Pam Marrone Steps Down from Company She Founded

Founder of Marrone Bio Innovations Pam Marrone, Steps down as CEO

Marrone Bio Innovations, an international leader in sustainable bioprotection and plant health solutions, announced today that company founder Dr. Pam Marrone will retire from her position as chief executive officer.

The board of directors has begun the search process for a new CEO.  Dr. Marrone will continue as CEO during the search process, and she and Board Chairman Bob Woods will shepherd the transition process until the new CEO is retained.

Dr. Marrone will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors as a non-executive member.  Following her retirement, she also will serve as a consultant to Marrone Bio to advocate for the company and its mission, and to provide transition services and other support.

“Dr. Marrone’s decades of unwavering and tireless dedication have shaped the landscape of biologicals in agriculture in a meaningful and positive way. We’d like to thank her for her vision and leadership, which has established Marrone Bio as a significant player in the sustainable bioprotection and plant health solution industry,” said Woods.  “Pam has guided Marrone Bio to a new level of growth and expansion, and her legacy will serve as the platform for the company’s future growth.

“The search for a new CEO is under way, and we are committed to recruiting an outstanding executive to lead the company as it expands its global reach and revenue potential, enhances gross margins and controls costs to move toward profitability,” Woods added.

Under Dr. Marrone’s leadership, the company commercialized ten products from six active ingredients, three of which received top industry awards for “best biopesticide.” The company has received nearly 400 patents with another 100 pending.  During her tenure as CEO, Marrone Bio consistently achieved above industry average growth with revenues expanding at a 21 percent compound annual growth rate from 2015 through 2018.

“Today, we stand stronger than ever as a company with a world-class team in place and an unmatched product portfolio, aided by our recent transformational acquisitions,” said Dr. Marrone.  “After 14 years as CEO, this is an ideal time for me to serve Marrone Bio in a different, advisory capacity as the company enters its next phase of growth and drives meaningful, long-term shareholder value.

“We’ve successfully brought science-based biological solutions to farmers and changed the perception of the entire biological category,” she added.  “I’m confident that this transition will prove fruitful as the company flourishes into a larger, more mature and profitable company. On behalf of the entire management team and board of directors, I’d like to thank our dedicated employees, customers and shareholders.”

 

2019-12-05T19:19:28-08:00December 11th, 2019|

Biopesticides Play a Bigger Role in Pest and Disease Control

By Colby Tibbet, California Ag Today Reporter

 

Pam Marrone, founder and CEO of Davis-based Marrone Bio Innovations, says biopesticides, a new frontier of pest control, works better when combined with conventional methods. “In the past, these biological products were standalone—like you see at your land grant colleges,” said Marrone.

“They would test standalone against the best cocktail chemicals. But where you see the best result is when they are incorporated into the mix,” said Marrone. “Likewise, nearly all the time, you see better results when biologicals are incorporated into the program than chemical-only programs, and you can validate that over and over again with on-farm demos,” added Marrone.

Marrone noted that biopesticides are price-competitive with traditional pesticides. “When you compare, dollar-for-dollar, today’s biopesticides are actually very cost-competitive. I think that’s a holdover from the past. There are high-priced and low-priced products—just like chemicals; you have sulfur and copper on the low end and chemical fungicides on the high-end.”

“It’s the same with biologicals. So, in our company, we looked at the full range of competitive products and priced in the middle-of-the-block to be competitive,” said Marrone.

“Historically the penetration has been in high-value fruits, nuts and vegetables,” Marrone said, “because of the issues of resistance, residues and worker re-entry. And that’s where the predominant use of these products remains, but there is now an interest is using them in the large-acre crops as well,” said Marrone.

2016-05-31T19:33:24-07:00September 24th, 2014|
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