Dan Dawes

Dan Dawes serves in a variety of advisory roles for the Agbioscience industry. In his most recent role at AgriNovus Indiana as Senior Director of Strategy and Growth, he led the efforts of attracting and growing existing businesses while also contributing to efforts of building an Agbioscience entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state. These efforts have served as a catalyst for strategic collaboration among investors, corporations, industry associations, government and universities. He continues to serve their research and public education efforts, on a part time basis.
Additionally, Dan is an advisor to early-stage ag companies who have an investment from the Purdue Research Foundation - Purdue Ventures. He also serves as an advisor to Elevate Ventures, the most active seed and early-stage investor in the Great Lakes region and top 20 in the world. Recently he joined the team as a senior advisor to the Greater Food Rural Partners Fund who has received its Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) investment license from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Dan is using his experience in business leadership, project management, marketing and sales to help clients achieve their business objectives.
Dan enjoyed a 30+ year career at DuPont where he served in a variety of sales and marketing roles in the crop protection business. He held profit responsibility as a Business Unit Leader addressing crops grown in the Midwestern US. The business unit was 80+ members of sales teams and marketing managers focused on the value chain throughout the geography which generated over $500M in gross revenues. Dan was especially noted for his cross functional efforts to collaborate with the seed unit, DuPont Pioneer (now Corteva), in generating growth strategies for the company. In 2012, Dan and his team were awarded a Corporate Marketing and Sales Achievement Award for their innovative work. He was also a key member of the group that launched the use of Six Sigma project management in DuPont which initiated its use to generate top line growth. He managed many successful projects before becoming Master Black Belt where he led a team of 12+ project managers and provided training on those methods for employees across the US, Canada and Mexico. This led to his being assigned to the position of global portfolio manager in soybean crop protection products.
Dan graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Agriculture and emphasis on Ag Economics where he was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. He then served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Purdue Alumni Association for 12 years and recently as Chairman. Dan grew up on a dairy and crop farm in north central Indiana. He and his wife, Angel, enjoy traveling across the US to visit their three sons and one grandchild with another soon to arrive!