Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
September 3, 2019
Calyxt, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLXT) a healthy food ingredients company, today announced that the Company is expanding its leadership team to support commercial growth opportunities.
This move includes the appointment of Keith Blanks to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, effective today. In his role, Mr. Blanks will be responsible for driving sales with a focus on growing the Company’s foodservice and food and pet food manufacturing customer bases.
With this addition, Manoj Sahoo will assume the role of Chief Business Development and Supply Chain Officer, focusing his efforts on the development of strategic collaborations across Calyxt platforms of wellness, plant-based proteins and sustainability. He will also continue to expand the Company’s grower network and supply chain. Previously, Mr. Sahoo fulfilled the role of Chief Commercial Officer with responsibilities for food customers, grower relations and supply chain management.
“This expansion focuses Calyxt on our food customers and builds this food sales team,” said Jim Blome, chief executive officer with Calyxt. “In order to do just that, we are bringing in a seasoned executive to steer our sales and go-to-market strategies, which in turn empowers Mr. Sahoo to focus on emerging opportunities for the Company.”
Mr. Blanks brings a successful track record that includes high-profile leadership positions and recognized sales achievements in the food ingredient and agriculture industries. Throughout his tenured career, he has built a reputation of trust and developed go-to-market strategies to help incubate new products into mature revenue-generating engines.
“We’re excited for Keith to bring his practical experience and understanding of a diverse range of business management applications to Calyxt,” said Jim Blome, chief executive officer with Calyxt. “A tenacious sales leader with deep-rooted values in customer loyalty, Keith will play a pivotal role as we grow our customer base and make it easy to do business with Calyxt.”
Keith brings more than 25 years of commercial experience to Calyxt. Most recently with High Liner Foods, he served as General Manager and Vice President of the Aquaculture/Shrimp category after heading up National Accounts. He previously held executive positions throughout his 20-year career with Cargill, where he most recently led a National Accounts team representing eight foodservice and food manufacturing business units. He previously served on the Board of Trustees for the Washburn Center for Children and is a former chair with United Way.
About Calyxt
Calyxt is committed to making the food you love a healthier choice. The care we take extends beyond nutritional value. We partner with farmers and food companies to deliver traceable plant-based products developed to be healthier and more sustainable than their conventional counterparts. We use cutting edge plant breeding techniques to develop products that help improve diets by reducing bad fats, allergens and toxins. Today oil from our high oleic soybean plants has lower saturated fats than commodity soybean oil. We are also developing high fiber wheat designed to provide an excellent source of daily fiber when incorporated into wheat-based foods. We continuously pursue innovation to deliver good food that is good for you.
Calyxt is located in Roseville, MN, and is listed on the Nasdaq market (ticker: CLXT). For further information please visit our website at www.calyxt.com.
Calyxt® and the corporate logo are trademarks owned by Calyxt, Inc.
Topics
Species
