BioAmber Inc. Strengthens its Management Team and Board of Directors
11/10/2011 11:02:51 AM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Nov. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - BioAmber, a
next-generation chemicals company, has strengthened its management team
and board of directors. Recent management additions have included
Andrew Ashworth, Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Dries, Sr. VP
Operations Strategy, Babette Pettersen, Sr. VP Marketing & Sales and
Kenneth Wall, Sr. VP Manufacturing. Heinz Haller and Raymond Land have
joined the board as independent directors, and William Camp has joined
the board as Naxos' representative.
Andrew Ashworth joined BioAmber from DuPont-Danisco, where he was the
CFO of the Genencor division. Andrew spent over 13 years at Genencor in
senior financial positions and played an active role in the company's
initial public offering and subsequent post merger integrations with
Danisco and then DuPont. Prior to Genencor, Andrew held senior
financial positions at VF Corporation and Corning. Andrew has over 25
years of senior financial experience. He began his career at Price
Waterhouse and is a certified public accountant.
Thomas Dries joined BioAmber after having worked for Gevo, where he was
the VP, Business Development and Marketing. Prior to Gevo, Tom had a
29-year career at Cargill in a variety of roles including VP Operations
of Cargill's Biofuels Operating Services, General Manager of Midwest
Lysine, a joint venture between Cargill and Degussa, Project Manager
for Cargill's Emerging Business Accelerator, Business Development
Manager for Cargill Biosciences, and National Product Manager for
Specialty Sweeteners. Tom has extensive experience in supply chain
management, sugar contracting, site selection, building and operating
fermentation plants and improving their performance over time.
Babette Pettersen joined BioAmber from Royal DSM where she was VP New
Business Development in the Performance Material's Cluster. Prior to
DSM, Babette had a 22-year career at Dow Corning, where she held
leadership roles in Marketing and New Business Development across a
broad range of industries, from Personal and Household Care, Packaging,
Photonics, and Electronics, including both line and strategic
responsibilities at the European and Global level. Babette also led
the corporate Marketing Excellence Council and was Program Director in
the corporate Business & Technology Incubator.
Kenneth Wall joined BioAmber after working for six years as a
consultant. He was formerly President of Invista's Intermediates and
Specialty Products business, a role he assumed after Koch industries
acquired Invista from DuPont in 2004. Prior to the acquisition, Ken had
a 30-year career at DuPont, culminating as President of DuPont's $2.7
billion global nylon, polyester, intermediates, nylon polymer and
specialty products business. Ken's experience included Director of
Integrated Operations, Director of Manufacturing, Global Business
Manager, Plant Superintendent, R&D Director and Staff Engineer.
Heinz Haller joins BioAmber as an independent board member with over 25
years of experience in the chemical industry. Heinz is Executive Vice
President and Chief Commercial Officer of The Dow Chemical Company,
responsible for Marketing and Sales worldwide, Dow AgroSciences, Asia
Pacific, Latin America, and he is the chairman of the board of Dow
Kokam, a lithium ion battery JV with Townsend Ventures. He also sits on
the board of Advanced Electrolytes, a JV between Dow and Ube Industries
of Japan and serves on the board of Dow Corning, a JV between Dow and
Corning, as the lead director for Dow. Heinz is a member of Dow's
Executive Leadership Committee and co-chairs the Growth and Innovation
Team with the CTO of Dow. Prior to his present responsibilities he was
responsible for the Performance Materials Division of DOW. Heinz is a
former CEO of OMYA/Pluess-Stauffer, a privately held company active in
chemical distribution and the world's largest calcium carbonate mining
company. Heinz is a former CEO of Red Bull Sauber AG and Sauber
Petronas Engineering AG, and a former Managing Director of Allianz
Capital Partners GmbH.
Raymond Land joins BioAmber as an independent board member and Chair of
the audit committee. Ray has over 35 years financial experience and has
been the Chief Financial Officer of four publicly traded companies:
Clarient (CLRT), Orchid Cellmark (ORCH), Genencor (GCOR) and West
Pharmaceutical Services (WST). He was formerly the Vice
President-Corporate Controller and then a Vice-President General
Manager of Campbell Soup Co.'s Frozen Food Division. Ray has also been
the audit committee chair for several private and public companies. Ray
has extensive experience in assisting start-ups put in place the
financial organizations, systems and procedures needed to manage rapid
growth and ensure compliance. Ray is a certified public accountant and
spent 9 years at Coopers & Lybrand.
William Camp joins BioAmber as the Naxos representative to the
board. Bill has over 20 years experience at Archer Daniels Midland
Company (ADM), in a variety of management positions until he retired in
December 2007 from his position as Executive Vice President and Vice
President, Asia Strategy. He was also an Executive Vice President,
Processing from 2004 to August 2007. Bill has significant experience in
logistics and supply chain management. He has been an independent
director of Tate & Lyle PLC since 2010 and was a director of Wilmar
International, Ltd. from 2005 to 2007.
"These executives and board members represent an important step in our
development," said Jean-Francois Huc, CEO of BioAmber. "These
individuals have rich, complementary experience and collectively, they
will help the company in its next stage of development," he added.
About BioAmber Inc.
BioAmber is a next generation chemicals company. Its proprietary
technology platform combines industrial biotechnology, an innovative
purification process and chemical catalysis to convert renewable
feedstocks into chemicals for use in a wide variety of everyday
products including plastics, food additives and personal care
products. BioAmber produces bio-succinic acid in what it believes to be
one of the world's largest bio-based chemical manufacturing facilities.
For more information, see www.bio-amber.com.
SOURCE BIOAMBER INC.
|