Full Press Release Details
Appoints Federico A. Tripodi to New Role of CEO
ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2016--Calyxt, Inc., a
Minnesota-based company developing healthier food products to benefit
both consumers and growers, announced today the appointment of former
Monsanto Corporation executive Federico A. Tripodi to the role of Chief
Executive Officer of Calyxt. Mr. Tripodi will work closely with Calyxt's
executive team and researchers to further the Company's mission to
develop crops and food products with healthier characteristics, as well
as maximize partnerships and collaborations. Mr. Tripodi takes over as
CEO for Luc Mathis, who will continue his role as an advisor to the
"Federico has nearly two decades of experience in agricultural R&D, and
his extensive professional background in this space makes him a perfect
fit for Calyxt," said Andr Choulika, Chairman of Calyxt's Board of
Directors, Chairman and CEO of Cellectis SA sole shareholder of Calyxt.
"His successful track record in developing and bringing products to
market - coupled with his broad experience in managing relationships
with customers, partners, suppliers and academics - adds another
valuable layer to our senior management team. We are thrilled to have
Mr. Tripodi lead us in our next level of growth and expansion."
Mr. Tripodi joins Calyxt from Monsanto, where he spent over 17 years in
a variety of global- and Midwest-based executive positions focused on
bringing a broad range of agricultural biotech products to the market.
His commercialization experience includes farmer-focused seeds and
traits as well as products focused on the consumer, bioenergy, animal
feed and industrial product market segments. Through his career Mr.
Tripodi led teams in early discovery trough commercialization phases,
with roles including Omega-3 Program Lead and Program Director of
Corporate Strategy before becoming Sugarcane Commercial Director for the
"Gene editing holds the promise to go well beyond revolutionizing the
Ag. biotech space by bringing consumer- and health-focused innovation to
food crops in a way that was simply not previously possible," said Mr.
Tripodi. "Calyxt's TALEN gene-editing
technology has emerged as a powerful tool in the crop development space
and presents significant potential to improve the quality of our food
while also meeting the challenges that are related to sustainable growth
and climate change. Joining the team will enable me to lead an
innovative organization that will contribute to close the gap currently
exiting between Ag. biotech and consumer food innovation while building
on the philosophy that has allowed Calyxt to become one of the most
innovative and dynamic companies in the agricultural biotech industry to
"Federico's executive leadership experience, success in agricultural
innovation and commercialization as well as deep industry knowledge make
him the right choice to lead Calyxt in achieving our goals for 2016 and
beyond," added Dan Voytas, Chief Science Officer of Calyxt. "We pride
ourselves on bringing a talented leader on board."
Kincannon & Reed, a leading executive search firm focused on the food,
agribusiness, and biosciences sectors, assisted Calyxt in the
recruitment of Federico Tripodi.
Founded in 2010, Calyxt, Inc. (previously Cellectis plant sciences,
Inc.) is based in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The company aims to create
healthier crop products such as high-oleic/low trans fat soybean oil,
cold storable potato, gluten reduced wheat and low saturated canola oil
for the food and agriculture industries. Calyxt is developing a network
of partnerships in order to secure accessibility of its food products to
Cellectis is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing
immunotherapies based on gene edited CAR T-cells (UCART). The company's
mission is to develop a new generation of cancer therapies based on
engineered T-cells. Cellectis capitalizes on its 16 years of expertise
in genome engineering - based on its flagship TALEN
products and meganucleases and pioneering electroporation PulseAgile
technology - to create a new generation of immunotherapies. CAR
technologies are designed to target surface antigens expressed on cells.
Using its life-science-focused, pioneering genome-engineering
technologies, Cellectis' goal is to create innovative products in
multiple fields and with various target markets. Cellectis is listed on
the Nasdaq market (ticker: CLLS) and on the NYSE Alternext market
(ticker: ALCLS). To find out more about us, visit our website: www.cellectis.com.
For further information please visit our website: www.calyxt.com.
and the corporate logo are trademarks owned by Calyxt, Inc.
Talking about gene editing? We do it.
registered trademark owned by the Cellectis Group.
Strategic Communications
Caitlin Kasunich, 212-896-1241
Simon Harnest, 646-385-9008
Strategy and Finance