Chris started his career in the food business over 40 years ago when he was in high school and college and worked for a large commercial wholesale bakery. After graduating from Princeton University in 1983 with a degree in Economics, Chris worked in the investment securities business before joining Frito-Lay in 1989. At Frito-Lay, he held roles in finance, sales, new ventures and brand marketing. Chris was a Vice President of marketing when he left Frito-Lay in 2001 to join the MOM Brands Company. Chris became President and CEO of MOM Brands in 2008, and he added the Chairman responsibilities in 2011. After MOM Brands was sold in 2015 to Post Holdings, Chris became the President and CEO of the newly created Post Consumer Brands business. In July of 2018, Chris was named Executive Vice President of Strategy for Post Holdings, Inc. which is a $6 Billion holding company with six operating divisions including the Post Consumer Brands business.
Chris is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business. He serves on the Board of Directors for Welch Foods, and is Chair of their Compensation Committee, and also serves on their Audit Committee. Chris has had extensive non-profit leadership roles including: the Board of Overseers, Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota; the Board of Directors, Second Harvest Heartland; the Executive Committee of the Advisory Board for Enactus, and Chairman of the Board, Special Olympics Minnesota.

Kim Nelson is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at SPS Commerce, providing financial direction at a number of companies over her 30 years of experience including Amazon.com, Nestlé USA Inc. and The Pillsbury Company. In her current role, Kim has led SPS Commerce to a successful IPO, navigated their company’s growth through creation of their M&A program and continues to oversee their financial systems, controls and models to ensure their financial position is flourishing. In addition to her new position as a Director on Calyxt’s board, she also advises on the Board of Directors for Qumu. Prior to this position, Mrs. Nelson was the Finance Director for Amazon.com in a number of their practice areas such as Corporate Planning and Analysis, Investor Relations and Technology.

Anna Ewa Kozicz-Stankiewicz has served as a member of our Board of Directors since July 2017. Mrs. Kozicz received a BA in Math and Economics from Columbia College and her MBA from Columbia Business School. She started her career in investment banking in 1996 at Credit Suisse First Boston in its Financial Institutions Group before moving to Goldman Sachs in 2000 where she held multiple positions, including Managing Director, and spent most of her time in the Principal Strategies Group with a focus investing in on the global agricultural sector. During her time at Goldman Sachs, she served as a director on the board of a New York-based federal credit union (PSFCU). She moved to Caxton Associates in 2009 to work as an equity Portfolio Manager before moving to BlackRock in 2012 where she held management roles as Head of US Strategy and Corporate Development as well as investing roles as Portfolio Manager of a private assets portfolio for ABR Re, a Bermuda based reinsurance company which Mrs. Kozicz helped to set up on behalf of BlackRock. In 2017, Mrs. Kozicz left BlackRock  and partnered with Cowen Investment Management to create a new investment fund focused on sustainability in agriculture, energy and transportation services.

Philippe Dumont has served as a member of our Board of Directors since July 2017. Mr. Dumont retired in December 2012 from Bayer CropScience, where he was employed since May 2002. At Bayer he held the position of Head of Technology Management, Seeds, and was responsible for supervising globally the Regulatory Affairs and Regulatory Science functions, Stewardship, Public and Governmental Affairs and Communication impacting GMOs and seeds. Until 2006 Mr. Dumont also supervised the Legal and Intellectual Property functions in the seed business. Mr. Dumont also held the same responsibilities at Aventis Crop Science from December 1998 until April 2002. From 1987 to 1998, Mr. Dumont was General Counsel of Rhône-Poulenc Agrochimie. Prior to moving to France in 1987, Philippe held positions as an associate at Cravath Swaine & Moore (1975 – 1981), international legal counsel at Gulf Oil Corporation (1981-1983) and as solo practitioner in Washington D.C. from 1983 – 1986.

Philippe is retired from the New York and District of Columbia Bars and is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center (JD 1975) and Columbia University (BA, magna cum laude 1972). Since June 2013 he has been serving as a director of Association Française des Biotechnologies Végétales, responsible for international relations, where he tries to promote public and governmental understanding of new breeding techniques and related regulatory issues.

André Choulika, Ph.D., has served as Chairman of our Board of Directors since August 2010. Dr. Choulika is one of the founders of Cellectis and has served as Chief Executive Officer of Cellectis since the company’s inception in 1999. He has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cellectis since 2011. Since December 2014, Dr. Choulika has served as Chief Executive Officer of Cellectis, Inc. From 1997 to 1999, Dr. Choulika worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the Division of Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he was one of the inventors of nuclease-based genome editing technologies and a pioneer in the analysis and use of meganucleases to modify complex genomes. After receiving his Ph.D. in molecular virology from the University of Paris VI (Pierre et Marie Curie), he completed a research fellowship in the Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics. His management training is from HEC (Challenge +).