Appointment of Akiva Mozes and Ziv Kop adds substantial expertise in Ag-chemistry and strategic planning
Rehovot, Israel, July 22, 2013 – Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN), a world leader in plant genomics underlying crop productivity for the food, feed and biofuel industries, announced the appointment of Akiva Mozes and Ziv Kop to the Company’s Board of Directors.
Akiva Mozes is the Chairmen of Bazan Group’s Oil Refinery, and member of the Board of Directors of Strauss Group. Previously, Mr. Mozes served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Israel Chemicals, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fertilizer and specialty chemicals, retiring from this position last year.
Ziv Kop is the founder and CEO of Go Capital, a newly formed Private Equity fund. Prior to founding Go Capital, and since its inception in 2003, Mr. Kop was the Managing Partner at Glenrock Israel, a private equity investment firm where he managed a portfolio of growth companies and served on the board of more than ten private and public companies. Previously, Mr. Kop served as Chief Executive Officer of POC Management Consulting, a leading Israeli consultancy in the field of strategic planning.
“On behalf of Evogene, I am pleased to welcome Akiva Mozes and Ziv Kop as directors to our board,” said Martin Gerstel, Chairman of the Board of Evogene. ”As experts and leaders in their respective fields they bring valuable and very relevant expertise to complement the skills of our existing members, and further support Evogene’s continuing rapid growth.”
“In addition to his outstanding general management skills, Akiva Mozes’ specific expertise, gained during decades of leadership at the forefront of the world’s fertilizer and chemical industry, represents an important and timely asset as we look to extend our activities in the ag-chemical field,” added Mr. Gerstel. “Likewise, adding Ziv Kop’s extensive experience in strategic planning and guidance of a large number of growth companies, is expected to be of significant value as we continue to evaluate the extension of our unique and growing capabilities to new areas of activities.”
“I enthusiastically look forward to working with them both,” concluded Mr. Gerstel.
Mr. Mozes’ other prior Chairman of the Board positions include Dead Sea Works Ltd, Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd, and Bromine Compounds Ltd. He holds several public advisory positions and received a number of leading industry and business awards. Mr. Mozes holds a BA in Economics and Political Science and an MBA, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Mr. Kop is a graduate of both Tel Aviv University Law School and Business School, and INSEAD’s Young Managers Program.
Additional information regarding Evogene’s Board of Directors can be accessed here: http://evogene.com/About-Us/Board-of-Directors.
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About Evogene
Evogene is a world leading discoverer and developer of improved plant traits through the use of integrated plant genomics. Combining proprietary state-of-the-art computational genomic technologies with advanced breeding methods, the company’s infrastructure provides a complete solution for plant trait improvement to its four market focused operating divisions: Yield and abiotic stress, Biotic stress, Ag-chemicals and seed development. In addition to its internal programs, Evogene is collaborating with world leading seed companies to introduce its improved plant traits into key commercial crops under milestone and royalty bearing agreements. Evogene, listed for trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: EVGN), is headquartered in Israel, with field operations in South America. For additional information, please visit Evogene’s website at www.evogene.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as “may”, “expects”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of similar meaning. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which beyond Evogene’s control, including, without limitation, those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with the Israeli Securities Authority. Evogene disclaims any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.
Contact:
Karen Mazor, Director
Public and Investor Relations
E-mail: karenm@evogene.com
Tel: +972-54-2288039