L. Lloys Frates

L. Lloys Frates, Ph.D. is President of Frutura: a global produce company committed to impact, with business units in the U.S., Uruguay, Peru, and Chile. Before Frutura, she was a Managing Director and Investment and Management Committee member at Renewable Resources Group (RRG), an L.A.-based impact investor and asset manager focusing on sustainable agriculture and water in the U.S., Latin America, and Australia, where it has over 150,000 acres under management. Lloys serves on the Boards of Directors of Exportadora Subsole and Agrícola Don Ricardo—Chile and Peru grower-packer-shippers of specialty fresh produce—and California Harvesters—an employee-benefit farm labor company working to create high-quality farm labor jobs. Lloys went to RRG from academia, where she taught history, women’s studies, and international development studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Cornell University. She began her career doing aid and development work in southern Africa. Lloys often speaks on the future of food and agribusiness; most recently, she participated on panels at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC and the International Women’s Forum Cornerstone Conference in Helsinki, Finland. In 2020, Lloys was honored by the Commune of Santa Maria, Chile, for philanthropy to promote opportunities for farm laborers and their families. She has experience in organized labor and served as an Executive Board Member of UAW 2865, the union for graduate student employees at the University of California. Lloys is a member of the Southern California chapter of the International Women’s Forum and serves on its nominating committee and Chief Women’s Network. She earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. from UCLA and a B.A. from Sweet Briar College, VA. Lloys is a backyard beekeeper, has a passion for travel, and is the mother of a nine-year-old, Beck.