Our Board
Of Directors

It’s our talented team of people at MagrowTec who are committed to bringing the best in innovation and technology to our customers around the globe.
gordon-hardie

Gordon Hardie

Chairman Gordon Hardie has more than three decades of executive leadership, serving as CEO and Board member across the global Food/Ag & Beverage sectors.

Demonstrating a proven history of successfully transforming companies and improving performance in both public and private equity settings, he brings substantial business leadership and corporate governance expertise in global markets to Magrowtec. Gordon bring significant deep experience in strategy, operations, customer development, building scale and creating value. Gordon is the former President / CEO of Bunge Food Ingredients – a $12billion global food ingredients business, Prior to Bunge, Gordon served as CEO of Goodman Fielder Bakeries where he co-led the IPO of Goodman Fielder Group on the Australian Stock Exchange. Gordon is a globally experienced board director within challenging global public and private equity environments.. He currently serves on the board of Owens Glass Inc (NYSE: O-I) and is an advisor to Temasek – the Singapore Investment Fund. He previously served as a Non-Executive Director at Greencore PLC (LSE: GNC) and Aryzta AG (ARYZ: SIX). Gordon holds an MBA from the Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin; a B.A (Hons) in Languages and Psychology and Higher Diploma in Education from University College Cork; has completed the Advanced Management Programme and the AVIRA CEO Programme at INSEAD; and has undertaken the Agri Food programme; and the Corporate Directorship Programme at Harvard Business School.

Gary Wickham

Chief Executive Officer Gary Wickham, founder & CEO of MagrowTec is an accomplished and highly experienced entrepreneur & businessman. Gary began his career in Henkel Loctite Ireland where he held several senior management positions which included building Loctite’s first ever cleanroom facility for the Biomedical and Microelectronic product ranges. Gary was also a key member of the M&A Team.

Gary joined Reheis Pharma Ireland as Managing Director responsible for their european operations. In 2003 Gary co-founded StayCity apartment hotels, a highly successful international business with a turnover of €250 million and over 1200 employees.

Gary holds a BSc in Applied Sciences from Trinity College, Dublin and a Business Masters in Industrial Engineering from University College Dublin.

Gary was a finalist of the 2020 EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

In 2013, Gary founded MagrowTec in Nova UCD, a deep-tech revolutionary technology based on the magnetic assist, now also an emerging nanotechnology. 

MagrowTec supports the sustainable intensification of global food production by using innovative science and technology to use less scarce resources (land, labour, water) and inputs to do more.

Mel Hurley

Chief Financial Officer Mel has over 25 years international experience in senior management roles with companies such as Rentokil Initial (UK), Fiserv (USA) and Changing Worlds (Ireland) bought out by Amdocs (USA).

While having extensive experience in senior finance roles from the early 90’s he has also developed his skills across sales, operations and general management with a particular lean towards scaling businesses.

Frank Van Bezooijen

Non Executive Frank van Bezooijen, is an investor and non executive board member of MagrowTec. He started his career at EY. Auditing with a wide variety of national and international companies.

After 10 years Frank joined a family office, first as CFO and later also as CCO. Main activities were asset management and project development, locally and internationally. In that period Frank became inspired by his clients into philanthropy. In 2007 Frank started his own asset management company. The Atrium Group co-developed real estate projects in Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, US, Canada and holds several VC investments. Frank holds a BBA from HES Amsterdam and a RA (Dutch CPA) from the University of Amsterdam.
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Ian Moore

Non Executive Ian Moore is an investor and non-executive board member of MagrowTec. He is a chartered electrical engineer by profession.

Has had a highly successful career for over 30 years with FG Wilson (a Caterpillar Inc. subsidiary) an international prime power and back-up generator manufacturer based in Belfast. Ian held a number of senior roles within FG Wilson, including having the responsibility for worldwide distribution and dealer support. He was also a Director of various companies within the Caterpillar organisation. Ian is a shareholder and non-executive board member in machinery dealership companies with the exclusive rights to distribute & install across a number of territories including Ireland. In addition to the above he is an investor in a life science marine extracts company based in Co. Louth. This is a high potential growth company , with its products having exceptional qualities and benefits to skin, skin healing and improving immune function. Ian also has property interests both here in Ireland & abroad.

Faye Walsh Drouillard

Board Observer Faye is founder of WakeUp Capital, a venture impact fund. A catalyst for social and environmental impact via entrepreneurship,

innovation, and enlightened funding models, Faye has diverse international experience and advises companies scaling to the next level of impact from both the entrepreneur and funder perspectives.