Bionema Ltd, a leading UK-based biopesticide technology developer, that specialises in chemical-free, biological crop protection for safe and sustainable agriculture, has announced the appointment of Stephen Pearce as Non-Executive Chair.  

Steve has more than 25 years of global experience in the Pharma, Biotech and Life Science industries and has served in senior positions in both public and private equity-owned companies - where  the development and implementation of successful transformational strategies are fundamental to companies’ sustainable growth.

He spent the last 12 years in the Life Science industry as Chief Procurement Officer for Arysta LifeScience - one of the world’s largest agrochemical companies. He was also part of a team that integrated several companies as part of a mergers and acquisitions strategy and was a key member of the alliance development team. 

During his career, Steve has held senior global leadership and strategy development roles in technical sales, marketing, strategic sourcing and procurement, and alliance development. He spent several years in the US as Director of Biotechnology Research Business Development - a role dedicated to fundraising, developing and commercialising intellectual property, building commercial alliances with academic institutions and a state and federal lobbyist. 

Prior to joining Arysta, Steve was based in Switzerland as the Global Head of Clinical Trial Outsourcing for a major Pharma company leading international teams across general medicines and oncology. 

Commenting on his new role at Bionema, Steve says: "Bionema is a business that possesses and continues to develop a rich and cutting-edge pipeline of technologies and solutions that offers significant opportunity. The Bionema team are well placed, in terms of intellectual property and technology, to address the significant and growing need to provide innovative and sustainable technologies. With ever increasing regulation, growing consumer concerns over how food is produced and food safety there has never been a more important and opportune time to bring new, innovative and effective chemical-free solutions to the market in support of, and in response to, growing value chain demands. I look forward to working with the Bionema board of directors, management team and shareholders as we take the business forward."

Dr Minshad Ansari, Founder and CEO of Bionema, says: "Steve brings a broad and unique skill set in the areas of alliance and business development, mergers and acquisitions, technical marketing, procurement, strategic sourcing and manufacturing, and operations outsourcing. We welcome Steve as our new chair to the Bionema Board and will benefit from his valuable expertise and perspectives as we continue to transform the company, execute on our strategic priorities, and seek ways to enhance shareholder value. We are committed to engaging with all shareholders as we continue to pursue value-enhancing opportunities for Bionema”

Bionema creates chemical-free pest management solutions for the agriculture, horticulture, turf amenity, landscape, and forestry sectors.  With over 30 years’ experience in research, development, and commercialisation of biopesticides, its natural products use microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, and nematodes) to protect crops from insect damage, reducing the use of synthetic pesticides and enhancing crop yields.