RiceTec Hires Chakra Sankaraiah as Global Chief Technology Officer

As Global CTO, Sankaraiah will be at the forefront of RiceTec's digital transformation. He will spearhead efforts to leverage cutting-edge technologies such as predictive analytics, farm operations automation, and cloud services to enhance decision-making processes at RiceTec and to support rice farmers.

"I am thrilled to have Chakra on board," said RiceTec CEO Karsten Neuffer. "His experience in digital technologies and agriculture will be a great addition to RiceTec's leadership team. I look forward to working with him and bringing digital innovation to RiceTec and rice farmers worldwide to help drive the transformation towards a more sustainable rice agriculture."

Sankaraiah's extensive background in data and digital technologies spans Fortune 500 companies and unicorn startups. He has a wealth of experience in the ag-tech space, having led engineering and architecture for digital products at Land O' Lakes and experience working in large-scale cloud-based data management products at Cloudera, a unicorn startup. Sankaraiah has also worked with global teams at Target, IBM, and Capgemini, building data platforms and artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions.

"I am incredibly excited to join RiceTec, a company committed to sustainable rice agriculture," said Sankaraiah. "I envision an immense opportunity to employ data and machine learning techniques to unlock greater value for farmers and the planet. I am eager to work with this talented team to help scale RiceTec's efforts globally, using intuitive digital experiences to benefit farmers."

Chakra holds an MBA in Technology and Strategy from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Business, and an Electrical Engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur. Additionally, he serves as a faculty member for the Center for Applied AI and is a strategic advisory member for a graduate program in software at the University of St. Thomas. Chakra enjoys golf, boating, fishing, and traveling with his family in his spare time.

About RiceTec:

Headquartered in Alvin, Texas, RiceTec leads the global transformation towards more sustainable rice agriculture through unparalleled innovation in rice seeds and traits technology, creating value for farmers, consumers, and the planet. RiceTec has been developing hybrid rice seeds since 1988. It is also the first company to commercialize hybrid rice seed in North and South America, expanding in Europe and India. The company was recognized most recently for technological advancements for their FullPage® and MaxAce® Rice Cropping Solutions. To learn more about RiceTec, visit www.ricetec.com.