About Us

Carlos joined North Hill Group after a distinguished 25-year career with the Honduran Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) where he led the Seed Certification Department. Among many other accomplishments over the course of his career, Carlos was responsible for developing and implementing Honduras’ technical requirements and internal processes for biotech risk assessments, writing the implementing regulations of the updated biosecurity law in 2019 and representing Honduras at international bodies such the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Firoz has more than 30 years of global experience in defining registration strategy and shaping regulatory affairs for the development and use of agricultural products. Early in his career, he was the UK’s competent authority for the implementation of GMO/biotech regulations in the EU, before moving to regulatory leadership roles across Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region with Pioneer Hi-Bred, DuPont Pioneer and Dow DuPont. Most recently, he served as the global regulatory director for Corteva Agriscience for seeds, biotech traits and crop protection. Spanning his career, Firoz has developed and influenced government policy and regulatory implementation based on his technical expertise together with his political insights, as well as successfully delivering hundreds of product registrations globally. Firoz has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and has represented industry at international forums hosted by the EU, FAO, OECD and UNEP.

Deanna is a lead advisor for North Hill Group on international market development and trade policy issues. She brings more than two decades of experience in international trade and marketing, as well as executive experience leading offices in Indonesia, London, Tokyo, Moscow and Washington D.C. Throughout her career, Deanna worked closely with a wide range of trade associations and private firms to develop and implement marketing programs on three continents and to resolve trade disputes with host governments in close collaboration with U.S. industry.

Bui is an agricultural policy expert who spent two decades as the senior specialist at the Office of Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam. From her experience at the U.S. Embassy, Bui developed not only expertise in Asian crop protection and biotechnology policy, but also personal relationships throughout the crop protection and biotechnology regulatory communities in Southeast Asia. Bui brings diverse language skills, deep agricultural policy knowledge and extensive personal connections in government and business throughout Southeast Asia to NHG client engagements.

Fernando, an expert in animal and plant health, leads NHG projects and client services in Mexico and throughout Latin America. Throughout the course of his career in the public and private sectors, he has negotiated technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues for U.S. and Mexican agricultural products. Earlier in his career, Fernando worked for Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture (SADER), lastly as chief director of the National Commission of Animal and Plant Health (now SENASICA), where he was responsible for policymaking and operations related to domestic and international animal and plant health issues, as well as trade in agricultural products and livestock.

Greg is a globally recognized expert in biotechnology regulatory science and regulatory compliance, which was honed over a nearly four-decade long career with DuPont Pioneer. Throughout his career, he has managed complex biotech risk assessment and regulatory compliance projects, managing diverse teams across multiple cultures and geographies. His last position at DuPont Pioneer was as director for Global Import Markets, where he led a cross-cultural team that wrote the regulatory submissions to gain biotech trait approvals in conjunction with commercial plans.

Ana Luisa joined North Hill Group after a distinguished 30-year career with the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario, ICA. Her career has been characterized by leadership in the areas of agronomy, plant protection, seeds, modern biotechnology, biosafety of living modified organisms (LMOs), intellectual property in plant varieties and program management. While on the leadership team of ICA, Ana Luisa was directly responsible for the design and implementation of Colombia’s regulation for modern biotechnology. Just prior to retiring from ICA, Ana Luisa was the technical director of seeds. During her career, she also held positions as the head of the National Seed Certification and national coordinator of the Plant Variety, Plant Breeder Rights, Biosafety and Seed Production.

Christian is NHG’s lead advisor for export promotion and market development, particularly USDA foreign market development programs. He provides strategic support to clients engaged in global trade, agricultural market development, export promotion and trade capacity building. Prior to joining NHG, Christian spent more than 30 years in the U.S. government including senior roles at USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and Economic Research Service (ERS), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). At FAS, Foster served as deputy administrator from 2008-2016, where he led the agency’s trade development and export credit guarantee programs. In this position, Foster worked directly with over 70 U.S. agricultural commodity and trade associations, as well as the secretaries of agriculture of each of the 50 states.

Hisao brings more than three decades of expertise in marketing and regulatory affairs in Japan to the NHG team. Over his career, he has worked to advance U.S. agricultural interests as general manager of Uniflex Marketing, Inc. (1988-2001) and as senior agricultural specialist at U.S. Embassy Tokyo (2001-2014). Most recently (2014-May 2018), he served as secretary general and COO of the Japan Foodservice Association (JF) representing Japan’s $300 billion HRI industry.

Mieko is NHG’s country lead in Japan, where she is responsible for guiding clients through the country’s complex biotech and gene-editing risk assessment processes. In addition to her work with NHG Mieko is also a professor at the Center for Environment, Health and Field Science, at Chiba University and a part-time lecturer at the College of Humanities and Sciences at Nihon University. Prior to NHG Mieko was the head of regulatory for DuPont K.K. She has over 25 years of experience in biotech regulatory affairs and contributed to the development of science-based regulatory policies on GMOs and genome editing in Japan through actively participating in industry initiatives through International Life Science Institute Japan, Japan BioIndustry Association, Global Industry Coalition, and CropLife.

Jeff has more than two decades of experience in international trade policy and market access analysis and negotiations, as well as in developing and executing domestic and international regulatory advocacy strategies. Throughout his career, both in the public and private sectors, Jeff has gained firsthand experience in balancing the demands of market access, agricultural innovation, regulatory approvals, sustainability and consumer acceptance.

Prior to founding North Hill Group Jeff spent six years with DuPont Pioneer, where he helped develop and manage the company’s international trade policy agenda, biotech regulatory advocacy strategies and biotech stewardship practices. He also spent a decade working for the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, where he served as agricultural attaché at the U.S. Embassies in Mexico and Japan. Jeff is a member of the Board of Advisors for Curious Plot and is active in the Cleveland Council on Foreign Relations.

Kristen is responsible for managing and controlling the financial and business operations of NHG, as well as implementing policies and procedures that promote company culture and vision. In addition to having lived and worked in Mexico and Japan, Kristen brings a unique perspective and attention to detail to her position gained from more than two decades in the medical field.

Paulo is NHG’s lead in Brazil where he is responsible for securing biotech safety certificates and GMO field trial permits for our clients. With a background as a retired Full Professor at the Department of Genetics, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, he brings extensive expertise in physics, cell biology, immunology, and molecular biology to his work. Over his career, Paulo has served as a biosafety expert, evaluating numerous applications for the environmental release of transgenic plants, microorganisms, and animals. He’s been instrumental in shaping biosafety regulations in Brazil and is an active member of several international organizations. Furthermore, he collaborates with research groups across Latin America, Asia, and Africa, contributing to capacity-building programs in risk assessment.

Walter is NHG’s country lead in Costa Rica, where he supports our clients’ efforts to partner with contract research organizations, secure permits for GMO field trials, secure regulatory determinations for gene-edited plants, and navigate complex phytosanitary rules. Walter joined NHG after a distinguished career in the Costa Rican government, where he last served as Executive Director of the National Seed Office. Throughout his career Walter has been deeply involved in the review and drafting of pivotal laws and regulations, including the Phytosanitary Regulation of Plant Biotechnology Organisms, and the Implementation Law of International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.  Additionally, Walter served as a member of the committee in charge of the preparation of the National Seed Policy.

Gabby, NHG’s regulatory lead in the Philippines, has more than 30 years of experience in ag-biotech research and regulatory affairs. Prior to joining NHG, Gabby spent 10 years as the regulatory and scientific affairs lead for Bayer Crop Sciences / Monsanto Philippines, where he secured FFP permits and biotech cultivation approvals for a large number of biotech traits across multiple crops. Prior to his work at Monsanto/Bayer, Gabby worked for Philippines Rice Research Institute as the director of the Crop Biotech Center and deputy director for research.