Our Team

Bill Reed

Bill Reed is no stranger to grass-fed beef or organic production.

Reed grew up on a Virginia cattle ranch that has long practiced organic, grass fed practices. For more than 20 years, his uncle, the owner of Brookview Farm, has raised free range grass-fed cattle and farmed organic produce and eggs.

Reed’s lifelong connection to the land inspired him to homestead in Alaska after he graduated from the University of Virginia. Together with his family, Reed cut down trees, milled wood, and built a log cabin by hand. For food, they fished for salmon and trout, and hunted for birds and ducks, which they supplemented with foraged currants and blackberries. There was also the occasional three-hour boat ride to buy staples such as cooking oil, rice, and pasta. Meals were prepared over a wood stove using water collected from a fresh spring.

Back to civilization meant a move to Eastern Europe where he worked with the Czech brewery Krusovice, learning the beer industry from top to bottom. He returned to the U.S. in 1995. A short visit to the San Francisco Bay Area became a permanent move when he joined Odwalla, a fresh juice maker at the forefront of creating a socially and environmentally responsible food company. Starting as a truck driver, Reed became the director of operations in six years, with sales expanding from $25 to $150 million per year.

Eager to become a chief executive, Reed joined New Leaf Paper, maker of environmentally responsible, recycled paper, in 2001. Sales grew from $3.5 million to $20 million during his five-year tenure.

In March 2006, Reed joined his childhood friend and fellow rancher JP Thieriot to realize another lifelong vision: create consumer awareness and appreciation for the health and taste benefits of grass-fed beef while protecting natural resources. Estancia Beef was born, raising free range, grass fed beef in Uruguay, Argentina, Virginia and California.

JP Thieriot

JP Thieriot is a native San Franciscan born to an Argentine mother. Consequently he divided his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and cattle ranches in Argentina. Thus since childhood, he has enjoyed the famous Argentine parrilla (open grill) roasting of a variety of cuts of grass-fed beef. (Argentine beef, though not available for export to the United States, is considered some of the best in the world.)

After graduating from Yale with a degree in environmental sciences, he returned to the Bay Area to pursue a career as a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, with special focus on South America. He never lost his passion for 100% grass-fed beef or the desire to bring that flavor to the U.S. Along with another childhood friend, Wil Harris (no relation to Harris Ranch!), he opened El Raigon restaurant in North Beach, a steakhouse that serves only free range, grass-fed beef. The restaurant was an instant success and received rave reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “At last, a steak house that can be highly recommended.”

In 2002, Thieriot began working on his vision to raise grass-fed cattle and serve only the finest grass-fed beef to consumers in Europe and the U.S. He and Reed purchased a starter ranch in Argentina and began to learn more about the business, realizing the first half of this vision. Currently his beef is sold to European customers while the Estancia beef comes from his and partner ranches in Uruguay.

In March 2006, he teamed with his friends Reed and Harris to jointly realize their vision of introducing Americans to grass fed beef, beef the way nature intended.

Thieriot is also an accomplished polo player. He is married to Leslie Thieriot and has three children.

Michelle Waterman

Michelle is responsible for Estancia’s farm assurance network, production protocols and third party audit practices. She will also oversee Estancia’s sales efforts in Europe splitting time between the two continents as she has done for years.

“We are thrilled to have Michelle join the team.” Said Bill Reed, Estancia’s CEO. “Michelle is among the very most respected people in her field and she shares all of our core beliefs around prioritizing environmental, animal welfare, and human health concerns within our production quality standards.”

Michelle started as an Animal Health Inspector for the UK government, which involved enforcement of UK legislation with respect to animal traceability, welfare and husbandry. She then began a long career with Tesco, the UK's biggest retailer, and was responsible for the production and sourcing of all meat, fish and poultry sold by the business. Michelle wrote and implemented Tesco’s Livestock Codes of Practice (which cover welfare, food safety, traceability and environmental responsibility). Under Michelle’s guidance, Tesco implemented visionary and rigorous policies relating to livestock - such as the prohibition of genetically modified feed, the banning of all non-stun slaughter methods, and the creation of 'equivalent' standards of production in countries as far afield as Argentina, Brazil & Uruguay.

More recently, Michelle has consulted for some of the largest retailers in the world, visiting ranches and production facilities for the largest beef producers in the US, South America and Europe. She has written and implemented livestock standards for European retailers and developed high quality supply chains to support their customers. She has in incredible base of knowledge with a deep understanding of the industry, not to mention a long list of stories. “Well Michelle, that’s why it’s cheap” is my favorite story but you’ll have meet her to get the details.

“Given the impact of industrial produced beef and the downstream effects on the health of our population and planet, we desperately need people like Michelle to lead us toward significant and serious solutions”, reflected JP Thieriot, Estancia’s Chairman. “Cattle are probably the most promising source of clean ‘big protein’ out there. They’re also the most important source of non-hydrocarbon derived fertilizer available. We have to go back to the integrated and eternally sustainable farm. It’s clean, healthy food that’s less dependent on fossil fuel.”

Waterman states, “I am delighted to be joining Estancia, a company that shares my beliefs on the way meat should be produced, and one that is open with information throughout the supply chain, from farmer to consumer. My passion is the improvement of animal welfare, and allowing consumers to make informed choices about the consequences of their purchases. As the world’s population grows, the way in which animals are farmed, will come under growing scrutiny. I believe the systems Estancia seeks to promote and expand will be one of the only truly sustainable ways of consuming meat in the future.”

Michelle currently lives 35 miles South of London, where she raises beef cattle, sheep, laying hens and agricultural crops. She has a degree in Agriculture and Land Management.

Reid Martin

Reid Martin has always had a passion for all things cattle and was happy to find a home at Estancia. Growing up on a small family dairy, hay, and cattle ranch, Reid learned from a young age the importance of a good work ethic and family. As soon as he could walk Reid was judging livestock and raising animals with the local 4-H club and Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter. At age 11, Reid took his first plunge into the cattle market when he traded three dairy heifers to his father for three crossbred beef calves. He hasn’t looked back as he has helped his father build a solid herd of Angus bred free range, grass fed herd of cattle.

Reid continued his studies of agriculture at Chico State where he competed nationally on the Collegiate Livestock Judging Team. As a member of the team he traveled throughout the U.S. for competitions and further honed his abilities in livestock and carcass evaluation. However, it wasn’t just bulls and heifers that Reid studied at Chico. Studying international business, Italian, and Japanese occupied him when he wasn’t in the pasture. Italian and business took him to Turin, Italy, for a year studying abroad and learning his heritage. Back to Chico for his final year, Reid found himself with broadened horizons and a desire to work aboard. On completion of his degree he took a job teaching English in Japanese public schools on the JET Program.

After two years full of amazing experiences and travels, Reid was back in his native California helping out on the ranch. During his time at home Reid found Estancia and knew that it was a perfect fit because it combined his interests with international business and sustainable agriculture - free range, grass fed beef.

Gabe Turner

Gabe Turner shares the same homeland as our beautiful Hereford cattle. He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and moved with his family to California at an early age. He was raised in Los Angeles and then moved to northern California to attend UC Berkeley, where he studied international development and business. After spending three years at a management consulting firm in San Francisco, Turner joined Estancia in August 2007 to lead its expansion into southern California.

His interest in sustainable agriculture and his love of Uruguayan grass-fed beef ultimately compelled him to ditch the suit and laptop and join the lovely team at Estancia Beef. When he is not driving around the freeways of southern California, Turner enjoys playing soccer, drinking maté (tea), and going out for the occasional surf.

Wil Harris

Wil grew up in Oregon on a farm raising grass fed beef and riding horses. His family has been in sustainable farming practices since he was a child. As one of the founders of Estancia, Wil has focused his attention on making sure Estancia produced the most sustainable, highest quality beef available and it makes sense given his experience as a restauranteur. Wil takes credit for starting and managing one of Estancia's key accounts - El Raigon - a steak house in North Beach, San Francisco. El Raigon serves free range, grass fed beef and was recently the highest rates steak house in San Francisco for food. Will started El Raigon with the idea of offering people a healthy steak dinner after watching the way the Argentine people live and eat. Wil spent 5 years working in Buenos Aires in banking and agriculture.

Wil continues to play a role at Estancia helping with production of our grass fed beef in Argentina and Uruguay. Wil lives in NY and will play a key role helping Estancia introduce NY city to high quality, free range, grass fed beef. He knows the health benefits of grass fed beef and will surely be a good customer. Wil is married to Cecelia and has two children, both of whom are good little carnevores.

Fabiola Loza

Fabiloa grew up on a ranch in Northern Argentina where her family raises grass fed beef for Estancia under the same traditional practices for nearly a century. Fabiola understands the true meaning of natural, free range grass fed beef because it's what she grew up helping her father produce. Her father runs over 10,000 head of cattle in Entre Rios, a state known for high protein grasses, consistent annual rainfall and weather perfect for Hereford and Angus cattle.

Fabiola studied accounting and marketing in Buenos Aires and has worked with Estancia in every part of the business. She has raised free range grass fed cattle, helped in the finishing of steer (on 100% grass lands), worked in the slaughterhouse and now helps Estancia with Sales, Marketing and distribution in the US. She is a great salesperson because she understands the whole process - from pasture to plate - free range grass fed beef. It's beef as nature intended.

Fabiola is an accomplished horse person, ballet dancer and certified accountant.