Jeff Underwood

Jeff Underwood is Vice President, Enterprise Innovation for Kent Corporation.  He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Iowa State University and a Master of Business Administration, with emphasis in Finance from the University of Iowa.  Jeff started his career with Grain Processing Corporation as a Process Engineer in 1994 and held various Operations Management roles until joining the Research & Development group at GPC.  After several years as Director of Pilot Plant Operations, he was promoted to Vice President, Research & Development.  From 2012-2018, Jeff served as the Business Process Lead for Sales & Marketing as part of the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Resource Planning software at Kent.  In 2018, the Enterprise Innovation team was formed at Kent Corporation to focus on long term strategic growth, and as part of this role, Jeff relocated to Ames, where he opened the Kent Innovation Center at the ISU Research Park.  Jeff serves on the External Advisory Councils for the Chemical & Biological Engineering and Food Science Departments at Iowa State University, and the Ag Startup Engine investment board.