OUR MANAGEMENT

Mike Frei, Co-Founder and Managing Director
Mr. Frei is responsible for sourcing, acquiring and evaluating farmland as well as oversight of farm management for portfolio properties. He is a certified crop consultant and an agronomist. Prior to HarvestWest, Mr. Frei was with The McGregor Company for over 38 years, most recently as a Business Unit Manager responsible for the oversight of four plant operations in central Idaho. Mr. Frei started at McGregor in 1973 as a crop consultant and progressed in the organization in areas of crop research, business development and business management. Mr. Frei holds a commercial and instrument pilot rating. He has a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Idaho. Mr. Frei and his wife Jana live in Grangeville, Idaho on a ranch of 380 acres of hay and timbered pasture land. They own a small cattle herd, and he previously leased and farmed 450 acres of wheat land.

Greg Richards, Co-Founder and Managing Director
Mr. Richards is responsible for fund raising, general management, sourcing and evaluating land, performing financial analysis, and structuring transactions to acquire farmland properties. Prior to HarvestWest, Mr. Richards was the CEO and owner of Rung Industries, a manufacturer of equipment used in sand and gravel pits and quarries. He acquired Rung in a leveraged buyout in 2001. During his 9 year ownership the company saw over 100% gain in revenue, profit growth, an expanding product line and geographic presence throughout WA, ID, OR, AK, MT and Western Canada. Mr. Richards sold Rung Industries in December 2010 to a strategic buyer at over a 44% IRR. Prior to that, Mr. Richards held positions in Business Development in the technology industry, as an analyst in Lehman Brothers’ investment banking group and as a CPA at Deloitte & Touche. He has a BA in Business Administration, with Accounting and Finance Concentrations from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

Lily Guse, Co-Founder and CFO
Ms. Guse is responsible for all financial reporting, fund compliance and investor reporting at HarvestWest. Ms. Guse also is the CFO of Idessence, Inc. and was CFO and EVP of Intellectual Ventures Management, LLC from 2003 until September 2010. While at Intellectual Ventures, Ms. Guse helped grow the funds under management from $250 million to over $5 billion. Prior to Intellectual Ventures, Ms. Guse was the CFO at Cedar Grove Investments responsible for the company’s financial reporting and monitoring of the company’s private equity investments. Before Cedar Grove Investments, Ms. Guse worked for Eagle River, Inc., a private investment company for Craig McCaw. She began her career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP, and is a certified public accountant. Ms. Guse has a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

Brent Frei, Co-Founder and Advisor
Mr. Frei is involved in strategic direction and as an advisor for HarvestWest. Mr. Frei’s family has operated a 2,800 acre farm and cattle ranch growing wheat, barley, lentils, canola, bluegrass and beef cattle for the past 45 years. Mr. Frei is currently the executive chairman and co-founder of Smartsheet.com, an online work management software company. Prior to co-founding Smartsheet.com, Mr. Frei was the CEO of Onyx Software Corp., a Bellevue-based customer relationship management software company he co-founded in 1994. He received his bachelor's degree in engineering from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering, and his BA in engineering sciences from Dartmouth College.

Geof Barker, Co-Founder and Advisor
Mr. Barker is involved in strategic direction and as an advisor for HarvestWest. Mr. Barker is a serial entrepreneur and investor, and sits on the boards of directors of Comr.se Inc., Light & Motion Incorporated, Oceangate Inc., RPX Corporation, Resonant Systems Inc, Smartsheet Inc., and Tyfone Inc. He holds a BA in Economics from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia University.