Steve Nice
Co-Founder and CEO
Steve Nice is an entrepreneur who has focused his career on building businesses that promote products and systems that help people. As Co-Founder and former CEO of BedinaBox.com, he helped to create the cleanest (first OekoTex-Certified mattress in U.S. history), most durable, and comfortable memory foam mattress in America. He is responsible for the removal of dibutyl tin and phthalates from polyurethane foam manufacturing. He is the co-founder and CEO of Shield Nutraceuticals, a company dedicated to personal and environmental wellness with a lean toward Regenerative Agriculture. The three companies he has built in the past two decades are all still in business – built to last.
Sheridan Nice
Co-Founder
Sheridan Nice is the Co-Founder of Shield Nutraceuticals, Inc. She is a graduate of La Varenne, Ecole de Cuisine, Paris. Sheridan currently teaches French Cuisine, “Slow Food” cuisine and Farm-to-Table cuisine in the European tradition, through online Zoom classes and in person. In-person classes are available through East Tennessee State University and Serenity Knoll Farm in Jonesborough, Tennessee. She has 38 Years experience as a professional chef.
Abhinav Chauhan
Partner
Abhinav Chauhan is the Founder and CEO of Promecens Entosystems Private Limited, located in Maharashtra, India. As a cross-disciplinary scientist-entrepreneur operating at the convergence of immunotherapy, computational biology, quantum physics, and advanced engineered materials, he has more than a decade of experience across institutions and companies including CSIR-IGIB, MIT, Monash University, the University of Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, Pfizer, Novartis, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Peter Doherty Institute. His work uniquely integrates antibody and phage engineering, glyco-engineering, AI-driven biological design, and cancer and infection immunology with quantum-informed materials science, propulsion-relevant thermodynamics, and rocket and thruster architecture enabled by functional materials. At Promecens, he leads the scientific vision, global IP and patent strategy, and commercialization of ultra-high-purity melanin, advanced chitosan derivatives, and antimicrobial peptides.
Steve Nice
Co-Founder and CEO
Steve Nice is an entrepreneur who has focused his career on building businesses that promote products and systems that help people. As Co-Founder and former CEO of BedinaBox.com, he helped to create the cleanest (first OekoTex-Certified mattress in U.S. history), most durable, and comfortable memory foam mattress in America. He is responsible for the removal of dibutyl tin and phthalates from polyurethane foam manufacturing. He is the co-founder and CEO of Shield Nutraceuticals, a company dedicated to personal and environmental wellness with a lean toward Regenerative Agriculture. The three companies he has built in the past two decades are all still in business – built to last.
Sheridan Nice
Co-Founder
Sheridan Nice is the Co-Founder of Shield Nutraceuticals, Inc. She is a graduate of La Varenne, Ecole de Cuisine, Paris. Sheridan currently serves as Director of the Serenity Knoll Farm & Cooking School in Jonesborough, Tennessee. She has 40 Years of experience as a professional chef with a “Food is Medicine” approach, in theory – and practice.
Charles Collins
Vice President
Dr. Charles Collins is a dissolution chemist and professor of pharmaceutical sciences. He has over forty years’ experience as a pharmacist and is an expert at formulating products for optimal performance. A Ph.D. in Pharmacokinetics makes him uniquely suited to evaluate chitosan’s interaction with pharmaceutical drugs. He is a Founding Member of the Shield Nutraceuticals Science Team and co-formulator of DigestShield.
Jorge Estrada
VP - International Sales
Jorge is a senior entrepreneur with 34 years of experience in the agriculture industry. He has held management positions in the high-tech agriculture sector. He is the founder and CEO of LCI Inc. in Seattle, WA, which he founded in 2000. The company serves U.S. and international businesses. He is the co-founder of Earth Conscious Solutions, LLC, established in 2018. At Chitosan Global, he leads the International sales team.
Audrey Depelteau
Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Audrey Depelteau is a chiropractor with over 26 years of clinical experience. She is the director of a business incubation lab and provides leadership and business support across varied industries. Audrey is a Founding Member of the Science and ESG team at Shield Nutraceuticals.
Herbert Herman Alvarado
VP - LATAM Agribusiness Ventures
Herbert has over 30 years of experience in the development, management, and leadership of agribusiness companies, as well as with multinational corporations. He has held senior management positions in coffee, cocoa, fresh and frozen vegetable trading companies across four countries: the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, and Guatemala.
He holds a degree in Agronomy from the Pan-American School of Agriculture, a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University, and a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University.
Mario Cabrera
VP - Pet Products
With over 20 years of proven success in building, scaling, and optimizing cutting-edge marketing strategies, businesses, and high-performance teams, I bring a track record of excellence working with globally recognized category leaders. My career journey includes
impactful roles at Nestlé, Shell, Sara Lee Foods, Colgate-Palmolive/Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Merck Animal Health,
Boehringer-Ingelheim Animal Health, Elanco, and Dechra, where I’ve consistently driven growth and innovation.
I excel in leading teams and managing commercial responsibilities across the U.S. and global markets, designing and executing strategic initiatives that amplify brand visibility, optimize business performance, and elevate organizations to new levels of success. My passion lies in building world-class brands and empowering results-driven teams to exceed goals in highly competitive industries.
Andrew Clark
Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. W. Andrew Clark holds a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry and is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. He is a retired Associate Dean of Research at a prominent Medical School. As an Emeritus Professor, he continues to work at his nutritional laboratory. He uses his years of nutrition expertise, with an emphasis on the Dairy Industry, to create solutions to common and uncommon nutrition problems. He is a pioneer in the application of chitosan as an antimicrobial agent. Andy is a Founding Member of the Shield Nutraceuticals Science Team and co-formulator of DigestShield.
Alvaro Corso
VP - Latin American Joint Ventures
Alvaro Corzo is an Agricultural Engineer with over 35 years of experience in plant nutrition, biostimulation, soil health and regenerative agriculture. Providing technical advice to agricultural producers in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
Julio Vásconez
VP - International Markets
Agricultural Engineer (with MBA) and +36-year international veteran in sustainable agribusiness. Specialist in cocoa and cut-flower production, value chain development, and responsible sourcing programs.
Expert in building and managing traceability systems, organic certifications, and compliance with key regulations such as the EUDR—combining operational excellence, financial discipline, and field-level agronomy with a deep dedication to environmental stewardship, biodiversity protection, and community empowerment. Broad experience partnering with global companies, development organizations, and smallholder farmers in Ecuador and Latin America to foster inclusive, sustainable, and high-impact agricultural value chains
Mitchell Drake
U.S. Sales
Mitchell Drake is an entrepreneur focused on Regenerative Agriculture. At Chitosan Global, he is a member of the North American sales team. He specializes in Processed Water Remediation from the Oil and Gas industry using chitosan and biochar.
Robert Santos-Prowse
Scientific Advisory Board
Robert is a registered dietitian nutritionist who led the research and provided guidance for developing DigestShield. He graduated from East Tennessee State University with a master’s degree in clinical nutrition. Robert is a Founding Member of the Shield Nutraceuticals Science Team
