Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
August 30, 2016
Bee Vectoring Technologies (the “Company” or “BVT”) (TSXV: BEE) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ashish Malik, former VP of Global Marketing, Biologics at Bayer CropScience, to the full time position of President and CEO, commencing September 1st 2016.
Mr. Malik succeeds Michael Collinson, BVT’s former CEO, who will maintain his position as Executive Chairman. Mr. Malik will focus on the commercialization of the BVT system using his expertise and understanding of the agricultural market to deliver, as in his past revenue generation and a solid business case for growers.
Mr. Malik will build a strong U.S. company presence in the Davis/Sacramento region in California, an area considered a global hotspot for food and agricultural biological technology startups. California is expected to be one of the largest potential revenue states for BVT. He comes to BVT directly from his Global Marketing role at Bayer CropScience. In that role, he was responsible for successfully integrating biological products into Bayer’s portfolio of crop protection products following a series of acquisitions, managing the portfolio of biological assets globally, and building a long term strategy of continued investment in biologicals to aggressively grow this third and newest strategic pillar at Bayer (along with Chemistry and Seeds/Traits).
Mr. Malik said of the decision to join BVT “I’m immensely excited by the opportunity to join a young company which I believe has significant potential to be an integral future player in the global crop protection business. Improving agriculture using responsible and sustainable practices to make it more productive (i.e. higher yields, better crops) is something we all should be focusing on and something I am passionate about. BVT’s disruptive technology and the systems it has developed, along with the team assembled to drive it into mainstream adoption, is something very unique and special.”
Executive Chairman, Mr. Michael Collinson, stated “The significance of having an industry figure such as Ashish join the company at this early stage cannot be overstated. It is unquestionably a remarkable endorsement of BVT’s products and potential. Ashish is an exceptionally skilled specialist in our industry and has a rich and well-proven talent for driving innovative new products into global markets. We feel privileged to have Ashish on the team and excited about his ability to move BVT to the next level.”
Prior to joining Bayer CropScience in 2012, from 2008, Mr. Malik held the position of Senior VP of Global Marketing at AgraQuest Inc. As a member of AgraQuest’s Executive Team, Mr. Malik had global responsibility for its marketing and development functions (field development and regulatory affairs). He co-led the strategic transformation of the company to become market-led, and a “go-to-partner” for Big-Ag companies. During his tenure, the company became recognized as the global leader in biological crop protection products within the industry and contributed to significant value creation, which led to a US$425 million (plus milestones) acquisition by Bayer CropScience in 2012.
Before AgraQuest Mr. Malik served as the Head of Commercial Operations for the Home Care Division at Syngenta. During that time, he was responsible for the overall leadership of the newly developed division, where he defined growth strategies, developed go-to-market approaches and identified opportunities for brand value building.
Mr. Malik serves on the Board of the Biopesticides Industry Alliance (BPIA). He holds an MBA with concentrations in Finance and Marketing from Carnegie Mellon University – Tepper School of Business, and a bachelor's degree in Engineering from Swarthmore College. He lives in Davis, California with this wife and 4 children.
Mr. Malik will receive will receive 1,000,000 options with a strike price of $0.27, combined with other incentive bonuses based on revenue, market capital and M&A targets to be approved by the Company.
About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.
BVT has developed and owns patent-pending bee vectoring technology (consisting of a proprietary tray dispenser containing a unique carrier agent) that is designed to harmlessly utilize commercially reared bumblebees as natural delivery mechanisms for a variety of powdered mixtures comprised of organic compounds that inhibit or eliminate common crop diseases, while at the same time stimulating and enhancing the same crops. This unique and proprietary process facilitates a targeted delivery of crop controls using the simple process of bee pollination to replace traditional crop spraying, resulting in better yield, organic product and less impact on the environment without the use of water or disruptions to labour.
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