Renée Vassilos

Renée Vassilos is the director of agriculture innovation for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). She manages TNC’s investments in early-stage technology companies that aim to expand and accelerate the use of regenerative agriculture practices. In addition to her work with TNC, Renée serves as a member of the board of directors for both GrainPro and SeedLinked. 

Prior to joining TNC, Renée spent 10 years at John Deere, including several years in Beijing, where she worked across corporate functions and geographies to build global product strategies; design and manufacture equipment; and support sales and marketing. Post-Deere, Renée founded Banyan Innovation Group, advising growth-stage agriculture start-ups and doing due diligence for investors. Renée has a B.S. and M.S. in agriculture economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of California, Davis, respectively.