Information that counts.™
Our People.
We’re driven to make a difference in agriculture. Our diverse team combines deep experience in the laboratory, on the farm, in the boardroom and beyond. Together, we’re motivated to help livestock producers, our families, peers and neighbors succeed with better data.
“As the owner and manager of a dairy, it’s exciting to bring to market a technology that can impact the way I make decisions through data.”
Dr. Mitch Hockett, AAD Consultant
News that counts.
“Seeing the Proof”
Dr. Mitch Hockett’s first encounter with QScout MLD
“When I saw how I could implement QScout MLD on my own cows, it became exciting to talk with other producers, too,” he says. “At AAD, we really want to see producers be successful. QScout generates the data needed to make informed, profitable management decisions.”
Leadership Team
Joy Parr Drach
President & CEO
Joy brings a unique combination of agribusiness and new product introduction expertise to the company. She was a founder and senior partner of Entira, a management and marketing consulting firm for agribusiness companies, where she led strategic planning and implemented management and marketing programs with clients, ranging from small start-ups to Fortune 100 industry leaders. She has successfully launched more than 30 new products, ranging from U.S. dairy parlors to global herbicides to spray equipment, guiding product development, pricing strategies, distribution plans, sales training and marketing/promotion planning and execution.
Joy also is actively involved in her family’s grain and purebred livestock operation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications from the University of Illinois and Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.
Rudy Rodriguez, BSEE, MS, PE
Founder & Chief Scientific Officer
Rudy brings more than 30 years of experience in medical devices development to the company. Before starting AAD, he served for 15 years as the vice president of research and development for BD Worldwide’s Primary Care Diagnostics Division. Prior to that, he worked in senior research and engineering positions at Coulter Corporation (now Beckman Coulter), Baxter Corporation and American Instrument Company (Aminco).
Rudy has a reputation as an R&D pioneer. He has been involved in the development and commercialization of several products in his career that created entirely new industry segments or sold more than $1 billion each. Among them are the first automated blood cell separator at Baxter (Fenwal CS-3000), the first random access chemistry analyzer (Coulter DACOS) and the world’s most successful physician’s office hematology system at BD (QBC). He subsequently adapted the QBC technology into the VetAutoread Hematology Analyzer, marketed by IDEXX for companion animal use. Rudy holds 30 patents and is a four-time winner of the R&D 100 Award for one of the 100 most significant new technical products of the year. He is currently an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, as well as an adjunct professor at the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina/North Carolina State University. Rudy was elected in 2016 to the National Academy of Engineering “For inventions to analyze blood and separate blood components that enable widespread clinical therapies.”
Frank Fee
Chief Financial Officer
Frank joined AAD in July 2018, bringing nearly 20 years of experience with venture-capital backed life sciences and technology companies. As chief financial officer, Frank is responsible for overseeing all aspects of AAD’s corporate and operational financial matters.
Prior to joining AAD, Frank served for seven years in progressive roles including most recently, chief financial officer at Metabolon, Inc., a privately held, international metabolomics technology company formed to develop and apply its technology for the discovery of biomarkers in diagnostic applications and aid research efforts for its customers.
Frank served public and private companies for nine years at Ernst & Young, specializing in high-growth companies in the life sciences and technology industries including numerous capital market transactions. Frank began his career at LipoScience, Inc. a clinical diagnostics company utilizing NMR spectroscopy for the management of risk of heart disease.
He is a certified public accountant and received his B.S. in accounting from North Carolina State University.
Jasper Pollard
Vice President of Research & Development
Jasper was instrumental in the design and launch of the QScout® Farm Lab platform, to include active participation in field trials. He brings a diverse set of leadership skills in the areas of Research and Development, Manufacturing, and Field Service. Before joining AAD, Jasper was previously at Parata Systems where he was principle in the design and development of their pharmaceutical dispensing system, following the product into contract manufacturing and ultimately forming the Level III field and customer service group.
These product life cycle experiences set Jasper up for success in leading the team that developed their next generation flagship automation.
Jasper completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics along with a minor in Physics at Bucknell University. He currently holds over a dozen issued patents.