EMERYVILLE, Calif., Feb. 19, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS), a leading renewable chemicals and fuels company, today announced that Zanna McFerson would be appointed Chief Business Officer, responsible for Amyris's commercial and product line activities, effective March 4, 2013.
"Over a two decade career at Cargill, Zanna helped commercialize new, breakthrough products in complex global specialty markets. Her proven track record at developing the necessary commercial arrangements, supply chain, and marketing strategy will serve Amyris well as we build on the successful start of our industrial plant and focus on sales growth," said John Melo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amyris.
Previously, McFerson was Vice President of Cargill, serving as Business Director of Truvia®, a leading global natural sugar substitute business she helped create over the past decade. In this position, Zanna directed an extensive global team with resources across research and development, agronomy, supply chain, scientific and regulatory affairs, sales and marketing. A native of Finland, McFerson joined Cargill in 1990 as a commodity trader and held various roles in sales, business management, and new product development at Cargill.
"Amyris has proven its technology at scale, and I look forward to bringing my experience to meet growing customer demand for breakthrough renewable products that deliver on innovation at competitive prices," said McFerson.
About Amyris, Inc.
Amyris is an integrated renewable products company focused on providing sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. Amyris uses its industrial synthetic biology platform to convert plant sugars into a variety of hydrocarbon molecules—flexible building blocks that can be used in a wide range of products. Amyris's initial portfolio of commercial products is based on Biofene®, Amyris's brand of renewable farnesene, a long-chain hydrocarbon. Amyris is commercializing these products both as No Compromise® renewable ingredients in cosmetics, flavors and fragrances, polymers, lubricants and consumer products, and also as No Compromise renewable diesel and jet fuel. Amyris Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Amyris, oversees the establishment and expansion of Amyris's production in Brazil. More information about Amyris is available at www.amyris.com.
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Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements other than statements of historical facts could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events (such as delivery of, and growing customer demand for, renewable products) that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on management's current expectations and actual results and future events may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties, including those associated with any delays or failures in development, production or commercialization of products, liquidity and ability to fund capital expenditures, Amyris's reliance on third parties to achieve its goals, and other risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of Amyris's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on November 9, 2012. Amyris disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Amyris, Biofene and No Compromise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc. This press release also contains trademarks of other businesses that are the property of their respective owners.