Renée Vassilos

Renée Vassilos is the past director of agriculture innovation for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). She managed TNC’s investments in and pilots of early-stage technology companies that aim to expand and accelerate the use of regenerative agriculture practices on farm and ranch. In addition to her work with TNC, Renée serves as a board director for GrainPro and SeedLinked and as an external investment committee member for Builders Vision's Impact Investing fund.  

Prior to joining TNC, Renée spent time with the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service and a decade with John Deere, which included several years in Beijing. At John Deere, 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 investors in the agriculture industry. Renée has a B.S. and M.S. in agriculture economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of California, Davis, respectively.