50 Under 50 Bio
Aaron T. Jeffries was born/raised in St. Louis, Missouri to Harold and Sylvia Jeffries and was educated in the St. Louis Public School System. In high school, he played basketball and was a participate in Upward Bound through St. Louis University. Aaron was a star high school basketball player and was awarded an athletic scholarship after graduation in May 1992. Aaron matriculated at several colleges before transferring to Miles College to play basketball in August 1995. While at Miles College, Aaron pledged Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. in April 1996 while still playing basketball and maintaining a 3.5 grade point average. He graduated Miles College in May 1998 and matriculated to Alabama A&M University in August 1998 for his master’s degree (Plant Molecular Genetics) and to Iowa State University in January 2002 for his Ph.D. (Crop Production and Physiology). While matriculating in graduate school at Alabama A&M University and Iowa State University, Aaron was involved in Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANNRS). In 2005, Aaron was a Regional Vice-President and in 2006 and 2007, he became the National Graduate Student President of MANRRS. In November 2010, Aaron took the oath to become a commissioned officer in the United States Army Reserve as an Environmental Science Officer. He was deployed for a year in a combat zone in 2015 and ended his career as a Captain in 2020.
In 2008, Aaron started working for Bayer Crop Science as a Regulatory Scientist in Durham, North Carolina. As a Regulatory Scientist in Seeds and Trait Safety, he was responsible for developing and implementing study plans for phenotypic and agronomic evaluations and environmental safety studies with biotechnology traits in crops compared to conventional control varieties under field conditions throughout North and South America. Due to industry realignment, Aaron along with his colleagues were transferred to BASF in 2018. At BASF, he maintained his previous role and worked collaboratively with the Regulatory Affairs team to ensure agreement on study design, details, quality expectations and delivery timelines to support regulatory submissions in key import countries. In 2022, Aaron transitioned to Syngenta as a Technical Expert in Crop Protection (North America – Exposure Science) in Greensboro, North Carolina. In this position, Aaron works closely with Regulatory and Product Development teams to support new active ingredient registrations, new uses of existing products, re-registration activities, and development of import tolerances. Aaron T. Jeffries is married to Natasha Jeffries and they have four children (Saraya, Aden, MJ, and Myla).