Robert Fraley


Robert Thomas Fraley was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Monsanto, where he helped to develop the first genetically modified seeds. He retired from Monsanto in June 2018. He advocates for the use of GMO products to address global food insecurity and reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture.

Early life and education

Fraley grew up on a farm near Hoopeston, Illinois. Fraley attended the University of Illinois for both his bachelors and PhD, the latter focused on microbiology and biochemistry, working with Professor Samuel Kaplan in the Department of Microbiology, and completed in 1979. He did post-doctoral research in biophysics at the University of California-San Francisco. By 1983 he was working at Monsanto, where he was able to use Agrobacterium tumefaciens to transfer genes conferring a selectable marker into the cells of petunia plants.

Recognition