News & Events

Chromatin, Inc. adds two to executive team

CHICAGO, September 24, 2009 - Chromatin, Inc. announced today two additions to its executive team. Ken Davenport will serve as the Vice President of Strategic Development and Jeff Scheib will serve as the Vice President of Biofuels.

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 for its ibuprofen process. Davenport earned his Ph. D in physical organic chemistry from Texas A&M University.

"Ken's strong track record and deep experience across the agriculture and chemical industries give him a unique perspective and make him ideal for building Chromatin's bioenergy business," said Daphne Preuss, CEO of the company.

"I'm pleased to have the opportunity to join Chromatin's executive team," commented Davenport. "With the company's suite of technologies, including its proprietary mini-chromosome technology platform, we are creating value for the plant biotech industry and will move beyond the farm gate into markets such as bioenergy."

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.

"Chromatin's activities in the emerging renewable fuels industry will benefit from Jeff's broad expertise across the fuel and bioenergy supply chains. In addition, Jeff's experience in managing operations and strategic alliances makes him an ideal addition to our team as Chromatin continues its rapid growth trajectory" said Preuss.

"Chromatin has a truly distinctive technology platform which is ideally positioned to drive significant value creation in renewable energy and bioprocessing," Scheib noted. "I am excited by the company's future growth prospects and am pleased to be joining the Chromatin leadership team."

About Chromatin:
Chromatin Inc. is developing and marketing innovative technology and products that can benefit the agricultural, energy, chemical, nutritional, and pharmaceutical sectors. Its proprietary gene stacking technology can be used in any plant to simultaneously and precisely introduce multiple genes, and this technology has been licensed to leading agbiotech companies for use in corn, soy, cotton, canola and sugarcane. Chromatin is building on this platform to create next generation crop products that are better designed to meet yield and performance requirements, including products targeted to the renewable energy industry.

For additional information visit www.chromatininc.com.