DAVIS, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- AgraQuest, Inc., a leading provider of effective and safe pest management and plant health products, announced today that it has named Dennis Joyce as president and Derek Fairchild-Coppoletti as chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate development. The announcement comes shortly after the departure of founder Pam Marrone to start a new company. Dr. Marrone will continue with AgraQuest as an advisor and standing board member. Don Glidewell, former CFO, will assume the newly created role of vice president of operations.
“I am very proud of the company we have built thus far,” said Dr. Marrone. “Built from the ground up from its own discovery, AgraQuest has gained recognition as a successful model for a bio-pesticide company. With momentum behind our products and a deep pipeline, AgraQuest is poised for sustained growth. I look forward to continuing to contribute to our success as a board member and advisor.”
“We thank Pam for her vision and all her tireless effort to build AgraQuest these past eleven years,” said Mike Miille, Ph.D., CEO and COO of AgraQuest. “I am privileged to have worked with her. We will continue to take the company forward with a focus on commercializing our innovative products. Dennis and Derek, with their proven track records of building successful businesses, are exciting additions to our management team, bringing the skills and experience needed to guide us through our next growth phase.”
The appointments of Joyce and Fairchild-Coppoletti come as the company continues to realize significant growth of its flagship biofungicide brands -- Serenade®, Sonata®, Rhapsody® and Ballad® Plus -- and accelerates commercialization of its deep and expanding product pipeline into additional pesticide segments such as insecticides, nematocides and fumigants. Mr. Joyce has a strong track record in marketing, sales and operations from a broad range of complex businesses including Johnson & Johnson, PlanetRx.com, and most recently Robert Mondavi Wines. At Mondavi he rose to executive vice president and chief operating officer for the then publicly-traded company. His tenure culminated in a successful merger with Constellation Brands, a $1.4 billion transaction. At PlanetRx.com Mr. Joyce presided over the company’s marketing efforts as it grew to $100 million in revenues in its first year and went public at a value of $1 billion. At Johnson & Johnson, he grew many of their familiar brands to record sales and market share.
Mr. Fairchild-Coppoletti joins AgraQuest from Sendmail, Inc., a global provider of enterprise solutions for secure, dependable, and compliant messaging, where he was chief financial officer and executive vice president, corporate development. Previously, he was with Critical Path, a global provider of digital communications software and services, where he was vice president of corporate development. At Critical Path, he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions, licensing and distribution agreements, outsourcing and strategic sales. Fairchild-Coppoletti has also held positions at Vectis Group, Lionbridge Technologies, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners.
“With years of experience delivering safe and effective products that address unmet market needs, AgraQuest is uniquely positioned to bring promising natural pest control technologies to market,” said Dennis Joyce, president of AgraQuest. “Our exciting pipeline positions us well to provide numerous innovative product solutions to our customers in the agricultural, turf and ornamental, and retail sectors.”
About AgraQuest, Inc.
AgraQuest is a biotechnology company that focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and marketing effective, safe and environmentally friendly natural pest management products for agricultural, institutional and home markets. The company sells Serenade®, Serenade® Garden, Rhapsody®, Sonata® and Ballad® Biofungicides and Biotune(TM)Adjuvant. AgraQuest received the Presidential Green Chemistry Award from the EPA for the discovery and commercialization of Serenade Biofungicide. In 2004, AgraQuest received a Red Herring Top 100 Private Company Award and the World Technology Award for the Environment.
Source: AgraQuest, Inc.
