Jacob Traverse is the president and CEO of the Center for Truth in Science, a non-profit that seeks integrity in the pursuit of scientific knowledge on issues at the intersection of science, justice, and the economy.
Traverse oversees daily and long-term organizational strategy and ensures all activities are aligned with the Center’s mission and vision. His versatile background in research, program development, and fundraising across varied technical, regulatory, and business areas makes him uniquely qualified to help clean up the tangled mess currently found where these worlds collide.
Before joining the Center, Traverse built a career finding ways to translate scientific discoveries from the lab into new products for emerging bio-based value chains which supply food, fuel, chemicals, and medical products that improve lives around the world.
He spent the first half of his career as a scientist and business professional in the biotech, pharmaceutical development, and crop research industries, applying his technical and commercial expertise to bring complex and highly regulated products to market.
At Novozymes, a Danish enzyme company, he served in business development and marketing roles across multiple major markets, including a two-year expatriate assignment, helping to lead a $100 million portfolio of enzymes used in food manufacturing (ask him about the technology behind sliced bread sometime), and coordinating product development, R&D, sales, and supply chain teams during periods of explosive growth for the corn ethanol industry.
At the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, he led economic development programs to grow the agricultural biotech sector statewide by working with leaders across industry, academia, government agencies, and others to promote job creation, fuel innovation, and attract investment. He then joined Alexandria Real Estate Equities, a leading developer of life science campuses in major U.S. markets, where he led business development and underwriting for real estate and venture capital investment portfolios.
Traverse brings his experience in leading and developing mission-based organizations from his time as executive director of the Triangle Global Health Consortium and his most recent role accelerating membership growth at the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS), a non-profit research institute focused on promoting food safety in partnership with industry, government, and academia.
His career has been a nonstop effort to support research, develop emerging industry sectors, drive innovation, and foster strategic collaborations between diverse stakeholders and decision-makers at the intersection of health, life science, food and nutrition, and agriculture—all in the name of helping our growing world stay fed, fueled, and healthy.
Traverse earned an MBA, Professional Science Masters of Microbial Biotechnology (PSM-MMB), and bachelor’s degree in botany from North Carolina State University and remains a member of his alma mater’s College of Agriculture & Life Science Alumni Board and Masters of Microbial Biotechnology (MMB) Industry Advisory Board. He currently resides in North Carolina with his family including two young and infinitely curious kids.