Arcadia Biosciences (RKDA) Expands Leadership Team with New Heads of Commercial Operations and Product Innovation
Arcadia Biosciences (Nasdaq: RKDA) announced the promotion of Kevin Hodges to Vice President of Commercial Operations and the hiring of Tracy Baker as Vice President of Product Innovation. Hodges will manage supply chain operations and marketing for Arcadia's existing products, including GoodWheat and GoodHemp. Baker brings nearly 40 years of experience in product formulation and innovation, aiming to enhance product commercialization strategies. The leadership changes aim to accelerate the introduction of GoodWheat-based products as the company navigates new market opportunities.
- Hodges' promotion leverages over 20 years of experience in the cereal grains industry.
- Baker's extensive background in product innovation is expected to enhance commercialization strategies.
- Leadership changes aim to strengthen Arcadia's execution of GoodWheat and GoodHemp products.
- Concerns may arise regarding continuity in leadership as new executives take over key roles.
DAVIS, Calif., Sept. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Arcadia Biosciences, Inc.® (Nasdaq: RKDA), a leader in science-based approaches to enhancing the quality and nutritional value of crops and food ingredients, today announced two new appointments to its leadership team. Kevin Hodges has been promoted to Vice President, Commercial Operations, overseeing the supply chain operations, manufacturing and marketing for Arcadia's existing products in the GoodWheat™, GoodHemp™ and SONOVA® GLA safflower oil product lines, while food and beverage industry veteran Tracy Baker has joined the company as Vice President, Product Innovation, responsible for leading product innovation and commercialization strategies for the company's GoodWheat™ and GoodHemp™ portfolios.
"As we work to accelerate the introduction of GoodWheat-based food products to consumers through online and grocery channels, we are adding the right capabilities, experience and leadership vision to ensure our best execution," said Matt Plavan, Arcadia's President and CEO. "Moreover, to ensure we maximize the value capture of our proprietary ingredients, we must carefully navigate the myriad of new consumer food and nutritional supplement opportunities emerging in the direct-to-consumer space for both our GoodWheat and GoodHemp innovations."
Hodges has more than 20 years of management experience in the cereal grains industry. Prior to joining Arcadia in January 2020 as the General Manager of GoodWheat, he held senior roles in operations, marketing and IT digital systems for a national cereals seed brand at Bayer and Monsanto. He also served as a global business representative at Barkley Ag, leading the growth of a U.S. seed brand and shaping the expansion of a global cereal food ingredient business unit. Hodges began his career managing identity-preserved grain and seed programs at General Mills.
Plavan continued, "Kevin has leveraged his extensive cereal grains experience gained from his time with General Mills and Bayer to forge trusted and proven relationships with our channel partners, enabling him to make recent key advances in product commercialization and positioning him to lead the scale-up of our commercial operations across both our B2B and B2C channels."
Baker has nearly 40 years of experience in product formulation and commercialization. He spent more than a decade at Mattson as the Vice President and Innovation Manager, responsible for developing innovation and marketing strategies and managing consumer testing and evaluation for clients. Before Mattson, Baker served as the Head of International Research and Development at Tropicana/PepsiCo, where he led development and implementation of new product lines in international markets. Baker also served as the Head of Product Research and Development at Gerber, where he oversaw the development and implementation of several major product lines.
"Tracy is a food and beverage innovation expert and industry veteran, acquiring his deep and valuable leadership experience through years of research and commercial challenges and successes at Tropicana, PepsiCo and Gerber. While we feel very fortunate to have someone of Tracy's caliber join Arcadia, we also see it as a strong validation of Arcadia's product portfolio and commercial strategy," added Plavan.
About Arcadia Biosciences
Arcadia Biosciences (Nasdaq: RKDA) is a leader in science-based approaches to enhancing the quality and nutritional value of crops and food ingredients. The company's GoodWheat™ branded ingredients deliver health benefits to consumers and enable consumer packaged goods companies to differentiate their brands in the marketplace. The company's GoodHemp™ seed catalog delivers genetically superior hemp seeds, clones, transplants and extracts, applying the company's proprietary crop innovation technology, ArcaTech™, to an emerging crop. Arcadia's agricultural traits are being developed to enable farmers around the world to be more productive and minimize the impact of agriculture on the environment. For more information, visit www.arcadiabio.com.
LinkedIn: Arcadia Biosciences
Twitter: @ArcadiaAg
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SOURCE Arcadia Biosciences, Inc.
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