Management
John MeloChief Executive OfficerJohn Melo has more than 20 years of combined experience as a business leader and expert in the global fuels industry. Before joining Amyris, Mr. Melo was President of U.S. fuels operations for British Petroleum, where he successfully led programs to increase marketing volumes, reduce costs, and significantly improve financial returns. During his eight years with BP, Mr. Melo also served as Chief Information Officer of the refining and marketing segment; Senior Advisor for e-business strategy to Lord Browne, BP group chief executive; and Director of global brand development. In this last role, he helped develop the “Helios” re-branding effort. Before joining BP, Mr. Melo was with Ernst & Young and a member of the management teams for several startup companies, including Computer Aided Services and Alldata Corporation.
Peter BoyntonChief Commercial OfficerPeter Boynton joins Amyris from Tate & Lyle where he most recently held the position of Senior Vice President, Bio-Products and Fermentation, responsible for the continued development of a biomaterials platform. He previously served on numerous boards, including DuPont/Tate & Lyle BioProducts LLC, Mexama, IBIO, and Bio. Prior to that, he served as Vice President and General Manager of the global Tate & Lyle citric acid business. Before joining Tate & Lyle, Mr. Boynton was employed by Cargill, Inc., for nearly 18 years. He received his B.S. in Economics from the University of Georgia.
Joel Cherry, Ph.D.SVP of Research Programs and OperationsPrior to joining Amyris, Dr. Cherry was Senior Director of bioenergy biotechnology at Novozymes. During his tenure, he was a member of the R&D management team specializing in protein engineering and directed evolution technologies. He was also principal investigator and director of the BioEnergy Project, an effort funded by the US Department of Energy to reduce the cost of enzymes used in converting biomass to sugar. This work was awarded an R&D 100 Award, Scientific American Top 50 Award, and a Frost and Sullivan Emerging Technology Award. Dr. Cherry is an inventor on more than 20 issued patents, author of three book chapters and more than 30 scientific publications, and an invited speaker at numerous international conferences on biofuels. He received his B.A. from Carleton College in chemistry, a Ph. D. in biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire
Jeryl L. HillemanChief Financial OfficerJeryl Hilleman has held Chief Financial Officer and related positions in three high-growth public companies prior to joining Amyris, including leading these companies through their initial public offering, and for many years as public companies. Previously, Ms. Hilleman spent 10 years at Symyx Technologies, Inc., as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, helping the company grow from a seed-stage startup to a profitable public company with over 500 employees. Before joining Symyx, Ms. Hilleman was at two biotechnology companies, Geron Corporation and Cytel Corporation. Ms Hilleman earned an A.B. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate School of Business. Ms. Hilleman is a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Xenoport, Inc. and a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Jeff LievenseSenior Vice President of Process Development and ManufacturingJeff Lievense draws from 25 years of industrial experience in bioprocess engineering and a proven track record developing, scaling, and commercializing advanced fermentation processes. Dr. Lievense most recently served as vice president of technology and process development for the R&D organization of Tate & Lyle, where he led the fermentation R&D program, commercializing three large-scale industrial fermentation products and pioneering a production process for Bio-PDOTM (1,3-propanediol). Dr. Lievense also oversaw extensive laboratory and pilot plant facilities. He earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Purdue University.
Jack D. Newman, Ph.DCo-Founder and Senior Vice President of ResearchJack D. Newman, Ph.D., co-founded Amyris with over a decade of experience researching bacterial physiology and genetics. In addition to publishing in leading molecular biology and biotechnology journals, Dr. Newman co-authored the groundbreaking work underlying the technology of microbial terpene production. Dr. Newman received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the field of microbial physiology and gene regulation, and a B.A. in molecular and cellular biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mario PortelaChief Operating OfficerMario Portela brings more than 20 years of expertise in executive leadership roles in the global chemicals industry. He was an advisor to Private Equity on Strategy, M&A, Restructurings, Litigation, working most recently with TPG Capital. He also advises start-ups in the renewable chemicals and fuels space. Mr. Portela was until December 2008 Vice President and Officer, Corporate Development with LyondellBasell Industries, a leading manufacturer of polymers, petrochemicals and fuels. Prior to the 2007 merger of Basell and Lyondell Chemical Company, he held a similar position in Lyondell, then the third largest publicly traded chemical company in North America. Mr. Portela holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from IMPE Institute in Lisbon, Portugal.
Kinkead Reiling, Ph.DCo-Founder and Senior Vice President of Corporate DevelopmentKinkead Reiling, Ph.D., brings his experience linking protein structures to biocatalyst development to his work at Amyris. Dr. Reiling received a doctorate from the University of California, San Francisco, studying the structure-function relationships of viral and mammalian proteases. He earned an M.S. in applied physics from Columbia University and a B.S. in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Reiling also worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the American Cancer Society, where he studied the production of monoterpenes and diterpenes in microbial systems.
Neil Renninger, Ph.DCo-Founder and Chief Technical OfficerNeil Renninger, Ph.D., has a cross-disciplinary understanding of both the micro-world of strain engineering and the macro-world of chemical engineering. He received a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, studying the metabolic engineering of bacterial cells for chemical transformations. Dr. Renninger received undergraduate training in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he simultaneously earned an M.S. in environmental engineering. While a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Renninger focused on the proteomics of isoprenoid-producing plants and microbes. Mr. Renninger has also been recognized by Technology Review magazine as one of the world's top innovators under the age of 35.
Tamara TompkinsSenior Vice President and General CounselMs. Tompkins brings 14 years of legal and transactional experience to Amyris. Most recently, she handled intellectual property issues and technology transactions at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in San Francisco. Previously, Ms. Tompkins specialized in merger, acquisition, and financing transactions with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison in San Francisco and Shearman & Sterling in New York. Ms. Tompkins also served as the first executive director of the Law and Technology Program at University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Law School, where she co-taught a course on mergers and acquisitions for several years. Ms. Tompkins received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Middlebury College. She has also worked for several United Nations agencies, focusing primarily on issues affecting women and children in the developing world.
|

