Senior Finance and Business Veteran with Fortune 500 Experience Joins Company Following Very Strong Year of Sustainable Growth
EMERYVILLE, Calif., Jan. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS), the industrial bioscience company, today announced the appointment of Kathleen Valiasek, a senior finance and business executive with over 20 years’ experience serving start-up, venture-backed and Fortune 500 companies as Chief Financial Officer effective immediately. She replaces Raffi Asadorian, who has resigned to pursue a new opportunity, but will continue to support specific projects, as well as serve in an ad hoc consulting capacity to ensure a smooth transition.
Valiasek’s experience encompasses serving with fast-growing companies including those among the Fortune 500 and across the life sciences, tech, retail, telecommunications, real estate, and healthcare sectors. Prior to joining Amyris, Valiasek was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lenox Group, Inc., a finance and strategic consulting firm where she worked closely with the senior management teams of private and public companies including such organizations as Kaiser Permanente, Inc., Albertsons, Inc. and Cytokinetics, Inc. Prior to that, she served in key venture capital, real estate development and accounting roles. Her results-driven background includes specific areas of expertise in finance, SEC reporting, strategic planning, debt and equity financing, business development, and mergers and acquisitions. Valiasek holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
“Following completing a record year of revenue growth, we are entering 2017 with the partnerships and product demand to further grow the business and improve shareholder value,” said John Melo, Amyris President & CEO. “Kathy’s strong financial management and business experience at a time of such rapid growth and significant commercial expansion will be a key asset in continuing to build on Amyris’s momentum.”
“I’m excited to join Amyris at a time when it is so well positioned as a leader in the sector by nature of its strong technology platform and revenue growth rate,” said Kathy Valiasek, Chief Financial Officer. “I look forward to leveraging my skill set to continue to improve the company’s operating metrics, balance sheet and financial position.”
About Amyris
Amyris is the integrated renewable products company that is enabling the world’s leading brands to achieve sustainable growth. Amyris applies its innovative bioscience solutions to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules and produce specialty ingredients and consumer products. The company is delivering its No Compromise® products across a number of markets, including specialty and performance chemicals, flavors and fragrances, cosmetics ingredients, and pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. More information about the company is available at www.amyris.com.
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 the anticipated growth of the business and improvement in shareholder value through partnerships and product demand) 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 risks related to manufacturing capacity at Amyris’s Brotas facility, delays or failures in development, production and 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, 2016. 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 and the Amyris logo are registered trademarks of Amyris, Inc.