About Us

Robert leads American Truffle Company with a combination of global business expertise, scientific rigor, and technological innovation—bringing together the skills required to transform truffle cultivation from European tradition into American commercial success.

With engineering training from Stanford University (B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering, qualified for Ph.D. program, Biology minor), Robert applies systems-level thinking to translate Prof. Paul Thomas's groundbreaking mycorrhizal research into practical A-Z methodology for North American conditions. His technical background enables the data-driven infrastructure that ensures optimal conditions across all ATC partner orchards.

Before truffles, Robert led global marketing teams at Silicon Valley companies including Yahoo and served as CEO of a software startup—gaining expertise in scaling businesses, building partnerships, and translating complex technology into compelling value propositions and products. He now applies this experience to foster strong relationships with growers, Michelin-starred chefs, media and consumers across North America.

Fluent in five languages (English, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese), Robert leverages deep industry and cultural understanding with extensive networks across truffle-producing regions in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, plus direct access to the industry's three major markets: North America, Asia, and Europe. He is a sought-after speaker at premier truffle events and culinary festivals in the U.S. and Europe—representing American truffle industry on both national and global stages.

Robert also holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a Bosch Foundation Fellow. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he is passionate about cooking, food innovation, eating well and building a sustainable North American truffle industry through science and partnership. He can often be found eating his way across five continents.

Peta is the organizational heartbeat of ATC, ensuring our grower-partners receive the guidance, clarity, and support they need at every stage of their orchard journey. With a background rooted in luxury hospitality across Australia and Canada, Peta has spent her career making complex operations run smoothly and keeping communication flowing between teams and decision-makers.

Her hospitality experience—spanning front-of-house operations to serving as the coordination hub for executive committees—gave her a strong foundation in high-touch service, detailed project management, and the kind of calm, clear communication partners rely on. After stepping back to raise her two daughters, she continued to lead community organizations before joining ATC in 2016, inspired by a longtime love of food and a fateful meeting with Robert at the Napa Truffle Festival.

Today, Peta manages operations administration and partner relations, working alongside the Managing Director and supporting sales & retail, operations, and orchard coordination. For grower-partners, she serves as a consistent point of contact—helping align schedules, clarify next steps, connect experts, and ensure every detail is handled. Her work reflects what she does best: keeping teams aligned, keeping communication clear, and making sure partners are always informed and supported.

From our state-of-the-art Oregon nursery facility, ATC supplies certified truffle trees throughout North America. Unlike nurseries that only sell trees, we carefully control every step of the process because our success as a partner depends entirely on yours.

We start with hand-selected acorns from our own partner orchards—ensuring known provenance and superior genetic strains. Each acorn is germinated in exceptionally clean, controlled conditions that eliminate contamination from the start. Then we inoculate every seedling using our advanced certified scientific protocol, proven to have produced truffles on four continents.

Before any tree ships, it must pass rigorous mycorrhizal colonization and DNA analysis. This guarantees two critical factors: maximum mycorrhizal content for higher future yields, and no contamination from competing truffle species. Since we only earn when you harvest truffles, we produce the highest quality trees that science can deliver—not just the trees that are easiest to sell.