Dyadic Announces Change in Board and Management Leadership Roles

JUPITER, Fla., March 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dyadic International, Inc. (“Dyadic”, “we”, “us”, “our”, or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: DYAI), a biotechnology company focused on the efficient large-scale manufacture of proteins for use in human and animal vaccines and therapeutics and for use in non-pharmaceutical applications including food, nutrition, and wellness, today announced that Michael Tarnok is stepping down as Chairman of Dyadic’s board of directors (the “Board”) and that current member of the Board Patrick Lucy has been appointed to succeed him, in each case, effective immediately. Mr. Tarnok will continue to serve as a director through the end of his current term, which will end at the Company’s annual meeting in June 2025, at which time he expects to retire. In addition, Dr. Barry Buckland announced that he is retiring and therefore will not stand for re-election at the Company’s annual meeting in June 2024. The Board has decided not to fill the vacancy due to Dr. Buckland’s retirement which will result in a reduction of the size of the Board from seven to six members. Finally, Joseph Hazelton has been appointed Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately, and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Company.

Mr. Lucy joined the Board in January 2021 and serves on the company’s Science and Technology Committee. He is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of RoslinCT US, a privately held cell therapy contract development and manufacturing organization based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Lucy has 33 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, including a founder of Pfenex Inc., a protein expression platform technology company that originated within The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”). He was a member of the leadership team that led the commercial launch of the Pfenex Expression Technology platform in 2005 and participated in the spin out of the business from Dow in 2009 via a Series A venture financing. Throughout Pfenex’s history, Mr. Lucy led business/corporate development and portfolio strategy as Chief Business Officer and was a member of the team that successfully completed Pfenex’s initial public offering in 2014. During his tenure at Pfenex, Mr. Lucy completed over $1.5 billion dollars of partnership transactions, and Pfenex was ultimately acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals in October 2020 for up to $512 million.