Leadership Team

Matt Fanta serves as president of the Nutrition division of Wilbur-Ellis, a role which he assumed in November, 2021.

Fanta spent over 25 years at Land O’Lakes before joining Wilbur-Ellis, most recently as vice president, marketing for Purina Animal nutrition at Land O’Lakes. In this role, Fanta’s species and channel marketing teams drove branded opportunities across the lifestyle and livestock animal nutrition space.   Previous leadership roles include vice president, Global Dairy Ingredients, general manager of the Asia-Pacific region and president of Forage Genetics International, the company’s alfalfa seed and technology business.

Fanta holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. Fanta and his wife, Cindy, live in Mahtomedi, Minnesota, and have two children, Katherine and William. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, woodworking and camping across the U.S.  Fanta grew up on a dairy farm in southwest Wisconsin.

Pedro Curry joined as Chief Operating Officer for Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition in September 2019.

Curry was most recently general manager for QualiTech’s Ag Nutrition division and has spent the last 25 years of his career in the United States, Asia-Pacific, Central and South America building his expertise in operations, sales and general management, specifically in agribusiness industries.

Nick Braden joined Wilbur Ellis Nutrition in April 2018 and leads our Pet Nutrition strategy. He has spent the last 15 years in ag and food production successfully leading and championing customer success. Braden leads the team responsible for bringing and delivering Wilbur-Ellis’ mission to our pet nutrition and rendering partners, with a strong emphasis on nutrient innovation, supporting sustainable growth, and connecting our partners with solutions that help animals thrive.

Before joining Wilbur-Ellis, Braden served as the commercial director for North and Central America for Anitox, a specialty feed additive company, leading commercial and operational strategy. He also served as regional sales lead for Monsanto Company for the Eastern United States and Canada, leading territory and channel sales strategy for the Precision Planting brand. Before his time at Monsanto, Braden served in various sales management and commodity trading roles with Archer Daniels Midland Company.

Braden holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the Tabor School of Business at Millikin University.

Gerardo Quintero joined Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition in April 2020 as a Vice President and leads our international livestock business. Specifically, he overseas Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition Japan and the forage team as well as partnering with the domestic team.

Before starting at Wilbur-Ellis, Quintero was the European managing director for Cargill’s animal nutrition business unit and project manager of its transformation management office. He also served as Cargill’s animal nutrition and health managing director in Mexico. Before working at Cargill, Quintero was general manager of the animal nutrition brand Make Your Own Diets, which was acquired by Provimi, and marketing and sales manager of Purina in Colombia, before its acquisition by Cargill.

Quintero holds a Bachelor of Science degree in animal husbandry from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and an Executive MBA from the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Spain.

Roger Rector oversees Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition’s financial and accounting teams. On the division management team, Rector provides financial advice and guidance, assisting in developing tactical and strategic business plans. He also leads compliance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Rector spent 11 years with Daimler Trucks growing from a role as reporting and consolidations manager to controller and senior internal auditor.

The Oregon certified public accountant (CPA) earned his bachelor’s from the University of Nebraska—Lincoln and his MBA from Webster University. Rector also holds a Masters of Accounting from Portland State.

Since 2014, Tom Donovan has managed business and financial planning for Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, in addition to supporting mergers and acquisitions, forecasting and financial analysis.

Prior to joining Wilbur-Ellis, Donovan spent four years as finance manager for Clark County and nine years as finance manager and project office manager for Fiserv, a banking software and services provider.

Donovan holds management accountant and project management professional certifications, as well as his master’s degree in business administration from Portland State University and bachelor’s degree from Montana State University-Bozeman.

Michele O’Rourke partners with Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition business leads to achieve strategic objectives while identifying and supporting employee talent within the division. O’Rourke joined Wilbur-Ellis as a human resources generalist in 2012 before becoming a manager and ultimately director in 2017.

O’Rourke spent the previous decade building her experience as director of career services for Corinthian Colleges and a career services specialist for the Career Education Corporation.

In addition to being a Society of Human Resource Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP), O’Rourke has a master’s degree in management from Warner Pacific College and bachelor’s from Brigham Young University.