Matthew Rooda

Matthew took his childhood farming experience to create optimal solutions for livestock care. Through his agricultural tech company, SwineTech, heprovides farmers with the necessary technologies to reduce piglet deaths. The product tracks sows real time health and teaches mother sows to stand up if they are crushing their babies.

The biggest obstacle Matthew has faced was the discouragement from his university animal welfare specialists about the potential of his business idea. He is grateful for his advisor’s encouragement to keep going and the resilience of his team in spite of surrounding doubts. Make a Mark resonates with him the most because of it reminds him to be an everyday source of his inspiration to people who share a similar modest background: “I do not come from a rich family, I am from small town Iowa, and I am not the smartest person in the world. However, I outwork the best of them. I want to be able to walk up to a kid that is in a modest home in the midwest and encourage them to dream.” Although he considers himself very competitive, Matthew appreciates the insights he and his team gain from depending on one another and external experts.