Our Team
AmplifiedAg is the parent company of: Vertical Roots, Tiger Corner Farms, and Boxcar Central. All four companies work together to create a more powerful and efficient way of farming through state-of-the-art technologies. In doing this, we are engaging a new generation of farmers and providing them with sustainable jobs.
Don Taylor
Founder & CEO | AmplifiedAg
Don Taylor is the Founder and CEO of AmplifiedAg, a family of companies focused on indoor farming technologies and operations. Their focus is multi-pronged including manufacturing, software, electrical and mechanical engineering, horticulture, farming and food safety/compliance initiatives. Don’s passion is to revolutionize how communities, grow, distribute and consume food. By doing this, the goal is to create sustainable jobs for farmers, who can help solve the world’s food production challenges and provide access to healthy produce for all.
Prior to founding AmplifiedAg in 2016, Don Taylor served as Chief Technology Officer for Benefitfocus, Inc, an online benefits platform company, for over a decade. As a software industry veteran of more than 30 years, Don brings extensive experience in developing and providing advanced software solutions to the healthcare, banking, and logistics industries.
Stefanie Swackhamer
VP of Mission, Marketing, and Business Development | AmplifiedAg
Stefanie has always had a passion for education and serving. As a teacher she started a Literacy Through Latin program at a Title I school in North Charleston, SC. She holds a degree in Classics from the College of Charleston as well as a Masters in Teaching with a specialization in Cross Cultural Learning. Stefanie’s team is comprised of a diverse yet experienced group: both her chief engineer and systems engineer are veterans of the US Navy, while her facilities manager has more than 25 years experience in building and farming. Rounding out her team is her farm relationship manager and an engineering apprentice from the South Carolina Commissioner’s School of Agriculture.
David Flynn
General Manager | Tiger Corner Farms & Boxcar Central
A senior Army officer for 24 years, Dave has extensive experience implementing solutions for challenging problems. He leads his team of seasoned software engineers, a product designer/developer with a background in international business, and a product support specialist. Together they have built the Boxcar Central technology platform, which integrates IoT sensing and control systems within a business software suite. Ultimately, this provides an end-to-end, holistic solution for today’s technology-driven indoor farming landscape and beyond.
Andrew Hare
General Manager | Vertical Roots
With the desire to bring healthy foods to his community, Andrew entered the food system workforce as a restaurateur, opening and operating two successful local eateries in Charleston and Mount Pleasant, SC. His background and connections in the community uniquely position him to develop and grow Vertical Roots’ sales pipeline. Andrew leads a team of tech-savvy farmers that run the Vertical Roots day-to-day operations: his production manager is a mechanical engineer with more than 5 years’ experience in plant science, photobiology, and horticulture; the assistant production manager worked in Disney’s aero/hydroponic greenhouses and graduated with a diversified Ag degree; and both Vertical Roots’ farm managers are Lowcountry Local First Growing New Farmers Program graduates.
Interested in joining our team?
We value our team members and believe that happy people create the best solutions. We offer competitive wages, excellent health care packages, and an open PTO policy.