DAVIS, Calif., Dec. 11 Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) today announces 2 new additions to its executive management team. Mr. Chris Hildreth joined MBI as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations, and is responsible for expanding all commercial aspects of the company, including sales, marketing, and business development functions. Dr. Kin Sing (Ray) Lam joined MBI as Vice President of Process Development, and leads the company's development efforts in scaling its broad pipeline of products to commercial manufacturing scale.
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Chris Hildreth has extensive experience in the agricultural chemical industry, providing successful general management of sales organizations driven by profitable growth. Prior to arriving at MBI, he was Sr. Vice President and Director of Sales at AMVAC Corporation from 2003 to mid-2009. Before that, Hildreth held various sales and general management positions with United Agri Products, Inc., including Executive Vice President International, President and General Manager Distribution, President Products Company, United Agri Products Inc. and General Manager, UAP Canada.
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"Chris is a highly accomplished and well-respected business manager and his extensive industry sales experience and complementary management style will be invaluable as he drives commercial growth at MBI," said Pam Marrone, Founder and CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations.
"I am very happy to be a part of the Marrone team," said Chris Hildreth. "Marrone Bio Innovations already has two efficacious products being sold commercially and an incredibly exciting pipeline. Natural products usage is increasing rapidly in both organic and standard crop production, as the efficacy of new products equals that of chemical products. The growth of natural product usage and Marrone Bio Innovations will be exceptional."
Dr. Ray Lam comes to MBI as an experienced and successful leader of multi-disciplinary teams of scientists in natural product discovery and development. He has a proven track record of advancing projects through developmental stages to industrial production. Prior to joining MBI, Ray was Vice President, Microbiology and Industrial Fermentation at Nereus Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, CA where he designed and developed the Marine Microbial Drug Discovery program. Before that, he was a Senior Principal Scientist in the Natural Products Department at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in Connecticut.
"We are pleased to attract such a distinguished scientist and leader as Ray to lead our process development efforts," states Marrone. "With his extensive natural products experience, he will contribute scientifically to all of the company's R&D efforts from discovery through to commercial scale up."
Dr. Lam received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada and his M.A. and B.A. in Chemistry from the State University College of New York, Plattsburgh, New York. He is a long-standing member of several professional associations including the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Microbiology and the Society for Industrial Microbiology.
Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) discovers, develops and markets effective and environmentally responsible products that fill unmet needs for weed, disease and pest management. MBI's effective and safe products come from a combination of in-licensed technology and its own discovery. The company's own R&D finds naturally occurring microorganisms from unique habitats and develops them into pest management products. MBI has an impressive pipeline of new products, including two insecticides, two herbicides and Zequanox(TM), a product for controlling invasive zebra and quagga mussels in fresh waterways. MBI currently markets Regalia® for control of fungal and bacterial diseases of both food and ornamental crops, and GreenMatch® Burndown Herbicide for weed control in organic crop production.
SOURCE Marrone Bio Innovations
