Marrone Bio Innovations Appoints Hector Absi as New Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations

DAVIS, Calif., Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (MBI) a leading global provider of natural pest management products for the agriculture and water treatment markets, announced today that it has appointed industry veteran Hector Absi, Jr. as senior vice president of commercial operations.  Absi replaces Chris Hildreth, who recently retired from the company.

"Hector's experience building a strong sales organization and penetrating key specialty crop markets will be invaluable to MBI as we grow our business," said MBI CEO Pam Marrone. "We are pleased to welcome such a successful sales executive as Hector to the MBI team."

As a member of CEO Marrone's leadership team, Absi will be responsible for global sales, marketing and business development. Previously, he served as vice president of global sales and general manager of European Business for Suterra, a leading provider of biorational products for agricultural crop protection and commercial pest control. During his seven-year tenure at Suterra, he was responsible for restructuring and leading the company's global and U.S. sales organizations, where he had a significant impact on U.S. revenues, negotiated global distribution agreements and managed partner relationships. Prior to this, Absi served in various sales executive roles over 11 years at Monsanto, including manager of the western region, a $63 million sales division.

Absi holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Valparaiso University and a Masters of Business Administration from Washington University.

About Marrone Bio Innovations  
Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. is a leading global provider of natural pest management products (biopesticides) for the agricultural and water treatment markets. Its effective and environmentally friendly natural agricultural products provide higher yields and quality while managing pest resistance and residues. Through its proprietary discovery and development platform and strategically in-licensed technologies, MBI has developed a pipeline of advanced and early-stage products for the significant agricultural and water treatment markets, including several nematicide, fungicide, algaecide and plant health product candidates. MBI's award-winning products for the agricultural market include the biofungicide Regalia^®, and Grandevo^®, a broad-spectrum bioinsecticide for controlling insects and mites. The company recently received EPA approval of a novel bioherbicide, and has submitted another broad-spectrum insecticide to the EPA. MBI is launching into the water treatment market with Zequanox^®, the industry's first natural product to selectively control invasive zebra and quagga mussels. MBI currently has more than three dozen patents pending in the U.S. and globally.

SOURCE Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc.