WASHINGTON, April 9, 2015— Cathleen Enright, executive vice president for food and agriculture at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is leaving BIO for the Pet Food Institute where she’ll be CEO. She starts the new position on April 27.
Matt O'Mara, BIO’s managing director for food and agriculture, will serve as acting CEO until a decision is made on a permanent successor.
Enright, who led BIO’s food and agriculture section for over three years, was responsible for industry leadership and advocacy on legislative, regulatory and market access issues, including leading the launch of GMO Answers, an online portal dedicated to answering the public’s questions about genetically engineered crops and food.
In a staff memo, Jim Greenwood, BIO’s CEO, praised Enright’s “positive, transparent, and science-based message” about biotechnology, “and her willingness to listen to and engage directly with all those interested in the topic.”
Enright “has helped the industry make significant advances on a range of key issues, including regulatory reforms, trade, and protecting the industry, farmers, and consumers from scientifically unjustified bans and other restrictions on the products of agricultural biotechnology,” he said.
Before joining BIO, Enright led the federal government affairs office of the Western Growers produce association and served in senior roles across the federal government, including as a policy analyst at the State Department, assistant deputy administrator at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and as deputy assistant in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
#30
For more news, go to www.agri-pulse.com