about us

What is vivent

Vivent, a Swiss based deep tech SME, applies expertise in communication networks and information theory to biological systems. Early on we focused on working with plants and we can now diagnose a wide range of crop stressors, including soil borne pathogens, using artificial intelligence.

What we do

Vivent provides growers, breeders and other agtech companies with actionable information direct from plants themselves. We help clients see how and when plants respond to changing conditions and we provide early warning (days before visual symptoms) of abiotic and biotic stressors. With better information on plant responses, growers optimise conditions and increase yields and improve fruit quality. Early warning enables more effective and environmentally preferable crop protection. Plant scientists accelerate crop protection product development and improve use recommendations. Breeders can identify beneficial traits in real-time. We are proud to be playing a role in transforming the future of agriculture to deliver safe and secure food while reducing the environmental impact of agriculture.

Our team

Carrol Plummer
CEO

Carrol Plummer, (P.Eng, BSc Mechanical Engineering, MBA INSEAD), brings to the Vivent years of experience participating and investing in, as well as advising, small high technology businesses.

Nigel Wallbridge
Executive Chairman

Dr Nigel Wallbridge, the Tech Entrepreneur (Ph.D, MIMechE, MBA INSEAD), is an internationally renowned serial entrepreneur with extensive experience founding and growing companies in both North America & Europe.

Caleb Carroll
Chief Information Officer

Caleb Carroll’s leadership and technical contributions have been key to the success of a number of start-up companies. At Vivent he is using advanced machine learning techniques to interpret plant electrophysiology signals.

Andrzej Kurenda
Chief Scientific Officer

Andrzej Kurenda brings in-depth knowledge of molecular biology and microscopy to Vivent’s team. His strong analytical and data processing skills enable him to quickly gain insights from the large data sets in Vivent’s world leading plant electrophysiology library.

Nick Barker
Chief Technology Officer

Nick Barker (MA Engineering, MBA) has spent many years making computers interact in real time with the real world, and has invented and developed applications and systems ranging from safety critical monitoring systems, to mobile communications systems, indoor positioning systems and process control.

Carl Rentes
Commercial Director

Carl Rentes is a senior professional with a broad international network and more than 30 years of experience in the agri- and horticulture industry. He has held successive commercial and business development and general management roles within the seed industry: at Seminis, Monsanto and Germains Seed Technology.

Sandro Lecci
Senior Data Scientist

Sandro Lecci holds a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Lausanne where he investigated novel methodological and analytical approaches to analyze the brain electrical activity during sleep. He also worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the sleep research center of the CHUV where he studied the electrophysiological correlates of insomnia states.

Thomas Meacham
Machine Learning Engineer

As well as his experience developing and deploying models, distributed streaming pipelines, and architecting backend infrastructure, Thomas Meacham brings a strong DevOps and Agile culture to the team, which he approaches with the same rigour he applies to his ones and zeros.

Marina Martin Curran
Sustainability Manager

Marina Martin Curran has worked as a consultant since 2001 in areas relating to sustainability: from environmental reporting to assessing community investments for corporate clients. She holds the first PhD in corporate social responsibility from the University of Edinburgh. More recently she has lectured and worked on start-ups in the textile and clean energy sectors.

Alja van der Schuren
Plant Physiology Scientist

In order to satisfy her curiosity, Alja van der Schuren came to Lausanne for a PhD in root development on a new model plant for wheat. Having developed and optimised many research protocols by herself and having worked on extremely time-consuming and slow plant processes, she decided it was time to move to fast-paced industry, where also teamwork was more essential.

Moritz Graeff
Plant Physiology Scientist

Dr. Moritz Graeff is a plant researcher whose research is focused on the question of how plants perceive their environment, and how they integrate this information to adapt their growth and development.

Norm Janssen
Business Development

Norm Janssen brings years of experience promoting innovation in agriculture as well his time as an International Nuffield Scholar to the team at Vivent. Based in Calgary, Canada he looks after the North American market.

Sophie Grosclaude
Office Manager

Sophie Grosclaude is a highly experienced administrator and accounting assistant, she cut her teeth in Lausanne’s private banking sector before moving into the administrative management of a music school, a theatre and dance company and a landscape gardening firm. She brings to Vivent highly valued organizational and accounting skills as well as much prized local knowledge, as she hails from the Canton de Vaud.

Jose Ojeda
Digital Marketing Manager

Combining his multicultural and sports background, Jose Ojeda adds strong leadership and entrepreneurial qualities to the commercial team. Being a former student athlete and a professional soccer player, Jose understands and meets the high demands of a fast-paced culture.

Scott Quincey
Data Science and IoT Operations Associate

Scott comes to us from Loughborough University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics.

about us

about us

What is vivent

What we do

Our team

Carrol Plummer CEO

Nigel Wallbridge Executive Chairman

Caleb Carroll Chief Information Officer

Andrzej Kurenda Chief Scientific Officer

Nick Barker Chief Technology Officer

Carl Rentes Commercial Director

Sandro Lecci Senior Data Scientist

Thomas Meacham Machine Learning Engineer

Marina Martin Curran Sustainability Manager

Alja van der Schuren Plant Physiology Scientist

Moritz Graeff Plant Physiology Scientist

Norm Janssen Business Development

Sophie Grosclaude Office Manager

Jose Ojeda Digital Marketing Manager

Scott Quincey Data Science and IoT Operations Associate

Vivent Timeline

Title

Solutions

Technology

Company

News/media

Client access

Contact

Carrol Plummer
CEO

Nigel Wallbridge
Executive Chairman

Caleb Carroll
Chief Information Officer

Andrzej Kurenda
Chief Scientific Officer

Nick Barker
Chief Technology Officer

Carl Rentes
Commercial Director

Sandro Lecci
Senior Data Scientist

Thomas Meacham
Machine Learning Engineer

Marina Martin Curran
Sustainability Manager

Alja van der Schuren
Plant Physiology Scientist

Moritz Graeff
Plant Physiology Scientist

Norm Janssen
Business Development

Sophie Grosclaude
Office Manager

Jose Ojeda
Digital Marketing Manager

Scott Quincey
Data Science and IoT Operations Associate