On the Move – Topsoe, Yield10, Calyxt, BASF, Biotalys, Tidal Vision, New Culture and more

May 17, 2022 |

Josh Kittelson, PhD, former Bolt Threads VP, joins New Culture as VP of Biology

In California, Bay Area-based New Culture hired Josh Kittleson, PhD, as the company’s VP of Biology. New Culture is leading the global movement to an animal-free dairy future, offering animal-free dairy products that are indistinguishable from conventional products in taste, texture, function, and nutritional content. Adding Kittleson’s deep synthetic biology and R&D management expertise, the company has brought on board an industry leader to accelerate the time to market of its animal-free mozzarella.

Kittleson has 15+ years of experience in molecular biology and strain engineering, with a dual focus designing structural proteins for novel applications and engineering microbial behavior. He holds a PhD in Bioengineering from Berkeley, a BS in Biochemistry and Computer Engineering from University of Arizona, 15+ patents, and has published 10+ peer-reviewed papers.

Kittleson comes to New Culture from Bolt Threads, where he was Vice President of Research and part of the leadership team. He was responsible for new products and breakthroughs to transform the world of animal-free materials. He built and led the team that created the platform for rapid expression, purification, and evaluation of novel structural proteins and biochemical tools, leading to partnerships with renowned consumer brands including Adidas, Lululemon, and Stella McCartney. The breadth of his management experience spans molecular biology, protein engineering and purification, strain engineering, chemistry, and material processing and characterization.

Change in Topsoe Senior Leadership Team

Chokri Mousaoui, Executive Vice President of Power-to-X leaves Topsoe to pursue other opportunities.  COO Kim Saaby Hedegaard will serve as interim head of the Power-to-X organization.

“We’ve set an ambitious direction for our Power-to-X efforts, and this stands firm. I would like to thank Chokri for his courage, strong commercial contribution and devoted efforts to promote Topsoe as the global leader in decarbonization. I wish him all the best with the next chapter of his career,” says Roeland Baan, CEO at Topsoe.

Tidal Vision acquires ViaeX Technologies Inc., appoints Vivian Qu Chief Product Officer

Tidal Vision, a Pacific Northwest-based company that turns discarded crab shells into sustainable, chitosan-based ‘green’ chemical solutions, acquired ViaeX Technologies, a Bay Area start-up, to join them on their mission to eliminate the need for various toxic and synthetic chemicals in treatments used across industries.

As part of the acquisition, ViaeX’s CEO and founder, Vivian Qu, joined Tidal Vision as their Chief Product Officer where she will use her expertise in material science and bioengineering to move the company forward, continuing their development of high grade, cost-effective, scalable chitosan-based products.

Tidal Vision is the only company commercially producing chitosan in the USA.

Biotalys Appoints Michiel van Lookeren Campagne to Board of Directors

In Belgium and North Carolina, Biotalys, an Agricultural Technology company protecting crops and food with protein-based biocontrol solutions, announced the appointment of Dr. Michiel van Lookeren Campagne to its Board of Directors, following its recent annual shareholders meeting.

As a pivotal player in innovations in biotechnology, Dr. van Lookeren Campagne held a variety of leadership roles at Syngenta and Bayer. At Syngenta, he was Head of Seeds Research based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and at Bayer CropScience, he headed the research for its BioScience business. Prior to that, he held scientific research roles at Wageningen University & Research Centre (WUR). He currently serves as the Director Agriculture & Food for CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. He will be relocating back to Europe this summer.

Yield10 Welcomes Dr. Willie Loh, PhD., to Board of Directors and Management

Yield10 named Dr. Willie Loh, PhD., as Special Commercial & Technical Advisor to the Board of Directors and Management of the Company, effective immediately. His extensive knowledge of the commercial landscape for commodity and specialty oils, including omega-3 oils, makes him uniquely suited to an advisory role. The full release can be viewed here: here.https://ir.yield10bio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/yield10-bioscience-names-willie-loh-phd-former-cargill-executive

Dr. Loh retired in 2020 as Vice President for Cargill’s Global Edible Oil Solutions group in North America, where he had responsibilities for the market development of novel oil products and led its Project Management Office. Before this assignment, Dr. Loh led marketing professionals responsible for strategic planning, new business development, product management, and innovation in food ingredient oils, food service oils, and planting seeds.

Please let me know if you’re interested in publishing this announcement and speaking with Dr. Loh about his advisory role for the Board of Directors and Management regarding Yield10 Biosciences commercialization of the Camelina platform for oils.

Calyxt Announces Strategic Hires in Business Development and Manufacturing

In Minnesota, Calyxt, Inc., a plant-based synthetic biotechnology company, welcomed the second of two director-level hires in areas critical to the continued advancement of the Company’s key technology and business development goals.

The first hire was Ms. Suellen Boot who joined as Business Development Director earlier in April. Ms. Boot brings more than twenty years of business development expertise to Calyxt, where she will lead partnerships, deal structuring, valuation modeling, transaction execution and alliance management for the Company’s key target markets.

The second hire is Ms. Elizabeth Teigland who joined today as Manufacturing Director. Ms. Teigland brings over 15 years of chemistry and purification expertise to Calyxt. She will be responsible for leading and managing the optimization of the Company’s BioFactory Production System and play a significant role in helping to facilitate pilot to commercial scale production of the of customer demand-driven compounds.

New composition of Supervisory Board of BASF SE

The ordinary Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of BASF SE elected Alessandra Genco (48), Chief Financial Officer of Leonardo SpA, Rome, Italy, and Professor Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer (66), chairman of the supervisory board of Robert Bosch GmbH and managing partner of Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, Stuttgart, Germany, to the Supervisory Board of BASF SE as new shareholder representatives. They succeed Anke Schäferkordt (59) and Franz Fehrenbach (72), who have stepped down from the Supervisory Board as of the end of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2022 due to their many years of service on the Board.

The Supervisory Board of BASF SE now comprises the following shareholder representatives, whose mandates run until the end of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2024:

  • Kurt Bock, Heidelberg, Germany (Chairman)
  • Professor Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, Stuttgart, Germany
  • Professor Dr. Thomas Carell, Munich, Germany
  • Dame Alison Carnwath, Exeter, United Kingdom
  • Liming Chen, Beijing, China
  • Alessandra Genco, Rome, Italy

 

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