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Contact: Hilary Martin, 303-907-4411, hmartinpr@onebox.com; or Reid Wegley, 303-494-2636, reid@bulldogpr.net
AgraQuest Inc. Appoints Former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency Bill Reilly to its Board of Directors
Inspired Policy Maker and Accomplished Executive Joins Bio-Science Leader
DAVIS, Calif. (January 23, 2007) – AgraQuest Inc., a leading bio-science company that develops naturally inspired crop and plant protection products, announced today that it has named former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Bill Reilly to its Board of Directors. Reilly brings decades of experience in environmentally and economically sound business practices to AgraQuest, a company in the forefront of delivering pest management products which address unmet needs in today's agricultural and farming practices.
"AgraQuest is a leader in the fastest growing pesticide segment - bio-pesticides. Their products are microbial-based, which means they use nature's own chemistry to produce products that effectively combat plant diseases. They also reduce the chemical load on the earth," Reilly said. "This is exciting technology that protects plants, growers, and the environment."
The Architect for the Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990, Reilly served as the head of the EPA from 1989-1993. Reilly brings a wealth of knowledge to the agriculture industry, and a personal passion for clean farming practices.
"Bill Reilly provides the ideal blend of business acumen and enthusiasm for the environment. He will provide AgraQuest with valuable direction as we grow our promising pipeline of products to address the growing demands on the world's food supply," said Mike Miille, PhD., CEO and COO of AgraQuest. "Consumers are demanding higher quality, cleaner food for the sake of their own health as well as that of the environment. Growers share these concerns and so require products they can depend on to deliver efficacy. AgraQuest's existing and future products directly address many of these concerns."
Reilly is a Senior Advisor to Texas Pacific Group's TPG Growth, an international investment partnership. He was a founding partner of Aqua International Partners, a private equity fund dedicated to investing in companies engaged in water and renewable energy. Reilly served as the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1989-1993), President of the World Wildlife Fund (1985-1989), President of The Conservation Foundation (1973-1989) and past Chairman of the American Farmland Trust. He was head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit at Rio in 1992. Also in 1992, he was the primary mover behind the Montreal Protocol to phase out the global use of Methyl Bromide.
Reilly is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the World Wildlife Fund, Co-Chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy, Chair of the Advisory Board for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, Chair of the San Francisco Mayor's Clean Tech Advisory Council and a Director of DuPont, the Packard Foundation and the National Geographic Society,. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale, J.D. from Harvard and M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University.
About AgraQuest
Founded in 1995, AgraQuest Inc. is a bio-science company that utilizes nature's own chemistry by harnessing naturally occurring microbes and organisms to develop products that protect plants in the agricultural, turf & ornamental, and home & garden markets. AgraQuest's products have been proven effective in the lab, in university field trials, and by the thousands of farmers in over twenty countries worldwide who testify to their success in fighting plant and crop disease. The products are safe for agricultural workers, the community and the environment. They do not leave any residue on produce or crops, an increasingly important benefit in light of consumer and regulatory pressure to reduce residues. AgraQuest offers a comprehensive line of naturally-inspired solutions to pest problems. The company sells Serenade®, Serenade® Garden, Rhapsody®, Sonata® and Ballad® Biofungicides and Biotune® Adjuvant. AgraQuest received the Presidential Green Chemistry Award from the EPA for the discovery and commercialization of Serenade Biofungicide.
Certain matters contained in the press release concerning AgraQuest, Inc. are forward-looking statements which are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the receipt of EPA and other regulatory approval of the Company’s products, the success of the Company’s products in field trials and the timely development, manufacture and marketing and acceptance of the Company’s products in the marketplace.