombia) in the area of integrated pest management.

Vestaron is initially focused on a class of peptides that kills insect pests efficiently, but is safe for humans, birds, fish and the environment. As part of this, the company has developed fermentation-based peptide production and insect resistant crop platform that will allow it to develop a wide variety of biologic crop protection and trait products.

For more information, visit www.vestaron.com.