Management

Dr. Stanley Hirsch, Group CEO
Prior to joining FuturaGene, Dr. Hirsch was responsible for business development for a privately held group of healthcare companies, where he oversaw the structuring and managing of joint ventures, startup companies, technology licensing and new product acquisitions. Previously, he has also served as general manager of two diagnostics development companies. Dr. Hirsch has been involved in the development of automated systems for plant tissue culture and he is a co-inventor of patents in plant biotechnology and micropropagation systems. Dr. Hirsch received his D. Phil. from Oxford University in cell biology and immunology.
stanley@futuragene.com

Dr. Ziv Shani, Senior Vice President R&D
Prior to his appointment as FuturaGene’s Senior Vice President, Dr. Shani was VP R&D at CBD Technologies Ltd. and held that position since 2006. He joined CBD in 1999 and was responsible for the set up and development of the agricultural biotech program at CBD, which subsequently developed into the main line of activity of CBD and later of FuturaGene. He received his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Shani is a leading contributor to research and development in the field of agricultural biotechnology.
ziv@futuragene.com

Mr. John Corre, FCA- Senior Vice President Finance & CFO
Mr. Corre joined FuturaGene in 2009. He is a UK qualified Chartered Accountant, who was for many years a senior partner at Auerbach Hope (now AH Montpelier), a leading firm of Chartered Accounts based in the West End of London. Mr. Corre has served on the Board of Directors of many companies, both private and public, and has served as the Chairman of the Board of a number of publicly listed companies. Mr. Corre's responsibilities at FuturaGene include overseeing the financial affairs of the FuturaGene subsidiaries in Israel, USA, Brazil & China.
john@futuragene.com

Dr. Nissim Chen, Vice President Business Development
Dr. Chen joined CBD Technologies LTD in 2009 as Director, Business Development with over 10 years of business development and licensing experience in the biotech industry. Prior to joining CBD, Dr. Chen was Director, Business Development Life Sciences at Ramot, the technology transfer company of the University of Tel Aviv and Business Development Manager at Lapid Pharmaceuticals Ltd. He received his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and he obtained an M.B.A. from Tel Aviv University.
nissim@futuragene.com

Mr. Anthony Andrade, Vice President Strategy & Corporate Development
Prior to his appointment as VP Strategy and Corporate Development at FuturaGene, Mr. Andrade was responsible for business development for the Forestry Business Unit at Suzano Papel e Celulose S.A., where he coordinated a portfolio of projects related to innovation and "green economy" (including cap-and-trade schemes based on planted forests, bioenergy and biotechnology) resulting in transactions of hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. Andrade has also been involved in corporate strategy and mega-projects (above US$ 1 billion) management, in the hydroelectricity generation and petrochemical sectors. Mr. Andrade received his bachelor degree from Universidade Mackenzie in law and his LL.M degree from Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa in Finance and Capital Markets.
anthony@futuragene.com

Mr. Daniel Siegel, Vice President Technology & IP Assessment
Mr. Siegel has over 15 years of experience in the agbio/medical device/biotech industries in product development, intellectual property assessment & due diligence, business intelligence and international business development. In addition to private consulting for a large number of start-ups and mature companies, Mr. Siegel has served as VP Project Assessment at Meytav Technological Incubator, VP BD & IP Strategy at CollPlant Ltd., and VP BD & Licensing at CBD Technologies, Ltd., establishing and executing several key international strategic relationships, licensing and M&A deals.
daniel@futuragene.com

Mr. Eduardo Jose de Mello, Vice President Operations Brazil & Global Tree Improvement
Mr. Mello has over 22 years of experience in the genetic improvement of eucalyptus. At Suzano, Eduardo worked on the development of several varieties of eucalyptus, which are currently planted over more than 300,000 hectares in Brazil. During his tenure at Suzano, Eduardo rose to hold the position of Executive Manager of Forest R&D. Early in 2011, Eduardo moved from Suzano to take up the position of VP of Operations Brazil and Global Tree Improvement at FuturaGene. Eduardo graduated in Forestry from the University of Sao Paulo and is an expert in Genetic Improvement, Project Management and holds an MBA from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil.

Mr. James (Hui) Zhang, Vice President China
Mr. Zhang worked in the Department of Agriculture of Gansu Province, China for more than 16 years and held the position of deputy director in the International Cooperation Division. In this position, he was the principal official for developing international and bilateral cooperation relationships to enhance technology and personnel exchanges in the department. He served as Vice President of eSolux Software (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. for three years before he joined FuturaGene. He established FuturaGene China business in 2005. Mr. Zhang received his B.Sc. from China Agricultural University (CAU) and visiting scholar for two year at the University of California, Davis.
james@futuragene.com

Dr. Eugênio César Ulian - Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs
Dr. Ulian joined FuturaGene in 2011. He has a degree in Agronomy from the School of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences (UNESP- SP) and a MS and Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from Texas A&M University. Dr. Ulian has extensive professional experience in the Biotechnology industry including work as a researcher and as a Technology Manager at Copersucar Technology Center (CTC) and Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) in Piracicaba in the State of São Paulo. Dr. Ulian has published extensively and is the co-inventor on patents and co-holder of variety protection rights for numerous sugarcane varieties. Before joining FuturaGene, he was Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Manager at Monsanto do Brasil.
eugenio@futuragene.com