Bonnie Johnson
May 08, 2025
Media ArticleInari, a leading company in agricultural innovation, has announced the appointment of Lisa Nunez Safarian to its board of directors, effective May 1, 2025. Safarian brings over 30 years of experience in the agriculture industry, having held top leadership roles in major companies.
She most recently served as president and chief operating officer at Pivot Bio. Before that, she spent more than three decades in leadership positions at Monsanto and Bayer. During her time there, she worked in areas such as product development, strategic planning, commercial transformation, and market growth.
Notably, she helped shape Monsanto’s $12 billion seeds and crop protection business and later served as President of Crop Science North America at Bayer.
“Lisa has dedicated her career to advancing agriculture and helping farmers achieve better outcomes, with three-plus decades in key commercial, product development and strategy roles at market leaders and beyond,” said Inari Board Chair Ignacio Martinez. “Her insights will be invaluable as we further progress in delivering our step-change, high-yielding seed products to customers.”
Safarian is also a board member of RiceTec Inc. and holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Her academic background and leadership expertise are expected to bring strategic value to Inari as the company continues to grow.
“Having a front row seat to many of this industry's big shifts over the past 30-plus years has been a great privilege, and I fully believe Inari is on the forefront of the next one,” Safarian said. “I look forward to working with the team and lending my expertise to help realize the full potential of Inari's game-changing seed innovations.”
Her addition to the board supports Inari’s mission to transform agriculture through better seed design and sustainable farming practices.
Photo by: inari.com
