SANTIAGO, Chile and PARIS, France – April 6, 2021 – Protera, an AI-driven startup designing and developing new proteins to enable a wide range of natural and sustainable solutions, announced today it has appointed Novozymes senior executive Thomas Videbaek as Chair of the Board of Directors and non-executive board member.
Dr. Videbaek has spent the last 13 years on the executive team at Novozymes, the world leader in industrial enzymes. After three decades at the firm, which included positions in Europe and the U.S., Dr. Videbaek will transition to focus on his career as a professional board member. Dr. Videbaek has a Bachelor in Business Administration from the Copenhagen Business School, and a PhD and MSc from the Technical University of Denmark.
Most recently, Dr. Videbaek was Executive Vice President (EVP) of Corporate Strategy & Business Transformation at Novozymes. Previously, he held a number of senior business development roles, most recently as EVP. Dr. Videbaek has also led initiatives that created a number of new business areas for the firm, including the now significant microbial area of bio agriculture, as well as supply chain operations, where he helped build a global supply chain organization.
Protera is developing the manufacturing process to deliver commercially viable proteins designed using its proprietary madi™ technology. Dr. Videbaek’s experience in the field and strategic vision will be crucial to scaling up and strengthening Protera’s commercial position with partners along the food value chain.
Leonardo Alvarez, CEO and co-founder of Protera, said: “Thomas is a leader in the field with over 30 years of experience at the world’s largest enzyme company. His proven track-record in the commercial, operational and research sides of business, and deep understanding of the challenges that encompass new functional proteins, will help us consolidate Protera’s position in the industry”.
Josko Bobanovic, Partner at Sofinnova Partners and also a member of Protera’s board of directors, noted, “Thomas global corporate strategy development skills as well as his ability to convert technical discoveries into new businesses, make him well-equipped to help accelerate Protera from pilot-stage to a commercially viable market player poised to address the significant sustainability challenges across food, agriculture and other markets.”
Dr. Videbaek said, “I am delighted to join Protera as the Chair of the Board at this exciting time of growth and expansion at the company. I strongly believe Protera has the tools to offer a powerful solution for global food producers and ultimately, sustainable alternatives for consumers. Over the longer term, Protera will continue to play a leadership role in protein development, helping to address a broad range of sustainability issues.”
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About Protera
Protera is advancing the science of protein engineering to address some of the most critical problems and opportunities in food, agriculture, the environment and human health. We streamline protein design and development with madi™, our proprietary deep learning algorithm, to predict high value protein products and enzymes with unprecedented speed and accuracy. http://proterabio.com
