bio personality
Aditya Narayan elected as chairman of Sanofi India
Sanofi India has announced the election of Mr Aditya Narayan as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr Narayan has rich experience in industry for over 40 years. He served ICI Limited, now Akzo Nobel India Limited, for about 30 years across diverse functions and businesses. He was its Managing Director during 1996-2003 and then its non-executive Chairman over 2003- 2010. Over 2005-2009, he was the President and CEO of BHP Billiton India. He has also served on a number of other Boards. Presently, he is an Independent Director of Hindustan Unilever Limited, Linde India Limited and, Chambal Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited.
“ Sanofi welcomes Mr Narayan, with his commendable track record as a corporate leader, to guide it through the emerging complexities in the Indian pharmaceutical environment,” said Dr Shailesh Ayyangar, Managing Director – Sanofi India Limited.
Commenting on his new role as Chairman of Sanofi India Limited, Mr Aditya Narayan, mentioned,“ Sanofi has a superb track record of building strong pharmaceutical brands, several of which are now household names. Its world class manufacturing facilities and ethical marketing practices enjoy a reputation for excellence in serving its growing customers in India and overseas. It is a privilege for me to have been entrusted with the role of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and I look forward to the support of all its stakeholders in discharging my responsibilities.”
Dr Rakesh Mishra appointed as the new Director of CCMB, Hyderabad
The well known bio-scientist, Dr Rakesh Kumar Mishra, has taken over as the new Director of Hyderabad based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology( CCMB), a premier research organization in frontier areas of modern biology. The institute is affiliated to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research( CSIR) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.
Dr Mishra was previously working as the Senior Principal Scientist and Group Leader at the the Genome Organisation and Nuclear Architecture laboratory based at the CCMB itself. Well recognized for his research achievements, Dr Mishra is an elected fellow of many reputed bodies such as the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Sciences and Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences. He has more than 95 articles to his credit in the national and international journals.
Dr Rakesh K Mishra obtained his Masters degree in Chemistry in 1981 and doctorate in Organic Chemistry in 1986 from the University of Allahabad. His research then was into non-B DNA conformations and DNA topolgy at Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. During 1988-1992, he worked at CCMB as scientist and then at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, USA. From the 1996 to 2001, Dr Mishra worked on the chromatin organization and regulation of homeotic gene complex of Drosophila melanogaster at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. During 2001, he came back to India and joined CCMB again.
Narayanan Suresh is the new COO of ABLE
After a 30-year stint as a professional editor and journalist that ended on April 30, 2016, Mr Narayanan Suresh has formally joined the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises( ABLE) on May 2, 2016 as its Chief Operating Officer( COO). He will be based out of the ABLE secretariat in Bangalore. The association was founded in 2003 to represent the interests of the fast-growing biotechnology industry.
For more than 13 years as the Editor of BioSpectrum, Mr N Suresh has worked closely with the biotech sector. Therefore, his rich experience and knowledge are expected to benefit the industry in due course of time. From being a neutral observer to the biotech industry insider, his second innings now allows him to continue the association with sector.
The meeting of ABLE’ s Executive Council on Monday, 9th May specifically gave him the challenging task of ensuring an orderly growth of the industry, increase the engagement levels within and outside the industry, set up a robust information sharing network, interface with policy makers, regulators and the wide range of stakeholders and make the organization the hub of activities for the hundreds of startups in the biotech sector.
Raj Ketkar named CEO of Arcadia Biosciences
Raj Ketkar has joined the Arcadia Biosciences as president and chief executive officer later this month. Mr Ketkar will replace Mr Roger Salameh, who has served as interim president and CEO since February. Mr Salameh will take on a new role as chief operating officer for the company, reporting to the CEO.
Mr Ketkar brings nearly 35 years of agriculture and agricultural biotechnology business experience in the US and internationally. He spent more than 30 years in a variety of business, operations, and strategy roles for Monsanto Company, during which time he demonstrated successes in agricultural trait commercialization and growth around the globe.
As managing director of the Mahyco-Monsanto joint venture in India, Mr Ketkar led the launch of Bt cotton, the country ' s first agricultural biotechnology product. In addition to his operations and trait commercialization experience, Mr Ketkar was also director of biotechnology strategy for Monsanto, where he led the development of the company ' s trait stacking technology.
" With a number of breakthrough yield and stress traits in the late stages of development, Arcadia is at an exciting stage as a company," said Mr Ketkar. " I look forward to build upon the company ' s achievements and improve the productivity and environmental sustainability of agriculture," he said.
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