John F. Diener is a technology innovator, business leader, and investor dedicated to advancing food sustainability. He is the Founder and CEO of Vertical Oceans, an AI-native aquaculture company pioneering one of the world’s most sustainable seafood production systems, backed by leading Silicon Valley VC funds Khosla Ventures and SOSV. Previously, he was CEO of Gold Coin-SyAqua, where he turned around a major Asian aquaculture fi rm to profi tability and product leadership, and COO of an insect protein startup, where he scaled operations from concept to large-scale facilities. With deep expertise in technology development, commercialization, and scaling, John also serves on the Investment Committee of Trendlines AgriFood Tech Venture Capital Fund, is an AgFunder Mentor, an Advisory Board Member at Mycoworks, and a Board Member of Intelligon Analytics. He holds a BA in Economics with Honors from the University of Chicago and an MSc in Sustainable Aquaculture from the University of St. Andrews, combining strategic, technical, and entrepreneurial leadership to drive impactful innovation at the intersection of technology and ocean conservation.