RTP, North Carolina, June 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vestaron is proud to announce three new additions to the leadership team: Juan Estupinan, as Chief Financial Officer, Dawn de los Santos, as VP People, and Jeff Tuckis as VP Corporate Development. This announcement comes on the heels of recent news of Vestaron’s Series C funding close at $82M, an indicator of the company’s commitment to continued growth, innovation, and sustainability.
As CFO, Juan Estupinan will work with leadership to establish financial and strategic goals, initiate investment strategies and build relationships with financial and shareholder communities. Juan will have global responsibility for corporate finance, financial planning and analysis, corporate tax, investor relations, and corporate communications. In his prior role, Juan served as Vice President, Finance and Accounting, and Controller at Aptinyx, playing a key role in the series A and B private financing rounds, the Initial Public Offering, and two subsequent funding rounds. Juan received his Bachelor of Science from Indiana University in Accounting and Finance, and Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.
As VP People, Dawn de los Santos will be responsible for leading Vestaron’s people strategy and programs. She will partner with leadership to execute the company’s growth strategy by leading talent acquisition efforts, driving goal alignment, and building a sustainable culture. Dawn has a broad and diverse HR background in both large, public companies, and small/midsize private companies. She began her career in the Thermo Fisher Scientific's Biosciences division, partnering with business leaders and driving HR functional excellence. More recently, as the VP HR, she built the HR function for an early-stage start-up and led all talent initiatives at a midsize biopharma company. Dawn received her Bachelor of Science from Northern Illinois University, and Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.
As VP Corporate Development, Jeff Tuckis will be responsible for identifying partnerships and strategies in consumer lawn and garden, animal health, and the public health markets. He will also help define Vestaron’s strategy in Europe. Jeff has 20+ years of experience within life sciences including previous Corporate Development roles with Elanco Animal Health and Syngenta Biotech. Jeff has a Master of Business Administration as well as a Master of Science in Molecular Genetics & Microbiology from the University of Florida.
“These three new hires are key to Vestaron’s continued expansion of products and new markets. With their extensive experience in agriculture and beyond, Juan, Dawn and Jeff will round out our leadership and help set a course for Vestaron’s continued growth,” said Vestaron CEO Anna Rath. “This paired with the announcement of our Series C funding gives the company amazing momentum as we head into summer 2022 introducing The Power of Peptides to more and more markets!”
About Vestaron Corporation
Vestaron is leading a peptide-based revolution in crop protection. We are committed to providing growers with novel, effective peptide-based biopesticides that address proven targets. Our peptides overcome existing resistance issues while offering a desired safety profile for workers, beneficials and the environment. Vestaron has earned global recognition for its work, including the inaugural 2015 Bernard Blum Award for novel biocontrol solutions, the prestigious Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute in 2020 and Best New Biologic Product in the 2021 Crop Science Awards.
More information at www.vestaron.com
