AlphaBio’s success is underpinned by an integrated team of enthusiastic, driven professionals who genuinely believe in the company vision that bringing novel biocontrol products with low environmental impact to the market will change agriculture for the better.

Iain Fleming – Co-founder and Chief Executive

Iain previously worked in private equity investment focussed on large scale agricultural businesses, in diverse geographies. During this time his awareness of the impact of contemporary production systems on soil and water quality as well as insect life made him realise the pressing importance of developing more sustainable ways of producing high quality crops without a negative impact on the natural environment. Under Iain’s leadership, AlphaBio has maintained the strong principles of building the company and its products from a strong scientific base, supporting every claim and statement with robust data and ensuring the correct regulatory approvals processes are followed diligently.

Dr Alfeo Vecchi – Co-founder and Research Director

Alfeo is an agricultural scientist whose formative training was at the University of Bologna, Italy, with which he retains a strong research and development connection. His career has seen him involved in the development of a broad range of important agricultural technologies in Europe, Africa and the US with a number of multinational organisations including Monsanto, Mycogen and Agrigenetics. For the past 30 years Alfeo’s focus has been on the natural world as the source of future technologies and, working with colleagues at various academic institutes, he has developed a range of technologies derived from the natural world and which are categorised within the three pillars of natural chemistry, microbiology and hybrid technology.

Catherine Barrett – Technical Manager

Catherine started working with AlphaBio in October 2021. With an MSC in Agronomy and Sustainable Crop Production from the University of Warwick, and trials and commercial experience at Bayer CropScience, Catherine is also BASIS qualified. This includes research on application of biological controls. Other experience has included political and regulatory advice on combinable crops and seeds, helping companies navigate developing UK and EU legislation.

Alberto Boebel - Product Portfolio Development Lead

With an MSc in agricultural sciences, Alberto has worked in the agricultural industry since 1986, his early career spent providing technical assistance to farmers, managing experimental test site facilities and efficacy field trail management. His career also found him working in global product management, product marketing, brand strategy and product development. Alberto has been working with AlphaBio since March 2021 as the Product Portfolio Development Lead bringing with him a wealth of experience in crop protection with the creation of agronomic solutions and technical and market evaluation of new pesticides, including biologics.

Sally Budden – Director Corporate Affairs

Sally’s professional life has included working in media and journalism in the US and in Europe and, in a complete change of direction, it has also included managing the Info Tech and security risk compliance team for British Telecom across the UK.  She joined AlphaBio in August 2014, since when, as the company’s first employee she has helped in all areas of the company’s development. Now as the company’s senior statesperson, she is the linchpin that ensures the smooth daily functioning of the company as well as managing all corporate governance, HR and IT security matters.

Evelyne Güsken – Scientific Regulatory Affairs Consultant

Evelyne has worked in scientific regulatory affairs for more than 20 years, starting at the European Crop Protection Association in 1999. Since then, she has dealt with almost every aspect in crop protection, starting with supply chain (packaging and labelling), environmental safety, residues (consumer safety) and product stewardship. More recently, she has been dealing extensively with the placing of biostimulants on the market in Europe. Evelyne is passionate about nature and plants and committed to responsible farming, which makes her the perfect fit with AlphaBio’s philosophy.

Susie Hancock – Marketing Administration

Susie started working with AlphaBio in May 2019.  Her previous experience in advertising and marketing administration in the London advertising industry and more recently in the education sector in Suffolk has brought valuable specialised administrative skills to the company. Her  initial focus has been on obtaining organic accreditation for the company’s products in all relevant global geographies. She has also been providing administrative support to the company's Southern and Central EU marketing teams.

Clare Knights – Finance Director

Clare is a FCCA Qualified Accountant with a BA(Hons) in Accountancy.  She has previous experience as Finance Director within a pioneering R&D company, which was part of a publicly listed multinational group, giving her experience with the demands of both managing innovative organic growth and providing timely, accurate financial reporting on a multinational basis.

Dr Julian Little – Director of Communications

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Julian has worked in plant science and food production for over thirty-five years. With a background in plant biochemistry, he has worked in a number of companies which now constitute Bayer Crop Science, in research, project management and latterly in communication, public affairs and change management. Passionate about science communication, Julian believes that productive farming can and must go hand-in-hand with promoting biodiversity, making him the perfect fit to lead corporate, media and marketing communications in a progressive R&D company like AlphaBio.

Dr Guido Maffioli – Director Regulatory Affairs and Technical Development

Guido is an Agronomist who has worked in Crop Protection since graduating with a PhD in Ecology of Agriculture. During his career he has worked for Pioneer Hi-Bred Italia, Monsanto Agricoltura Italia and EuroChem Agro, with roles including agronomy and new technology together with product and crop management. He has also assisted marketing teams, providing technical advice in developing and coordinating projects to assist customers, including soil fertility, quality and trace/tracking of products, precision farming, weather forecasting and mycotoxin contamination. He has published scientific papers on agriculture, new technology, and crop protection products risk assessment.

Marta Ruiz – Portfolio Marketing Manager, Southern Europe

Marta has 16 years’ experience working with multinational Crop Protection and Biostimulant Companies in the Mediterranean region. Her particular areas of specialisation are vines, fruit and vegetables. During her career she has worked with many different technologies but for a number of years her focus has been in biological crop protection solutions and plant nutrition, achieving the equilibrium of producing of high quality crops with no negative impact on the natural environment. Marta studied Agricultural Sciences at the Universitat Politècnica Valencia and at the Università Cattolica Sacre Cuore in Piacenza. She has a Bachelors Degree in Agricultural Sciences specialising in Plant Breeding. Her final thesis was on the study of Plant Growth Regulators in Citrus Cathedra.  She has also completed post degree studies in Strategic Marketing Management. Marta has coordinated numerous R&D projects with Regional Services, Academic Institutes and Research Centres. She has also published a number of scientific papers as well as articles on crop protection. At a purely commercial level Marta has been responsible for designing, validating and implementing the technical and marketing positioning of a broad range of plant protection technologies as well as biostimulants and nutrition products.

Anna Slater – Regulatory Administration

Anna joined AlphaBio in February 2018 to work as part of the regulatory affairs team. Anna brings her experience in project management from a UK biocides manufacturer and her knowledge of farming and the environment both from her work with the UK’s the Country Land and Business Association and from her home life on an active Suffolk arable farm.

Daniela Vecchi –  Logistics Coordinator, Italy

Daniela has a degree in accounting and a wealth of administrative management experience, which she uses to provide administrative support to Alfeo’s research and development work.  She is also responsible for arranging transport of manufactured goods from our production plant to the various distribution centres around Europe and for the shipment of test samples around the world to support the company’s annual product development programme.

Natalie Walls – Logistics Coordinator, UK

With over eighteen years’ experience working for DHL’s UK and International Distribution, Natalie joined AlphaBio in November 2019.  Her extensive knowledge of logistics has been the perfect basis to help her prepare the company’s supply chain systems so that they are ready to meet the challenges of the next stages of the company’s growth.