For Immediate Release
British Virgin Islands (January 11, 2012) — Cibus, a leading plant trait development company, today announced the appointment of three board members in a reflection of the company’s expanding international reach. Dr. Christopher Richards, based in the UK, brings more than 25 years of experience in the agriculture and public health fields, including two decades with ICI, Zeneca and Syngenta. Prof. Alain Pompidou is a scientist and politician based in France who served as executive president of the European Patent Office from 2004 to 2007. Dr. Gerhard Prante, a highly regarded industry consultant based in Germany, has spent over three decades in the crop protection sector.
“The addition of these three esteemed individuals to Cibus’s board is the latest step as we continue to expand our footprint internationally,” said John Studebaker, Chairman of Cibus. “Chris, Alain and Gerhard will provide valuable expertise in a variety of fields including agriculture, intellectual property, public health, international development and financial strategy as we continue to build Cibus into a significant player in global agribusiness.”
Christopher Richards
In 20 years with ICI, Zeneca and Syngenta, Dr. Richards developed wide experience in technical and commercial areas, including periods living in South America and Japan. In 2003, he was appointed CEO of Arysta LifeScience, the Tokyo-based international agrochemical company, and was responsible for transforming the company into a powerful global force in the sector.
Since 2010, Dr. Richards has been chairman of Arysta LifeScience, and in December 2011 he was also appointed chairman of Oxitec Ltd. Prior to joining the private sector in 1983, Dr. Richards worked in research with the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. He earned a Master’s degree in zoology and a D. Phil. in ecology at St. John’s College, Oxford University.
Alain Pompidou
Between 1986 and 1997, Prof. Pompidou acted as special adviser to the French prime minister, the minister of research and higher education and the minister of health. As a member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999, he was particularly concerned with the EU framework programs for research, with the preparation of the Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions, and with bioethical issues. Prof. Pompidou also served as a professor of histology, embryology and cytogenetics in the medical faculty of the University of Paris from 1974 to 2004.
From 2000 to 2004, Prof. Pompidou was a founding member of France’s newly-created National Academy of Technologies and became vice-chair in 2006, then president in 2009. He also served as executive president of the European Patent Office from 2004 to 2007. Throughout his illustrious career, Prof. Pompidou has served on the consultative and scientific committees of numerous national, European and international organizations, including the WHO, UNESCO, the European Commission, and the Ethics Committee of the Human Genome Organization.
Gerhard Prante
Dr. Prante started his career in 1970 with Hoechst AG and was eventually named head of the agricultural division in 1985, a leadership role he held until leaving the company in 1993. From 1994 to 1999 he was CEO of AgrEvo GmbH, a multibillion dollar player in the crop protection industry, before leaving to step into the role of Deputy CEO at Aventis CropScience. In 2001, he became head of the divestiture project team for Aventis CropScience.
Dr. Prante has been a strong proponent for the integration of biotechnology into the 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.
Cibus® is a leading agricultural technology company that develops, and licenses gene edited plant traits to seed companies. Its traits enable farmers to manage productivity and sustainability challenges such as diseases, pests, weeds, fertilizer use and climate change. Cibus' goal is to use its trait technology to create a new generation of crops that are more adaptable to their environment and have increased yields while requiring less chemicals. Cibus' patented RTDS® technology platform has enabled agriculture's first standardized end-to-end gene editing trait prototype and production system: the Trait Machine™. The Trait Machine represents a technological breakthrough in plant breeding that broadens the range and scale of possible trait solutions that makes more diverse germplasm accessible, materially shortens trait breeding timelines, and shortens the time to market traits. Cibus' technologies and traits are accelerating agriculture's jump to a climate smart, more sustainable crop production system and the industry's move to sustainable lowcarbon ingredients.