Management

Mr. Kieftenbeld was appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer in June 2023. He has served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer since March 2020, Chief Administration Officer since July 2020, and Interim Chief Accounting Officer since May 2023. Mr. Kieftenbeld has over 30 years of international business leadership, finance and operations experience in science-driven food, health, nutrition, personal care and industrial end-markets. He has extensive experience with developing talent, capital markets, complex manufacturing and supply networks, partnerships and M&A transactions with a keen focus on execution and accountability. Previously, from April 2016 to April 2019, Mr. Kieftenbeld served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Innophos Holdings, Inc., a leading international science-based producer of essential ingredients for health and nutrition, food and beverage and industrial brands. From June 2014 to July 2015, Mr. Kieftenbeld served as the Global Chief Financial Officer at AB Mauri, a worldwide leader in bakery ingredients. Prior to that, Mr. Kieftenbeld held finance and operations roles of increasing reach and impact, including serving as Global Chief Procurement Officer of Ingredion Incorporated, and Global Chief Financial Officer of National Starch. Mr. Kieftenbeld started his career at Unilever in the Netherlands. Mr. Kieftenbeld earned a joint Master of Business Administration degree from New York University Stern School of Business, London School of Economics and Political Science, and the HEC School of Management, Paris. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics and Accounting from Windesheim University in the Netherlands.

Eduardo Alvarez joined Amyris as Chief Operating Officer in October 2017. He has over 30 years of global operations experience both running and advising growth companies. Previously, he served as Global Operations Strategy Leader for PwC. During his tenure, he co-led the integration of his prior company, Booz & Company, following its acquisition by PwC. In his role, he grew operations into a global practice with $1.5 billion in revenue and 4,000 employees. His assignments focused on delivering structural cost improvements while also driving sustained revenue growth. His experience also includes roles at Booz Allen Hamilton, General Electric and AT&T. Alvarez holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in computer control and manufacturing from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. He is a board member of The Chicago Council of Global Affairs. 

Doris Choi joined Amyris in December 2020 as Vice President, Senior Corporate Counsel and was appointed General Counsel and Secretary in December 2022. Prior to that, Ms. Choi served as Senior Corporate Counsel at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, a Nasdaq-listed global biopharmaceutical company. Before that, she served as Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at QuinStreet, a Nasdaq-listed performance marketing technology company. Ms. Choi started her career in private practice as an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP focused on corporate and finance transactions. Ms. Choi holds a B.A. from Northwestern University, an M.A. from University of Chicago and a J.D. from Columbia University.

Elizabeth Dreyer joined Amyris in October 2022 as Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller. She brings over 20 years of U.S. public company accounting experience with more than 10 years of experience as Chief Accounting Officer of public companies. Most recently, she served as Chief Accounting Officer of Travel + Leisure Co., a publicly-traded global provider of hospitality services and travel products from April 2018 until September 2022. Previously, Ms. Dreyer served as Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of Edgewell Personal Care Company, a manufacturer and marketer of consumer products, from January 2015 to March 2018. Prior to Edgewell, Ms. Dreyer was Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of Hillenbrand Inc. from October 2010 to January 2015. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Finance with Zimmer Corp., Chief Financial Officer of Createc Corporation, and Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness of ADESA, Inc. Ms. Dreyer began her career with Deloitte & Touche LLP in its assurance services practice. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. Ms. Dreyer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Catherine is the President of Biossance and JVN Hair at Amyris. Catherine joined Amyris in July 2018. Prior to joining, Catherine was the Global General Manager for the Kendo portfolio of beauty brands within LVMH, including Marc Jacobs Beauty, Kat von D, Disney and Ole Henriksen Skincare. Catherine built these brands from concept to development and launched them in over 22 countries. Prior to Kendo, Catherine spent over 15 years at Sephora, predominantly responsible for Sephora Collection, Sephora’s private label brand. She led the brand re-design and product strategy that lifted Sephora Collection to the #1 brand at Sephora globally. As one of Sephora USA’s first hires and member of EllesVMH (select group of high-performing female executives within LVMH), she helped shape and grow the Sephora organization into the beauty leader it is today. In 2019, WWD named Catherine Gore their “Beauty Futurist”.

Gore holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications/Business from St. Mary’s College of California.

Caroline Hadfield joined Amyris in June 2015 as Senior Vice President, Personal Care, and led the company's B2B and B2C sales initiatives for its consumer cosmetic products through a period of significant growth and was appointed President of the company’s Biossance clean skincare brand she created and developed, as well as President of the company’s Aprinnova skincare ingredients business in July 2018. She continued the rapid growth of both divisions, developing the company’s focus on Clean Beauty, and pioneering the movement to ban toxic ingredients and introduced sustainable packaging and clinically tested formulations for maximum efficacy. In February 2019, she was appointed to lead the company’s new direct-to-consumer baby and family skincare brand, Pipette, to launch a new range of clean beauty products focused on baby, mothers and family, which has grown significantly since its launch in September 2019 and is well placed for continued rapid expansion. As an expert in originating, building and running brands she has been essential in launching and managing the growth of brands while introducing innovative new product lines and building out robust ecommerce and bricks-and-mortar sales channels. She led the Aprinnova B2B ingredients business with a keen view on new opportunities to bring product innovation and exceptional brands to Amyris through her entrepreneurial expertise and exceptional success as a high-growth brand executive. In 2020, Caroline became Chief Executive Officer of Rose Inc., a new business venture focused on Clean Beauty color cosmetics, that will launch in 2021.

Previously, Hadfield owned and operated an established retail consultancy practice specializing in the health, wellness and the personal care market sectors. Prior to that, she cofounded luxury spa interests in the United Kingdom and San Francisco where she developed branded spa products and also served as Global Product Director for Bodyshop International, where she was responsible for a complete range of globally sourced and regionally targeted products and contributed extensively to marketing strategy and packaging design. Before joining Bodyshop, Hadfield was Senior Vice President at Sephora (part of LVMH Group) and was part of the executive team that rolled out the Sephora concept across the U.S., opening 50 stores within just 18 months. Her experience also includes prior roles in merchandizing as SVP – General Merchandise Manager with Duty Free Shoppers (part of LVMH) and as Buying Controller with Burton Group (now Arcadia). Hadfield holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in textiles and management from Leeds University and has completed a Senior Executive Program at Stanford University.

As SVP of R&D, Michael Leavell leads Amyris’ strain engineering and development pipeline which engineers millions of microorganisms per year, optimizing those that meet product requirements. Previous to leading R&D, he led the Screening and Analytical Science department which assesses the performance of the millions of engineered strains produced and identifies areas for improvement. Starting in 2015, Michael also led the development of Amyris’ zero-calorie sweetener, RebM, from project inception to first commercial production. Michael has been an employee of Amyris since 2006. He has more than 30 published scientific papers and patents. Prior to joining Amyris in 2006, Dr. Leavell received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of California, Berkeley, and his B.S. in Chemistry from University of Colorado, Denver.

Deb Millard is a strategic and accomplished executive with +20 years of brand and retail leadership experience across multiple categories. Deb joined Amyris as President, Healthy Aging at the end of 2021.  Over the past year Deb has been focused on launching Amyris first healthy aging brand with the “No Compromise” mission to bring safe, effective solutions to the peri/menopause space alongside Naomi Watts.  Deb’s retail career started as a founding member of the US Sephora team bringing Sephora to the US market. Most recently, for the past +7 years, Deb served in various roles at Amazon leading retail and marketplace strategies for Amazon Fashion categories later moving to Amazon Go as the Category Leader/General Manager for Go and new formats under that umbrella. Prior to Deb’s time at Amazon she helped Old Navy launch into the Canada Market,  returned to Sephora to lead skincare in the rollout of Sephora inside JCP.  She also held leadership roles at Williams-Sonoma, Restoration Hardware and owned her own retail and wholesale business in the SF Bay area.   

As Amyris Chief People Officer, Christine Ofori is responsible for leading and integrating all facets of Amyris’s HR goals, including people strategy and enhancement of company culture in order to deliver and enable business growth.  Christine brings many years of HR leadership experience to Amyris, including successful integration of people, technologies, processes and cultures.  Most recently, Christine served as Vice President of Human Resources at Amyris where she guided all aspects of employee development, staffing and business partnering.  Prior to that, she spent over eight years with Equinix, Inc. as Senior Director, Human Resources supporting the Americas Region.  Christine studied Business at the University of Minnesota.  

Annie Tsong was appointed Chief Strategy and Product Officer in 2021 and is responsible for developing Amyris’ extensive pipeline of products and ingredients. She maintains the strategic portfolio by identifying the intersection between market needs and areas where Amyris’ technology offers new value.

A long-time Amyris veteran, Annie joined Amyris in 2008 in the Research and Development division, where she was central in establishing the company’s foundational microbial production platform. Subsequently, she established a Program Management Office which brought Amyris’ highest priority molecules to market by integrating activity across capabilities from upstream R&D to commercialization. Most recently, Annie turned her attention to Product Innovation, where her team established an ingredient development pipeline focused on fast-to-market opportunities that support Amyris’ strategic objectives. Annie has authored multiple landmark scientific publications in the fields of metabolic engineering and evolution of transcriptional regulation. She is an inventor on many key patents in Amyris’ IP portfolio, and a frequent speaker at international scientific conferences.

Annie holds an AB in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in genetics from University of California, San Francisco, and was a Miller Fellow at University of California, Berkeley.

Sola brings 17 years of Brand Marketing and Communications experience in travel, design, and finance to Amyris. She has a track record of advancing craft, innovation, and culture primarily within companies at the forefront of radically transforming societal and cultural norms. 

Most recently, she served as a Director of Brand Strategy for Robinhood instituting the brand foundations needed for the company to make finance more accessible to a new generation of investors. Prior to this, she was the Head of Airbnb’s Design Brand Marketing and Communications Group, a team focused on forging the company’s creative identity at its infancy, building its global design community, and scaling its creative and learning culture. During her tenure, she played a pivotal role in establishing design as a strategic differentiator for the company, a key contributing factor to its successful IPO in 2020. She holds a B.A. in Communications and Journalism from the University of Virginia Tech. She also serves as an advisor to the Institute of Black Imagination.

Teresa joined Amyris February 2017 and led the launch of Biossance at Sephora. She drove rapid growth for the brand as the VP of Marketing and Brand Strategy from 2017 to 2020. She became VP/GM of JVN in 2021 and led the launch of the brand from concept to inception in a record-breaking 9 months. Within its first year, JVN is already one of the leading haircare brands in North America.

Prior to Amyris, Teresa led Digital and Brand Marketing at ipsy and Retention Marketing at Sephora. She  has a dual BA in Business Administration and Psychology with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management from Northwestern University. 

Mike joined Amyris as Vice President and General Manager of Pipette in July 2022. He prides himself on being a full-stack marketer and GM with a passion for building purpose-driven lifestyle brands. Over the last 15+ years, he has successfully created and accelerated business strategies and brand building efforts for The Honest Company, Red Bull, Planters, and Oscar Mayer with broad oversight touching all areas of the marketing mix. Prior to joining Amyris, Mike oversaw the personal care and household categories at The Honest Company where he led explosive omni-channel growth culminating in the company's Initial Public Offering (IPO). Mike holds an MBA from The Ohio State University as well as a B.S. in Consumer Science from the University of Wisconsin. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, and is a proud father of two young daughters. #girldad