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Dr. Cathy Thome

Hollister R&D Station

As an undergraduate, I focused on animal developmental biology but my interest in plants soared after I had to kill 500 frogs for my Honor’s Thesis project at Lawrence University.  I continued my studies at Cornell University where I obtained an M.S. in Agronomy and a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, with minors in Entomology and International Agriculture.  I have a lot of experience living and working in Latin America.  I did my dissertation research at CIMMYT in Mexico, and taught at the Pan-American Agricultural School in Honduras for three semesters after graduate school.  Since 1993, I have worked in commercial plant breeding, focusing on hybrid development of tomatoes and peppers for the Mexican and Californian markets, first at Calgene, then at Asgrow (Seminis), and later at Enza Zaden North America.

At United Genetics, I work with non-bell sweet peppers, hot peppers, saladette tomatoes, and special projects in peppers and tomatoes.  One of the things I enjoy about the seed business is that I get to do many different things so it is always interesting.  I like the integration between research, production, quality control, and sales.  I’m excited about working here because it is small enough that I get to be involved in all aspects of the business, and I’ll be able to follow my hybrids from the first look, through production, all the way to the growers’ fields.