Sara Faivre
advisory board member
Dr. Sara Faivre is a dedicated Independent Board Director with expertise in agriculture, sustainability, mortgage banking, and biotechnology. Sara has managed, consulted, and governed diverse company teams through corporate rebranding, c-suite changes, government regulatory hurdles, cultural transformation, and startup-to-sustainable growth transitions.
Dr. Faivre excels in strategic evaluation of complex issues, particularly at the intersection of business, science, and culture. She is well-qualified to serve on Compensation, Nom-Gov, Audit and Risk committees in public or private companies.
Dr. Faivre was appointed to the Board of the Farmer Mac (NYSE:AGM) in 2010 by President Obama. On that board, she chairs the Strategy & Business Development Committee and serves on the Compensation Committee and Public Policy & Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. She served 10 years on Audit and has also served on the Enterprise Risk and Corporate Governance committees. She is a Board Leadership Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors and sits on the advisory board for NACD-Texas Tri-Cities. She was named a 2020 “Director to Watch” by Directors and Boards magazine.
In 2018, Dr. Faivre joined One More Cloud, a private technology company in Austin, Texas as its first independent board member. In 2021, she joined the advisory boards of Harvest Returns, an agriculture investment firm and Earthwise Global, an agtech startup. In these organizations, Dr. Faivre provides leadership inside and outside the board room, in governance best practices, strategy, corporate culture, and business development.
Dr. Faivre is passionate about great governance and stakeholder value. Her broad experience in agriculture, biotechnology, and sustainability inform her approach to boardroom issues. Dr. Faivre co-founded and held executive positions, including President, in two agricultural biotech startups; GenomicFX and ViaGen Inc. From 2005-2017, she was founder and managing partner of Wild Type Ranch, a premium grass-fed beef company. She is a limited partner with AgFunder’s GROW Impact startup fund, where she serves as a mentor. She has also served on the investment advisory board for a Fortune 500 private investor in plant, animal and human biotech, and as a mentor for DivInc, Austin’s diversity-focused incubator.
Dr. Faivre was a scientist with the human and livestock genome projects, at the USDA, University of Iowa, University of Illinois, and Texas A&M. She graduated with honors from Iowa State with a B.S. in Agricultural Business and Animal Science, and holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from Texas A&M. A lifelong learner, Dr. Faivre is pursuing a certificate in Corporate Sustainability (Harvard Graduate Extension) and holds certificates in Sustainable Capitalism and ESG (Berkeley Law School), and Executive Women Leadership (Cornell).
Sara divides her time between her ranch in Cameron, TX and her office near Austin, TX. She is the proud parent of two college-age boys. She is an aspiring classical guitar and bluegrass banjo player and is a third-level student of Parelli Natural Horsemanship.