RiceTech hires Chakra Sankaraya as Global Chief Technology Officer.

As Global CTO, Sankaraya will be at the forefront of RiceTec’s digital transformation. He will lead efforts at RiceTech to leverage advanced technologies such as predictive analytics, farm operation automation, and cloud services to enhance decision-making processes and support rice farmers.

“I am thrilled to have Chakra on board,” said Karsten Neufer, CEO of RiceTech. “His experience in digital technologies and agriculture will be an excellent addition to RiceTech’s leadership team.” I look forward to working with him and bringing digital innovation to rice tech and rice farmers around the world to help drive the transition to more sustainable rice agriculture.”

Sankaraya’s extensive background in data and digital technologies spans Fortune 500 companies and unicorn startups. He has extensive experience in the ag-tech space, having led engineering and architecture for digital products at Land O’ Lakes and working on large-scale cloud-based data management products at Cloudera. Which is a unicorn startup.. Sankaraiah has also worked with global teams at Target, IBM, and Capgemini, building data platforms and artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions.

“I am incredibly excited to join RiceTech, a company committed to sustainable rice agriculture,” said Sankaraya. And I envision an enormous opportunity to use machine learning techniques. I look forward to working with this talented team to help expand RiceTec’s efforts globally, using intuitive digital experiences to benefit farmers.”

Chakra holds an MBA in technology and strategy from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Business, and an electrical engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur. Additionally, he serves as a faculty member of the Center for Applied AI and is a strategic advisory member for the Graduate Program in Software at the University of St. Thomas. In his spare time, Chakra enjoys golfing, sailing, fishing and traveling with his family.

About Rice Tech:

Headquartered in Alvin, Texas, RiceTech leads the global shift toward more sustainable rice agriculture through unprecedented innovation in rice seed and trait technology, creating value for farmers, consumers and the planet. RiceTec has been producing hybrid rice seeds since 1988. It is the first company to commercialize hybrid rice seeds in North and South America, expanding into Europe and India. The company was recently recognized for technological advancements for their FullPage® and MaxAce® rice cropping solutions. To learn more about RiceTec, visit www.ricetec.com.

First Published: 30 Sep 2023, 15:24 IST