Peter Beetham, PhD

Co-Founder, President and Chief Operating Officer

As a key part of Cibus’ founding team, Peter took a lead role in developing the core technologies associated with the Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS®). He led the research and product development teams at Cibus before taking on the role of CEO in July 2014.

Possessing a passion for moving technology to commercial application, Peter has over 30 years of experience in agriculture. Prior to joining Cibus, Peter was Research Director of the Plant and Industrial Products Division at ValiGen. Part of his extensive research experience was at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University, where he was a postdoctoral scientist and one of the pioneers of the early work that led to the Cibus RTDS technology.

During his eight-year tenure at the Victorian Department of Agriculture (Australia), Peter led a team that provided clean planting materials for root crops for many countries in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. His efforts helped increase crop yields and improve farmer economics.

Peter received a PhD in Plant Molecular Virology from Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Botany/Plant Biology Zoology from Monash University.

Greg Gocal, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer & Executive Vice President

Greg Gocal, PhD is a co-founder and serves as Chief Scientific Officer & Executive Vice President. In 2000, Dr. Gocal joined an innovative cross disciplinary team at ValiGen, Cibus’ predecessor, as the lead molecular biologist. Within the Plant and Industrial Products Division, his team began developing the RTDS suite of technologies in plant and microbial systems in what was then the nascent field that has become gene editing. Continuing this focus and enabling our technologies and product pipeline, at Cibus, Dr. Gocal has held various research management positions. Dr. Gocal has studied many aspects of plant biology.

He was awarded undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Calgary. He worked at CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra, Australia where he received his PhD in Plant Molecular Biology from the Australian National University, then continued studying in this field as a postdoctoral scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

Noel Fong, PhD

Director, Strain Development

As Director of Strain Development at Nucelis, Dr. Fong oversees all the ASAP™ (Accelerated Strain Advancement Platform) partner projects. In addition to leading her project teams on existing projects, she works closely with business development and research to identify new product opportunities and partners.

Noel has been at Nucelis since its founding in 2012, and prior to that, she was a member of the research team at Cibus since 2007. Prior to joining Cibus, Noel was at Zymogenetics/Novo Nordisk (now Bristol-Myers Squibb) in Seattle, where she engineered the production strain for making FXIII clotting factor in S. cerevisiae. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan Medical School and Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals (now Pfizer), where she studied insulin signaling pathways and associated yeast applications. Prior to that, she was at Chiron (now Novartis), where she expressed human growth factors in yeast.

She received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and M.S. in Food Science in the Dept. of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis, and her A.B. in Chemistry and Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.

As an active 30+ year member of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, she was named President in August, 2020, after serving as the Conference Chair for the 2018 General Meeting. In service to her field, she is a reviewer for two publications: Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, and Enzyme and Microbial Technology.

Sean O'Connor, PhD

Senior Vice President, Cibus - President & CEO, Nucelis

Sean has 35 years of management and research experience in the specialty chemicals industry. Before joining Nucelis in 2012, he held several key leadership positions with Chemtura Corporation, including Vice President, Plastic Additives Group; Vice President, Strategy; and President, Petroleum Additives.

Sean’s impressive career includes a position at Adibis, a subsidiary of BP Chemicals in the United Kingdom, which he held for several years before relocating in 1994 to join Witco at its U.S. World Headquarters. Afterwards, he worked at Crompton Corporation prior to its merger with Great Lakes Corporation (forming Chemtura).

He is an inventor with his name on over 25 US patents, and has authored countless scientific and product promotional papers.

Sean received a PhD in Organic Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Bristol.

James Radtke, PhD

Senior Vice President, Product Development

With over 30 years of seed industry experience in both research and management roles, Jim oversees product development for Cibus. Prior to joining Cibus, Jim served as Global Temperate Corn Breeding Leader for Dow AgroSciences. He was also a member of the Mycogen Seeds management team, where he led the plant breeding programs of multiple crops.

Earlier in his career, Jim created a work plan for Agrigenetics, leading the effort to develop the first corn Bt transgenic product sold in the United States. His career has included developing competitive corn inbred lines and commercially significant hybrids for Sungene Technologies.

Jim has been active in the American Seed Trade Association, and is a past president of the National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders (NCCPB).

Jim received a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Science in Plant Breeding from the University of Wisconsin.

Tony Moran

Senior Vice President, International Development

Since joining Cibus in 2011, Tony has been responsible for product, business, and commercial development for non-US territories and regulatory interactions.

Before joining Cibus, Tony spent 7 years in portfolio management and project leadership for pharmaceutical multinational Pfizer. Prior to this he worked at Syngenta AG and Zeneca, where he held a range of technical and leadership roles.

Tony received a Master’s Degree in Natural Sciences - Applied Biology from the University of Cambridge.

Noel Sauer, PhD

Senior Vice President, Research

Noel is responsible for leading the Research and Development team towards the development of non-transgenic traits in commercially relevant crops through advancements in the field of precision plant breeding.

Noel was a Postdoctoral Fellow studying host-pathogen interactions at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Noel received a PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California.

Norm Sissons

Senior Vice President, Seed and Traits

Norm joined Cibus in 2019 and brings over 20 years of experience in agriculture seed and crop inputs.

Norm has extensive experience in international business, strategic planning, product marketing and commercializing new agricultural seed products. Prior to joining Cibus, Norm was Global Crop Head for Syngenta based in Switzerland. In this role, Norm was responsible for leading the tomato and pepper crop strategy development and implementation from R&D to commercialization. Norm also spent 16 years with Monsanto Company in the US and Canada, initially in product development, and then leading commercial and marketing efforts for herbicide tolerance traits in canola, vegetable seed and soybean.

Norm received an MBA and a Master’s of Science in agronomy from the University of Manitoba.

Christian Schöpke, PhD

Senior Research Fellow, Cell Biology

Dr. Schöpke has worked in the field of plant biotechnology for over 28 years. His past research includes many aspects of plant developmental physiology (cytodifferentiation, somatic embryogenesis, plant regeneration from protoplasts) and genetic transformation of plants. From 1993 - 1999 Dr. Schöpke held a position as Senior Researcher at ORSTOM (Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Dévéloppement en Coopération). In collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla he led a group of scientists, technicians and trainees involved in the genetic transformation of cassava, rice, tomato, and tobacco. Before joining Cibus, from 1999 - 2000 Dr. Schöpke was employed at the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, where he worked on the genetic transformation of Citrus. He joined Cibus (then Valigen) in 2000. For the last 18 years he directed efforts to create and implement protocols for the application of RTDS to plants. His current focus is on the improvement of cell culture processes through automation. Dr. Schöpke received an M.Sc. in Biology from the Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany and a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the same institution. His doctoral thesis focused on the establishment of a method for the regeneration of plants from protoplasts of Coffea.

Dave Voss

Vice President, Business Development

Dave serves as Vice President, Business Development with over 30 years’ experience in the seed and biotechnology industry.

Dave’s expertise includes business development and commercialization of new biotechnology products within the plant and life science industries. Dave has a successful track record of identifying strategic partners, negotiating, and closing complex technical / commercial agreements with major agricultural companies. He has extensive experience in commercialization of new disruptive technologies using seed and plant–based products as a technology delivery platform.

Prior to joining Cibus Dave served as Director of Commercial Development for the Plant and Industrial Products Division of ValiGen, following service to Mycogen Seeds where he oversaw the soybean and sunflower crop portfolio. Earlier in his career, Dave also held various high-level sales and marketing positions with Dekalb Genetics Corporation.

Dave received his MBA from Northern Illinois University and his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Business from Iowa State University.

Wade King, MD

Chief Financial Officer

Wade King joined Cibus in January, 2021, bringing a background of highly successful C-suite roles across multiple facets of the healthcare industry.

Before joining Cibus, Wade was CEO of Prota Therapeutics, an oral immunotherapy company based in Melbourne, Australia. Before Prota, Wade led Corporate Development and Strategy and served on the management team of Insmed, a multi-billion-dollar public rare disease company, leading global licensing deals and exploring numerous gene therapy opportunities. Wade also led both finance and business development for Neomend, a surgical sealant company that was acquired by CR Bard, now part of Becton Dickinson.

Prior to his work in the corporate sector, Wade was Chief of Anesthesiology for a 20-physician practice in Silicon Valley. During his clinical years, Wade consulted frequently to the venture capital community. Following Stanford Business School, Wade went on to become a repeat Wall Street Journal All Star Health Care Analyst and Director of Investment Research for multiple investment banks. Subsequently, Wade was Senior Portfolio Manager and COO at several investment management firms.

Wade is a board-certified anesthesiologist and completed residencies in Surgery and Anesthesiology at UCSF. Wade holds an M.S.M. from Stanford Business School, M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from UNC Chapel Hill Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and a B.A. cum laude from Princeton University.

Rosa Cheuk Kim, JD

Senior Vice President, Legal

Rosa joined Cibus in 2011 as Internal Counsel, overseeing all Intellectual Property activities. In this role, she was instrumental in positioning Cibus as a leading gene editing company for agricultural and microorganism traits, developing and extending Cibus’ extensive IP portfolio. In 2020 Rosa was promoted to Vice President, Legal, overseeing all legal activities, including intellectual property (IP), contracts and litigation.

Prior to joining Cibus, Rosa served as patent attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP. She also spent eight valuable years at the Salk Institute, doing molecular biology research with Dr. Joseph Ecker.

Rosa holds a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law, as well as Master’s Degree in Biotechnology and a Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Andrew Walker

Vice President, Production

Andrew leads the gene editing Production Operations team that is responsible for implementing the Cibus Trait Machine™ — an end-to-end crop specific gene editing platform based on Cibus core RTDS® technologies.

In his 20+ year career with Cibus, he has had the pleasure of developing and advancing Cibus’ vision of accelerated plant breeding using the Trait Machine™ both inside and outside of the laboratory, serving in a variety of roles across Cell Biology, Product Development, Breeding and Commercial.

With a background in systems engineering, Andrew has spearheaded the development and implementation of proprietary, custom automation hardware solutions, which are a core component of the Trait Machine™.

Andrew earned a BS degree in electrical engineering with a focus in integrated systems from the University of Southern California.

Rory Riggs

Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Mr. Riggs is a co-founder and board member of Cibus; CEO & founder of Locus Analytics LLC and Syntax LLC; chairman and co-founder of Royalty Pharma, the largest investor in revenue producing intellectual property (principally royalty interests in marketed and late stage development biopharmaceutical products); and co-founder and board member of Fibrogen. In addition, he is a board member of Intra-Cellular Therapeutics, Inc., Nuredis, GeneNews and eReceivables. He is the former president and board member of Biomatrix, Inc., a NYSE-listed biotechnology company that developed and launched Synvisc®, an injection used to treat knee pain caused by osteoarthritis and a partner in New Ventures, LLC.

Mr. Riggs received an MBA from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College.

Mark Finn

Mr. Finn serves as an independent director on the Legg Mason Partners Fund Board. He is a member of the advisory board for Auven Therapeutics, a private equity fund focused on life sciences. Mr. Finn is also a co-founder of New Ventures Select LLC, a fund focused on royalties, and New Ventures LLC and New Ventures III, both early stage venture capital funds. New Ventures LLC is a lead investor in Cibus.

Mr. Finn served as a Trustee of the Virginia Retirement System and Chairman of its Investment Advisory Committee and as Chairman of the Investment Operations Advisory Committee for the State of Alaska. He was also a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Advisory Committee on Managed Futures.

Mr. Finn has taught investments at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business and lectures on investments at the Mason Graduate School of Business at the College of William and Mary, where he received an MBA.

Jean-Pierre Lehmann

Mr. Lehmann has been a private investor for most of his professional life. He oversees a diversified portfolio in venture capital projects, hotels, and commercial and residential real estate in the United States. Prior to becoming a private investor, in 1992 Mr. Lehmann resided in Geneva, Switzerland, where he managed portfolios for Morval Bank and its holding company. He previously oversaw a diversified holding for Edmond de Rothschild.

Mr. Lehmann received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales.

Gerhard Prante, PhD

Vice Chairman

Dr. Prante has been a strong proponent for the integration of biotechnology into agribusiness. He has served as a member of several industry associations including the German Crop Protection and Fertilizer Association, the European Crop Protection Association, the Global Crop Protection Federation, and the Global Plant Science Industry Federation. Since 2002, he has been an active consultant to the industry.

Dr. Prante began his career in 1970 with Hoechst AG and was eventually named head of the agricultural division in 1985. This was a leadership role he held until 1994, when he formed and became CEO of AgrEvo, a company of Hoechst and Schering. AgrEvo was merged into Aventis CropScience at the end of 1999, of which he was the deputy CEO until the company was acquired by Bayer AG and became part of Bayer CropScience. Dr. Prante served as a member of the SVB of Bayer CropScience until 2012.

Dr. Prante received a PhD in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Kiel.

Keith Walker, PhD

With over 40 years in agricultural biotechnology, Dr. Walker’s career spans the development of the field. This veteran of the gene editing industry was instrumental in transforming the Plant and Industrial Products Division of ValiGen, which he headed, into what is now Cibus. Retiring as Cibus CEO in 2014, Dr. Walker started Valley Oils to focus on delivering healthy, non-GMO oils and meals for the food, feed, and industrial products industries.

Prior to starting Cibus, Dr. Walker worked at Agrigenetics before it was acquired by Mycogen, after which he held a variety of management positions at Mycogen. He was also a co-founder, director, and vice president of research at Plant Genetics, Inc. (PGI). Before founding PGI, Dr. Walker served in a variety of research roles with Monsanto.

Dr. Walker is former chairman of the Gordon Conference in Plant Cell and Tissue Culture and was also associate editor of Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture Journal. He received a PhD in Biology from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Wooster.

Jan E. Leach, Ph.D.

Dr. Leach is a plant pathologist who studies the molecular basis of plant disease susceptibility and resistance and how these responses are influenced by interactions within the phytobiome. She currently serves as the Research Associate Dean at the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University. Dr. Leach is the current President of the International Society of Plant Pathology and is a Fellow and a past President of the American Phytopathological Society (APS). She served on the APS Public Policy Board for 16 years, leading advocacy efforts such as the Phytobiomes Initiative, a systems-level approach to improving crop productivity. Dr. Leach is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She is a member of the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the US National Academy of Sciences. In May 2019, Leach was awarded the Agropolis Fondation Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize for Agriculture and Food for Distinguished Scientist, and in August 2020, she was presented the APS Award of Distinction, an award that has been given only 17 times in the 112 years of APS’s history. Leach was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

Dr. Leach received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and BS and MS degrees from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, with additional postdoctoral studies completed at East Malling Research, Kent, UK.

Joseph Ecker, Ph.D.

Dr. Ecker is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Professor and the International Council Chair in Genetics and Director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. His research focuses on genomic and epigenomic regulation in mammals and plants and on the application of DNA sequencing technologies for genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation, transcription and gene function. He has served as a member of the Council of Advisors to the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute among others. Dr. Ecker is a member of the US National Academies of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. His work has been recognized with many awards including, the John J. Carty award for the Advancement of Science from the National Academy, the George W. Beadle Award from the Genetics Society of America, and the Martin Gibbs Medal from the American Society of Plant Biologists.

Dr. Ecker received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, his BA from the College of New Jersey, and additional postdoctoral work completed at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Stephen H. Howell, Ph.D.

Dr. Howell is a member and the former chair of the Cibus Scientific Advisory Board, having served in that capacity since the company’s inception. He also currently serves as Professor Emeritus of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology at Iowa State University. Throughout his career, Dr. Howell has advanced the study of stress tolerance in plants, specifically researching the responses of crops to abiotic stresses, such as heat, drought and salt levels. Greater understanding of the biological responses to these stresses is the foundation for improving crop yields throughout the world. Dr. Howell has served at a number of prestigious universities, institutes and agencies, including the University of California, San Diego, Cornell University, the Boyce Thompson Institute and the Division of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience at the National Science Foundation. He has received multiple honors and awards over his career, including Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2016), Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor and Scholar of the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State.

Dr. Howell received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and his BA degree from Grinnell College.

Richard B. Meagher, Ph.D.

Dr. Meagher is a Distinguished Research Professor, who has spent most of his notable career in the Genetics Department at the University of Georgia. Dr. Meagher has performed pioneering research across diverse disciplines of science and biotechnology, including plant molecular genetics, phytoremediation, monoclonal antibody development, molecular epigenetics, and most recently novel mechanisms of liposomal drug delivery. He has over 200 peer reviewed publications and is the senior inventor on 12 U.S. patents. He has trained dozens of students and postdoctoral fellows and encouraged inventorship among his colleagues. Among several honors and awards, he was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2005 and the National Academy of Inventors in 2020. Dr. Meagher became a Professor Emeritus in 2018 and still has an active well-funded research laboratory at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Meagher received his B.S. degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Illinois and his M. Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University . He performed postdoctoral research at both the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.