Benson Hill Biosystems expands commercial team to meet growing opportunity

Benson Hill Biosystems, a crop improvement company dedicated to unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants, today announced the addition of several key industry executives to its commercial team in response to expanding growth opportunity. The company, which recently closed a $65 million Series C round led by GV, is undergoing extensive growth as organizations across the value chain recognize natural plant diversity as a source of innovation to develop more healthy and sustainable food and ingredients.

 

 

Roger Salameh joins the company as Vice President of Commercial Development, bringing extensive commercial and operational experience in agricultural biotech startups and publicly-traded companies, most recently serving as COO of Arcadia Biosciences. Kathy Flores joins as Vice President of Supply Chain, bringing extensive experience building fully traceable supply chains for specialty and organic ingredients, most recently from Perdue Agribusiness where she led the Specialty Crops unit. Adam Javan, whose former experience includes the head of Business Analytics for Intrexon, joins as Vice President of Strategy & Innovation, aligning technology solutions with strategic market opportunities. Natalie DiNicola, whose former experience includes Vice President of Sustainability for Monsanto, joins as Chief Communications Officer leading communications, marketing and stakeholder engagement.

 

“Having worked with this exceptional group of leaders, I’ve been fortunate to experience first-hand their business acumen and drive to make an impact on our food system,” said Matt Crisp, CEO and co-founder of Benson Hill Biosystems. “Their knowledge, collaborative approach and passion for what they do is a terrific fit for our team.”

 

Benson Hill’s CropOS™ computational platform and novel portfolio of breeding and CRISPR genome editing technologies empower organizations across the food and agriculture value chain to tap natural genetic diversity as a powerful source of product differentiation to improve crops.  Its partners range from traditional seed companies to ingredient and food companies engaged through a diverse range of partnership models based on technical and business needs.

 

Benson Hill has more than doubled its employee base since 2017 and continues its growth trajectory with career opportunities across technical, commercial and other functional roles.