Naveen Sikka is the founder and CEO of Terviva, an agricultural innovation company partnering with farmers to grow pongamia, a climate-resilient tree which helps to reforest land and revitalize communities.

 

Under his leadership, Terviva has unlocked pongamia’s potential as a super tree capable of providing meaningful climate-change solutions. After more than a decade of innovation, Terviva has established an equitable and transparent supply chain where they harvest and transform pongamia beans into bioenergy and sustainable food ingredients called Ponova®.

 

Terviva is the first company to develop high-yielding, non-GMO cultivars of pongamia and to create edible protein and oil from its beans to feed people. Product partners draw on Terviva’s plant protein and vegetable oil supply chain that is world class in its low-carbon intensity, traceability, and cost competitiveness with existing oilseed supplies.

Naveen and Terviva have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Forbes, Food Navigator, and Food Business News among other leading publications covering sustainable innovation and technology in agriculture and food. In 2023, Fast Company named Terviva in its World Changing Ideas Awards as a finalist in agriculture with an honorable mention in food. 

Naveen completed his MBA from UC Berkeley where he co-chaired the development of the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC) in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley Lab to evaluate its existing portfolio of commercial technologies. Prior to earning his MBA, Naveen worked as a management consultant at Gemini Consulting and TPI. He graduated as a Class Senior Marshal with a BA from Columbia University, during which time he studied and worked in France and West Africa. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Elemental Excelerator, an organization with nearly $50m deployed in over 130 portfolio companies in climate tech, with a focus on frontline communities.