The Team
The Team
Andy Bevacqua - Strategic Advisor
Andy Bevacqua has 40+ years of experience in the Cosmetic/Personal Care industry. He recently retired from The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. (ELC) in November 2021 after 35 years and as the first ever Senior ELC Fellow. Senior ELC Fellows are at the pinnacle of their technical field and are the company’s most proven scientific and technical experts. Recognized in the industry as global technical leaders, they serve as technical advisors and mentors to senior management. Prior to that role, Andy was Senior Vice President and Global Skincare Category leader for all brands in the ELC portfolio. In that role Andy was responsible for the upstream research leading to the creation of breakthrough technologies and trends as well as partnering with Brand Marketing teams to design, develop and launch unique products with superior, noticeable and relevant benefits across all product subcategories. Andy graduated from Loyola College of Maryland with a BS degree in Chemistry and an MS in Cosmetic Science from Fairleigh Dickinson University of Teaneck, NJ.
Andrew Bevacqua
Isolde Callihan
Bill Letsinger - Board Director
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Dr. Letsinger currently serves as the Senior Director of Strategy and Growth at CP Kelco. At CP Kelco, he is an experienced leader in executing significant, complex change projects as well as developing and executing strategy. Most recently, he led a successful company-wide, multi-year, global cultural transformation to customer obsession, and is currently leading the ramp-up of CP Kelco’s newest product line, Citrus Fiber, as well as Strategy. Prior to CP Kelco, he worked at DuPont in a variety of roles: consulting statistician within the Engineering Group servicing a broad array of SBU needs, quality leader for DuPont’s eBusiness venture, Six Sigma leader for the Surfaces SBU, and instructor/trainer in design of experiments, modeling, data analysis and Six Sigma. Dr. Letsinger received his PhD in Applied Statistics from Virginia Tech, with primary area of research in Design of Experiments.
William Letsinger
Sharon Long - Founder and Chair, Strategic Advisory Board
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Dr. Long and her research group have used genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and imaging to analyze plant-microbe interactions, and have made fundamental discoveries on the chemistry of bacterial gene regulation, cell envelope homeostasis, and cell biology. She is the Wm. C. Steere, Jr. – Pfizer Inc. Professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, Professor by courtesy in the Department of Biochemistry in the Stanford School of Medicine, and recipient of the 2019 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology from the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Long received her undergraduate education at the California Institute of Technology. Her PhD is in Cell and Developmental Biology from Yale University, and she carried out postdoctoral training at Harvard University.
Sharon Long
Derek Wells - Founder, CEO, Board Chair
Dr. Wells has over 25 years of research and leadership experience in academic and industrial biotechnology. Prior to founding ExoPolymer, he was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, served as CTO at Antheia, Inc., and was a senior scientist at DuPont Industrial Biosciences, formerly Genencor, a Danisco Division. His scientific expertise in industry spans protein engineering, metabolic pathway engineering, high throughput screening, automation, molecular biology, and genetic modification of fermentative organisms for the production of valuable target molecules. He is an inventor on 28 issued US patents. Dr. Wells received a BS in Plant Genetics from UC Berkeley, a PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF.
Derek Wells
Reed Goodwin - Director of Molecular Biology
Dr. Reed Goodwin has 15 years of academic and industry experience researching plant associated soil bacteria. He has expertise in bacterial physiology, protein biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics. At ExoPolymer, he has developed strain engineering, analytical chemistry, and materials testing methodologies for production and characterization of novel biopolymers. Dr. Goodwin earned his B.S. in microbiology from Washington State University, his PhD in microbiology from the University of Connecticut, and conducted his postdoctoral research at Stanford University.
Reed Goodwin
Michael Kahn - Strategic Advisor
Dr. Michael Kahn is a Professor in the Institute of Biological Chemistry at Washington State University. He is a world-renowned expert on genetics, biochemistry, and physiology of symbiotic bacteria. During his 50-year scientific career, he has been at the forefront of understanding metabolism, gene regulation, and energy relations in the bacteria-plant interface. In addition to his research leadership, Dr. Kahn was Associate Director of the Washington State University Agricultural Research Center (ARC) and the Agriculture Experiment Station for seven years. He served as program manager for the Department of Energy in the Biological Energy Research (BER) division and was program manager in the USDA competitive grants division for Nitrogen Fixation and Metabolism. He also served as chair of the North American Agricultural Biotechnology Council. Dr. Kahn received his undergraduate education at the California Institute of Technology, graduating with a B.S. in physics, earned his Ph.D. at Stanford University in Biophysics, and was a postdoctoral fellow at U.C. San Diego.
Michael Kahn
Isabelle Pugliese - Fermentation Engineer II
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Isabelle Pugliese oversees the operation of ExoPolymer’s benchtop fermentation lab. She is responsible for advancing bioprocess optimization, scale-up, and data analytics. Her focus is on ensuring the efficiency and efficacy of lab operations as well as expanding ExoPolymer's internal capabilities. Beyond her primary responsibilities, Isabelle builds techno-economic models to analyze production processes for ExoPolymer's pipeline of products. Isabelle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a focus in Bioprocess from the Colorado School of Mines. During her studies she acquired valuable experience in fermentation technology, data analytics, and modeling.
Isabelle Pugliese
Rebecca Wais - Chief Legal Officer
Dr. Wais has over 20 years of experience in representing biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies of all sizes, both in-house and in private practice. Most recently, she was Vice President for Legal Affairs & Intellectual Property at Tessera Therapeutics where she led the Legal team overseeing a wide range of activities from intellectual property matters to private financings to licensing transactions and collaborations with academic as well as industry partners. Prior to that, she spent a number of years on the IP Legal team at Genentech, a member of the Roche group, and was Assistant General Counsel, Director - IP Legal, where she led a team handling intellectual property matters for non-oncology biologicals. She began her legal career in private practice representing a broad array of clients from small start-ups to large biotechnology companies, on matters ranging from global patent prosecution and enforcement, including US patent litigation to European opposition proceedings, to initial public offerings. She has a JD from Stanford Law School and a PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.
Rebecca Wais
Sharon Wicker - Board Director
Sharon Wicker is a strategic business professional with particular expertise in the Consumer Packaged Goods, Food & Beverage industries. She started her own consulting business, Sharon Wicker Consulting, in 2019, following the sale of her prior company, Senomyx, Inc., and has worked with several start-up companies in the Food and Ag Tech space. While at Senomyx, Sharon held the position of SVP & Chief Commercial Development Officer. Prior to Senomyx, Sharon served as president of Flavors & Ingredients at A.M. Todd (now owned by ADM) a privately held company focused on the delivery of sweet flavor solutions. Before this, she was Vice President for New Business Development for Heinz North America & Vice President for Meals for Heinz Frozen Foods. She also worked at ConAgra Grocery Products and General Mills where she held increasing positions of responsibility (brand management to general management). Sharon received a B.S. in Food Science and Human Nutrition from Colorado State University and an MBA in Marketing from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business.
Sharon Wicker
Previous Consultants and Advisors
Carolyn Fritz - Strategic Advisor
Ms. Carolyn Fritz is Chairman of the Board of DMC Biotechnologies, a board member of CelluComp Ltd., and a strategic advisor to Brightseed Bio and Holiferm. Ms. Fritz has successfully built four biotechnology businesses. From 2004 - 2014, she built the synthetic biology company, Allylix, from a start-up, raising $34 million in VC funding, developing and commercializing flavor & fragrances and insect repellents to a successful sale of company. While at Dow Chemical, she built a renewable epoxy coating and soy polyol business and a biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. At Cargill, she built an ag biotech/food technology business focused on functional canola oils for food and industrial markets. Ms. Fritz has her MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, her MS from The George Washington University and her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University.
Carolyn Fritz
Doug Cameron - Strategic Advisor
Dr. Douglas C. Cameron (Doug) is an investor and advisor in companies and organizations focused on sustainable technologies, including agriculture, food, and synthetic biology. He is co-president of First Green Partners, and a board director at Arzeda and DMC Biotechnologies. From 2017-2020 Doug was senior managing director of the U.S.-China Green Fund. His previous investment experience includes CSO at Khosla Ventures and Managing Director at Piper Jaffray. Prior to becoming an investor, Doug was Director of Biotechnology and Chief Scientist at Cargill, Inc. and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. One of his first research areas at Wisconsin was the microbial production of exopolymers which resulted in two U.S. patents. Doug is on the board of directors or an advisor to several other major institutes including the FFAR in Washington, D.C., the Technical Research Centre of Finland, Georgia Tech, and MIT. He has a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT.