San Diego, California, USA
February 28, 2025
Cibus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBUS) (the “Company” or “Cibus”), a leading agricultural technology company that develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties, today announced key leadership changes pursuant to the Company’s succession planning strategy. The Board has accepted Rory Riggs’ resignation as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. Peter Beetham, the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, also will serve as the Company’s Interim Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Beetham is a co-founder of Cibus Global with Mr. Riggs and with Greg Gocal, who will remain the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer. Mr. Riggs will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. Beetham also will continue as a director.
The Board of Directors intends to initiate a search for the Company’s next CEO and will consider external and internal candidates.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to acknowledge Rory’s unwavering dedication to Cibus that has spanned more than two decades,” stated Mark Finn, lead independent director of the Board. “Rory has been instrumental in building Cibus and evolving its technologies into what they are today, driving a cutting-edge agricultural company poised to transform the development and commercialization of plant traits with its proprietary Rapid Trait Development System™, or RTDS®, gene editing process. We also want to recognize Rory’s visionary leadership through the scientific, operational, and strategic developments over the past several years as we worked to unlock the intrinsic value that we see in Cibus. The Board of Directors is confident that Peter Beetham, Greg Gocal, Carlo Broos and the rest of the Cibus leadership team will ensure strong execution of our commercial priorities during this transition.”
In reflecting on his tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Rory Riggs commented, “I am looking forward to continuing my work on the Board and am fully confident the Company will execute a seamless transition. Cibus is at an important inflection point as it continues its transformation from an agricultural trait development company to a commercial trait company. One of my key objectives as Chief Executive Officer was to demonstrate the potential of our RTDS® technologies and our Trait Machine process. As of today, I can proudly say that we’ve met that objective. I believe that now is the right time to formally activate our succession planning and begin the transition to Cibus’ next leader as its commercial transformation accelerates. Peter Beetham, as a Cibus co-founder and leader, as well as a pioneer in agricultural gene editing, has been integral to getting Cibus to this point and is well poised to lead the company during this transition.”
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