Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. named Willie Loh as a special advisor to the board of directors and management of the company, effective immediately. Loh previously served as vice president, market development, Global Edible Oils Division at Cargill Incorporated, the global food and agriculture company.
“We are excited to have Willie join our team as we progress towards commercialization of our Camelina platform for oils. His extensive knowledge of the commercial landscape for commodity and specialty oils, including omega-3 oils, making him uniquely suited to an advisory role with us as we advance our commercial plans for Camelina,” said Oliver Peoples, CEO of Yield10 Bioscience. “His tenure and significant experience in the oils market will enable him to provide our team with important strategic market and technology insights as we engage with market participants to commercialize Camelina oil and meal.”
“An unprecedented global demand for vegetable oil is currently being driven by oil requirements for biofuels, human nutrition and animal feed as well as supply disruptions anticipated by geopolitical circumstances,” said Loh. “Yield10 has made great strides developing Camelina as a new commercial crop with the potential to address the growing gap between vegetable oil supply and demand. Based on the positive characteristics of the crop, I believe Camelina will be welcomed by the industry. I look forward to working with the Yield10 team and contributing to the Company’s success.”
Loh retired in 2020 as vice president for Cargill’s Global Edible Oil Solutions group in North America, where he had responsibilities for market development of novel oil products and led its Project Management Office. Prior to this assignment, Willie led marketing professionals responsible for strategic planning, new business development, product management and innovation in food ingredient oils, food service oils and planting seed. Loh joined Cargill in 1995 and led the specialty oils sales team for 10 years.
Loh received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Columbia. He has a Master’s Degree in Botany from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the Ohio State University. He also worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Virginia. He has published original research articles in Oil Chemistry, Oilseed Biochemistry, Microbial Physiology and Plant Molecular Genetics and has been granted more than a dozen patents in these areas.
