EXECUTIVE TEAM
Ezhil is a scientist, innovator, thinker, hiking enthusiast and a citizen of the world. Ezhil is driven by a passion to leverage the power of biology to deliver sustainable and cost-effective solutions. Her experience in biobased product development over the last 20 years helps her bring deep technical expertise to the work at String. Ezhil’s work was most recently recognized with the Women Transforming India Award 2018 from United Nations/NITI Aayog.
Vinod is a transformational leader and manager with more than two decades of experience leading large, cross-functional global teams at Fortune 500 companies. Vinod held several leadership roles from product development, supply chain management, manufacturing operations, customer and partner experience, to end-to-end business transformation. Vinod brings to String a strong commitment for strategic and operational excellence as well as insights on commercializing products while increasing shareholder value.
With a passion for problem solving and organization building in the confluence of business and biotechnology, Prasad views himself as a technophile general manager. With over 25 years of experience, Prasad possesses a strong background in strategy implementation, planning & business development through his contributions in The Boston Consulting Group, Novozymes, and Iosynth Labs. At String Prasad drives our Strategic Partnerships & Alliances to take our innovative products to market.
Krishnan Iyer oversees the financial planning, operations and performance at String Bio. He brings over three decades of global expertise in accounting, auditing, taxation, and corporate governance. He holds professional qualifications as a Chartered Accountant (ICAI rank holder), Certified Public Accountant (AICPA- USA), and Company Secretary. Krishnan has served in leading roles at global corporations such as Larsen and Toubro Ltd, John Fowler Ltd, Kirloskar AAF Ltd, Emirates National Oil Company Ltd and KBR Inc. across India, UAE, and
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Jitendra Joshi serves as the Head of Technology for New Energy Solutions at Woodside Energy in Perth, Australia. Jitendra’s responsibilities include formulation of strategy for converting Greenhouse gases to value-added products, and integrating renewables in Carbon transformation and Hydrogen generation. Jitendra’s team at Woodside Energy implementing combination of biological and thermo-chemical pathways to realize the full potential of Greenhouse utilization and Hydrogen production.
Ritu Verma is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Ankur Capital – an early stage fund that focuses on technology innovations for the next billion with a large focus on Agtech and Food. Ritu is passionate about bringing innovations from the lab to market. Prior to setting up Ankur she worked with BASF on sourcing opportunities for renewable energy, agri-biotech and materials. For over a decade before, she played different roles at Philips and Unilever bringing new innovations to the market.
Laëtitia is a partner at Seventure Partners - a Paris based Lifesciences fund. She was previously working with Tereos - third largest sugar producer worldwide - where she was in charge of Open Innovation. Part of her mission there was to source and build partnerships with startups, identifying new technologies of interest. Her key areas of focus included agriculture, health and nutrition (both for food and feed) as well as industrial processes and by-products valorization.
Jayakumar is the CEO of Bangalore based Kitven fund. Has over 36 years of experience in banking, finance and venture capital. Through Kitven he has been investing in the technology sector in India for over 15 years and is very closely involved with the local innovation ecosystem. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and ACMA.
Prof. Sastry is an interdisciplinary scientist with more than three decades of research in the field of materials science. His rich experience includes stints as Chief Innovation Officer at TATA Chemicals, Director of Innovation at DSM and, CEO of the IITB-Monash Research Academy. Currently he is a Distinguished Professor in Materials Science and Engineering/Chemical Engineering at Monash University.
GLOBAL STRATEGIC ADVISORY COUNCIL
Dr Sachi has been involved in research and development activities related to aquaculture for over 40 years. As part of INRA, France, he was the head of Fish Nutrition joint research unit and Hydrobiology Station. He was also the European Research Area chair on ecosystem approach to sustainable aquaculture development at University of Las Palmas, Spain. With a strong publication record and coordination of multi-disciplinary projects, he is internationally well recognised for his scientific achievements and commitment to sustainable development of aquaculture.
Prof. Sastry is an interdisciplinary scientist with more than three decades of research in the field of materials science. His rich experience includes stints as Chief Innovation Officer at TATA Chemicals, Director of Innovation at DSM and, CEO of the IITB-Monash Research Academy. Currently he is a Distinguished Professor in Materials Science and Engineering/Chemical Engineering at Monash University.
G S Krishnan is an experienced industry leader currently engaged as an Independent Director, Advisor/Consultant, Leadership Mentor across the Industrial biotechnology sector and an active member of Biotech/ Bio Energy forums. Prior to this, he was with Novozymes South Asia Pvt. Ltd for 27 years as Managing Director and Regional President. He has 35 years of experience in strategy and general management capabilities in a multinational environment.He is a firm believer in the importance of sustainable biotech solutions as the only alternative to address climate change challenges.
Vibhore has been a sales person, product guy, news-reporter, systems-admin, software-developer, CTO, entrepreneur-in-residence and speaker. Now he spends his time reading, writing and meeting startups in the Science & Tech space, advising startups and companies of different scale on their product and technology roadmaps. He is a splinter brained monomaniac, lover of rabbit-holes on concepts known and un-known, problem-solver and deep-thinker.
Arun is a serial entrepreneur with experience in building ventures in health tech, cleantech, and education. He has almost a decade long career in the pharmaceutical industry with experience ranging from R&D, manufacturing, corporate strategy, innovation and M&A. Prior to his current role, Arun has had stints at Mckinsey & co. and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.
Colin Murrell is Director of the Earth and Life Systems Alliance and Professor in Environmental Microbiology at the University of East Anglia (UEA). The central theme of his research is the microbiology of major biogeochemical cycles, particularly bacteria that grow on one-carbon (C1) compounds. He has guided nearly 60 PhD students, supervised well over 100 postdoctoral fellows, research technicians and visiting researchers from more than 25 countries. He currently serves as SAB Member for the Max Planck Society and on the Governing Council of the John Innes Centre.