Joel Harris

Chief Executive Officer

2021 - Current

Board Member

2024

Board Member

2022

Executive Director

2020

Co Director

2017 - 2020

The Ag Startup Engine believes there are two fundamental categories that need to be more robust in the State of Iowa for startups to become more successful: *Early seed round investment ($25,000-$50,000) *Organized mentorship from successful entrepreneurs and business professionals

President

2017

Looking forward, I hope to take the extensive entrepreneur skills and meld what I’ve recently learned from the large corporate arena to into a creative problem solver with newly advanced strategic marketing toolkits through our non-traditional consulting platform, Charter Oak Creative. We are participating in the startup and entrepreneur "boom" that is occurring in the midwest.

Board Member

2021 - 2022

Business Development Manager

2019 - 2021

Leads business development efforts for the Vitalize Venture Group platform, with the goal of helping VitalizeVC and IrishAngels portfolio companies be as successful as possible. Vitalize Venture Group is an early stage venture capital platform consisting of two funding entities: VitalizeVC and IrishAngels. VitalizeVC is a $16MM fund that invests in B2B software, and IrishAngels is an angel group comprised of 230 investors that invests in B2B, consumer, and medical companies. Vitalize Venture Group has invested in over 50 companies, deploying $40MM in capital since its launch in 2012.

Director of Product

2017 - 2018

Lead the product strategy and market research efforts of GlobalVetLINK responsible for identifying, analyzing and developing new product and new market opportunities across all customer types and market segments.

Associate Director, Commercial

2015 - 2016

Led the functional integration of Harrisvaccines into Merck Animal Health. Member of the executive project team to secure the first of its kind USDA Production Platform approval with Prescription Product, RNA Particle – a new rapid regulatory pathway for novel vaccine production platform technologies. Created innovative Geo-expansion strategic marketing plans for RNA Particle technology products to be launched by Merck Animal Health and MSD.

Vice President - Head of Sales and Marketing

2013 - 2015

Managing Sales and Customer Service personnel. Answer client and veterinary questions about products and services. Update social media and marketing materials. Head up business development domestically and internationally.

Vice President of Operations

2012 - 2013

Responsible for all research and development, manufacturing, marketing and public relations, sales inter-company communication and government regulatory aspects of the company.

Chief Information Officer

2010 - 2012

Oversee daily sales, marketing, and public relations for an advanced technology vaccine company for animal health biologics.

Chief Operations Officer

2008 - 2010

Oversaw the daily operations of Sirrah Bios, a veterinary service company division of Harrisvaccines, Inc. which provides vaccine services for swine diseases through veterinarians.