Management
Daphne Preuss (Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer)
Dr. Preuss is co-founder of Chromatin, Inc. and a co-inventor on Chromatin's patented mini-chromosome technology. Dr. Preuss has raised over $17 million in venture capital to support the company’s growth, and has negotiated partnerships between Chromatin and leading agbiotech companies. Dr. Preuss earned a Ph.D. from MIT, and performed postdoctoral work at Stanford. Prior to joining Chromatin in 2006, she served as the Albert D. Lasker Professor and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at the University of Chicago, where she chaired the oversight committee for the multinational project that sequenced the first plant genome. Dr. Preuss currently serves on the Food & Agriculture Governing Board of the Biotechnology Industry Board, and on the board of Illinois BIO.
Dave Jessen (Chief Technology Officer)
David Jessen has over 26 years of experience spearheading agricultural biotechnology product development. Dave joined Chromatin from Syngenta A.G., where he served as the Head of Traits & Technology for Corn and Soy, and previously held several strategic leadership roles within the company, including Global Head, Field Crops R&D, and Vice President of Research and Development at Novartis Seeds, Inc. (legacy organization of Syngenta Seeds, Inc.). In his various roles, Dave oversaw multimillion-dollar budgets, managed research and development teams involving over 200 employees, held direct responsibilities for the creation and commercialization of elite corn hybrids, soybean, wheat and cotton traits, and directed global maize breeding activities.
Jeff Scheib (Vice President, Biofuels)
Jeff Scheib has over 19 years of fuels and biofuels expertise with ARCO, BP and most recently Cilion. Jeff previously served as President of ARCO's am/pm International division, with responsibility for 3,000 retail sites, where he managed partner alliances, restructured the business in Mexico, and significantly increased profits. At BP, Jeff oversaw performance management, strategy and resource allocation for BP's marketing businesses in Latin America, Africa, Australia and Asia, and for its global jet fuel business. He also optimized value across the supply chain of BP's Russian joint venture, and served as General Manager in BP's global strategic accounts group, where he created large increases in sales by reshaping relationships with some of BP's largest customers. Scheib has an MBA from UCLA and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.
Ken Davenport (Vice President, Strategic Development)
Ken Davenport has over 27 years of chemical R&D and plant biotech business development experience. At Hoechst Schering AgrEvo, Ken led the strategy team and oversaw the implementation of what became Bayer CropScience's FiberMax® cottonseed business. Ken also served as the Business Director for Bayer CropScience's plant-made pharmaceutical initiative and as the CEO of ArborGen LLC, a forestry biotech enterprise. He began his career with Celanese - later Hoechst Celanese - where he was the principal investigator for technologies that underpinned the commercialization of numerous fine and specialty chemicals, including acetaminophen and ibuprofen, and led to BHC Corporation (Boots Company-Hoechst Celanese) receiving the 1997 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award.