NEURIED, Germany, April 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AMSilk GmbH ("AMSilk"), a global
leader in advanced materials made from spider silk-based proteins,
today announces the appointments of Ralph
Fraundorfer and Ctibor Kohutovic to its Management Board
starting immediately.
Ralph Fraundorfer has
been appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and will lead the
finance team, with responsibility for all financial issues, such as
company accounts, financing and risk management. Ralph's
professional finance career spans over 20 years, having worked for
companies such as Shell, Syngenta and Actelion Pharmaceuticals.
Most recently, Ralph was CFO of Tropic Biosciences, a pioneering
company in the field of agricultural gene editing, where he built
the finance function, enabling strong growth from 40 to over 150
employees and successfully closing several financing rounds.
Ralph Fraundorfer officially
succeeds Arne Treinies as
CFO, with Arne leaving the Company to pursue other opportunities.
"We would like to thank Arne for his important contribution to the
scale-up of AMSilk", Ulrich Scherbel
(CEO) says. "In his role as CFO he has professionally built
up the finance and organizational structures of the Company. We
wish him continuous success and all the best for his new
challenges."
Ctibor Kohutovic joins as Chief Production Officer
(CPO), with responsibility for driving AMSilk's industrial scale up
as it moves into the commercialization phase. Ctibor will focus on
the Company's global protein production, developing production
capacities with new and existing CMOs, improving capabilities and
reducing costs. Ctibor has extensive experience in global
production processes, process improvement and contract
manufacturing, beginning his professional career at Evonik in 1998
as a Fermentation Process Engineer at the Fermas site. Most
recently, he was Head of Strategic Projects at Evonik Operations,
as well as Site Controller and Strategic Project Manager at Evonik
Fermas.
The key appointments of Ralph and Ctibor complete the AMSilk
Management Board, alongside current Chief Executive Officer,
Ulrich Scherbel, and Chief
Scientific Officer, Gudrun
Vogtentanz.
Ulrich Scherbel, Chief
Executive Officer at AMSilk, said: "Ralph and Ctibor are two
proven experts, whose industry knowledge, experience and track
record are of immense importance for the future development of
AMSilk. These appointments complete our Management Board, and I
look forward to working alongside them both to drive the Company's
continued industrial scale-up towards profitability."
Ralph Fraundorfer, Chief
Financial Officer at AMSilk, added: "AMSilk has a
stellar team and I am looking forward to helping scale up
production of a fantastic product that the world really needs.
AMSilk has products with a real purpose and people with great
passion. For me, these are the most important elements of a
successful company, and AMSilk has them all."
Ctibor Kohutovic, Chief Production Officer at AMSilk,
said: "Joining AMSilk feels like the perfect alignment of my
passions, expertise, and aspirations. AMSilk's vision and potential
are truly inspiring. I am very motivated to play my part in ramping
up production so that we can launch our spider silk-based products
to the market."
Wolfgang Colberg, Chairman of
the Board, AMSilk, commented: "AMSilk is at a pivotal point
in its development. To attract individuals of this caliber to the
Management Board is testament to the progress AMSilk has made
towards its goal of becoming a leading protein solutions business
for a variety of industries."
AMSilk's spider silk-based protein fibers are the gold standard,
offering high-performance qualities which translate to a wide range
of applications in the textile and automobile industries. Based on
their exceptional natural properties, which can be tailored to the
specific needs of the market or customer, AMSilk's high-performance
material outweigh many natural or fossil-based materials, while
being verifiably biodegradable.
In January 2024, AMSilk announced
a partnership with 21st.BIO to accelerate production using a new
protein production strain created from highly specialized precision
fermented microorganisms, ensuring that AMSilk can meet demand as
it increases production from the laboratory to industrial scale.
The new strain ensures extracellular expression of silk
proteins, enabling manufacturing at unprecedented productivity
levels due to higher yield and greater efficiency, thereby reducing
production costs. In March 2024,
AMSilk also announced an update on its strategic R&D
collaboration with BRAIN Biotech, which allows the structural
proteins underlying AMSilk's protein fibers to be modified at the
amino acid level enabling products to be easily tailored to
specific market requirements.
About AMSilk
AMSilk is a frontrunner
in advanced biomaterials made from spider
silk-based proteins. Using a patented technology platform,
protected by a best-in-class patent portfolio, we are pushing
boundaries in the field of bio-based materials. At
AMSilk, we turn man-made proteins into formulations,
including fibers and yarns, hydrogels and silk powder.
The high-performance qualities of our material enable a wide range
of applications in the textile, homecare, biomedical, and
automobile industries and bring breakthrough benefits for products
and customers. AMSilk's materials go beyond earlier
bio replacements; they can be tailored to specific market or
product requirements, are biodegradable according to international
standards and have a significantly lower CO2 greenhouse gas
emission and less land and water use compared to other protein
fibers. The Company has already collaborated with industry-leading
global companies and plans to continue partnering with enterprises
worldwide to pursue the vision of enabling true change through
intelligent biotech materials.
For more information, please visit www.amsilk.com
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SOURCE AMSilk