MetaFarms’ Board of Directors has announced that Dr. Tom Stein has resigned as Executive Chairman and Chief Innovations Officer and as a member of the Board effective May 15. Dr. Stein co-founded MetaFarms in 2000 with Tony Christianson, Managing Partner, Cherry Tree in Minneapolis. In addition to serving as Chairman of the Board since 2000, Dr. Stein previously served as the company’s CEO from 2000 to 2012. As CEO, he raised over $6M of private equity, took the company from start-up to growth and profitability, led the design and development of the company’s key products, and expanded its international presence.
“From the very beginning, the mission of MetaFarms has been to provide our livestock producers with the very best product to manage their operations,” said Dr. Stein: “Given the tremendous progress we have made in the last few years, I have decided that now is the right time for me to move on. And while I’m sad to say goodbye, I could not be leaving the company in better hands. Since I was named Executive Chairman in 2012, Chad Becker, President/CEO, has led the Company’s strong growth and has helped position the company toward continued success. I will truly miss the wonderful people at MetaFarms, but I know that, under Chad’s leadership, they will continue to build on the progress we have made.”
Becker said: “Tom’s extraordinary vision and passionate leadership built MetaFarms from the ground up and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and successful Software-as-a-Service company for livestock management. The Board and I are grateful to Tom for his contributions to build MetaFarms into the company it is today. We wish him all the best with the next stage in his career.”
Christianson added: “I also wish to extend my personal appreciation to Tom for all he has achieved for MetaFarms. Without his leadership, MetaFarms would not be so well-positioned globally to tackle the opportunities ahead of us.”