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.
