Metabolix Names President and CEO
Effective March 17, Richard P. Eno will be president and chief executive officer of Metabolix Inc., of Cambridge, Mass. The bioscience company focuses on developing clean, sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals, and energy.
Eno is replacing Jay Kouba, Ph.D., who served the company in this position during the executive search. Kouba will remain chairman of the board.
Eno has more than 25 years of professional experience in the chemicals and energy business. He has held operating roles or led clients through challenges in nearly every aspect of these industries, including corporate strategy development, technology management and commercialization; sales and marketing; organizational design and optimization; cost reduction and profitability improvement; and transaction support.
"Metabolix is an exciting growth company that is at the forefront of an important global movement as businesses and consumers look for ways to lessen their dependence on petroleum and their impact on the environment," said Eno. "The next few years will be pivotal for Metabolix and I am thrilled to be leading the company at this time as we commercialize Mirel bioplastics, and accelerate our progress toward commercialization of the company's chemicals and energy platforms."
Metabolix and Archer Daniels Midland Company are commercializing Mirel through a joint venture called Telles. The first commercial scale Mirel production plant is being constructed adjacent to ADM's wet corn mill in Clinton, Iowa. The plant is expected to begin operations in late 2008 and is designed to produce up to 110 million pounds of Mirel annually. Mirel will reduce reliance on petroleum and decrease environmental impacts relative to conventional petroleum-based plastics.