San Diego, California, USA
Sepetmber 16, 2013
Cibus Global, a pioneering plant trait development firm, announced today that Keith Walker, Ph.D., has been appointed as CEO and President. Dr. Walker has held the position of President since the company was founded in 2001. The announcement comes at a time where the company is poised for rapid growth.
“Keith’s visionary leadership has been essential in the growth and success of Cibus Global, and we are confident that as CEO and President he will be able to deftly guide Cibus as the company moves into the next phase of development,” said John Studebaker, Chairman, Board of Directors for Cibus Global. “In the past 12 years, Keith has provided the necessary foresight and industry expertise to expand the Cibus technology portfolio into a suite of patented trait tools, and the company looks forward to commercialization of its first trait in 2014.”
Dr. Walker's more than 40 years in agricultural biotechnology spans the development of the field. Along with a group of key investors, he founded Cibus in November 2001 with a team of visionary scientists and agricultural biotechnology experts from ValiGen’s Plant and Industrial Products Division, and since then has led Cibus in significantly expanding its San Diego research facility. The technology firm opened offices in Minnesota in 2007 and the Netherlands in 2009, and now employs nearly 100 people globally.
Prior to Cibus, Dr. Walker held a variety of management positions at the Mycogen Corporation, ranging from business development, biotechnology research management and technology in-and-out-licensing. He also worked at Agrigenetics Company prior to its acquisition by Mycogen, and was a co-founder, director and vice president of research at the agbiotech company Plant Genetics, Inc. (PGI). Before founding PGI, Dr. Walker served in a variety of research roles with Monsanto Co. and was a former vice chairman (1985) and chairman (1987) of the Gordon Conference in Plant Cell and Tissue Culture. He also was associate editor of Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture. Dr. Walker received his Ph.D. in biology from Yale University and is a graduate of the College of Wooster.
Cibus’ technologies, including Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS™), use the basic processes of nature to develop desirable characteristics in plants. This patented portfolio of technologies can accelerate the development of new crop varieties with a range of beneficial features including improved quality, higher yields and a reduced reliance on chemicals. The breadth of Cibus’ technology is wide-ranging for its trait development possibilities. Over the past 12 years, Cibus has forged partnerships with leading agricultural companies working in eight different crops developing 12 unique and differentiated value added plant traits using its suite of core technologies including RTDS.
Cibus has shown remarkable persistence and dedication in its quest to help ensure that the world continues to have ways of feeding its growing population safely and sustainably in the decades ahead.
Cibus Global develops beneficial crop traits with far-reaching implications in agriculture, alternative energy and product development. Through its proprietary Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS), Cibus creates traits in a directed way with more precision than traditional breeding techniques and without the introduction of foreign genetic material. RTDS has proven itself in the laboratory with several different applications. Cibus’ products will be brought to market through strategic, crop-specific partnerships.
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