Key Management Changes at MariCal Follow Company's Technology Development and Revenue Growth
Date: January 29, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2007KEY MANAGEMENT CHANGES AT MARICAL FOLLOW COMPANY'S TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND REVENUE GROWTH
Portland, ME – MariCal, Inc. announces three key executive management changes approved at a special board meeting held at the biotechnology company’s Portland offices in December. The success of MariCal’s market penetration in 2006 with its Calcium-Sensing Receptor (CaSR) technology into the $70 billion global aquaculture industry combined with the company expanding its intellectual property and product development activities into the $230 billion worldwide animal health and nutrition markets are the basis for these top management changes.
Dr. H. William Harris, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder of MariCal, who has served as its CEO since 1996, is voluntarily stepping down to function as its President and Chief Scientific Officer. In his new capacity, Dr. Harris will focus on expanding the company’s research and product development efforts by utilizing its unique knowledge of CaSRs to include food and companion animal applications, as well as accelerating MariCal’s current aquaculture development projects. In addition, he will also be responsible for strategic business development and corporate oversight.
“I look forward to build on our past successful efforts by applying our technology to newly emerging uses like the first land-based cobia farm in the United States; MariCal’s Virginia Cobia Farms joint-venture. This project promises to provide fresh fish to the inland US via production of a marine fish species under fresh water conditions as well as novel uses of our key discovery in the food and companion animal markets. At this time in our company’s growth, we need to accelerate our R&D work in order to maximize opportunities present in the animal health and nutrition markets,” said Dr. Harris.
Dr. Harris is internationally recognized as an expert on molecular physiology and metabolism, serves on many international scientific committees, has authored more than 150 publications and is the primary inventor of 28 issued patents.
Mr. Steven Morrell, the company’s Chairman, assumes the role and responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer. In his new capacity, Mr. Morrell will focus on execution of MariCal’s strategic vision for building the company’s long-term value.
“The infusion of $3.3 million in new U.S. and international venture capital funding into MariCal last August demonstrated the investment community’s confidence in the company’s CaSR technology, key management, and their ability to satisfy their customer needs. These management changes further strengthen our executive team and corporate resources allowing us to take full advantage of the market’s appetite for our technology innovation in both aquatic and land-based animal health and nutrition markets.” said Mr. Morrell.
Mr. Morrell is a senior partner of Teknoinvest AS, a Scandinavian venture capital firm based in Oslo, Norway. His background involves 20 years working in senior management and board positions throughout Europe with companies including AKVA Group ASA, Merck & Co., Inc., Veropharm Co., Ltd., Nycomed Pharma AS and McKinsey & Co.
Mr. William Thomas, MariCal’s Senior Vice President of Marketing & Sales was promoted to Chief Operating Officer. In addition to managing global revenue generation from the company’s core and developing businesses, Mr. Thomas will be responsible for strategic business development and operational management of the company.
“This is an exciting time for our company. MariCal possesses a novel platform technology that has broad applications for multiple food producing animal species, both aquatic and terrestrial, in addition to companion animals. The animal health and nutrition companies are quite interested in our natural based solutions for improvements in general health and production efficiency. Our management team is now well poised to take advantage of these burgeoning opportunities,” said Mr. Thomas.
Mr. Thomas’ background includes 20 years in business management for technology based companies in the veterinary pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostics industries having worked for Strategic Business Development, Inc., IDEXX Laboratories, and Merck & Co., Inc.
MariCal, headquartered in Portland, Maine was founded in 1996 and is a privately held animal health and nutrition biotechnology company with 26 full time employees with operations in Chile and offices in Alaska, Canada, United Kingdom, and Norway. In addition, MariCal is a joint-venture partner in Virginia Cobia Farms LLC, based in Saltville, Virginia. MariCal is a recognized global leader in aquatic biotechnology possessing 58 issued and pending patents in their field. Natural and environmentally friendly, the specific applications developed from the company’s technology do not require the use of either genetic modifications or the introduction of drugs or hormones. (For more details on MariCal visit www.marical.biz ).
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For additional information contact:
William T. Thomas
Chief Operating Officer
MariCal
400 Commercial Street
Portland, Maine 04101 USA
Office Phone: 207-773-2500
Office Fax: 207-773-2522
Mobile: 207-756-2367
