Verdezyne, Inc. (Verdezyne), a privately-held company focused on producing renewable chemicals and fuels announced the appointment of Brian Conn as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Steve Jackson as Chief Operations Officer (COO). As CFO, Mr. Conn will head up Verdezyne’s Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology and Corporate Communications functions. Mr. Jackson will be responsible for the scale-up of manufacturing operations and commercial production of all bio-based chemicals.

Brian Conn

Mr. Conn has held executive positions with emerging and high-growth companies for over twenty years and has provided financial consulting services to life science companies in both the US and Europe. He was formerly CFO of MicroIslet, Inc., a preclinical biotech company developing a therapy for Type 1 Diabetes, and prior to that served as CFO/VP Finance of Chemicon International and Serologicals Corporation, orchestrating the sale of Chemicon to Serologicals in 2003. Mr. Conn has extensive experience with capital transactions, mergers and acquisitions and large-scale system implementations. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accountancy from Arizona State University.

“I look forward to working with Brian as Verdezyne enters its next phase, from developing to deploying technologies that enable the production of high-value petrochemical replacements derived from renewable sources at lower costs,” said Dr. Bill Radany, CEO of Verdezyne. “Brian’s experience with growing companies will serve us well as we continue to build our team, pursue partnerships and raise capital to take our technologies to commercialization.”

“I am excited to be working with such a dynamic team headed up by Bill,” said Mr. Conn. “It’s very clear that the technology, portfolio and the first-class development capabilities of Verdezyne have enormous potential to seize opportunities in this exciting renewable chemicals market.”

Steve Jackson

Mr. Jackson, who has served as Verdezyne’s CFO and COO since 2008, has more than 20 years finance and operations experience serving both mid-cap public companies and small start-ups. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Science degree in Accountancy from San Diego State University.

“I am pleased that Steve will continue to be a key asset to the Verdezyne management team in his expanded role as COO,” said Dr. Radany. “Steve has been instrumental in providing both the leadership and technical skills that are essential in helping the company overcome the growing pains that many startup organizations face. He is a solid choice for spearheading this critical piece of Verdezyne’s operations.”

"I am excited by the challenges and opportunities that leading the commercialization team will bring,” said Mr. Jackson. “We have assembled a world-class team of fermentation and process development experts and are well positioned to become a leader in the renewable chemicals space."

Verdezyne

Verdezyne is an industrial biotechnology company using proven and proprietary metabolic pathway engineering tools to create unique yeast strains for cost-effective production of biobased chemicals and fuels. Current investors in Verdezyne include BP Alternative Energy Ventures, DSM Venturing B.V., OVP Venture Partners and Monitor Ventures. For more information on Verdezyne, visit www.verdezyne.com.