Reinach, November 27, 2019 – Evolva (SIX: EVE) today announced that the Board of Directors is proposing Beat In-Albon to be elected as new Chairman of the Board at the next Annual General Meeting on April 15, 2020.

Evolva has undergone a major transformational change that enabled the company to step up to the next level in its development. The strategy set by the company is on R&D of bio-production and commercial roll out of specific compounds where supply chain certainty, manufacturing cost and purity of products provide the basis for sustainable competitive advantages for Evolva, such as:

• A highly focused organization with all activities concentrated in Reinach, Switzerland, reducing operating expenses by almost two thirds over the last three years
• A portfolio of products in commercial roll out with a strong revenue growth trend line 
• New products making good progress in the development pipeline towards commercialization in the near future
• Strategic partnerships, e.g. Cargill with EverSweet™,  developed for commercialization of the various products in the global markets
• A network of selected contract manufacturers established to support the exploitation of Evolva’s growth potential
• Evolva being on track to deliver its cash break-even ambition in the period 2021-2023 as promised to its shareholders

In consideration of the above, Evolva will propose to reduce the overall number of Board members from five to four at the next Annual General Meeting.

Furthermore, the next level of the development of Evolva is to fully embed the new ways of working in the organization and to deliver on the strategic goals set for the coming years. After having served as Board members for Evolva for seven to nine years, supporting the company in its transition from a development to a commercial oriented organization, Jutta Heim, Ganesh Kishore and Martin Gertsch have decided not to stand for re-election at the next Annual General Meeting. Gerard Hoetmer and Thomas Videbaek will continue their Board membership.
 

Beat In-Albon being highly experienced in the life science and biotech industry will be proposed to join the Board at the next Annual General Meeting. He will also be proposed as Chairman taking over responsibilities from Gerard Hoetmer. Beat In-Albon is a Swiss national and lives in Basel.

Beat In-Albon has spent the major part of his career in the Lonza Group. In his last role, Beat In-Albon served as Senior Vice President, Chief Operations Officer Specialty Ingredients and was responsible for the worldwide operational activities, which included amongst others sales and manufacturing, being responsible for the results of the division. In such role, he also served as a member of Lonza’s Group Executive Committee. Until his full retirement in July 2018, he was head of strategic projects.

Gerard Hoetmer, Chairman of the Board of Directors, commented: “Both from a professional and a personal perspective, this is the right moment to hand the leadership reins of the company over to Beat. The strategic transformation we have taken has put Evolva on a strong path for the future. I am confident that Beat will be an excellent successor to lead Evolva onto the next level of its development.”
 

The search for the other proposed new Board member is underway and will be announced timely before the next Annual General Meeting.