GRAINSTER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Ambassador
- Board Chairman of Fuelie Systems Inc
- CEO / Ambassador Lewis Lucke
- EVP Middle East & Africa Initiatives
Ambassador Lewis Lucke is Board Chairman of Fuelie Systems Inc. www.fueliesystems.com that is developing telemetry enabled mobile fueling systems for more effective disaster response and medical evacuations by helicopter. He is also SVP of the Emerging Markets Access Group www.emaginc.com and Executive Director of Daroke Resources LLC www.daroke.com. Ambassador Lucke has deployed several times for USAID and the Department of State since 2014 on official business-respectively to Jordan, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia and retains his clearances and diplomatic status while on these assignments. In 2010, he served as lead "US Response Coordinator" for the Haiti earthquake, leading the United States' $1.0 billion emergency relief and recovery effort. Ambassador Lucke was nominated by President George W. Bush and served as US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland during the Bush Administration. He served for 29 years overseas with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He was the first USAID Mission Director for Iraq 2002-2004, where he directed a $4.0 billion reconstruction and economic development program, USAID's largest program ever and the largest reconstruction effort funded by the United States since the Marshall Plan. Ambassador Lucke is from Austin, Texas, married with three grown children. He received a Bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. Mr. Lucke served in the U.S. Foreign Service in ten countries: Mali, Senegal, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Bolivia, Jordan, Haiti, Brazil, Iraq and Swaziland. He was USAID Mission Director in Bolivia, Jordan, Haiti, and Iraq and interim Mission Director in Brazil and Mauritania. Ambassador Lucke has received USAID's two highest awards, the Administrator's Distinguished Career Award in 2001, and the Agency's award for Heroism in 2004. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of 2003 from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He received the Secretary of Defense's Award for Exceptional Public Service in 2004. Mr. Lucke is fluent in French and Spanish and has a working knowledge of Arabic. He is the author of "Waiting for Rain: Life and Development in Mali, West Africa" published in 2000.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- in - House Counsel
Catherine Baker is an attorney and LL.M. candidate in Agricultural and Food Law. She is passionate about bringing transparency and equity to agricultural markets worldwide, and advocates for policy to promote these goals in business and government. She has experience in global corporations and solo entrepreneurship, with insight into creating open, responsible company culture that promotes innovation and creativity.
Ms. Fortenberry is a results-driven executive leader accomplished in policy formation and creating focus and workflow efficiency while building both team and constituency support and buy-in for high-level product development goals. She is exceptionally well-versed in policy development, public relations strategy, and marketing, leading governmental policy development and legislation campaigns in support of multi-faceted strategic business objectives. Focused, results-oriented, and strategic, she is extraordinarily talented in creating overarching development plans and delivering data-verified benchmark achievements through multiple workflow channels focused toward tactical goals through thorough and adroit planning. Beginning in 2005, Ms. Fortenberry built a direct-sales career into a Vice President position in the company within two years, intensively developing her staff and broader team through focused mentorship and individualized motivation to achieve targets and long-term sales goals. She created margin efficiencies and explosive sales strategies through exhaustive analysis of business trends and financial reports, clearly communicating innovative approaches to the team through presentations and online trainings. Prior to this, beginning in 2002, Ms. Fortenberry served as the legislative liaison for the Arkansas Department of Rural Services, developing relationships across multiple issues and political channels with a wide range of governmental actors, donors, and strategic community partners. She aggressively bridged state and federal agency partnerships while focusing a large staff team on process-oriented tasks to leverage overall agency goals. With an Ivy League certification in plant-based nutrition, she has researched and analyzed how federal policy impacts consumer food choices, import and export markets, and the environmental issues facing agriculture. Ms. Fortenberry is the first woman to receive the Riceland In depth Program certification, a natural outgrowth of her broad knowledge of agricultural marketing programs and policy, rooted in early experience in the rice industry and political expertise in state and federal agricultural policy.
Mr. Fortenberry is a visionary entrepreneur accomplished in marketing and processing agricultural commodities in the global marketplace. He is exceptionally well-versed in all aspects of agricultural commodity transactions with a family background in rice production, sales, and value-added revenue generation. Innovative, strategic, and results-driven, with an extraordinary talent for creating team cohesion and focus, he creates partnership alliances across a broad range of channels, creating value through innovative business models. In 2014, Mr. Fortenberry founded Grainster, LLC, a technology platform that revolutionizes the agricultural marketplace by directly connecting farmers and end users directly in the marketplace for the first time. He manages the C-Suite team and agribusiness professionals worldwide while consistently focusing on exceptional product development in a startup environment. He leverages agricultural expertise to create transparency in commodity markets, and transparency and traceability for consumers and administrative agencies who develop product recall systems. He has presented and recruited extensively to execute Grainster's development plan and build a global client base. In 1999, Mr. Fortenberry joined Rice Capital Incorporated, a family-owned business, as a commodities trader and rice production facilities manager and marketer. A Certified Grain Merchandiser and Basis Trader, he executed physical commodity contracts for rice, wheat, soybeans, corn, and oats while implementing administrative department policies, budgets, and procedures. His expertise in truck, rail, and container transportation increased profit margins and streamlined operating procedures. Prior to this, beginning in 1997, Mr. Fortenberry helped manage River Rock Brewery, a microbrewery anchored in a newly-developing business district. He organized workflow and operating procedures, conducted meetings and special events, and recruited and trained the staff, ensuring excellent customer service and personally addressing customer complaints or queries. Mr. Fortenberry serves on the Advisory Boards of Advancing X, a space-based human behavioral research organization, and Swarm Cloud Nano, a company inventing drones and robotics to mitigate invasive species, chemical pesticides, and the effects of climate change. He serves on the Board of Next Phase Foundation, an organization promoting high tech entrepreneurship and STEAM education that represents NASA device IP in a series of Grand Challenges for North America. Mr. Fortenberry is well known for his charity service commitments, and strives in business and private life to improve the lives of the families in his community.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- CEO / Ambassador Lewis Lucke
Roger brings to Grainster a strong, capable high-energy leadership style, featuring consistent success facilitation, proven strategy, and planning and execution skills. A keen understanding of consumer goods trade, retail and Omni-channel consumer goods operations, resource trade, corporate governance, international finance, vendor sourcing, imports/exports and multinational operations characterize his resume. As Managing Partner of his consulting firm, Roger's teams have delivered strategy and advisement to over 160 consumer goods clients, including 15 years at Under Armour, the People's Republic of China, Macy's, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the nation of India, REI Sporting Goods, Williams-Sonoma, Ross Stores, CB Richard Ellis, Louis Vuitton, Kmart etc. Having provided strategy and follow through execution to leaders in every US consumer goods sub-vertical, with an average client tenure of 7.5 years, and a client business repeat rate of 78%, a significant portion of US Consumer Trade moves through infrastructure devised and enacted in part by Roger's teams since 1990. Roger has led startup of over seven personally-owned businesses, not including those assisted in startup with his clients. High retention rates, clear vision and increased profitability are the consistent hallmarks of businesses started and run by Roger Cunningham. Nominated for 2007 Georgia Entrepreneur of the Year by accounting firm Gifford, Hillegass & Ingwersen, Roger is a frequent speaker and is rated as one of 3 top experts in his field by Manhattan Associates. Roger was ranked as well as a top 1% Naval Officer, earning his command qualification as a junior Ensign, and performing in Middle East theatre operations and intelligence activities early in his career in the Navy.
Mr. Gantz is a charismatic impact investor accomplished in executing creative business strategy and executive team formation in a wide range of global industries. He is exceptionally skilled at concept focus and workflow efficiency strategy with an impressive record of capital management and aggressive margin development. Decisive, focused, and results-driven, he builds product excitement and long-term network bridges through global cross-market relationships. He is committed to bringing products and concepts to market with well planned, multi layered strategic approaches that create positive social impact in communities around the world. In 2014, Mr. Gantz invested in Grainster, LLC, and immediately began developing strategic business networks and advancing the core business model through focused action plans. Today Mr. Gantz serves as President and continues to develop and maintain global alliances and partnerships. Mr. Gantz serves as an advisor to the board of Advancing X, a space-based human behavioral research organization. Mr. Gantz also recently founded Swarm Could Nano, a company tasked with building drones and robotics utilizing state of the art materials and power systems to mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change, invasive species, and chemical pesticide use. Mr. Gantz started his professional career in 1999 with the establishment of his first company, a nationwide anesthesia service provider. He served as President of the company, responsible for business development, operations, and employee pension accounts. Success in the business led to investment into equity and bond markets which allowed him to make his first angel investment into Grainster.
Travis is a technology executive with over 20 years of experience in enterprise software development, Software Sales, vendor management, project management and technology management in the financial services industry. Travis has managed software development projects for some of the largest banks in the world in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. His experience will bring mature development practices to build highly scalable and secure global software solutions.