Avantium Appoints Jonathan Wolfson to its Supervisory Board

AMSTERDAM, January 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Avantium announced the appointment of Jonathan Wolfson to its Supervisory Board. Jonathan Wolfson is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Solazyme. Solazyme is a leading industrial biotechnology company producing renewable oil and bioproducts from microalgae for fuels, chemicals, nutrition and personal care products. Solazyme (SZYM) is a US stock listed company at NASDAQ. Mr. Wolfson and Solazyme have received numerous awards for their technology pioneering role in the industrial biotechnology industry. Mr. Wolfson holds J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from the NYU School of Law and the NYU Stern School of Business

Jonathan Wolfson said on his appointment:"I am very happy to join the Supervisory Board at Avantium.  I have known the Company for years and have been increasingly impressed with its world class catalytic technology and the incredibly exciting development of the YXY technology platform.  I look forward to working with the company as it brings its disruptive biobased plastics and chemicals to market."

"We are proud to have Jonathan Wolfson appointed to our Supervisory Board", says Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium. "Jonathan has played a major role in the successful development of Solazyme, its successful IPO and the formation of strategic partnerships in the food, cosmetics and fuels industries. His experience and insights in bringing biobased chemicals to the market, will be very valuable for Avantium to commercialize its YXY technology for the production and use of FDCA and PEF."

About Avantium

Avantium is a game-changing renewable chemicals company with leadership in advanced catalysis R&D. It developed the breakthrough YXY technology, a proprietary process to convert carbohydrates into the green building blocks FDCA for making biobased plastics and biobased chemicals at cost competitive prices in large markets. Avantium's lead application PEF (polyethylene furanoate) fulfils key criteria to become the next generation biobased plastics for bottles, film and fibers. Avantium has demonstrated the value and commercial potential of its unique technology by collaborating with leading companies like The Coca-Cola Company and Danone for the development of 100% biobased PEF bottles. Avantium plans to have the first commercial scale manufacturing plant operational by 2016. Avantium laboratories and headquarters are based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

SOURCE Avantium