Calgene Creates Post to Market New Products
Calgene, the Davis, Calif.-based agricultural biotechnology concern, on Wednesday announced structural changes and appointments in its executive ranks that cement the company’s transition from a technology-driven boutique to a product- and marketing-oriented business.
Named as president and chief operating officer was Roderick N. Stacey, a business consultant who has served on the Calgene board of directors since 1990.
Stacey, 47, fills a slot left vacant since the departure in 1991 of Zachary Wochok, who had joined Calgene in its 1989 merger with Plant Genetics.
Calgene also said it has formed two new divisions to focus on future product lines in cotton and specialty oils. “Divisionalization is a natural evolution for us as our genetically engineered products approach the market,” Calgene Chief Executive Roger Salquist said in a statement.
The separation of the two product areas follows the formation earlier this year of the company’s Calgene Fresh subsidiary, which is gearing up to market the company’s genetically engineered tomato.
Andrew Baum, formerly senior vice president of operations for Calgene, has been named president of the oils division. Stacey will assume control of the cotton division, and longtime Calgene employee John Callahan, formerly vice president of product development, has been named senior vice president of the cotton division. Callahan will be responsible for the planned launch in 1994 of the company’s Bromotol cotton product.
Stacey, who most recently has been president of R. Matthew Neil & Co., a consulting firm in Capitola, Calif., was the founder and chief executive of United Agriseeds, an entrepreneurial, research-based seed company that was sold to Dow Chemical in 1987. He also had been a manager with Nickerson Seed Co., an affiliate of Shell Chemical Co.
Salquist, in his statement, said: “I specifically recruited Rod to our board with this transition in mind.”
Calgene, Stacey said Wednesday, “is right at the threshold. It has leading-edge technology in all of the areas it is attempting to build businesses in. It has (tomato) products almost on the market and is close to marketing products in its oils and cotton businesses, so it’s time for a much more precise focus on markets and management teams that are going to turn these (divisions) into profitable businesses.”
The company also announced that Diana Cook has been elected vice president of human resources and that Bud Hughes will continue as general manager of Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Co., Calgene’s wholly owned cotton seed company.
