Meet the team that makes Maxx possible. These execs and advisors bring experience from some of the world’s most recognizable food and feed brands, organizations and academic institutions.
Winston A. Samuels, Ph.D., is the president and chief executive officer of Maxx Performance Inc. He has over 30 years of experience in food and nutrition, animal nutrition and health, and pharmaceutical and biochemical industries.
Samuels was formerly executive officer of Balchem Corporation, and vice president and general manager of Balchem Encapsulates, a division of Balchem Corporation in New Hampton, N.Y., which specializes in the development of microencapsulated solutions for multiple food, nutrition, animal and pharmaceutical markets.
Under Samuels’ leadership and contribution, Balchem was recognized by BusinessWeek and Forbes as one of the 100 Hottest Growth Companies in 2002. He created an applications solution focused culture within Balchem Encapsulates and drove sales growth 6, 33, 40 and 53%. The revenue growth generated by Samuels’ strategic management style for the encapsulates business segment boosted the company’s stock price from $4 a share when he joined Balchem, to $23 a share when he left the company.
Prior to joining Balchem Encapsulates, Samuels was director of growth and commercial development for Solutia, Inc., a spin-off of the Monsanto Company, and a leading manufacturer of food phosphates. At Solutia, Samuels drove the process that led to the acquisition of a pharmaceutical intermediate business and championed the expansion of its products into new applications and new markets.
Samuels first joined Monsanto in 1985 as senior research biologist and quickly progressed through the ranks. Samuels managed Monsanto’s $200 million technical phosphate business and played a key role in the global commercial development and successful launch, commercialization and sales of Posilac Bovine Somatotropin, the first large-scale biotechnology drug to improve production efficiencies in lactating dairy cows.
Samuels holds a doctorate and master’s degree in nutrition and animal science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). His undergraduate degree is in animal and poultry sciences from Tuskegee University. He successfully completed business and management training at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and Washington University School of Business.
Samuels was named 2007-2008 Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Animal & Poultry Sciences Department, Outstanding Alumnus. He was inducted into Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Hall of Fame in March of 2013. He is a member of The Virginia Tech Foundation Board of Directors, on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association and on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. He is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists, American Dairy Science Association, American Society of Animal Science and The Conference Board. Samuels is also an avid ice hockey fan and has been instrumental in facilitating the growth of ice hockey at both the high school and collegiate level.
Patricia RayasDuarte is a professor and cereal chemist in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with duties at the Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center at Oklahoma State University , where she explores the basic biochemical principles that govern functionality of wheat in industrial applications. She is also an integral member of Oklahoma State University ‘s Wheat Improvement Team, whose research assists breeders in the development of new wheat varieties.
RayasDuarte’s major research areas include: value-added agricultural products and food product development; improving shelf life of frozen dough; traditional uses of hard red and white winter wheat; proteomics of wheat endosperm; the interaction of wheat proteins and starches and its effect on rheological properties of dough; and specialized ingredients made from sorghum grain.
RayasDuarte has received numerous awards recognizing her contributions to the wheat industry and her leadership in the research and development of new wheat varieties and wheat quality enhancement. In 2004, she received the Industrial Leadership Award from the Oklahoma Feed and Grain Association and the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, and in 2001, she received the Staff of Life Award, also from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, for her promotion of quality Oklahoma wheat for end use domestically and internationally.
RayasDuarte has authored or co-authored 105 publications including articles for refereed publications, book chapters, and articles for non-refereed publications, abstracts and presentations at professional meetings, proceedings, extension publications, and educational manuals.
She currently serves on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Food Quality and Cereal Chemistry, The Journal of Food Science ( China ) and is Ad Hoc Editor for Cereal Chemistry, Journal of Food, Agricultural and Environment and Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft und-technologie.
RayasDuarte holds professional associations with the Institute of Food Technologists, the AACC International, and the American Chemical Society and belongs to the Honor Society for International Scholars Phi Beta Delta, Epsilon Upsilon Chapter.
Before accepting a position at Oklahoma State University, RayasDuarte was an Associate Professor at North Dakota State University.
RayasDuarte’s educational background includes master’s and doctoral degrees in food science and technology from the University of Nebraska, post-doctoral study at Purdue University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Sonora, Mexico.
Fred Owens was the senior research scientist for DuPont-owned Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a seed, forage and grain additives company headquartered near Des Moines, Iowa. Owens’ research at Pioneer Hi-Bred focused on the modification of grains and oilseeds for animal feeds with enhanced nutritional value for ruminant livestock to improve production efficiency and the quality of milk and meat.
Owens has over 30 years of experience in academia, and is professor emeritus of animal science at Oklahoma State University. At Oklahoma State, Owens taught courses on beef cattle nutrition, fat and carbohydrate metabolism, rumenology, minerals and vitamins. His research foci included: protein nutrition of ruminants, feed intake control, grain hybrids, grain processing, rumen function and mechanisms of action of feed additives. Before being named professor emeritus, he served as the Sarkeys Distinguished Professor in Animal Science and as a Regents Professor.
Before joining Oklahoma State University, Owens spent six years as an assistant professor of animal science at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. At the University of Illinois, he taught nutrition courses for students in veterinary medicine and nutritional biochemistry.
During the early 1990s, Owens served as president of the American Society of Animal Science, and in 1995, was named a fellow. One year later, the Society awarded Owens with the Morrison Award, the most prestigious honor in the field of animal science. Owens currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Animal Science, and was formerly editor-in-chief and ruminant nutrition section editor of the publication.
Owens has conducted research for various government agencies, commodity groups, and commercial industries including: the Food and Drug Administration, American Soybean Association, commercial feedlots, Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Elanco Animal Health, Hoffman-LaRoche, Robbins, Zinpro, Syntex, Degussa, American Cyanamid, National Livestock & Meat Board, Farmland Industries, Terra Chemical, National Cottonseed Producers Association, Pfizer, Rhone-Poulenc, Upjohn, Merck, Eastman Kodak, International Minerals & Chemicals, Hoechst and Biotechniques Labs.
Owens has authored 18 chapters in 16 books, and has authored or co-authored 170 refereed scientific papers, 290 lay publications and 240 abstracts.
Owens holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Wayne Greene is a professor and head of the department of animal sciences at Auburn University, and is considered one of the foremost authorities on animal nutrition in the United States.
Greene previously held a professorship in animal sciences in the Texas A & M University System, during which he taught graduate students at Texas A & M, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and Texas Cooperative Extension.
In 2003, Greene was named the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Faculty Fellow and the Texas A & M University System Board of Regents Faculty Fellow, the highest faculty award given in the Texas A & M University System, for his achievements in mineral nutrition of stocker and feedlot cattle and environmental nutrition. In 2017, he was honored with the Southern Section Distinguished Service Award.
Greene’s primary research discipline is in the area of ruminant nutrition. His research focuses primarily on beef cattle nutrition, specifically emphasizing nutrient utilization and metabolism. Through his research, Greene has identified methods to offset phosphorus and nitrogen in concentrated cattle feeding operations, to reduce loss of nutrients, and to increase positive mineral-mineral and mineral-feed interactions. Greene developed a grazing program for cattle that consists of small grain forages in the winter and brown mid-rib forage sorghum varieties in the summer.
Greene has authored or co-authored over 500 publications including: 78 refereed journal manuscripts, 222 research abstracts, 114 experimental station publications and 70 symposia presentations.
He is Past President of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientist and Past President of the Southern Section, American Society of Animal Sciences. Greene received the 1991 Outstanding Young Animal Scientist Research Award from the Southern Section, American Society of Animal Science. He was recognized by the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves as a Patriotic Employer and presented the Alabama Honorary FFA Degree from Alabama FFA. He is also a member of Alpha Zeta, an agricultural fraternity; Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honor Society of Agriculture; and Sigma Xi, a scientific research society.
Greene holds a Ph.D. in animal nutrition from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science from North Carolina State University.
Dr. Paul Siegel is a former professor emeritus at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), where he spent over 40 years with the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences conducting research on quantitative, behavioral and immunological genetics, with an emphasis on avian species.
As a geneticist, he studied expression analysis of growth, energy regulation and memory antibody response as influenced by dietary vitamin E. He has also widely researched the general principles of stress on well being across different species, using chicks as a model.
Siegel has authored or coauthored 400+ papers in journals, symposia proceedings and chapters in books. Recently, he was featured in the Wall Street Journal article, “How to Satisfy the World’s Surging Appetite for Meat,” in which he discusses how to breed better chicken to feed a burgeoning global population and in the Roanoke Times where he discusses genetics’ power in poultry.
He is also the recipient of the Poultry Science Research Award, CPC International Award for Poultry Research, Gordon Medal, Agroceres Trophy, and Distinguished Alumni Awards from the University of Connecticut and Kansas State University, and an inductee of the International Poultry and Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Halls of Fame.
Siegel is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Past President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, Past President and Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, Past President, Past Editor-in-Chief and Fellow of the Poultry Science Association, Past President, Past Editor-in-Chief and Fellow of the Virginia Academy of Science, and Past Senior Vice President of the World Poultry Science Association.
