Manfred Bender set to join BRAIN AG’s Management Board as Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

BRAIN AG announces today that Manfred Bender will assume the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on the Management Board of BRAIN AG. Manfred Bender was appointed to the Management Board of the publicly listed German industrial biotechnology company as of December 1, 2018 and will assume the position of BRAIN AG’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as of January 1, 2019.

In his role as Chief Financial Officer Manfred Bender will drive forward BRAIN AG’s growth-oriented strategy. A key facet of his job will be the continued focus on M&A activities which may help expand global B2B market access. BRAIN AG’s most recent milestones on this journey were the acquisition of a majority stake in special enzyme producers Biocatalysts Ltd. in March 2018 as well as the spin-off of the Aurase^® wound cleansing enzyme R&D activities to SolasCure Ltd. in August 2018; both companies are based in Great Britain.

In addition to being responsible for M&A activities, Manfred Bender will also be in charge of BRAIN’s holdings. He will thus play a key role in managing the subsidiaries within the BRAIN Group. Working hand-in-glove with Ludger Roedder, BRAIN’s Chief Business Officer (CBO), and the three business units – Nutrition & Health, Skin Care, and Industrial BioSolutions – he will seek to tap into further development synergies and speed up market access for new products developed by the BRAIN Group and will thus help boost the growth of BRAIN’s scalable product business.

Manfred Bender holds a degree in Business Administration and looks back on more than 20 years of professional experience in senior management positions at medium-sized German technology companies. For the past 13 years he has been a member of the Management Board at Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG, which is listed on the TecDAX of the German Stock Exchange and headquartered in Asslar, Hesse, Germany. In his position as CFO and, most recently, CEO, Manfred Bender was, among other things, responsible for the areas of finance, M&A, purchasing, production, logistics, and investor relations and successfully managed the globally positioned company’s growth.

Says Dr. Jürgen Eck, CEO of BRAIN AG: “We are delighted to have secured the services of Manfred Bender as BRAIN’s new Chief Financial Officer. He has an excellent reputation and like hardly anyone else epitomizes the successful growth of a product-oriented technology group. We have been involved in in-depth discussions and are convinced that he will give BRAIN extra momentum both in terms of value creation and our growth ambitions.”

Manfred Bender, CFO-designate of BRAIN AG, adds: “BRAIN is on its way to becoming a fully integrated bio-economy player. I am very much looking forward to working with Dr. Jürgen Eck, CEO, and Ludger Roedder, CBO, on the Management Board and to contributing my many years of experience to the further development of a technology company that plays a leading role in a future-oriented industry.”

At the beginning of 2019, Manfred Bender will take over the role of CFO on BRAIN’s Management Board from Frank Goebel, who has held this position since March 2017 and has asked the Supervisory Board in August 2018 for personal reasons for termination of his Management Board contract. Says Dr. Jürgen Eck: “Frank Goebel has been with BRAIN AG since February 2015 in various senior management positions and, thanks to his excellent work, has left his stamp on the BRAIN Group. On behalf of the entire staff at BRAIN, I wish to thank Frank Goebel for the trusting and successful cooperation over the past few years”.

Further Information:

• Ludger Roedder to join BRAIN AG Management Board as Chief Business Officer (CBO)
• BRAIN AG announces the creation of SolasCure Ltd. to continue development of Aurase^®
• BRAIN AG acquires majority stake of leading speciality enzyme producer Biocatalysts Ltd.

About BRAIN

B.R.A.I.N. Biotechnology Research and Information Network AG (BRAIN AG; ISIN DE0005203947 / WKN 520394) is one of Europe’s leading technology companies in the field of industrial biotechnology, the core discipline of Bioeconomy. As such, BRAIN identifies previously untapped, efficient enzymes, microbial producer organisms or natural substances from complex biological systems that can be put to industrial use. The innovative solutions and products developed by help of this “Toolbox of Nature” are successfully applied in the chemistry, the cosmetics and the food industries. BRAIN’s business model is based on two pillars – BioScience and BioIndustrial. The BioScience segment comprises its frequently exclusive collaboration business with industrial partners. BioIndustrial comprises the development and commercialization of BRAIN’s own products and active product components. Further information is available at www.brain-biotech.de/en.