Jijun Zou

An active traveler who has lived and worked across the globe enjoying the regional cuisines of each destination, Dr. Jijun Zou joins Sensei Ag with over two decades of expertise in plant breeding, biotechnology, regulatory science, precision agriculture, international operations and technology investments.

Jijun has a proven track record in research and development, having held leadership roles at organizations ranging from start-ups to global Fortune 500 companies. Following his post-doctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jijun spent 12 years at DuPont Pioneer, the world’s leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics. At DuPont, Jijun led teams focused on technology development, trait discovery, biotech product development and global regulatory approvals. He also won several awards, including the DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology Technology Contribution Award, DuPont Volunteer Recognition Award and Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award.

After a very successful career at DuPont, Jijun joined the Yuan Longping Hi-Tech Agriculture Co., one of the world’s leading seed companies with research and marketing networks in Asia, North America and South America. As Vice President of Research & Development and a member of the Executive Committee, Jijun was responsible for all Longping Hi-Tech’s crop breeding, biotech, product development, data analytics, research strategy and program management. Most recently, Jijun was the Deputy General Manager of CITIC Agri Fund, a leading private equity firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management primarily focused on growth investments in the agricultural technology and food & beverage industries.

When Jijun is not working on building Sensei Ag’s R&D capabilities or developing Next Gen products with the team, you can find him cooking with his family or playing soccer with his two sons. Jijun earned his PhD in plant genetics and breeding from Northeast Agricultural University, China and received post-doctoral training from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has served as an advisor or on the Board of Directors for several companies and is currently an adjunct professor at Huazhong Agricultural University in China.